Ahmad walked with hesitant steps, his heart beating like war drums. A muffled terror filled his thoughts:
"What am I going to do? And why does this girl even like me?"
He turned to Misaki and whispered in a flustered voice:
"Come on, let's go to your dad..."
She nodded in agreement, her eyes gleaming with an innocence that hid a fear no less than his own.
When they arrived at the imposing gang mansion, they were greeted by a tall man with a stern, wrinkled face and a cigar that never left his hand. Ahmad approached cautiously, bowing slightly in respect, then said:
"Thank you... sir."
The man smiled a heavy smile that held the authority of the underworld and said:
"I am Haruki Tatsuma... leader of this gang, and Misaki's father."
Ahmad hesitated for a moment, then moved closer with slow steps, as if he didn't want anyone to hear him. He whispered in a low, almost cracking voice:
"Why did you get me involved in all this?"
Haruki slowly exhaled a puff of smoke from his cigar and said with a cutting coldness:
"Because I want you to marry my daughter."
Ahmad's eyes widened in disbelief. He stammered:
"What?!... But... I'm a Muslim. I can't get married this way."
Haruki pursed his lips and stared into his eyes with severity:
"You will marry her in a month. That's an order."
Ahmad felt as if the ground had slipped from under his feet. A voice inside him screamed: "If my family finds out... what will I do?" He then looked at Haruki in panic and asked:
"Does my family know anything about me?"
Haruki laughed with a cold lightness:
"No one knows anything about you."
Ahmad breathed erratically, then clung to the last thread of his hope, saying:
"Let me talk to my family... Let me go back to Yemen. Better yet... come with me, Haruki. You'll see the truth with your own eyes."