Masqué Chapter 6

Started this chapter on Friday 3:44am. I'm extremely tired but I got the writing mood and I missed writing. Yeah, writing could be tiring since it takes me 2 hours to write a chapter (I take ages with thinking and planning) but it's a joy as well. I hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry for keeping you waiting.

And if you find any mistakes, please tell me. I was too tired to check over my writing, I erased ch6 and re-wrote it 2 times. x_x



-

I turned my head to the right and found Dalia standing in the doorway. Fury were swimming inside her eyes as she laid them on Nawaf and I. Nawaf quickly backed away, putting more space between us.

And suddenly, I wished Nawaf was close again. It was better than the distance between us.

"Hey Dalouy." Nawaf gave Dalia an easy smile that burnt my insides.

"7bebi, I missed you." Dalia pouted, using her dalou3a voice. Her eyes kept moving from Nawaf's and then to mine. I took a step forward, walking past Nawaf.

Nawaf's head turned, staring at my back as I walked away. I brushed Dalia off, pushing her out of my way as I made my way out of my bedroom.

"Amal!" I heard Nawaf call out but I kept walking.

And this time, Nawaf didn't follow me.

My grandmother's house was literally huge. It wasn't hard to get lost in the hallways. I picked a random door to push open, not caring if I walked in on someone.

I ended up in an office/library room, there wasn't anyone in sight. There were hordes of books surrounding me, I felt at peace. I love the old and new smell of the pages and binders, which were creeping into my nostrils.

I brushed my fingers over the books, letting my fingers feel the engravings of each book. It was like a huge library with a mahogany desk in the middle, the rugs were deep red that complimented the brown colours of the room. I couldn't help but notice that there were numerous pictures all over the desk.

My eyes betrayed me, they quickly laid themselves over the desk, catching the images of the pictures. They were pictures of little children. I took a few steps closer to the desk, looking at the pictures.

One of the pictures had the little boy in them, with a big wide grin and a blue shirt on. But my eye caught one picture, it was a picture of me. I wasn't a child, I looked about 15 years old. Back then, my hair was a lot shorter. The picture was taken when I was walking alone, I remember that day. I was by the stores in Switzerland, trying to find a cute dress for Ghalia's birthday party.

Who took this picture of me? I looked over the other images. It was pictures of me again, when I was 14 years old, 17 years old, 7 years old. All pictures taken of me in Switzerland when I didn't know.

This was too creepy. The insides of my palms started to feel sweaty, the room didn't feel secure and safe anymore, the scent of the books weren't calming, my surroundings felt terrifying.

I heard a voice outside the room and I watched the door's knob turn around a few times.

 Someone was about to come inside.

 I did the first thing that came into my mind.

And that was kneel down and hide under the desk.

"We have to tell her. Najla is trying to take her away, she's planning to move back to Switzerland next week." I heard a female's voice, an old kind voice. Was it my grandmother?


"Yuma, ma y9eer takhith Amal! Won't Amal find it suspicious? We have to stop Najla." The second voice resembled Khalti Ghaneema's voice.


"Amal doesn't remember anything. If only she hadn't hit her head when she was young.." Grandma's voice was filled with sadness.


"If she didn't get amnesia, she would have remembered everything.. we have to stop them before they take her away again, they can't take her away from her family!" Khalti Ghaneema's voice was full of anger.


"We'll stop them. We have proof of their bribery, if they take Amal away, they'll lose every cent of what they got from their business." The voice of my Grandmother was growing closer. Was she getting closer to the desk? I prayed mentally that she wasn't, I was fidgeting under the desk. It was uncomfortable, my knee was grinding against the hard wooden floors, causing me pain.


"And what then? What if she stays? She doesn't even know anything about us and she never will. Did you see how she gave Nawaf and Saif a confused look? She didn't even remember her old childhood friend much rather remember her home country that she's been living in for 4 years." Khalti Ghaneema tsked in a disapproved tone.


