Masqué Chapter 2

Phew! I got some good feedback from the first chapter. I was so worried about it, I'm glad you guys liked it. :D

@vieblogue.

#STOPBASHAR #HAOULAMASSACRE #SYRIA

-

"Amal, this is uhm, my husband 3aziz." Khalti Zaina finally spoke, she gestured towards the tall man with tanned skin and dark yet friendly eyes. He gave me a wide smile, I returned the smile.

"W hatha wildy Turki w binti Bibi." Khalti pointed to two 16 year old teenagers with the same tan skin as their father and the same dark friendly eyes. They both looked like twins.

"Halla." Turki gave me a small smile, his blackberry in his hand.

"Hey." Bibi gave me a half smile, her hair dark hair up in a ponytail. 

"Hatha Khalich Bader w Khaltich Ghaneema." She pointed to two familiar looking siblings who had the milky skin my mother had with the same small eyes.

"Hi." I awkwardly said.

"W hatha wild Khaltich Ghaneema Nawaf. Nawaf tawa rad men London." Khalti Zaina gave the tall tanned guy in his A&F sweats a secret smile. That explained why I saw Nawaf in the airport before and the stare he gave me. Nawaf's eyes were intense, they kept staring into mine and I started to feel uncomfortable from his gaze. I looked away quickly.

"The rest of the family are asleep and uhm, your Grandfather passed away a few years ago." Khalti Zaina stated sadly.

"Uhm, allah yer7ama." I felt like my late Grandfather was a stranger to me, I didn't feel like I was apart of the family. My eyes were staring down at the marble ground, all of their eyes were on me and my parents were standing behind me, silent as a tree.

This was my Mother's side of the family, my Dad had always told me we weren't close to his side of the family and he didn't wish for me to meet them for some unknown reason.

"So, uhm, we should go now. We had a long flight." Mom held me by my wrist, guiding me away from the people's eyes.

"Ti9bu7oun 3la khair." My dad said, before following Mom and I out of the living room. I felt the people's eyes follow us and stare at our backs, I hurried and let Mom guide me through the long stretched halls.

Mom finally stopped me outside a room.

"Amal, hatha darich." Mom pointed to the wooden door. "We'll be in the room upstairs."

I watched my parents walk back to the stairway to go upstairs. Once they were gone, I twisted the knob of the door and pushed the door open. The room was nothing like my old room back in Switzerland. I was so used to simplicity and this room was the exact opposite.

Paintings covered the dark beige painted walls, there were mahogany furniture that complimented the beige and gold colours. It seemed as if the whole house was under those colours. I approached the large bed and found that my suitcases were already in the room.

I also wasn't used to having housekeepers or drivers.

I heard a few voices out of my room.

 Looks like the walls are thin too.

I couldn't help but hear two male voices.

"Shift'ha?" A male voice said.

"Eee." Another male voice replied.

"Shnu eee? Shift sh7ilouha? Akeed 3ndeha siwalif, she came from Switzerland."

"Hey, kalim 3adil." The deep voice was full of anger.

"Shd3wa Nawaf, ma et3arif el bent." The other male's voice remained playful.

"Wla enta et3arifha fa eskit a7sanlik Saif."

"Offh, had a39abik bas."

The voices drowned out as the figures walked further away from my room. I hurried over to my door, carefully opening the door so I could peak at the two figures. Was Nawaf being protective or plain stubborn?

I caught a glimpse of Nawaf's back and another tall guy's back. I was guessing the second guy was Saif. Was he another one of my cousins? It was as if Nawaf felt my eyes on his back because he quickly turned around and his intense eyes met mine.

I quickly shut the door as soon as he caught me staring at his back.

Great Amal, lazim etkhizeen el walad mara thanya? Now he must think you were staring at his butt, nice going.

Before I could embarrass myself any further, I decided to change into my leggings and tank top before I slid into the lush bed, letting sleep take over me.

-

The next morning, I felt a tiny hand poke at my back, trying to wake me up.

"Mmm?" I hugged the fluffy pillow against me, trying to get more comfortable. The mushy fingers kept poking at my back. I turned around to the other side and forced my eyes open.

I found big dark grey eyes staring right back into my charcoal ones. The source of those eyes was a 4 year old little boy with light skin and big soft looking cheeks.

"Oh, hi there." I smiled, the little boy was adorable.

"Ghada." He replied shyly before running out of the room. I pounced out of bed and made my way into the peach tiled bathroom, brushing my teeth and washing up. I grabbed another one of my cropped shirts and this time, it said "YOLO". This shirt had always annoyed Ghalia and I loved wearing it around her. I felt a pang at my chest, I miss Ghalia.

I slid on a pair of black and white high waist leggings and combed back my hair into a ponytail. I made sure my bed was made and cleaned up before I left my room. I had my face absorbed into my iPhone, trying to text Ghalia and I nearly collided with a tall figure while I was walking down the hallway.

"Hey, emshay 3adil gabel ma et6e7een." A deep voice startled me. I looked up to find the guy from yesterday, was his name Saif? He was in a pair of shorts and no shirt on. I tried to keep my eyes level with his, his shirtless firm chest was very distracting. He looked like he just woke up too.

"O-okay." I stuttered.

"I'm Saif. Entay Amal, mu 9a7?" Saif gave me an easy smile.

"Eee, uhm, you're my cousin?" I gave him a forced smile.

"Ooh, you have a dimple too. Um, yeah I mean yes, I'm your cousin, I'm Nawaf's brother. You met him yesterday, right?" Saif looked about 18 whereas Nawaf looked 19. I was guessing he was Nawaf's younger brother, they both had the same dark eyes but Nawaf had thicker eyelashes and a more masculine face than Saif's baby face.

