Masqué Chapter 1

Okay, so I decided to make ALL of my stories under the title "Masquerade" because all of my stories are under that theme. So "Masqué" means "masked" in French. I've put on a title so you guys can know which story is which, but all of the stories will be under the masked/mask/masquerade theme because my blog is under that title. xo

If it's confusing then DM me, @vieblogue (new username).

By the way, this story will be 100% fiction too. Hope you enjoy this new story, it took me more than a day to to write (I had writer's block *where I space out and can't think of something to write about* a lot). :D x

-

The air was crisp, the rustling of the trees surrounded me and I was under the bright blue sky. I was at peace, I took a large whiff of the fresh air, letting the relaxed emotions flood into me.

"Amal, come on, we're going to be late."  Ghalia tried to force me to walk faster. We were walking down the roads of Lausonne, Swizterland (it's close to Geneva).


"Hey, YOLO! (You Only Live Once)." I slowed down our tracks, taking in the beautiful view of the sky that I tended to ignore everyday when I walked to university.

"Besich this YOLO cr*p, ever since you created your twitter account you've been saying that." Ghalia rolled her eyes and walked slowly next to me, her mid-length skirt moving with the direction of the wind that slapped against us.

"It's cool. You're just jealous." I stuck out my tongue at her.

"I still can't believe that you're 18 years old, you act like a 5 year old." Ghalia laughed as we passed the stores.

"A cute one." I said with full confidence as I finger combed my caramel hair back, letting my curls blow out in the wind.

"Eee l2anich 6al3a 3lay of course."Ghalia gave me a wink.

"Of course." I winked back as we entered the gates of the university.

"Amal!" Fawaz called out once he noticed Ghalia and I approach the doors to the university. Fawaz was 180cm tall, had light skin, short hair and a friendly smile.

"Hey Fawaz." I gave him a polite smile before passing him, entering the university.

"Amal, hey." Ghalia poked her elbow into my sides.

"Aaa7! Shnu?" I turned to look at her once we reached outside of our class.

"Do you know how blind you are?" Ghalia said in an annoyed tone.

"I can see perfectly fine." I lamely replied.

"Yal ghabeya, Fawaz is obviously crushing on you." Ghalia rolled her bright eyes.

"Nooooo, he's like a brother." My mouth formed an 'o'.

"Tara he's cute." Ghalia gave me a little wink. I looked back to find Fawaz by his locker, talking to a French student called John. Fawaz caught me staring, he turned around to look me into my eyes and gave me another smile. I quickly turned away, my cheeks flushing.

"Shiftay?" Ghalia smirked, grabbing my arm and forcing me into class.

"Do you think he really likes me?" I hissed once we were seated in class. The professor was busy speaking about the importance of law.

"I've been watching him, every time he sees you, he has to come up and talk to you." Ghalia hissed back when the professor had his back to us.

"Yeah but.. it's all about the projects and school related things." I replied, pressing my hand against my cheek.

"So?" Ghalia wiggled her perfectly tweez-ed eyebrows. I bit my full bottom lip nervously.

Did Fawaz really like me? The only crush I had was on the little German boy in 5th grade, his name was Nick and he had the bluest eyes I'd ever seen.

I've lived in Switzerland for as long as I could remember. My mother had always told me that I was born here. I've never seen Kuwait, excluding the times I googl-ed Kuwait and looked at the rare pictures of it.

My iPhone vibrated against my desk, I peaked at the caller ID and read "Mom".

My forehead furrowed in confusion. My mom didn't usually call during my classes. I quickly grabbed my iPhone, answering the call.

"Aloo," I whispered into the phone.

"7bebty, abeech etrideen el bait al7een." Mom's voice sounded a bit nervous.

"I'm in class, fee shay?" I hissed, the professor glared at me, his mustache quivering over his upper lip.

"Bas riday el bait al7een." She repeated before hanging up on me.

"Wain ray7a?" Ghalia asked once she saw me gather up my books, putting them into a neat pile before slipping them into my bag.

"Madry, omy etgouly lazem arid al7een." I answered in a confused tone. I gave the professor an apologetic look before leaving the class.

I forced my navy tom covered feet to walk faster, I passed the familiar stores, the ever so green trees and this time, I ignored the blue sky over me. My mind was filled with questions. Was Dad alright? Was Mom okay? What was going on?

I finally reached the door to our grande apartment, I slipped my key into the door and it opened easily. I took the elevator and waited impatiently, my foot tapping against the elevator ground.

