NYLA HADN'T EXPERIENCED such a long day in quite a while. Once the news of Vincent's hospital stay was released, the media hounded everyone and anyone that might know anything—that included Nyla. Her office received numerous calls asking her to comment on the situation and when Nyla was about to tell them to mind their own fucking business, Hyeon had taken the phone and instead told them she had nothing to say.

Furthermore, George had stalked into her office a couple of minutes later demanding to know why the press kept calling him as well. Once she'd explained the situation, his mood had turned sour.

"I told you those boys were trouble. We never should have gone into business with them. They don't know how to run an organization. This could ruin us."

Nyla had frowned at his attitude but told him that she was handling it. She was close to telling George to fuck off as well but once glance at him told Nyla she couldn't destroy this relationship. He was too vital to the business. He was her right-hand man and she'd learn a lot from him the last couple of months. As much as they liked to disagree sometimes, George was important to her, and she needed him.

After George's prompt comments, she'd shut her office and buried herself into the various plans and finances she needed to look after. There was commotion outside her office, but she did her best to ignore it. Her sour mood wasn't needed anywhere. Nyla worked a couple of hours, but time seemed to be passing excruciatingly slowly.

She sighed as glanced at her phone for the tenth time. She'd texted Darius earlier asking if everything was okay on his end and he still hadn't replied. She wasn't too worried—but then again, he hadn't been in the best state last night. They'd come back from the hospital close to five in the morning and Nyla had given Darius the spare room instead of making him drive all the way home. She'd known that his head wasn't in the right space and he was tired. That was a recipe for disaster.

It took some convincing, but Darius agreed. This morning when Nyla had woken up, she saw that her apartment was empty. No note, no word, no sign of Darius. It was as if he'd vanished into thin air. She'd be lying if she wasn't a bit annoyed that he'd left with saying anything. Then again, she wasn't his girlfriend, so he didn't owe her much. But she was his friend...

Her thoughts were interrupted when he computer screen blinked. She'd received an email from someone she didn't know but what made her do a double take was the subject line. Her Vouge, pictures were here. She smiled, hopefully this would put her in a good mood.

Nyla opened the email and she immediately began frowning. The pictures were in high definition and gorgeous, but it didn't look like her. Her skin had been air brushed and she looked about five shades lighter than her natural skin tone. Nyla didn't like that. It had taken her quite some time to accept her dark brown skin. Years before she was comfortable with it and the editor had removed it in seconds.

As a child, she wished to be lighter so that she could be prettier. The aunties in her community recommended bleaching creams so that her skin would become lighter. She'd used them all, in hopes that her skin would like the people on T.V she saw. It was only as she'd gotten older, she realized the troubling message that had be pushed down her throat. Brown was an ugly colour and only light skinned people were pretty. 

It took a while for Nyla to realize that she was beautiful, and she didn't need any bleaching cream. Brown could be beautiful too. Now she did her best to push that message forward and make sure that other Indian girls didn't hate the colour of their skin or were forced to believe a different narrative. It was important to her.

Nyla glance more closely at the photos and was annoyed to see that her stretchmarks on the sides of her legs had also been removed. She didn't like seeing this beautiful, perfect image of herself. She knew she wasn't perfect and to have other people think she was didn't sit well with her.

She dialed Hyeon's line who picked up on the first ring. "Get me in touch with Vouge right away. There are some changes that need to be made."

♠♠♠♠♠♠

Her cellphone rang as she stepped into the car and shut the door behind her. She accepted the call. "It's about time you answered."

There was a pause on the other line. "I'm sorry about that."

Nyla heard the sadness in his voice. "What's wrong? Did Vincent's condition get worse?"

Darius ignored her question. "Have you left the office?"

Nyla frowned, "Yes, but you need to tell me what's going on."

"I'm right outside the hospital, do you think you can pick me up?"

She meets Anthony's gaze in the rear-view mirror. Something inside her told her to rush to the hospital. Although Darius voice seemed confident, it lacked the usual arrogance. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." she promised before shutting the phone.

