Episode 7
## Episode 7: The Room No One Opened
**Narrated by Dilara Aslan**
The house was silent again.
Too silent.
The photo frame was still on the floor of my father's office, its glass shattered like the truth we had uncovered. Whoever had broken in had vanished into the night without a trace. No footprints. No fingerprints. Just chaos left behind.
Alihan stood at the broken drawer, shifting through papers.
"Nothing's missing," he muttered. "Whoever came… they weren't here for money."
"Then what?" I asked.
He pulled out a map of the estate — one I'd never seen.
"Look," he said, pointing. "There's a wall here… but it doesn't exist in real life."
I moved beside him. It was true.
The hallway near the east wing stopped at a solid wall.
But on this map… it continued.
"There's a hidden room," I whispered.
Alihan looked at me. "And I think that's what they came for."
---
We went to the east wing in silence.
It smelled like dust and forgotten perfume. The place hadn't changed since the last time I was here — or maybe since the day my mother vanished.
The wall was there. Flat, white. Lifeless.
But when Alihan ran his hand across it, he found something.
A seam.
"I knew it," he whispered.
He pressed inward.
*Click.*
The panel moved — just slightly. Enough to reveal an old-fashioned handle beneath a layer of wallpaper.
With one push, the wall creaked open.
And we stepped into the dark.
---
The room was frozen in time.
Curtains drawn. Furniture covered in white sheets. A thick layer of dust coated every surface.
I reached for the light switch.
Nothing.
Alihan pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight.
It swept across the room — revealing a vanity, a bookshelf, a painting of the sea… and then, something strange.
A trunk in the corner.
It was locked with a gold clasp.
Alihan knelt beside it, fingers tracing the initials engraved into the lid.
**A.A.**
"Aylin Aslan," I whispered. "My mother."
The air shifted.
Alihan looked up at me. "Are you ready?"
No.
But I nodded anyway.
He opened it.
Inside, wrapped in silk and old perfume, were bundles of letters… photographs… and a red leather journal.
My mother's handwriting danced across the first page:
**"If they find this, it means the lies have finally reached their end."**
---
We sat on the floor together, the trunk between us.
I opened the journal slowly, my heart pounding with every word.
*"I was never the perfect wife. And Murat was never the perfect husband. But we were powerful together — until love got in the way. Real love."*
*"He told me to choose. I chose wrong."*
*"Alihan was the price."*
*"He told me the boy had died."*
I stopped breathing.
Alihan froze.
"She thought you were dead," I whispered.
He shook his head in disbelief. "He lied to her. He hid me. And told her I was gone."
---
The weight of the words sank in like stones.
Alihan sat back, his face pale. "He didn't just hide me from you. He erased me from her."
I closed the book and held it to my chest.
"Alihan… he didn't just take your name."
"He stole my life."
---
We went through the letters one by one. Most were unsent — written in sadness, never posted.
But one stood out.
Dated just days before her disappearance.
**"To my daughter, Dilara — if you ever wonder who you are, know that your strength is not your father's legacy. It is mine."**
**"And if Alihan is still alive… forgive me."**
---
We didn't speak for a long time.
We just sat there — in the hidden room, surrounded by the remains of a woman the world forgot.
But I didn't forget her anymore.
And I wouldn't let her truth disappear again.
---
The next morning, Selma found us in the hallway, our clothes dusty, eyes red.
She didn't ask.
But when she saw the journal, her face paled.
"You found it," she said.
"You knew?" I asked.
"I knew there were secrets," Selma admitted. "But I didn't know how deep they went."
Alihan stepped forward. "Someone broke into the study. They were looking for this."
Selma nodded. "Then you're not safe anymore."
---
The house was no longer just a prison of memory.
Now it was a battlefield.
---
**To be continued...**
---
> 🔍 **Next on Episode 8:**
Dilara and Alihan decide to confront Selma about what she truly knows — but a shocking accident during breakfast threatens to silence someone… permanently.