A Light in The Dark [TTW Tag: Della]

[Cassim ben Ishak]

Since the room switch, many things had changed. One thing being his new roommate. She was an interesting individual, and so far he was rather fond of her company. Even though he still found himself missing Dorian, and wondering for the younger mans safety... Yet it was another individual who haunted and plagued his mind. She'd been there. Right there on the other side of the wall. So close, yet so very far from his reach. 

If Dorian had been taken... The chances of being beside Della were slim. After all, from everything he'd heard, they were all being moved and cycled around. For what? A sick 'love game'? Cassim didn't understand it, but he needed as much information as he could gather. And that meant learning who was involved in these rooms. He knew Maya, Mathias, Freya, and Katherine were still out there. With any luck he would be roomed next to them and find out what they knew.

Perhaps one of them would be with Della, if he found himself lucky enough. 

Walking to the far corner of the room, he sat on the edge of the couch before staring at the wall for a moment. Earlier when he had been asleep, he'd heard a scream. There was someone on the other side. Cassim only hoped that they would hear him. Closing his hand into a fist he gave three firm knocks. A moment of silence. He held his breath as he gave another round of knocks, a little harder and louder this time. 

Please hear me, he thought desperately.

"Hello?" he asked, trying not to be too loud as to disturb his new roommate. "Can anyone hear me?" 

[Della Edington]

The new room was certainly an upgrade: she had her own clean bed, there were fresh clothes for her to change into, a working toilet, and a shower she could use everyday. All of these were luxuries after her last "room", not to mention the books, desk, and fucking chandelier that hung from the ceiling. It was nice to not smell or feel gross, nice to have a light source she and her new roommate could turn on and off at will, nice to have soaps and shampoos and makeup.

But it would've been better to have someone familiar with her.

Della curled up on her bed, her back pressed against the wall as she stared at Mathias' bed. With him in the bathroom, she had the chance to be alone for a little bit, which gave her the tempting chance to let down her guard for the moment. He was nice enough, considering the "incident" that had occurred earlier, but she couldn't stop herself from wishing she had stayed in that dank, decrepit room next to Cassim's. She buried her face in the pillow, trying and failing to banish such a foolish thought from her mind. If both she and Mathias had been moved around, surely Cassim had been too, right? Who knew where he was now? Frustration swelling in her chest, she flipped over to glare at the wallpaper. It was too much to hope that they shared a wall between them again.

Maybe next time they shuffle us around like this he and I can share-

A sound from the wall jolted her from thoughts she shouldn't have been thinking. Knocking. So, they did have neighbors, just as she had suspected. Should she go and tell Mathias? If it was Maya, she'd be pleased, but Della imagined he would want to talk to her first. Another trio of knocks, a little louder this time, and she sat up to get off the bed to let her roommate know when she heard the person speak.

"Cassim?!" His name leapt out of her lips like a prayer as she turned back to the wallpaper, impulsively giving a knock back with her knuckles. What were the odds? Out of how many people and however many rooms, they had managed to keep the same distance between them! "Cassim, it's me! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" 

[Cassim ben Ishak]

Please hear me. 

Perhaps his neighbors were asleep. Hell, there could be no one or someone who didn't know who he was and had little to no desire to speak at all. Just as he began to turn away, a familiar voice sparked a familiar fire in his chest. 

"Cassim?!" 

He froze at the muffled call of his name. There was a shuffle of movement on the other side of the wall quickly followed by the rapid succession of knocks. Part of him was filled with doubt, but hearing her ask if he was alright made him confirm that it was her. His Della. A soft smile crawled across his lips as he pressed his forehead against the wall and released a chuckle. What could have been the odds? It was both a blessing and a curse. 

"Della," he breathed. At least now he could rest easy knowing she was alive. If only they had been put in the same room...

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Though my pride might be a little wounded." 

His mind flickered back briefly to his earlier encounter with Carmen, a small flash of heat rushing to his cheeks. It wasn't as if he had asked for it to happen. Even if she was pleasant to look at and somewhat charming in a strange, blunt way. 

"I'm more concerned about you. Are you alright? I thought I heard a scream earlier." 

