Previously:
“you are not sleeping till I know and understand why you’ve been pushing me away ever since jam3at bait oboy Ahmad 2 months ago, everything was more than ok between us, what happened? did I do anything? did I say something that hurt your feelings?" he asked.
“you are not sleeping till I know and understand why you’ve been pushing me away ever since jam3at bait oboy Ahmad 2 months ago, everything was more than ok between us, what happened? did I do anything? did I say something that hurt your feelings?" he asked.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • •
Flash back:
Monthly, we’d have a family gathering at my grandfather’s house, baba Ahmad. All family members or people that are
related to our family are invited and welcomed to attend and join us. Baba
Ahmad -alah y6awil b 3umrah- was raised ena yo9al ri7mah, he believes that if
we all share the same blood, then we should all be close to each other
no matter what.
At the end of one gathering,
about two months ago, we all sat together with my grandparents when all the
guests left. Baba Ahmad, Mama Noura, my parents, Areen & Faisal’s parents, my other uncle Fahad, Faisal, Areen, and I were
all setting in the huge living room chatting. The men decided to go and set in
the Dewaniya*, while Areen and I went to the mini movie theatre in the basement
to watch a movie or an episode of ‘Modern Family.’ After a little while I started getting sleepy, and I wanted
to get out of my dress, so I went to ask my mom when are we going home.
When I got to the living room I
overheard her talking to auntie Nadia, Faisal’s mom,
“ana gayla lk enhum maktoben* shofehum sh7lwhum mashalah!” said auntie Nadia and continued, “ma atwa8a3 Faisal shayf ‘3erha, ana
bklmah blmw’9o3!”
“Alah yktib eli feh al khair,” my mom
replied,
“Ajal mta tbon nje n56bha?” asked
auntie Nadia.
‘wait what? Y56bon Faisal l meen? Lee ana? Ee ana, ana elbnt
elw7eda other than Areen in this family, and he obviously wont marry his
sister. Wait is he going to be talked into marrying me because we were written*
since we were kids?..’ at that night I allowed my thoughts to take me into another
world.
Ever since, I decided I wont let
this happen, why should he marry me if he doesn’t want to?
he doesn’t even look at me like that, he treats me like I’m his little sister. Since I don’t have much power over my parent’s decisions, and what they think is right for me, I thought
I would distance Faisal from me and make him dislike me, so that when the times
comes he would refuse to marry me! That way he’ll have a
shot at marrying someone he actually loves or think of as a future wife, and
same thing with me.
I wont
deny the fact that I used to feel attracted to Faisal, but always kept my
feelings to myself. He was so perfect, w ma elkamil ela alah! He was successful
in his studies, a book and poem lover, he's committed to his duties towards Allah, treats his parents and younger sister
in the best way anyone can, he never says 'no' when someone asks him for a favor,
he always dresses neatly and sophistically, I’ve never heard anything mean coming out of his mouth.. and the
list can go on and on.
Just like any other girl, I wanted to feel that tingly feeling, the
stomach butterflies everyone keeps on mentioning, feeling sad when my lover is
sad and happy with his smile, but I’d hate it
if it was a one sided feeling.
Back to reality:
I kept quite, and stared at his
beautiful face,
“Y3ni mara7 t7keen eish 9ayr feek?”
“Ma9ayir feni shay.”
“Ajal leh knti t9e7en tw? Sul you know ena dmo3ik ‘3alya, e7keli eish m’9aygik? eish mza3lik?”
“The fact that we’re written.” I finally spoke! He had to know.
“Written? What are talking about?” he asked dumbfounded.
“Your parents are going to force you into marrying me,” I said on the verge of crying
He smiled and looked at me, “no one can ever force me into doing something I don’t want to do.”
I covered my face as tears rolled
down again, ‘Yup its that time of the month’ I thought.
“lesh leshh?” he asked me with the softest tone when he saw me hiding my
face, he came closer to my face and grabbed my hands to have a better look, I
tried resist and pull my hands,
“are you seriously trying to pull your hands from my grip?” he asked sarcastically, as he held both my hands with one
of his, and used his other hand to whip my tears.
We had a moment of silence, he
stared at my teary eyes, and I stared at his that had a certain undefinable
sparkle in them, you can just get lost in them every time you see them.
He broke our silence with his
racy voice, “L3nbo thal remsh kaif eni min asbaba ajen,” I swear I could feel my cheeks warming up at that moment
when I heard his words.
I opened my mouth to say
something but the door opening interrupted my thoughts, both our heads shot to
the door and we saw Areen standing there taken off guard.
“O-k. I’ll leave you guys alone.” was the
only thing she said before she shut the door really fast. Faisal freed my hands
and looked back at me, “Sul, bgolk klmten..”
Do you want to know what Faisal tells Sultana?
Stay pitched for the next chapter x
*Dewaniya: a small
built majlis that is usually separated from the house, to give the people there
their privacy from the house itself.
*Written/Maktoben
(مكتوبين):
In Saudi there’s a concept in some families, that if the
parents of two kids think they’d
be a good fit for each other, age and character wise, then they’ll most likely end up together. So basically
everyone knows that for example Flana is for Flan. Its done.
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I hoped you enjoyed reading the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Anyways, if you think that I need to touch upon certain things please do tell me, and as I always say feedback and comments are highly appreciated :*x
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