Masqué Chapter 12

Maroon 5 inspired me with this chapter.:'D I highly recommend you guys listening to "Pay phone - Maroon 5" while reading this chapter. xo Hope you enjoy it! :D

Maroon 5 Pay Phone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRaWnd3LJfs&feature=related (the video's amazing, totally an inspiration!)

-

 Nawaf's words haunted me, made me terrified of what's coming next. It made me worry of what the future held for me but my gut said that I was ready for anything, even if it was going to cause even more pain.

I had successfully gotten Bibi's approval of letting Nawaf to talk to her. It took hours of discussing over it with her on her fluffy bed but she agreed to it, as long as I was there with her, ready to punch Nawaf if he ever tried to hurt Bibi again. We decided we'd let them speak tomorrow, when Bibi was done with having to study for tests and when the house wouldn't be crowded with our other siblings.

It's like my parents have disappeared. The only people I saw everyday were my Grandmother, Khalti Ghaneema and Khalti Zaina. Whenever I asked about them, they(cousins/aunts/uncles) would tell me they were off at work or off at our new house, getting it all ready and perfect for us to move into it.

I took this as an advantage of trying to spend more time with Saif, letting him help me remember. He showed me all our old drawings, crayons and pictures he kept all these years.

"Ha, any flashbacks yet?" Saif asked, he was sitting on the soft carpet, his knees crossed over each other. He was wearing his comfy white A&F sweatpants, a "I'm sexy and I know it" black shirt. I was sitting next to him, in my sweats and the "YOLO" shirt Ghalia hates.

"La2." I replied with a frown, my eyes skimming over all the pictures of us when we were kids. It was like that little girl wasn't me anymore, it was a girl who was lucky enough to have been there, who spent her childhood with her two little old friends, Nawaf and Saif.

Saif had told me that Nawaf, him and I were the "three musketeers", but when Nawaf had gotten older, he had started to hang out with older kids, ignoring Saif and I altogether. I guessed that was why Khalti Ghaneema had said Nawaf was a "childhood friend".

And then, that's how Saif came in as my best friend, the one who was always there for me.

"Okay, so this isn't helping. I have a better idea. Ta3alay." Saif pressed his hands to the ground to help himself stand up and then, he extended his left hand towards me. I grabbed his hand and he helped me up to my feet. It took a lot of will power to not hold onto his soft hand, his masculine fingers had the effect to make me feel safe.

"Wein rayi7?" I watched Saif as he turned to leave the living room.

"Entay bas ta3alay." Saif said with a contagious smile. I followed him out of the house, he guided me towards the garage which was a large grey building that was attached to the house. There were several cars inside, Saif stopped in front of a black Lexus, his car keys jingling inside his hand.

"Yalla?" Saif gestured to the Lexus, unlocking it with the unlock button on his car keys and waiting for me to approach the car.

"Laa2, ma negder.." I took a step back. Wouldn't it look wrong to be in the car with Saif alone? At least I was in the living room back in the house, a place that was open and not secluded like a bedroom. It wouldn't have looked suspicious if someone caught us. I wasn't used to Kuwait's society but I knew that it wasn't as free minded as Switzerland's.

"Ma ra7 akh6ifich, la t7ateen." Saif joked. Saif noticed my hesitation, he continued: "Hey, YOLO, right?"

"Heey, that doesn't mean we do the wrong things." I ended up laughing, Saif didn't say 'You Only Live Once', he said 'YOLLOW'.

"But it does mean we take risks, do you want to remember or not Amal?" Saif's tone turned serious.

Did I want to remember?

Hell yeah.

"You better be a fast driver, I hate slow drivers." I surrendered and approached the Lexus, climbing into the passenger's seat as Saif climbed into the driver's seat.

"Then you're in luck Miss Amal." Saif gave me a little wink before starting the car, pressing down on the pedal, whizzing out of the garage and making the car drive onto the road in a fast speed.

The speed caused adrenaline to rush into my veins, I felt my stomach drop inside me and I bit my lip hard.

"Etkhafeen?" Saif grinned as he drove even faster.

"La2." I lied. The fear excited me. Saif went over the speed limit even further, causing me to yelp out in fear. The car was speeding down the road, the other car drivers were giving us dirty looks as the car was all over the place.

"Al7een etkhafeen?" Saif chuckled as he heard the fear in my voice.

"La2!" I forced the word out, my hands grabbing the seat. I had my seat belt on and that was the only assurance of safety I had.

I felt a warm hand over my cold one. I turned to look and I found that Saif had put his hand over mine, trying to calm me down.

"Didn't I say I'll always protect you, princess?" Saif said, his eyes on the road as he slowed the car down.

"Ma neseit hal shay." I turned my head away, hiding my scarlet cheeks. I felt Saif's eyes on me as I was watching the road outside the window, trying to look busy. Saif still had his hand over mine, only taking it off once in a while to change the gear of the car.

After 15 minutes, Saif parked the car in front of the sea. There was a Mcdonalds right next to it, a car park with numerous cars and the stretched out sea was right in front of us. The sun rays were glinting off of the reflection of the sea, blinding my eyes a bit but the sight of the sea was beautiful.

-Flashback-

"Amal, shnu labsa?!" Saif snickered. He was wearing his Power Rangers swimsuit and was holding his green plastic bucket. We were on the sand, trying to build a sand castle and were failing drastically. I was wearing my bright pink swimsuit that I was in love with, it had little bows on the side and the word "Barbie" on the back.

"Hathaa el priness crown, offh shfeek? Ma et3arif shay?" I put my hands on my hips. I found a metal sheet that the sea brought back to shore and I decided to put it on my head.

"Hatha crown?!" Saif fell back onto the sand, his hand over his stomach has he laughed as hard as he could.