Cassim hoped and prayed it hadn't been her. Perhaps another woman. He still needed to check the other wall at some point. Perhaps Katherine or Dorian would be trapped on the other side? Unlikely, but there would be no harm in finding out. But for now he was content. Della was there, and hopefully they could spend the days away talking to each other again. She'd been his light in the darkness stuck in that room with Dorian. He only hoped he was able to provide her some amount of comfort as she did for him. 

[Della Edington]

Della felt giddy from relief and joy, and right now she couldn't bring herself to care about her composure. He was alive and well and sounded no worse for wear. Did he have the same amenities she had? That would've done wonders for him, no doubt. She grabbed the pillow she had previously abandoned and hugged it close, grateful that she was able to talk to him at all, even if she wanted to see him with her own eyes to make sure he was really okay. At least he was telling her no harm had come to him, although she wasn't sure what could've damaged his pride. Cassim wasn't one to be easily embarrassed or insulted; what on earth had his roommate done? 

His roommate. She tensed, thinking about who she was currently sharing the room with. If they had been paired with each other to be mixed gender rooms, then his roommate would be a woman. Which was fine. Hopefully it would help him sleep better at night. She hugged the pillow tighter to her chest, feeling that same gut-wrenching sensation from when Katherine was talking about him. Why did Mathias have to ask about "special someone's"? That must've been the reason why she was feeling so disconcerted right now. Just that.

"I'm alright," she answered, thankful for the distracting question, "I was just surprised. Hopefully I didn't scare you too much. My roommate had walked in on me in the shower, that's why I screamed. I think I scared him just as much as he scared me." Wait, didn't Cassim seem to know a few people here? Maybe it was another friend or acquaintance from work? "His name is Mathias. I don't suppose you know him, do you? Brown hair, a little taller than me, probably my age?"

[Cassim ben Ishak]

A smile formed across his face when she told him she was alright. Good, so no harm had come to her since the switch. Yet as she continued explaining her situation, he couldn't help but tense when she mentioned another man walked in on her in a shower. What man walked in without properly knocking and asking to enter? To see her exposed and... Very bare... An image of Della flashed in his mind, one that was absolutely not appropriate but it was there nonetheless. Why did he almost feel... Jealous? Heat rushed to his face, and he had no doubt that there was a blush already forming across his cheeks. 

"His name is Mathias. I don't suppose you know him, do you? Brown hair, a little taller than me, probably my age?"

Cassim blinked. He blinked a few times in order to try and process this information.

Mathias?! 

No. No, that couldn't be right. Mathias did not seem like the sort to do anything promiscuous like that. Besides... He was fairly certain that the younger man was head over heels for Maya, and vice versa. It simply had to be nothing more than an accident. Cassim hadn't personally spent as much time with the man besides business affairs and meeting him when he was with Maya, but otherwise their contact was fairly limited. 

"I know him," Cassim admitted, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "We've worked together a few times. Good man." 

Besides the fact he walked in on you.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. It was an accident. There was absolutely no reason to be so flustered. It wasn't as if he and Della were an item. He had no claim over her... Yet that didn't mean he couldn't be defensive in terms of her honor, right?

"Nothing else has 'odd' has happened, right?" 

[Della Edington]

So Cassim did know him, at least to the extent that he had a positive opinion of him. Small world. Still, if he thought Mathias was a good person, she'd trust that until proven otherwise. After all, everything about the shower incident might've been embarrassing, but he seemed genuinely flustered and ashamed by it. That could be hard to fake in the heat of the moment, and surely there were easier ways to creep on women than that. "It seems that Maya agrees," she added to his assessment. "He said they were dating. I'm not sure when that started, but good for them, hm?"

What was bothering her? Something at the back of her brain was refusing to sit still and be calm like the rest of her thoughts, but she couldn't make it out. Was it the distance? Della wasn't a fan of it, but considering their arrangement in the last room, this was just more of the same. Maybe she was still agitated from the whole shower thing. She twirled a strand of hair around her finger, trying to give it more thought when Cassim asked if anything else had happened to her. She knew what he meant, and she shook her head before remembering that he couldn't see her.

