Chapter 153

Murat crushed the cigarette in the ashtray, the faint hiss of the extinguished ember barely audible over his labored breaths. His knuckles, stained with dried blood from the earlier outburst, twitched as he rubbed his temples, his head pounding with the weight of memories.

With trembling hands, he covered his face, his shoulders heaving as the intensity of the emotions coursing through him threatened to break him apart. The raw burn of the cigarette lingered in his throat, worsening his coughing fits, but no physical pain could match the agony that churned within him.

He was hurt. He was furious. And above all, he felt like a child again, helpless in the face of a heartbreak no child should ever endure.

“Calm down… just calm down,” he whispered to himself, his voice raspy. His forehead was slick with sweat as he tried to steady his erratic breathing.

The faint hum of traffic beyond the ajar balcony door filled the silence. The distant noises of the city seeme