11: The Date

Zeina looked at her reflection for the hundredth time as she got ready for her date with Mr. X, her phone lay on her bed and she was expecting a text from him at any minute telling her how long he’d need before he got to el deera. She had spent the entire morning preparing for it, starting out by going to the Salon and getting everything she needed done, along with painting her nails a dark red color that she knew Mr. X loved. She had also spent the entire morning thinking of Manaf, she wondered why it was so hard to just erase his number and forget something that hadn’t even started. She had had no trouble staying away from guys before but she felt some sort of pull toward this specific one. Without knowing anything about him, without spending a decent amount of time with him, she found herself choosing to believe him over her mother…over her best friend.

She would protect herself though…she would give Mr. X his ultimatum and if he chose to marry her then she wouldn’t make Dalal’s mistake; she’d agree and settle down. But if Mr. X showed even the slightest hint of doubt then it was over for him and back to Manaf…to whatever it was that she had with Manaf. Back to the undefined pull that came from a man who knew her so little he could forget her name in a week.

Butterflies in her stomach she jumped at the tone of a message on her mobile, it was Mr. X…”10 mins wakoon ehnaak 7obi” it said. She pressed the reply button and punched in “ok…leaving the house now”. She glanced at her short shorts with the black tights under them and jacket-like grey top, her hair flowed loose and in waves and her makeup was to a minimum, aside from her red lipstick. She grabbed her bag throwing her mobile inside and ran out of her bedroom. Within minutes she was adjusting the seat belt around her waist and was putting the gear on Drive.

Manaf had called her in the morning but she hadn’t answered…having decided to wait until things were clear between her and Mr. X she would be ignoring all his calls and texts until after this date...or possibly ignoring them forever.

She turned with the winding street in front of her; she’d be meeting Mr. X at a small supermarket to pick him up…it would be too suspicious if two cars parked inside the garage of the unused house, especially if one of them didn’t belong to anyone members of the family that owned it. Parking next to Mr. X’s car she unlocked the doors and waited for him to get in. Within seconds he had locked his car and was opening the passengers door to hers..

Zeina flashed him her biggest smile as she glanced over the man of her dreams, the first and only love of her life. “3aash min shaaafich” he beamed obviously pleased with how she looked. Mr. X looked exactly as he had when she was with him, only a little bit more mature and handsome. Zeina’s butterflies came back and a wave of confusion hit her…she didn’t know what she wanted to do anymore and wished she didn’t have to carry on a conversation without having made up her mind. Deciding to push Manaf into the back of her head she began giggling at Mr. X’s compliments..

“Esh’hal zaain! Wel sha3er 6aayel ashoof… “ he began listing all the things about her, beginning with her hair and finishing with her red nails. Within minutes they were pulling up into the closed garage that belonged to Zeina’s dad. Locking up the car she led the way inside and they headed straight to the living room..

“Mashallah wayed 7elo il bait..mara7 taskinoona?” he asked looking around at the large area in front of him.

“La iboy be2ajra atwaqa3..” Zeina replied taking a seat on one of the single sofas…she wanted to throw him off a bit by leaving him no option to sit next to her. Mr. X took a seat on the nearest sofa to hers and put his hand on her knee squeezing it lightly, “Zayoonti! Shloonich 7ayati…it’s been so long since I’ve seen you..” he laughed, he was obviously losing his cool and she could feel a touch of shyness being to form inside him. She was usually very upbeat and chattery with him and didn’t give him the chance to feel uncomfortable or not know what to say but today she felt she couldn’t trust her mouth to speak, only because she didn’t know what her mind was thinking. She crossed her legs, one over the other, forcing him to drop his hand off her knee, his expression turned into one of momentarily shock before gaining himself and leaning back.

“3asa ma shar feech shay?”

“la bil 3aks..laish?” she asked him, her tone wasn’t assuring at all. Inside her bag her phone vibrated and she fought the urge to take it out…it would be too rude.

“Madry wayed hadya..are you uncomfortable?” He leaned in his forehead creasing with worry. Zeina looked closely at the man in front of her; the man who hurt more than anyone in her life, the man who caused her more pain with his goodbye than all the painful experiences in her life put together. The man she had taken a year to remotely begin to get over. He was beautiful. He was safe. He was what she had spent every single second of every single day since she met him up until this very second thinking of and praying to God she could have.

Deciding this was as good time as any to drop her “ultimatum” bomb she sucked in a deep breath and wrung her hands.

“Tabee il 9ara7a Mr. X, fe shay on my mind..and I don’t know how to say it.” Zeina suddenly felt aware of the fact that they were alone, she got nervous immediately, not afraid of anything he might do to her but just the helplessness of being in an empty place confronting a person she’d rather not.

“just say it…we’ve always been honest with each other..” he told her, the worry lines increasing.

Yeah, too honest! Zeina thought to herself remembering how he had told her he would always be honest with her, up until the point he honestly admitted he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with her and that they’d be better as friends…”I’m being honest with you, you know I’ll never lie to you” he had told her, as if the fact that he was telling her the truth made him the good guy. But now here he was back and regretting what he had done…the dog returning with his tail between his legs. Or so she would find out now.

“Mr. X, you have no idea how much you hurt me when you left…” Zeina began, already the minutes spent together in that room being enough to bring back all the torturing memories of the break up and the time alone without him, the time spent waiting for him to come back. She felt her voice begin to break as she tried to put to words just how much he had hurt her…

“O everyone deserves a second chance ana I believe that, bes you owe me…you more than owe me Mr. X.” her voice began to rise as anger joined the sadness in her throat. Mr. X, obviously afraid of the huge confrontation coming up, decided to wait in silence as she finished speaking.

“And I no longer want anything from you, except that you do good on the promise you made me…the promise you broke when you left me, the promise you’re silently making when you tell me you’re sorry and you want to come back into my life. If you are truly sorry for what you did, if you truly want me in your life, if you honestly cannot live without me … then don’t call me your girlfriend now. Call me something more, you’ve had enough time to get to know me, and more than enough time to miss me, and now your back. You better have something better than ‘girlfriend’ and ‘7abeebti’ to offer me…

Zeina’s words trailed as her voice began to shake. Her emotions were getting a hold of her and she didn’t know how long she could keep talking and making sense at the time…the tears were going to flow any second now. She was also afraid, what if this confrontation wasn’t the right idea...what if all this blew up in her face right now? What if his reaction isn’t something she’s expecting.

Mr. X wasn’t looking at her anymore; instead he was staring at the ground and slightly nodding his head as if re-thinking what she had said. After a long silence he looked back at Zeina, his face expressionless.

“Ok.” He said as if he was answering a question.

“Okay sheno?” Zeina asked confused,

“Ok Zeina…will you marry me?”

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Dearest Readers,
I am very sick and stuck at home...lucky for you I've decided to write a few more posts for this story since I have nothing else to do besides cough and sneeze every once in a while. I've written the post that's to come after this one...but unfortunately it has been taken hostage :O ...

And the person who's taken it has a few demands. This is what the ransom note said:

MANAF FANS...IF you ever want to hear the outcome of this story then you will do as I tell you without contacting Um Manaf. If any of you as much as tries to get her to post it before I get what I want then I will not only DELETE the new post but every other post after it.

If you want to see your post up anytime soon then this is what you'll give me...
9 MORE FOLLOWERS to this blog (1 is not enough!)
And .. I am demanding many more comments...atleast 20 before I consider releasing the post.

You have 24 hours..