"Eee." I replied awkwardly.

"Yalla ghada." Saif gave me a second smile before walking off, I decided to follow him since I was already lost in the house.

The long table held about 20 people. All of them were seated with a plate full of rice in front of them. There were dozens of faces that I didn't recognize and I felt out of place, in my casual clothes compared to their polished faces with luxurious clothes.

Every head turned around to stare at me once I was downstairs, standing by the table. My parents weren't seated, they were sitting by the couch with two other older people I didn't know.

"Amal, ta3alay g3day yemi." Gran gestured over to the empty seat next to her. I bit the inside of my cheek as I sat onto the chair. Nawaf was sitting right in front of me, his hair was neatly gelled back and he had a new Hackett shirt on.

"Nemtay 3adil?" Gran gave me a sweet smile, her hand patting against my cheek. Gran leaned in closer to plant a kiss against one of my cheeks, over my dimple. I blushed, I wasn't used to the warmness.

"Eee, 7amdellah. Thank you for having us and thank you for this, uhm, delicious meal." I stared at the plate in front of me that had warag 3inab, 3aish, la7am and a little salad plate. I was used to eating pasta or take away Chinese food, we'd never have these traditional Kuwaiti meals back in Switzerland.

"7bebty, we're your family. You don't need to be so polite." Khalti Zaina laughed, her smile causing others to laugh a long. I flushed in embarrassment. I caught Nawaf's mouth turning up a bit but once he caught me looking at his smile, he turned his expression back to serious Nawaf.

Weird.

I started to feel more comfortable as Gran made an effort to include me into the conversations. Khalti Zaina would always ask about Switzerland, letting me start a conversation myself. And then, soon enough, I didn't feel so tense anymore. The food tasted great and I was looking forward to meeting more of my family.

Each of the family had told me their names and how they were related to me but I easily forgot all of their names after a few minutes.

"Amal, ta3alay m3ana binrou7 360 mall." One of my cousins, her name was Asmaa, she was petite 20 year old with dark hair and full lips.

"M3a mnu?" I said, my eyes searching for someone I knew.

"M3a refejaty men KU (Kuwait University) w m3a Bibi." I sighed in relief once she said 'Bibi'. Bibi was younger than me but she seemed friendly and was one of the cousin's names that I didn't forget.

"Uhm, okay." I gave her a small smile. I hurried back to my room so I could change into my bleached blue jeans and a fringe white shirt. I added bronzer over my cheeks, matte lipstick, eyeliner with mascara and my Van Cleef jewellery. I left my hair up in a sleek ponytail and added more earrings to my ears and a Balenciaga bag over my arm.

My parents were nowhere to be seen and I was used to not asking for permission when going out, so I simply waited by the entrance of the house for Bibi and Asmaa.

Both the girls approached me, they both had dark rouge lipstick and cardigans over their what looked like was a dress. When we were in the Porsche Cayenne, Asmaa slipped off her cardigan and she was wearing a strapless tube top with a too tight skirt on. Bibi left her cardigan on and her dress reached down to her knees. I kept my mouth shut as I watched Asmaa add more red lipstick onto her already too red lips.

Asmaa's "friends" were two girls named Dina and Farah, wearing the same too tight clothes and too red covered lips. I suddenly became a bit conscious of what I was wearing. Was this mall like a club or something? Only Bibi looked respectable and so I scooted closer to her in the car.

"Uhm, Bibi.. is this mall, some place where you wear party clothes?" I was confused.

"La2!" Bibi laughed, taking her eyes off of her blackberry. "Bas Asmaa, Dina w Farah mwa3deen."

"Mwa3deen?!" My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

"Wi9alnaa." Bibi practically pushed me out of the car before I could ask any more questions. The girls forced me to follow them towards a restaurant called B+F. It was a very dark restaurant inside and was a bit cozy. I noticed 5 guys were seated in a table in the corner and their eyes were on us. Asmaa gave one of the guys a little wave and walked towards them.

This was a date?!

I may have stayed in Switzerland for years but I knew what was wrong when I saw it. The girls followed Asmaa and sat next to the guys. Bibi stood standing right next to me, her hands shaking.

"Bibi, shfeech?" I noticed her shaky hands.

"Asmaa forced me to come." Bibi bit down on her bottom lip, she seemed to be afraid of the guys and the situation we were in.

"Hey, shitsawoun? Ta3alow!" Asmaa gestured towards Bibi and I, looking embarrassed of having cousins like us.

"Eee, entay ely labsa el abya'9. Ta3alay gi3day yami." One of the guys called out to me, he had a slight beard and looked like he was 24 years old.

We were attracting attention from other people in the restaurant, a lot of them were shooting dirty looks at us, especially at Asmaa and her friends, who were sitting very close to the other guys.

My gut feelings told me to leave and so, I listened to that gut feeling. I wrapped my fingers around Bibi's wrist and ushered her out of the restaurant. But before I could successfully leave the restaurant, I found Nawaf, Saif and a couple of other guys standing right in front of us, blocking our way. They looked like they were about to enter the dark lit restaurant themselves.

Nawaf and Saif quickly noticed Bibi and I.

"Bibi.. Amal.. shitsawoun ehni? Mu galetly Asmaa enkom bitrou7oun Avenues?" Saif said in a suspicious tone once he noticed Bibi and I's alarmed expressions. Did Asmaa lie to Saif too?

Nawaf's eyes were on mine for few long minutes before they traveled to the back, where he caught Asmaa sitting with the crowd of guys.

I could have sworn I saw fury in those dark eyes.