Julian's and Shania's romance in a refugee shelter

Julian Williams was just an average student in New York City. He studied chemistry with pretty good grades and had several friends among his classmates. The only really outstanding quality about him was probably his social commitment. Julian was a voluntary helper for a social organization called >Open hearts for refugees<. An NGO who tries to take care of people who had to flee from their home countries because of war, hunger and persecution by radical groups or ultra-religious regimes.

Julian had an old friend who was part of this organization before he moved to Chicago some years ago. But before he left, he talked to Julian several times about joining too. One day Julian decided to try it and went to the Refugee shelter. Well, it was basically an unused warehouse where the voluntary workers had built a large kitchen, two large group showers and restrooms and the rest was divided by mobile walls into several rooms for the refugees to sleep.

Organizations like this always need helping hands. When you volunteered, you were very welcome. And it was really nice. It felt good doing something to help others next to studying. And as long as his grades were high enough, he could help out regularly.

Of course, there are several problems. There is little to no privacy and families have to share a room, because the space is limited. And to make things worse, people from different regions and with different religious backgrounds have to live together. Some of them are hostile towards each other. This often leads to arguments and threats. In very rare cases even fights can break out, which is strictly forbidden. But at least the people have a place to stay and don’t starve.

And so it came that one Saturday in early autumn, when it was still warm and sunny, Julian was on duty again. He did some basic work like most times. Getting supplies for the medical station and helping with the paperwork of some refugees who had trouble with the language. When this was done, he decided to help out in the kitchen. Most refugees could cook by themselves but there are also some very old people, children and guys who are just totally untalented in cooking. The NGO offers these refugees a war meal for free. It’s nothing special, but far from bad.

There are always a few refugees who offer to help the cook with serving meals and doing the dishes. Julian took a rag and dried plates with a very quiet guy from Uganda. For about an hour nothing unusual happened. But then, there suddenly was a muffled scream from outside of the kitchen. Both Julian and the cook turned around and looked where it came from.

Not far from the kitchen, they almost stumbled into a violent scene. There were three guys and a girl. All from middle east. One guy was bulky but Julian doesn’t remember to know him. The second guy was thin and had only four fingers at one hand. He was a known troublemaker and most likely has lost one of his fingers as a punishment once. The last guy was hardly older than 30, probably two or three years younger. Despite this, he had a long beard and tattoos on both of his arms. Julian noticed them as militia tattoos. Maybe he has been a fighter or supporter of a militia in his homeland.

The girl quickly caught Julian’s attention. She was around his age and is currently sitting on the floor with her hand holding or protecting her face. She had a headscarf, which she wore tight around her head and went over neatness in her other clothes, which were quite regular. Jeans and a T-shirt with long arms. The end of the headscarf was hold under the neck of her shirt. Julian helped her once learning English. He remembered her Name was Shania.

A lot of people in this refugee shelter were from regions where woman rights are basically not existing. But they got told several times when they get accepted here, that **** against woman is absolutely forbidden. No matter what is the reason might be or which ridiculous religious believes this allows. The NGO regularly trained his volunteers, including Julian, how to interfere in such assaults.

“What are you doing here?” Julian asked loud and slowly, so they understand him, “get away from her! Instantly!”

“Go your way, American!” the guy with the beard replied annoyed and in not very good English, “this is not your business.”

“I don’t know who you are or what the reason for this is,” Julian said diplomatic but strict, “but **** is not tolerated here. No matter for what reason. We demand you to stop this immediately.”

“You understand nothing,” the guy with the beard replied, “this a matter of family honor. You stay out of this, if you don’t want to get hurt.”

“Murat … please …” Shania begged quietly on the ground and she slightly bleeded from her mouth a wound on her forehead.

Suddenly the guy called Murat turned angry around and kicked the girl on the floor. He hissed some words in a language Julian couldn’t understand. Shania cried and rolled to a ball to protect herself. Immediately Julian reached for Murat and pushed him away from Shania. Murat stumbled against a nearby wall and gasped out of surprise. He was not bad hurt but furious.

“You are dead, heretic!” Murat screamed.

He and the other two guys moved quick. Murat ant the guy with four fingers almost jumped at Julian. The bulky guy was suddenly blocked by the cook who wanted to assist Julian. But Julian doesn’t even tired to defend himself. He let Murat grab the collar of his shirt and offered him his unprotected face.

