Novel Behind the Lights — Chapter Six by Nour El Hadi

Mai said: — Try telling her about your goal, and the reason you’re doing all this. Don’t reveal the truth… let her know your truth. Jasser said: “Look at me, Mai, do you think I’ll consider anyone in my revenge… If I were in front of you now it would be because of one woman, and it’s my right and my family’s right… I’m here just because of Ahmed’s infection and I won’t let anyone ruin everything I’ve done even if that person is Dima.” They fell silent, staring at him. Jasser said, “I got close to him and I’ll confront him with his crimes — he’ll pay the price. As for Dima, she’ll know the truth then.” They heard a voice, turned, and were shocked to see Hasser. Their expressions shifted and his gaze stopped when he saw Dima standing behind them. Mai and Osama looked at Jasser. Dima stepped closer to them and softly asked, “What truth will I learn?” Mai and Osama fell silent. She heard only that last sentence. Dima approached Jasser and said: “What truth do they all know that I don’t… How long are you going to hide it? Tell me… what are you hiding from me?” Jasser said: “It’s a matter that doesn’t concern you.” Dima said: “If it doesn’t concern me, who does it concern? If I’m your wife and it doesn’t concern me, who does it concern, Jasser?” Jasser was silent. Dima said: “Why do I feel like I’ve become stranger to you? You’ve become distant… and you treat me like… like you don’t want me or you regret me, all because of the…” “Dima,” Jasser said. Dima fell silent, knowing he was stopping her from talking about their night — they weren’t alone. Dima said: “If I no longer have a place in your life, then why did you make me your wife in the first place? Why did you do all that? Why did we go to court and finalize everything and you still make me your wife?” Jasser: “Dima…” Dima: “You’ve become very strange… I feel like I no longer see anyone I know. Who are you really?” Jasser: “You want to know who I am? Are you sure you want to hear?” Dima: “If you tell me the whole truth, I’ll listen to everything you say.” Dima moved closer and said, “Tell me the truth, Jasser… what’s wrong with you?” He took her hand and said, “Come.” He pulled her toward him and walked off. Dima: “Jasser…” Jasser: “I’ll show you who Jasser is.” He dragged her down to the basement corridor, led her into a room and slammed the door hard. Dima was scared, but he went in with her and locked the door with both of them inside. Dima: “Jasser… where are we?” Jasser: “The remains of the house I was born in.” Jasser turned on the light. Dima looked around and found the room full of old junk. Jasser: “These are the things I managed to collect before my life ended in a day and a night.” He stopped by a photo of a man, a woman, and a small boy. Dima stared at the picture, her heart pounding. She turned to Jasser and asked hesitantly: “T… that’s you?” Jasser: “Yes… the star you loved and admired is nothing but someone rotten on the inside.” Dima stared at him intently. Jasser: “Those in the photo are my family… before they died in the same year we took that picture.” Dima, shocked: “They… died?” Jasser: “They were murdered.” Dima recoiled in fear. Jasser: “They were killed by a swindler who bought people’s land for tiny sums and exploited their need. The land mattered to him — and only Kamel’s land, my father’s — was the largest plot in the area, and he refused to hand it to anyone but his son.” Dima listened as he told the story. Jasser: “People sold to my father, and when the conman realized there was no profit in him, he tried to get close and learn why he clung to the land. When he found out it was just inheritance and protecting the land, he saw it as trivial… he betrayed him and killed him while pretending to visit.” He paused, then continued: “He forced him to sign the sale documents, and the land became his by fraud, deceit, and murder… He destroyed my family to reach his goal.” Dima, hesitantly: “H… how did you know he killed them?” Jasser: “I saw him.” Dima’s eyes filled with tears and she asked, trembling: “…You saw your family murdered?” He fell silent. Dima was stunned as she looked at the photo — he was a child in it. Jasser: “The police couldn’t find evidence, or they were paid off to stay quiet. The case was closed with lies told about my father and mother… they smeared my mother’s honor, said she betrayed him, and claimed he killed her and then himself.” He paused, anger filling his eyes. “Meanwhile the criminal lived… did what he wanted. Now he’s one of the richest men in town. He built his fortune on blood and fraud.” He looked at Dima and added: “What he doesn’t know is that his son escaped — and he believed that if he left him alive he wouldn’t face him… He doesn’t know that son grew up building success, fame, and money so that when he faces him he will be his equal.” He paused, then said: “He succeeded… and against his success I became weaker. Fame and stardom were only a step and a motive to turn people against him. Company and money were the tools in my strike.” He looked at her steadily and said: “The power was that I killed him and took his life…” Dima looked at him suspiciously. Jasser said: “I did all that for him… to avenge my family’s blood from Ahmed Al-Sewafi.” Dima, shocked: “Ahmed Al-Sewafi?” She remembered the man she’d met at the hotel and was stunned. “Is… is that the same man I saw? Osama told me he’s your rival.” Jasser: “Not a rival… an enemy. And now I’ll confront him. I’ll put him to work and remind him of his crime, make him regret every drop of blood shed from us.” Dima stayed silent, unable to believe that the famous star in front of her had such a past, such deep secrets. Behind the lights and cameras was a story bigger than she could imagine. Jasser: “This is the real Jasser… this is me.” He stepped closer, stood in front of her and, coldly and harshly said: “Your husband is not a star or an investor… your husband is someone pretending just to take revenge.” Dima: “You’re going to hurt yourself like this.” Jasser: “Didn’t I hurt when they died? Didn’t I suffer living without them? Wasn’t I traumatized seeing them dead before my eyes?” Dima moved closer and said: “Revenge destroys its owner before his enemy… revenge will ruin you with him.” Jasser: “I don’t mind being destroyed, as long as I get my right from someone like him.” He looked at her, noticed the fear in her eyes, and said: “I see you’re afraid after learning the truth about me.” Dima: “I don’t care about anyone but you… you’re all I think about.” Jasser, from what she said, replied: “And I only think about revenge. You have a choice… you can leave.” He kept looking at her, waiting for her choice, as if he expected her to walk away and was waiting to see what she would choose. But Dima stepped closer and stood in front of him. She said: “If you take revenge… will you be happy?” She placed her hand on his chest and looked into his eyes. Dima said: “Will revenge soothe your heart and put out your fire?” Jasser: “Revenge”