Chapter 24

* This chapter is dedicated to @Maha677, probably the sweetest person alive. ;*
I hope you enjoy this post, I tried making it long like chapter 22. :D

-






I crouched down to the floor and stretched my arm under the orange couch, my hand found something hidden under it. I grabbed it and pulled it out. I gasped in wonder and excitement once I saw what it was.

The delicate silver charm bracelet was carefully wrapped in a red cloth, I pulled it up to my cheek to feel the soft silky material against my cheek before dangling the bracelet in front of me to look closely at the charms. There were 5 little charms, one was a little silver paintbrush attached to the bracelet, a little red microphone, a tiny heart, a football charm and a delicate S letter. It was beautiful, it took my breath away. I fastened it around my wrist and watched it hug around my wrist, fitting perfectly.

I couldn't stop smiling, a little folded note fell out of the silk cloth and I impatiently flipped it open with my fingers. I could see S3ood's messy handwriting, it was adorable. It said:

I wanted you to be able to bring your art and your music everywhere with you. Handing you an actual paint set would be too heavy to carry around, so I thought I'd set every charm for you. One for your art, one for your voice, one for your love for football, an S for your beautiful name and a little heart to give you a little piece of me, now I'll be with you all along the way. Not just through bbm. ;* - S3ood.

I aw'd out loud, I folded the little note carefully and slipped it into my pocket, keeping it safe. My purse wasn't with me and I didn't want anyone to read his words, I felt like it was personally just for me. I didn't want to share him with anyone.

"Shoug? Shfeech ga3da chithe brou7ich?" I nearly fell back onto the floor once I heard the deep voice, it scared the sh*t out of me! Khalid looked at me weirdly and tried not to laugh.

"Khara3tech?" Khalid laughed it off but I could hear the suspicion in his voice.

"Bismellah! Kent ga3da agra blogs, et3rfny a7b agra when it's quiet," I quickly switched to the safari browser on my blackberry and thank goodness, I had a blog open already. He took a step forward to peek at my phone, he seemed satisfied when he saw the blocks of letters. He wasn't a reader so he never bothered to check what I was actually reading.

"Ooh ok, wein rafeejtich?" Khalid looked around the vacant diwanya.

"Ra7at etshouf el Real Madrid match," I rolled my eyes and he grinned, he was a Madrid guy all the way.

"Shiftaay el match gabel chem youm? Barca lost, I don't get why you support a losing team," Khalid turned around to leave, not letting me argue or disagree with his statement. 6aaf. -.-

I looked back at my bracelet, shaking my arm a bit so the charms dangled around, click clacking against each other. I smiled again. I pulled out my blackberry and clicked on bbm, I looked for S3ood's name and my face lit up once I found it.

Zwara/Shoug Al-X:
Omg. Omg. Omg. S3OOD!

Out/S3ood Al-X:
Haa, did you like it?;p

Zwara/Shoug Al-X:
No I didn't like it!

Out/S3ood Al-X:
Laaish ;/ .. did you want Cartier w hal siwalif? It is real silver..

I giggled at his message, having him in my life was even more than enough. I wasn't the type that would want to be showered with gifts just so I could be happy with someone.

Zwara/Shoug Al-X:
I didn't like it because I LOVED it! And don't ever bring me something expensive like that, a9lan the bracelet looks expensive enough! You didn't have to get me anything.. :/ It's not even my birthday..

Out/S3ood Al-X:
It feels like my own birthday everyday ever since I met you. I wanted you to have something that reminded you of me. Shoug, you're worth even more than just a bracelet. One day I'll show you how much you're worth in my eyes, when I can finally call you mine.

I hugged my knees to my body and read his message multiple times. What did he mean by "When I can finally call you mine"? Was he planning something that I didn't know about? I honestly didn't know, I had to stop worrying about every word he said or else I'm going to over-think this and ruin everything.

Zwara/Shoug Al-X:
Aw S3ood.. it's enough that I have you in my life. Thank you again, for the wonderful gift. I love love LOVE it. I'll never take it off, ever! <3

I never expected that a stranger I bumped into a few weeks ago would turn into a very important person in my life. There were multiple surprises for me, bad ones and good ones. 7mdellah. 
I didn't regret anything that had happened with Nour or Ali, they were worth the trouble.  Usually during the time that something bad happens, you hate it. But after a while, you start to look back and notice that you've learned a lot of lessons from that bad experience.

 I knew that there was more to come, my life wasn't over yet but suddenly, I felt ready. Ready for anything else that was daring to crush me, I'm not going to allow it to ruin me or leave a scratch.

And in that moment, I suddenly realized that I was stronger by myself. I didn't need to be dependent on someone else to feel strong, I just needed myself.

"Shoug, I was looking for you everywhere!" I heard Lisa-Anne complain.

"Lisa-Anne?" My eyes brows furrowed in confusion, what was she doing here?

"Shoug, pleaaze come now! Sir is very zick, you have to come now!!"

Wait, what?! Be strong, don't break down Shoug. Not when you just realized how strong you could be!

I rushed out of the diwanya and followed Lisa-Anne to our SUV. I texted Loura and had told her that I went to check on my father, she texted back wishing me luck and had said Nasser would keep her company. 

Why was I so blind? I remembered seeing my Mom's worn out face, there were hues of yellow and her cheeks looked pale. I bought the fact that she was just tired but I should have known there was something she was keeping from me! I could feel the tears form in my eyes, I pushed my worrying thoughts away. He's fine, ma feeh shay. Enshallah ma feeh shay.. I kept praying in my heart to God that he was okay, that it was something minor. If it was something big, my Mom wouldn't have kept it away from me if it was something serious, right?

I grabbed Lisa-Anne's arm in the car, looking her in the eyes before speaking; "What happened? Tell me everything and don't lie!"