Finally, level 4. I nearly ran to our apartment door, my hands were shaking as I slid the apartment key into the lock, turning it and pushing the mahogany door open.

Our apartment had a wide living space, I was the only daughter and so, we didn't need much of the space. There were huge windows everywhere, letting the sun rays surround the insides of our white furnished apartment.

I found my Mom by the kitchen, her fingers dug deep into flour. Whenever my Mom was stressed or felt troubled, she'd bake. So whenever I found a pair of freshly baked chocolate cupcakes in the middle of the living room, I knew something was wrong.

"Yuma, shfeech?" I approached her, dumping my bag down to the floor.

"Halla 7bebty, la ma feeny shay. I have good news." Mom said whilst smiling, her smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Eee?" I rested my fingers on top of the cool counter, trying to calm my nerves.

"We're going back to Kuwait." Mom said, her eyes focused on the flour in front of her.

"What?" My blood ran cold. What about university? My friends? My home?

"Shfeech? Kuwait's your home country, estansay." Mom's cheery tone was forced.

"Bas yuma, what about university? And my friends?" I ran my fingers through my long hair, my nerves exceeding.

"You can transfer to Kuwait University (KU) and study Law there. Don't you want to see your family in Kuwait?" Mom gave me a meek smile. I hadn't seen any of my other cousins, aunts or uncles. My only family had been Mom and Dad. And in a way, I didn't want that to change.

"I don't have a say in this, do I?" I clenched my hands into fists, trying to hold in my anger.

"Our flight's tomorrow at 5 am." Mom's eyes were turned away from mine, obviously giving my question a big fat "No". It felt like a slap to my face.

"Great." I sarcastically stated before I turned away to walk off to my room.

There was no point into returning to class now when I was supposed to leave Switzerland tomorrow. I squeezed my iPhone out of my pockets to Whatsapp Ghalia. Ghalia had been my best friend since we were kids, she was our Kuwaiti neighbor and we would always play together when we were younger. We both wanted to become lawyers one day and I guess my Dad had always expected me to be one.

Amal Al-X:
Ghalia, we're going back to Kuwait tomorrow.

Ghalia Al-X:
WHAT?!

Amal Al-X;
Exactly:/

Ghalia Al-X:
Meta?!?!

Amal Al-X:
Bacher at 5 am.. :/

Ghalia Al-X:
Fawaz is going to kill himself when he finds out.

Amal Al-X:
Looool, al7een shaku Fawaz;( you're not going to miss me too?

Ghalia Al-X:
Akeed I will, you dummy. Will you text me everyday?

Amal Al-X:
I will. :*

Ghalia Al-X:
Pinky promise?

Amal Al-X:
Pinky promise Ghalouya. <3

-

"7bebty, yalla goumay." I felt Dad's masculine fingers nudge my shoulder, breaking the peaceful nap I was having.

"Hmmm?" I groaned, trying to get comfortable on the airplane seat.

"AMAL YALLA GOUMAY!" I heard Mom's familiar yell. I quickly opened my eyes, forcing my sleepiness to be pushed away.

"G3dt g3dt!" I rubbed my eyes, knowing that Mom had probably embarrassed me in front of the other Kuwaitis. 

Today morning was hectic. I had packed all of my clothes in my suitcase last night and had finished packing at 2:30 am. I didn't get any sleep and I was looking forward to getting some sleep in the plane. I loved to sleep and so, having only gotten 6 hours of uncomfortable sleep in an airplane, was clearly not enough for me.

I looked out of the airplane window and nearly gasped.

This was my homeland. I stared off at the green looking trees, it wasn't Switzerland but I felt happy, which was weird. I still missed Ghalia, she would have made me laugh and kept me company in the airplane. All I had now were my parents.

"Yalla baba." Dad patted my shoulder, his face looking tired.

 I unbuckled my seat belt, grabbed a duffel bag out of my Mom's hands and followed them out of the plane. I was wearing a pair of cozy Free City sweatpants and a loose short sleeved "FOREVER YOUNG" cropped shirt. My long hair was up in a ponytail and all I wore was eyeliner with mascara.

The process of collecting our luggage was long and tiring. I kept my eyes fixated on a tall figure's back as I started to think about what Ghalia was doing right at this minute. It was now 12 am in Kuwait, the flight had taken hours to travel from Switzerland to Kuwait.