"She'll remember in time. And when she does, her world will fall apart." Those were the last words I heard before I heard the door open and close. I was alone again. Alone in this dark room, filled with pictures of me, words that were hanging in the air, confusing me and frightening me even further.

So Nawaf wasn't lying about the amnesia thing? And those memories/images were flashbacks? Was I getting some of my memory back?

And why would my parents lie to me all those years? They must have had an explanation, right? The way they spoke about my mother wasn't in a kind tone, I sensed hatred behind their voices towards my mother. (*Najla is Amal's mother's name.)

What did my mother do?

All these endless questions.. And no one to answer them.

"Amal?" I heard a familiar deep voice that startled me, it caused me to stand up quickly and hit my head accidentally against the desk's overhead.

"Aaa7." I winced, rubbing the spot where my head hit the desk. I looked up and found Saif with a grin on his face.

"Shitsaween?" Saif smirked. I got out of my hiding place and found that the pictures of me on the desk weren't there anymore. Did my aunt and grandmother take them?

"Uhm, kent, uhm." I tried to look for an excuse. "Exploring the house. Yes, I was exploring the house." I tried to hide my shaky hands, I was still in shock. My mind was trying to progress the words I just heard from Grandma and Khalti Ghaneema.

"Aha, legeitay shay 7lu?" Saif teased.

"La2." I bit the inside of my cheek, standing up properly and making my way towards the door, trying to escape.

"Tara el 3asha wi9al." Saif followed me out of the room, his grin still in place. He was enjoying this, he knew he caught me doing something but he wasn't pressuring me into saying anything.

We passed an angry looking Nawaf, I avoided his eyes, ignoring his presence. I could have sworn I felt a hint of jealousy from Nawaf once he saw me follow Saif down to the living room, towards where our Maki take out was.

That night was a sleepless night for me. I kept rolling around in bed, with thoughts disturbing my sleep. I hated it when over thinking took over most of my nights. I ended up falling asleep at 4 am, when my eyes surrendered and shut themselves by force.

-

"Excited for your first day at Kuwait University?" Bibi asked, she was in her school uniform which was a plaid skirt and a button down white shirt. We were sitting by the table, munching down on our breakfast while most of our parents were already away at work. I haven't seen my parents in a while, I felt like they were trying to avoid the whole house, including me and my questions.

"Sure." I replied, I wasn't looking forward to going to KU because I knew I'd see Nawaf there, there was no escape.

I was in a pair of comfy Juicy navy sweatpants and a cropped shirt. I was used to wearing comfy clothes to university back in Switzerland but I was shocked to find Asmaa wearing a tight pair of jeans that hugged her curves and a low cut shirt.

"Asmaa, wein ray7a?" I asked, confused.

"Jam3a, y3ne wein?" Asmaa replied in annoyance, she was still grumpy. The housekeeper had to force her out of bed this morning.

"She usually dresses like that for university." Bibi leaned closer to my ear to whisper into it. I looked down at my casual clothes and felt out of place.

"Shnu, lal7een ma lebestay?" Asmaa looked over my attire but then she noticed my Hermes shoulder bag next to me and said; "Oh, lebestay.."

I ignored Asmaa, I wasn't going to dress up for university. I had eyeliner, mascara, bronzer and light lip gloss for my make up which was my standard everyday make up. My long curls were cascading down my back, my ray bans used as a hair band.

Asmaa had a way to provoke a person through kindness, she would criticize you with her eyes or her sweet tone, but under that fake layer, she was cruel as her friends.

"Eee lebest." I gave her a toothy smile, grabbing my cup of coffee and bag before leaving the house.

"Kamro, I'll drive." I said to the driver, he had the Porsche keys in his hand.

"Akeed mama Amal?" He replied in a worried tone. "Enti 3arif soug?"

"Akeed, ana 18, shloun ma a3arif?" I laughed, grabbing the keys. Asmaa was standing behind me, hearing every word.