I saw Lisa-Anne hesitate, she was keeping something away from me. I clinged to her arm, my eyes begging her to speak.

"Madam left the houze early to take Sir to hozpital then she go to your Grandma houze. She tell me not to tell you becuz she say you have school and she didn't want everyone to know." Lisa-Anne's eyes were full of sadness.

"Lisa, is he okay?" I pleaded for an answer, she shrugged and frowned. She didn't know. I dialed my mother's mobile and she wouldn't pick up. I dialed my sister Reem's mobile and she'd answered.

"Aloo?" Reem whispered through the phone.

"Reem! Wein obouy?!" I practically yelled through the phone.

"Shoug, obuy nayem bl Royal Hospital. Ana al7een m3ah, la et7ateen, 7mdellah ma feeh shay.." Reem's voice stayed low and quiet.

"Laish ma giltooly?" A tear had escaped, I quickly pushed the tear away with the back of my hand.

"Shoug, khala9. Ma feeh shay, et3arfeena kela yidakhen. 7a6eenla drip w el results 7ag el checkup aren't back yet bs la etkhafein, akeed ma feeh shay." I felt like Reem was trying to convince herself rather than trying to convince me.

"Bayee ashoufa," I stated, I didn't ask for a permission.

"Shoug, la2! Ma nabee a7ad yi3arf w brou7a mit2akhr. Obouy nayim, laish bit3athbeen rou7ich chithe? Riday el bait w namay, bacher enshallah tigdireen etshoufeena etha khale9tay your homeworks." Reem switched to Mom mode, it annoyed me like hell. Why is it that they could all see my father except me? I didn't argue, I knew she was going through a tougher situation, she was carrying a baby and having to keep something like this away from me. She was probably as depressed as I was. I agreed to stay home and visit Dad tomorrow.

That was a sleepless night, I couldn't get even a minute's of sleep. My head was swirling with endless streams of thoughts, I always worried a lot and I got that from my Mom. I always thought about the worst things that could happen to my Dad, which was a very bad thing to do since it just deepened my depressed state. I put "DND" on my status and didn't answer any of the DMs, tweets or bbms I received from S3ood, Jassim or my friends.

The next day, I had to sit through an hour of French tuition with Madame LaPointe.

"No Shoug, naw! It iz like deez, TELEPHONERAAAAIIII. Extend on the RRRRR, like ARRRRR. Deez iz past tense, you have to use pazt tenze for your exam!" Madame LaPointe made crazy hand gestures, showing how long the Rs extended.

"Je TELEPHONERRAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII," I imitated her.

"FANTASTIQUE! D'accord, next we will talk about dee futurrr Freench verbz." She clapped her hands giddily and continued on with her stretched out words. Usually I'd laugh at her crazy personality but today, I wasn't feeling it.

I left my blackberry switched off and didn't check if anyone had bbm'd me, I switched it on once Madame LaPointe click clacked her heels and left our house.

24 bbm chats, 10 tweet mentions/DMs and 2 texts. I didn't bother on clicking on any of them, I dialed Reem's phone since I knew she was already at the hospital.

"Aloo," Reem was whispering again.

"Nayem obouy?" I sighed, that meant I couldn't come.

"Eeh 7bebti, Shoug mu lazem tiyeen. Lema yigoum adig 3leech, 6il3ay m3a refejatich ow shay. Omee m3ay, she said it's okay for you to go out." Reem tried to sound as chipper as possible, Mom probably had told Reem to say that to keep my mind off of my Dad. It wasn't working. I couldn't argue with her, my Mom's words were final and she was as stubborn as me.

"Okay okay, bs la tensein etdigeen 3lay lema yigoum!" I reminded her, she promised she would call and so she ended the conversation. I hung up and looked around the study room, clueless.

What was I going to do now?

I called up Lulu and explained to her the situation. She offered that we would go to Avenues for lunch, I accepted and went upstairs to change. I didn't bother dressing up this time, I was already wearing a loose shirt and a pair of denim leggings, I pulled on a blazer on top of the outfit and pulled my long brown hair into a high bun. Lulu didn't take long, I greeted her and I didn't make an effort to smile much. I didn't always have to put on an act in front of Lulu, she understood what I was going through. Her father had been ill too and she didn't push me into talking a lot of the time.

"How are you holding up?" Lulu asked me worriedly once we were in the SUV with Lisa-Anne and my driver Hussain.

"So far, okay. I didn't break down into tears today, that's a good thing, right?" I looked up at her, I was afraid I was being heartless but she nodded, smiling.

We ended up having lunch in Shake Shack. Avenues was crowded, as usual. We managed to snag a table for me, Lulu and Lisa-Anne. We each ordered our own burgers and I gloomily sipped my Coke. I pushed my plate further down the table, I lost my appetite. Lulu was stuffing her face into her cheesy burger, covering her lips with mayo and cheese. I laughed at her and she gave me a smile, exposing her cheese covered teeth. This made me laugh even harder.

"What?! I'm hungry!" Lulu laughed a long, she swiped the cheese off of her lips with a napkin. While Lulu and Lisa-Anne were absorbed into their burgers, I looked at the people passing us. Shake Shack was placed in the middle of Avenues, it was an open restaurant so people who were shopping or just walking by could watch us eat. It was pretty awkward but as long as you were sitting down, you had the excuse to stare at people who passed you by.

I admired a girl's outfit from far away. I watched her long skirt flow dramatically as she walked with her H&M plastic bag in her hand. As I was sliding my eyes back and fourth between people, observing them. A pair of  brown eyes had caught my attention, those eyes found mine and stared back into my nearly black eyes.


I nearly gasped outloud once I knew who the owner of those brown eyes was.


It was Ali.