"Change of plans, we are picking up Darius from the hospital."

Anthony nodded once before swerving the car the other way. Nyla gripped the seat and glared at her driver. A small smile was one his face which only annoyed Nyla further. Anthony really did love terrifying her.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the front of the hospital. Darius was leaning across the brick walls a cigarette in hand. He crushed it beneath his black Jordan's before opening the door and stepping in.

Nyla scrunched her nose in disgust at the smell. "Since when do you smoke?"

Darius simply gazed out the tinted window. "Mind your own fucking business."

Nyla was taken back by his attitude. Darius got angry at her and they fought, but it never came to the point where they were cursing at each other. She gazed at him and took in his clothes. His shirt was rumpled, and he was wearing a pair of old jeans. What she saw the most was the tightness of his jaw and his clench fingers—as if he was trying his best not to squeeze the life of whatever was in front of him.

She ignored his outburst, "Where do you want to be dropped off."

"Just dump me at a bar and pick me up in an hour or two."

"First of all, I'm not a car service at your beck and call-" Nyla began but Darius cut her off.

"No but your driver is."

Nyla was not appreciating Darius' attitude. Anthony was not just her driver. He was almost like family. He watched out for Nyla from the backgrounds and had been doing it ever since Raymond died. Whenever Nyla got tired from his overprotectiveness, Anthony would simply remind her that he had promised Raymond to take care of her on his death bed. She knew it was pointless to argue with Darius. He was in some sort of angry state and nothing would get through to him.

Instead, Nyla ignored him and texted Anthony the address. The drive was tense with silence ensuing between them. Nyla pretending to read emails but every few minutes she would look over to see if Darius was doing okay. His posture was still rigid—but Nyla wasn't afraid. She knew that Darius wouldn't hurt her. Half an hour later they arrived at their destination.

"This is not the bar." Darius said, looking up to meet Nyla's eyes for the first time.

Nyla saw a multitude of emotions in his blue, now stormy grey eyes. "Get out."

Darius stubbornly refused to leave the car.

"Get out now, before I tell Anthony to dump you on your ass in front of everyone."

They both glared at one another before Darius did as Nyla told him to. Nyla watched as he stood on the sidewalk; jaws still locked.

"Are you going to walk into the gym or am I going to have to drag you?"

Darius stormed pass her to enter the gym. He didn't bother holding the door open for her and maybe under normal circumstances, it would have bothered her, but she knew that today would be trying. She would need her patience to get through to Darius and getting angry at his behaviour wouldn't help her.

Anthony watched Darius retreating figure. "Are you sure that you're going to be okay?" Concern was itched into his face and it looked like Anthony had half a mind to step out and pummel Darius to the floor.

Nyla sighed before rubbing her temple. "Yeah, it's going to be a long day but hopefully I can get him to open up."

Anthony looked like he didn't believe her, but Nyla also knew that Darius wouldn't open up in front of someone else. Men were stupid and they didn't like showing vulnerability, especially in front of other men.

"I'll call you if I need your help." Nyla promised with no intention of doing so.

Anthony nodded before driving away. Nyla walked back to the gym to see Darius standing as still as a statue in the corner. The gym was mostly empty with a few people on the machines in the corner, but the boxing ring had nobody. Perfect. Nyla thought to herself.

"I'm going to change; I'll be back in a bit." Nyla said to Darius who gave her no indication that he had heard her.

Nyla went to the locker and pulled out her spare workout clothes. She always kept a pair in case she decided to go to the gym at random times. She quickly changed into the clothing before returning to Darius with boxing gloves and pads in her hands. She handed the gloves off to Darius, "Try them on to see if they fit."

Darius looked as though he was about to argue but he didn't, and his fingers slipped into the gloves. It seemed like she'd gotten the right size. She slipped on the pads onto her fingers. It had been quite a while since she worn them, and she preferred the feeling of gloves to the pads. Nyla led Darius to a quite corner of the gym and got into stance.

