Le Chase, Season 2, Chapter 4.

Heyy! I hope you all had a great day today. Mine was boring, this week's full of dreadful maths exams, YES PLURAL! More than ONE exam to do with my worst subject, ugh..

Anywho, lets go to more positive things, like this post and a few amazing people.

This chapter goes out to a beautiful tall Dalia with dark brown/black hair and fair skin, a friend of Fatma's and a reader I was lucky to meet last weekend.

This chapter also goes to the sweetheart @Israa2 and the amazing @JO_blog2 (check her blog out you guys!) INCREDIBLE supporters! I love you both and thank you for all your kindness and support. People like you make this hobby so enjoyable. x

AAAANDD for my panda, you know who you are (pssttt, Razan!) I love you I love you I love you, I'd go on but people reading this want me to stop blabbing already lol.

As for the contest winners, they'll be announced in Chapter 5 enshallah (it may be the last chapter too, before I write a Season 2 for my other two stories, as I promised you guys). I didn't want to wait till the contest was done with before writing because I knew I'd get caught up in the weekend with going out and homework and then take too long to post. So I'll post chapter 4 this week since you all have been so patient and I've been super annoying to be honest, with the posts and cliffhangers (I confess to it!).

Hope you enjoy this chapter beautiful people. 

-

Previously in Chapter 3:

"Okay," Layal said.

"Okay what? Thari and 3abbas asked at once.

The following words that left Layal's mouth shocked Thari to the core.

"Okay, lets get you married Thari."

-

Did I hear her right? Thari thought to himself as his eyes cascaded over his wife’s beautiful face. It looked determined, strong and serious. He couldn’t see a hint of doubt or regret after her words had left her mouth. He couldn’t believe it; he felt the atmosphere grow murkier by the second. He wanted to scream, shout and repeatedly call her ludicrous for saying those words to her own husband. Didn’t she even have one percent of jealousy towards him?! Did she loathe him this much?

Did she?

“THARI, earth to THARI?!” The annoying voice of 3abbas bulldozed his uneasy thoughts. Thari lightly smacked his left cheek, getting an awkward glance from 3abbas from his sudden action. His thoughts were taking over most of his focus and he couldn’t even remember what he was doing with the paper placed in front of him. His vision blurred, all he saw was thousands of words that possibly meant he had to agree to some legal terms. Even his intelligence drifted off for a few minutes.

“Eee-ee,” Thari grunted in response, looking up from the paper and giving up on trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with it.

“I gave you that contract two hours ago, all you had to do was analyze it and sign it. It usually takes you a minute dude, what’s up with you?” 3abbas asked in an annoyed tone, resting his back against the wall of Thari’s coffee scented office.

“Oh, so that’s what I was supposed to do…” Thari murmured quietly to himself, seventy percent of his membrane was still engrossed into what happened with Layal a few days ago. He’s been trying to speak to her ever since but she’s been avoiding him, always locking the bedroom door when she went to sleep and always hanging out at a friend’s house or the office. Her excuse was: “Why can’t I spend all my evenings at the office and you can?” Thari felt weak, angry and vulnerable. Thari’s phone felt annoyed and frustrated from Aisha’s missed calls.

“Shfeek? Ma giltly sh9ar wyaa Layal tara,” 3abbas looked more worried now than annoyed. His forming wrinkles crinkled up together when his forehead furrowed. He took the seat in front of Thari and rested an elbow over the mahogany desk, watching Thari, waiting for his explanation.

Thari didn’t speak a word; his eyes were staring off at the depressing colour of the walls in his office. He had the sudden idea to redecorate, completely shutting 3abbas out of his head. He as furious at him, 3abbas was the main cause of all of his problems right now.

Was he? Weren’t you the one ignoring your wife for months because she couldn’t bear children? Now is that fair? To ignore your wife when she needed you the most? You can bear children; she’s the one who can’t. Was 3abbas really the main cause or was he just someone that forced you to wake up and face your problems head on? Even if he did it in the worst way, bringing in new problems to worry about.

Thari’s inner conscience whispered to him, the voice sounded so true.

“I have to go,” Thari mumbled suddenly, knowing what to do, finally.