“Come on, you coward, hit me!” Julian said strict, “hit me if you want. But if you do so, you will find yourself at the other side of the door within the next hour. You think it is bad here? Try it homeless on the streets. I wonder if the hunger, the cold or the rats kill you first.”

Murat gridded his teeth in anger. He wanted to kill Julian for his, in his eyes, disrespectful interference. But he also wasn’t stupid. He knew that the director of the shelter would kick him out if he violates the rules too often.

“You will regret this,” Murat hissed but let go of Julian.

The other guys calmed down too. The situation deescalated, much to Julian’s and the cook’s relief. Murat turned to Shania a last time and told her some words that obviously shocked her. Then he and his friends left and Julian could take care of Shania. She had tears all over her face and a little rest of dried blood on her forehead. But she seemed otherwise unharmed.

“Are you hurt?” Julian asked caring and tried to comfort Shania gently, “don’t worry, he will not cause any trouble. We will keep an eye on him.”

“I … I’m fine …” Shania stuttered and wipes her eyes, “b-but you … you shouldn’t h-have done this.”

“This guy doesn’t scare me,” Julian replied calm, “he is a coward. He needed two friends to be brave enough to harass you.”

“Murat is my brother,” Shania almost cried, “he wanted to find a husband for me but I refused. He … he b-banned me from the family.”

Julian was shocked to hear this. So, this was not just an **** by some guys who wanted to harass women. Cultural crimes were always a difficult. Crimes in families too. And both combined were a nightmare. Especially for the victims.

“Come with me!” Julian said and offered Shania a hand to get up, “we have to talk to Martha about this.”

Martha was the director of the refugee shelter. She worked every day to keep peace between he different groups in the shelter and get enough donations for food, rent and medicine. When she heard what happened, she was concerned. Every incident like this had the potential to become a huge problem.

Shania explained her problem to Martha and Julian. Back in her home country she was **** and held hostage by radical militia guys. Her brother was **** to join. One day she managed to escape with him, but he still shared some of the radical believe they **** into them. Not a virgin anymore, she was basically worthless and once they found asylum in New York, Murat refused to open to the new culture. He looked for a husband among local Muslim societies. He also did this to get out of the shelter himself. When she refused, he got upset like never before and hit her. After Julian and the cook stepped in, he wared his sister that he would kill her if she dared to come back to the shared room.

“I guess I can slowly get an idea of the situation,” Martha says calm but tense, “Murat violated the rules of this organization. I assume there is no chance to sort things out with him in the near future. I see only two ways. The room he lives in is ours. We can **** him to let you use it. Or we expel him from the shelter for breaking the rules.”

“H-he will hurt m-me if you send m-me back,” Shania stutters, “or h-he w-will …”

“And if you kick him out, his goons will take **** on Shania,” Julian added, “don’t we have another place in a women’s room left?”

“I’m afraid we have not,” Martha answered bitter, “all rooms in the shelter are already overcrowded. We already have to refuse new refugees almost every day. And some of them already sleep on the floor. There are no suitable host families anymore.”

“What if … what if I take her in?” Julian offers thoughtfully, “I have a spare bed in my apartment. And it would be only until we can find her an own place.”

“Your offer is … very generous,” Martha began carefully, “I wish we had much more people who are willing to help victims of ****. But I can’t accept your offer. You are very friendly and we value all voluntary helpers, but we have to make sure, the families that take the refugees in are suitable. This takes a while and several talks. And in Shania’s case, we can’t leave her in the care of an unmarried man. Nothing personally, but it’s against her religious believes.”

“Are this the same believes she had to flee from?” Julian asked sceptic, “listen, I agree with you, this is no easy decision. You are responsible for the girl. But I guess it should be just for a few days. Until another place gets free. If it’s necessary, I can repeat all the talks and you can check on her whenever you want. And of course, we only do it when Shania is fine with it.”

“I admit, that’s a good point,” Martha agreed thoughtfully, “what do you think, Shania? Does staying with Julian for a few days sound like an option?”

“I c-can impossible accept t-this,” Shania answered stuttering and looked embarrassed to the ground, “it is m-much too generous. I can n-never repay you. B-but I c-can’t go back to our r-room. N-not after this t-thing with Murat.”