"You can't drive! You have to be 20 years old in this house to drive." Asmaa's voice was venomous.

"Not by Kuwaiti law." I shrugged, climbing into the driver's seat. "Al7een bitirkaboun wla la2?"

Bibi hurried behind Asmaa, taking the passenger seat next to me.

"La2, Kamro is going to drive me. Yalla Kamro," Asmaa ordered the driver in a harsh tone. I felt sorry for Kamro for having to deal with Asmaa's grumpiness every morning.

"Ciao." (It means bye), I gave Asmaa a little wave, putting the keys into ignition once Bibi and her twin brother Turki were in the car. I controlled the car easily with my hands, I missed driving and the freedom I felt from it.

"Medristy yem KU, ana badeleech." Bibi said, her eyes absorbed into texting. Her hair was up in a ponytail and I couldn't help but notice that she had mascara on. Turki was seated behind us, his eyes too absorbed into his books. These two siblings seemed the opposite of each other.

I found my way to Bibi's and Turki's high school easily, I dropped both of them off and called Kamro for instructions on to how I could get to KU. He was a sweet man, he was patient and told me how to get to my new college.

The college had swarms of cars parked outside in the parking area, my eyes looked over the Range Rovers, Audis and a few BMWs. I parked the car in the first parking space I found and climbed out of the dark red Porsche. The college was much smaller than the college in Switzerland I attended and it was closed instead of opened because of the heat in Kuwait.

I noticed Asmaa was standing outside with Dalia and another girl who was wearing the same tight jeans as Asmaa's. Asmaa was getting a few stares from other guys but their stares weren't on her face, the stares were on her large exposed bottom.

"Amal!" I heard my name being called out. I turned around to find Saif with a huge grin on his face, his hands holding a few textbooks. He was standing with his friends but he left them to approach me, he was wearing a cap over his hair, a polo shirt and casual beige shorts.

"Hey." I started walking towards the entrance, letting Saif follow me.

"Ma gilteely, what's your major?" Saif took off his cap, running his fingers through his wavy hair, ruffling it up.

"Law, what about you?" I was in the building now, trying to find my first class and Saif was still by my side.

"World History, I want to be a teacher." Saif said in a serious tone. He caught me by surprise, causing me to stop walking and turn towards him to look at him.

"9ej?" I never imagined Saif as a teacher, not a History teacher.

"Eee." Saif widened his smile, looking confident about his option.

"Allah yiwafgik enshallah." I replied politely. I finally found my first class, I was about to enter and leave Saif standing alone but he stopped me by grabbing my elbow gently. I felt the soft callouses of his fingers against my skin which surprised me.

"Amal, digeega." His voice wasn't so playful anymore. I turned around to face him, his eyes boring into mine.

"Fee shay?" I asked, trying to put distance between us.

"Amal, shfeech?" Saif asked, sounding a bit sad. He must have sensed how emotionless I was towards him.

"Ma feene shay." Lie. Lie. Lie.

I was still thinking about yesterday, what my Grandmother had said and about Nawaf's behavior. I was also confused about Saif and why he was putting so much effort into trying to talk to me, trying to befriend me.

Was it some contest with his brother Nawaf? Or was it genuine?

"I'm not letting you go into your class until you tell me what's wrong." Saif sounded dead serious.

"Saif, khala9 ma feene shay. I don't want to be late to my first class." I tried turning around again but Saif's hand was still wrapped around my elbow, trapping me. I was noticing that most of the students were in the class now and my worries about being late began to exceed.

"It's Nawaf, isn't it?" Saif asked, his tone sounded hurt.

"What?" I faced him again, his eyes weren't meeting mine anymore but I could see a hint of anger behind his usually playful eyes.

"Nothing, enjoy your first day at KU. I have to go to class now." Saif still wouldn't meet my eyes, he turned around and walked away.

I watched Saif's back disappear into the crowd of people with one thought crossing my mind.

Was Saif jealous?