"Hit me," she commanded.

Darius looked at her as if she'd told him that aliens were real. His jaws were still locked tightly, posture rigid but his gloved hands were moving. Good, Nyla observed. It seemed like Darius was itching for a fight.

"Are you scared?"

Darius eyes lit up before they cooled down. "You're not going to get me to hit you by taunting me."

Nyla cocked an eyebrow. "Who say's you'll even be able to hit me?"

Darius still didn't move, and Nyla sighed. "You really are pushing me today. The last thing I want to do is call the entire gym over and make them witness your humiliation but if I have to, I will."

The words did their job and seconds later Darius swung and uppercut towards Nyla, but she was ready and instead of hitting her face, it hit the right pad on her hand.

"Good," she said.

Darius looked a bit shocked that he'd actually swung at Nyla, but she made him push the thoughts away. "I've had kids hit harder than that Giordano, didn't think you were so weak."

Then the punches came rolling and Nyla blocked out everyone in the gym and solely focused of Darius. She didn't want to get clocked in the head—everyone in the media would start speculating and start terrible rumors, something she wanted to avoid. Nyla blocked most of Darius punches and those she could not, she stepped back or ducked. She had been boxing for years now—with some of the best coaches in the world. Although she did not compete herself, the trainers at the gym had recommended her to come to tryouts but Nyla refused. She didn't box to win, she boxed for herself. To relieve the tension and stay in shape.

Nyla didn't know how long they continued for but most of the people had left the gym. Leaving only the two of them in the corner. Darius was sweating heavily, and the agony was evident on his face.

"Channel that energy into your punches," Nyla commanded.

A fist swung her way, but she blocked it. Darius tried hitting her again, and again. And then his fist stopped.

Nyla looked at him from beneath her lashes, "What's the matter?"

He slummed to the ground, back against the wall. His voice cracked, "I can't do this."

Nyla joined him on the wall, stretching her limbs so they were inches away from his. She didn't say anything, waiting for him to continue.

"The doctors recommended that Vincent be admitted to a Rehab center."

Nyla took off her pads. "It's good that he's getting the help he needs."

Darius blue eyes met hers. She just wanted to take the pain away from him, but she didn't know how. "I'm his brother. How did I not know that he was a drug addict?"

Nyla didn't have an answer to that.

"I was so absorbed in my life that I failed to notice that my little brother was struggling." Darius voice cracked again.

"I'm sure that Vincent doesn't blame you." Nyla said soothingly, placing a comforting arm on his thigh.

Darius laughed bitterly; it was a haunting sound. "He does and he's right."

Nyla opened her mouth to say something, but Darius continued.

"He said he told me multiple times that he didn't want to be involved with the company, but I kept pushing him. He hated his job at G-Health, it caused him so much stress that he turned to drugs. He wanted to talk to me, but I was never there. I was always in a meeting or across the country negotiating a deal. I abandoned him—he's right."

She inched closer towards Darius and grabbed his hand between hers. She softly traced a finger back and forth. "Sometimes, people struggle with addiction. Vincent does, but you are not the reason he turned to drugs. Thinking about what you could have done will not change the past. You can accept the mistakes and learn from them, so things won't happen in the future."

"My father died from a drug overdoes as well." Darius said softly. "We all thought he was happy, until one day her wasn't."

"You couldn't control that either." Nyla said firmly.

Darius looked into her eyes, "No, but sometimes, I like to think that if everything was in my control, I would be able to stop all the pain and suffering."

"Life is a kaleidoscope of things. There is pain and misery, but there is also love and serenity."

Darius exhaled, "I'm sorry about the way I spoke to you earlier. There is no excuse."

There wasn't but Nyla understood his pain now. "I forgive you," she said softly before lying her head on his shoulder to offer him comfort, solidarity, and dare she say it—love. In the silence of the gym, they sat there for a long time.