Jacob gasps. He can see a child on his back, apparently untouched, in dirty but fancy clothes and shiny shoes, his dead eyes staring straight up. He sees the upper body of a woman in a purple dress lying face down but he can’t see her legs. He sees something that might be an arm lying bloody and by itself in a crater in the middle of the picture.

‘I guess you understand why I didn’t want that on the bedroom wall tonight,’ Yassim says from somewhere behind him.

Jacob jumps, frightened and guilty; he didn’t hear Yassim coming out of the bedroom.

He manages to put the picture back in its place against the wall before standing up; the flashlight on his phone is still shining.

‘I’m sorry,’ he begins. ‘I was just headed home, didn’t mean to…’

‘It’s not a problem,’ Yassim says calmly. ‘It’s the first picture I took of a drone attack. A wedding near the beginning of the air campaign against ISIS.’

Yassim stands there, his face dimly lit by the light coming through the big windows.

‘I have it on the wall so I don’t forget what it is I’m doing. It’s hard to explain.’ He shrugs his shoulders and smiles sadly. ‘But tonight I didn’t want it watching over us.’

Jacob nods and walks towards him. ‘I understand,’ Jacob says. ‘I didn’t mean to snoop. I was just heading for the door and saw it. Forgive me.’

He’s now reached Yassim and kisses him on the cheek. Yassim looks tired, but something flashes in his eyes as he deliberately pushes Jacob’s hand away from his cheek.

‘I hide my secrets better than that,’ he says evenly. There’s something hard and indifferent in his expression now, something that feels almost like a blow. They stand there, facing each other for a second that never wants to end. ‘If I have any secrets, that is,’ he adds.

He smiles again and his eyes are as warm as before; the change is so quick it leaves Jacob confused, with no idea what to say.

‘But you have to go now, my friend,’ Yassim says. ‘I have to get up early.’

He takes Jacob’s hand again, leads him to the elevator door and opens it. Jacob turns around. ‘Again, I’m sorry,’ he says. ‘It really wasn’t my intention to snoop, I don’t know what got into me.’

‘It’s no problem,’ Yassim says, and caresses his cheek gently. ‘It’s just a photo.’

Jacob nods. ‘Will you call when you get back?’ he says. ‘Or can I get your number?’