“I can’t undo what has happened between your brother and you,” Julian replied as calming as possible, “but I can guarantee you, that I don’t want you to repay me anything. You are here because you need help. So, please let me help you.”

“Y-you are too generous,” Shania mumbled embarrassed and tried to hide her red face under her headscarf, “I … I guess I would take the offer, if it isn’t a problem for you.”

“Well, I guess this is the best outcome we can hope for in this situation,” Martha mumbled relieved, “I can’t thank you enough, Julian. You are really doing us a huge favor.”

“Well, I guess I just can’t look away,” Julian replied, “what do you think, Shania? Do you want to see your new home?”

Shania nods shy and looks to Martha as if she need her approval. Martha watches Julian over her glasses and nods too. The ride back to his apartment by bus is quiet and Shania seems to be uncomfortable. Nobody can blame her, after all the trouble with her brother and what she has been through in general.

Back in Julian's apartment, he immediately got the guest bed ready. Shania was speechless. The room was small and only had a bed and a desk, but it was still twice the size of the room she had to share with her brother. Shania only had a bag full of clothes. She never owned much more while she lived in the shelter.

“W-would you like a tea, sir?” Shania offered shy, “I could make one.”

“That would be nice,” Julian answered while he covered a pillow “the tea is in the right upper shelf in the kitchen. And please don't call me sir. Julian is just fine.”

Shania hurried to the kitchen and Julian continued his work. When he was finally done, Shania appeared with a cup of red tea in her hands. Julian believed it was rosehip.

“Thank you, Shania,” Julian thanked her and took the cup, “where is your tea?”

“M-my tea?” Shania asked and seemed a little shocked, “but y-you didn't allowed me to h-have one. I … I just wanted to be as useful as p-possible to you. S-so I offered to make one.”

“Shania, you are not my servant,” Julian said and sighed, “you don't need my allowance to make yourself a tea or something to eat.”

“I … I'm s-sorry,” Shania mumbled uncomfortable, “p-please don't be m-mad!”

“I'm not mad,” Julian replied carefully but also a little tired, “alright, forget this Shania! Everything is fine. You just need some more time to get used to your new living situation. How about you get to know the apartment and I … I guess I watch a movie.”

Julian moved to the TV and choose a movie to watch. When he decided the movie, he moved to the couch. Suddenly Shania appeared next to him. She tried to not look directly at him.

“Do you … do you mind if I s-sit with you?” Shania asked shy.

“Of course not,” Julian answered and offered her a place on the couch, “please make yourself comfortable.”

Shania took place next to Julian. She was a little close and shivered nervous, but Julian barely noticed. He looked for the remote control instead. But when he found it, he noticed that Shania has moved closer, so she there was basically no space left between them. Still she looked at the TV and seemed stressed. Her face was blushing red.

“Can I … hold your h-hand?” Shania asks shy and groped almost blind for his hand.

“Shania, wait!” Julian said and gently stopped her, “you don't have to do this.”

“You don't want to?” Shania asked a little frightened, “I … is it … b-because of me?”

“No, Shania,” Julian replied immediately, “no. It is just … I don't want you to think you own me this. I'm not doing this because I want you to repay me in any way.”

“Oh, I understand,” Shania said and calmed down, “b-but I … I want this. You are n-not u-using me. You … you are the f-first man in t-three years w-who is not using me. Nobody did something n-nice for me without d-demanding a-anything in return. P-please, Julian. L-let me repay you. B-because I want to.”

“Are you sure about this?” Julian asked a last time, “I don't want you to feel used.”

“I am,” Shania said and for the first time she sounded absolutely confident, “I want you.”

Gently Julian lifted her chin with a finger. Shania understood and closed her eyes while she brought her lips closer to his. They met in the middle and kissed each other deeply. And they hold it for some moments. When they broke the kiss, they looked at each others eyes and knew without any further words what they wanted.

“Stay with me, Shania!” Julian said and gently caressed Shania's cheek under the headscarf, “as long as you want.”

Shania laid back her head found a comfy place on Julian's shoulder. Their hands closed around each other. They haven't started the movie this evening. They didn't need it anymore. They had each other now.