"No, nothing since...well, you know." A heavy sigh left her lips, grateful that she hadn't been dragged into another "game". "I talked to Mathias about it, and he didn't even know anything like that had happened, so it looks like not everyone's being subjected to it. Hopefully that means you and your roommate won't get forced into anything..." She couldn't stop herself. She hated it but the question was out of her mouth before she could stop it: "Did you get a new roommate? What are they like?" 

Why did that matter? Della wouldn't be able to do anything with that information. It wasn't her concern if he was sharing a room - or a bed - with another woman. It wouldn't have been the first time, she knew that, but this ugly emotion inside of her was impossible to ignore. At least Cassim would just think of them as friendly questions, he had no reason to think otherwise. Which didn't help. She buried her face into the pillow again, biting back a curse. Why was she losing her composure like this?

[Cassim ben Ishak]

Good. At least he knew Mathias had his thoughts focused on another woman. Sighing softly he turned and pressed his back against the wall. The anger he felt was slowly melting away, yet he still felt... Denied? Uncomfortable? He shouldn't be so bothered by this. Cassim couldn't understand why. He cared about her, yes... What happened was an accident. It had to be because he was so close to her. After all, he'd always been overly protective of her. 

Yes. That was it. He was just being overprotective. 

"Did you get a new roommate? What are they like?" 

Cassim immediately tensed as his mind relieved through what happened earlier. The image of her curves, pale flesh, the ink across her back... A small rush of heat formed in his cheeks and he released a small sigh in shame. He hated how his body had reacted to such a simple sight. Yet he hadn't been... intimate, in practically months. Hell, the night before he'd been taken, he was finally going to make a house call. But of course that never happened. 

"Her name is Carmen." 

What could he say? That she was beautiful and charming? How he had been practically indecent in front of her? Cassim didn't want to even think of telling her just exactly how they met. Not only because it was beyond embarrassing, but because he didn't feel comfortable with her knowing he was just that desperate for human contact. Hell, he'd already been somewhat embarrassed when he had confessed to her about his abnormal sleeping habits. 

"She is... Interesting. Though I feel for her. It seems she was one of the latest victims of the 'games'." Cassim went silent for a moment, his mind moving back over all the details he had read within the little black book. "An innocent girl was killed... And for what? Because the game didn't go exactly how she wanted it?" 

He felt disgusted. What kind of sick individual did this? If he ever got out of here... Cassim would make sure she never had the chance to hurt anyone else ever again. A small sigh escaped from his lips as he leaned his head back against the wall. Even being in such a nice room with a gorgeous woman... His mind and thoughts kept coming back to Della. Her thoughts, her feelings.

"I'm worried for what the future holds for us, Dells... But I'm glad you're here. With me." 

[Della Edington]

His roommate was a woman. She knew it. It wasn't a surprise, not when she had suspected it and had been roomed with a man, but it felt unpleasant to have it confirmed. Della tried to shake off the feeling, and when that didn't happen, rationalize it. Cassim was a handsome and charming man, so if this other woman, "Carmen", found herself attracted to him, Della couldn't fault her. But it wasn't as if this was the type of situation to throw yourself at a stranger, right? Even if the rooms were cleaner and the beds were nice, and even if Cassim needed a body next to his to sleep...

Her annoyance slipped away as he continued, mentioning another "game" and going quiet, as if he was collecting himself. When he spoke again, Della couldn't help but feel cold. 

Someone had died. 

It wasn't like the "game" she and Katherine had been forced into. Sure, they thought the gun had a bullet in it and that they would die, but they didn't. This was...she shivered, trying to refocus herself. "Because the game didn't go exactly how she wanted it?" Who was "she"? The person behind their kidnapping? Was "she" also the one who forced Hannah's wedding? Would another murder happen?

Cassim spoke again, bringing her back to the present, and she couldn't fight the small smile on her face. "...yeah," she answered, "same here." They sat in silence for a few moments, Della enjoying the small moment between them.

But, wait, hadn't he mentioned something earlier?

"Cassim, didn't you say something about your pride getting bruised or something? What happened?" Maybe Carmen wasn't happy about being roomed with him? An argument? She knew Cassim could be a bit proud, but given the situation, Della didn't think anyone would go out of their way to insult him.