"Eee! Huff." I stuck out my tongue at him. I tried to readjust the metal sheet on my hair, trying to make it look more like a crown.

"Hatha ger6as!" Saif said in between laughs. He had two missing teeth but his smile was as wide as the sea next to us.

"Laaa2." I stomped on the sand with my little feet, causing a very small thud to erupt. 

"Amoula, khala9 ana bayeeblich crown." Saif said in a serious tone. 

He got up from the sand and ran to where an old man who was selling toys was standing. I watched him as he was speaking, his smile still intact. I tried to play with the sand, digging my fingers into it, waiting for Saif to be done.

After a few minutes, Saif ran back up to me and in his hand was a plastic tiara. I gasped out loud, it had little pink crystals on it and it was the right size for my head.

"Min wein?!" I exclaimed in wonder.

"Mu giltlch bayeeblich crown?" Saif looked happy with himself. He took a step closer so he could grab the metal sheet off of my head and replace it with the tiara.

"3ajeeb!" I smiled, touching the tiara with my fingers. "Bas Saif, Mama w Baba mu mawjoudeen, ra7aw Marina Mall ely yemna w khalouna m3a el nanny, fa men weinlik el flous?"


"Ana 3ndii bank ekbeer, mu lazem Baba ya36eeni flous!" Saif pouted.


"Okay okay." I huffed and stopped asking questions. We ran to the Mcdonalds next to the sea to get lunch.


The nanny who was with us ordered a happy meal for me but she looked to Saif with sadness.


"Saif, habebi, maku falous for your food. You use your money to buy that tiara for Amal from that old man, didn't you?" I heard the nanny say.


"Laa etgouleen 7ag Amal!" I heard Saif hiss behind me. "Ana mu you3an, 3ady an6ir lema Baba eyee 3shan akel b3ad shway. And it's not Amal, it's PRINCESS Amal... okay?"


"Saif, enta majnoun! Enta ma yakil break fast elyoum, shloun ma ekil ghada b3ad?!" The nanny argued.


"Khala9 Siena! 3ady." Saif said.


-

"Amal?" Saif's voice crushed my memories, bring me back into reality. We were both in the Lexus car again and were staring off at the sea.

"You used your lunch money to buy me that tiara." I said in disbelief.

"Wait, shdarach eb hal shay?!" Saif's eyes widened.

"Your voice was loud, I heard everything." I turned to look at Saif, his eyes were staring into mine. They were the same eyes I stared into when I was a child, they held love and care.

"You remember." Saif smiled to himself, breaking eye contact.

"Laish?" I asked him.

"Laish shareitlich el tiara?" He replied.

"Eee.. laish? Laish ma khaleitny albes el ger6as? I was happy with it." Saif's hand was still over mine, I felt his fingers flinch over mine when I said my words.

"Because I'm not happy with seeing a girl who accepts something that she doesn't deserve. You deserve more than just a tiara, you deserve the world and you don't even know it." Saif took a large intake of breath before saying those words.

"And you deserve more than a girl who can't remember everything." I turned my head away, my eyes filling with tears. This amnesia was killing me, I wished I remembered everything so I wouldn't have to be this girl, this girl who didn't even know her true past.

"I can't control my feelings, I can't choose who I love. But I know one thing, I'm in love with the right girl and she's sitting right in front of me.." Saif's words caused my heart to gallop inside my chest.

"What?" I turned around to face him again, ignoring the tears that were spilling over. He loves me?

"A7bich Amal." Saif breathed out the words, his fingers pushing away my tears gently. "Amal allah yikhaleech la tabcheen, I can't stand watching you cry." Saif's voice was full of pain.

"Binkalim Nawaf bacher w bin3arif kilashay.." Saif said, trying to cheer me up. "Etha ma et7ebeeny, haman hatha 3adi 3nde.. I won't leave your side, even if you don't love me back.."

"I love you too." As I said the words, deep inside me I knew that they were true. The feelings were always there, yet I decided to ignore them, acting as if they hadn't existed. They were there all those years, waiting to erupt and take over me.

"Shnu?!" Saif's eyes widened. "You do..?"

"Eee, I do Saif." I laughed, biting my bottom lip as I was watching Saif become a bit shy.

"Yaa 7yatee. Amout feech." Saif sighed happily, his smile widening. I felt his fingers tighten around me, not wanting to let go. I was turning shy, to the extent that I became speechless. I always had to get myself into awkward situations.

"Esti7at Amal." Saif chuckled to himself, his free hand starting the car.

"Chub, zain?" I laughed.

"Khala9 ma ra7 agoul shay, baskit!" Saif joked.

"Heey, laaa I was joking." I pouted.

"Fdaait'ha el 9aida." Saif laughed again, the atmosphere felt happy and light again.

"Fdaak rou7y." I replied shyly as he was driving again. I watched the road, unable to say anything else after our conversation. I kept replying the conversation back in my head, not believing what had just happened.

"Amal." I heard Saif say after a few minutes. I turned around to look at him, his gaze was intense.

"3younha?" I replied. Saif was driving without having his eyes on the road, we were both too transfixed on each other.

"Will you be mine?" Saif asked, his gaze full of love.

Before I could answer, I noticed Saif's eyes quickly turn back to the road. I did the same and I saw that Saif wasn't driving properly, he was driving towards another car. A car that happened to suddenly drive in front of us, out of nowhere.

Both of our cars collided, causing a large thud and I felt a sharp pain into my chest as the metal of the car had crushed into me. The glass window in front of us shattered into millions of pieces, each piece driving into my skin.

I shut my eyes tight, shutting out the pain and all the blood.

But all I saw before my eyes shut closed, was that Saif wasn't wearing a seat belt and his face had crushed into the car's steering wheel, his beautiful face being covered in blood.

And then.

Everything went black.