Mom had said we had a house back in Kuwait that I never heard of but we had to stay at my Grandmother's house for a few days till the house could be cleaned up. I suddenly started imagining the way my Grandmother looked like. Was she frail and old? Or was she young and modern like Ghalia's grandmother?

As I was imagining this, I didn't notice that my eyes were staring into a pair of dark brown ones. I forced myself back to reality and noticed that I was staring at a guy. He stared back at me, his eyes looked tired from his flight, he had tanned skin, broad shoulders, a strong nose and a black Ferrari cap over his dark hair. He stared back at me and for some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

He wore a v-neck white shirt with a pair of comfortable looking dark grey A&F sweat pants. I willed my eyes to look away, I wasn't used to guys that looked as handsome as he did. Fawaz was cute but he had the face of a brother, I couldn't see myself ever liking him.

I looked back at my parents. They both had milky skin while mine was tanned. I never did look like them, my eyes were charcoal and almond shaped whereas my mother had delicate small eyes with hazel eyes. I tried to distract myself of the tall figure who was still staring at me.

Amal, did you have to stare at him in the first place? Fffh.

My eyes were on the suitcases in front of me but I felt the tall guy walk over to where I was standing. I quickly took out my iPhone, trying to look busy. I felt his eyes travel over my hair and then down to my toms covered feet before he finally passed me, over to where the gate was.

Amal shfeech? Y3ne awal mara etshoufeen 9bay?

I pushed the little voice out of my head.

We finally got our luggage together and made our way outside the gate. There were people scattered everywhere, their eyes were on every person that left the gate. I noticed a few guys standing by the gate, their eyes on mine. I looked away, avoiding their awkward stares. I wasn't used to this more secluded atmosphere.

"Amal?" I heard a woman call out behind me as I was trying to move the suitcase in my hand, it wouldn't budge. I turned around to the source of the voice.

"Na3am?" I answered. I found a beautiful tanned woman, her wrinkles showing off the years she had lived and her almond eyes resembled mine. There was a similar looking person who looked around 42, she was standing right behind the older woman. She bore the same eyes, sharp nose and full lips as the older woman.

"Amal, hathee yaditich w hathee khaltich Zaina." Mom said. Dad was talking to an Indian man, giving him our luggage.

"Ahlain." I smiled politely at the familiar looking faces, I felt like I've seen them before.

"7mdellah 3la salama.. Tethkeerena Amal?" My grandmother's voice sounded sad.

"Yuma, Amal was born in Switzerland, shloun bit3arifkom?" Mom butted in before I could answer.

"Aah, eeh 9a7 bnayti." My grandmother gave me a smile, turning her face to hide the emotions that she was trying to hold in. My aunt didn't say a word, her eyes kept staring into mine. I felt like there was something behind this encounter. Non of them made a gesture to hug or greet each other in any other way, the atmosphere felt tense.

"We're so tired, I think we should go now." Mom grabbed my hand, pulling me away from Gran and Khalti Zaina. I silenced my thoughts and followed Mom who was following Dad.

"Yuma, 7aram, they came to see us. We need to stay with them. We can't be rude..." I turned to look around at Gran and Khalti, they looked like they were engrossed into a deep conversation.

"We're staying with them so you'll see them a lot for these few days." Mom said, forcing me to shut up.

Apparently, Gran and Khalti were in separate cars. I had my face stuck up against the window during the whole car ride, I wanted to catch a glance of every spot of Kuwait. The scenarios were different compared to Switzerland, it was like I was dropped into a whole new different world.

The Porsche Cayenne car was parked in front of a tall house that was painted in peach, the windows long and took most of the house. It was a beautiful sight, the garden had a little fountain in the middle and there were several cars parked out front.

"Wi9alna." Mom gave my hand a pat, indicating that I should get out of the car. I obeyed and stood outside the white painted entrance. I watched another car park up in front of the house, it was a Porsche Turbo and it held my Gran and Aunt inside.

Gran fit her keys into the door and pushed the door open, letting us into the enormous house. There were chandeliers hanging in the middle of the hall with a large stairway. The furniture were all shades of chocolate brown, dark beige and gold sequins. There were about 5 people sitting in the living room, their eyes quickly turned to us as we entered.

I noticed a dark blue suitcase that wasn't ours that was placed in the middle of the living room. And there was a familiar pair of dark eyes set on mine.

I couldn't believe that the owner of those eyes were the same eyes of the handsome airport guy I was accidentally staring into half an hour ago.