“Hey?! Wain raye7?! 3laqal waqe3 el ewrigaa!” 3abbas called after Thari, staring at his back that was fading into the crowd of employees in the building. Thari was a fast runner and 3abbas didn’t dare to race him or try to stop him.

A smile lingered on 3abbas’s face as he watched his best friend chase the only person who could ever make him happy.

“That’s my boy,” 3abbas whispered to himself, a smile painted on his face.

-

“LAYAL,” Thari barged into his empty house, running from room to room, looking for his wife. He smelled the faint aroma of vanilla and baby powder; it was the scent of Layal’s Chloe perfume. He knew she was here, her car was parked right outside and usually at his time, she came back from work. But she didn’t answer him.

“The bedroom,” Thari whispered to himself, having that ‘aha!’ moment. He hurried upstairs; he heard footsteps, someone hurrying to do something in the room. He only knew that Layal was trying to lock the bedroom door to further avoid him and act asleep. It was her revenge for the countless times he acted asleep. However, Thari was too fast for her. He pushed the door open by twisting the knob and pressing his strong right shoulder against the wooden door. Layal stood motionless in front of him, the keys in her fair manicured hands.

“What?” Layal said as coldly as possible. Her hair tied up in a messy ponytail, her eyes had miniature red veins and her pouty lips were frowning.

“I love you,” Thari blurted out, completely unprepared.  He hadn’t planned his words but his emotions were bare and naked. All he did was rush to the house, not knowing what to say but his instinct told him to rush back before it was too late and he couldn’t ignore his instinct anymore.

“Isn’t Aisha waiting for you somewhere or something? Thari I’m busy, can we talk later?” Layal’s eyes hardened as she shrugged him off carelessly. It stung Thari painfully; the three words that meant the world to him couldn’t even fix a problem this big.

“Busy doing what?” Thari’s anger was fueling inside of him but he tried to calm himself down, he was trying to get her back, not push her away.

“Just busy, malik sheghl feene,” Layal gave Thari her back, she walked over to the bedroom, folding piles of clothes. Thari’s eyes followed her, all of the clothes were hers and he saw the suitcase hidden under the bed. The side of the suitcase was peeping out of the bed; the bright red colour of the suitcase caught his attention.

“Are you packing?!” Thari asked, his voice sounding panicked and alerted. Now he understood that instinct telling him to hurry back home as fast as possible.

“And what if I am?”

“Are you serious Layal? Just like that? You’re ending years of marriage, years of love, just like that huh?” Thari angrily stated, his voice becoming louder and louder.

“Oh really now? So now I’m the bad guy?” Layal laughed sarcastically. “Honey, stop pointing fingers when yours are clearly dirty,” she continued on, a sarcastic smile playing on her lips but her eyes had a different kind of emotion, an emotion even he couldn’t put his finger on.

“Layal,” Thari grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to turn around so he could face her. So he could look back into those coloured eyes and try to find the old Layal, the one he loves. Not the devil that inhabited her tongue.

“Don’t touch me!” Layal screeched, trying to push Thari off of her but his hands were too strong, his fingers pushed deeper into her skin but not too deep to hurt her, just deep enough to control her movements. He finally got a glance at her beautiful eyes, they were filling up with tears and they spoke of raw emotions, emotions of pain, loneliness and heartbreak. Her heart was filled with raw emotions that hurt her everyday but her tongue spoke of strength and anger. They hid her vulnerability, she couldn’t smile it off but she sure could keep the pain hidden through unkind words.

Thari caught a sense of her pain. The sensation struck him strongly and his heart ached for her. His anger was washed away, all he could do was watch her continue trying to fight him off but her emotions were so strong that it affected her body, it made her grew feeble against the hardness of his chest.

He wanted those emotions to morph into words but how could one explain their feelings through the use of mere letters and useless explanations?

He moved his hands from her shoulders to her necks, keeping her firmly against him. His fingers caressed her skin, calming her down slowly, before she could utter a word he pushed his lips down to hers, silencing them for what felt like hours.

And just like that, every bit of pain and every bit of her raw emotions were intermingled with his through a kiss. Thari’s cheeks were wet as they brushed against her, her tears rubbing off of his skin but her lips soft as a plush feather. Her body grew weak against him, her arms stopped fighting and her eyes were shut but she was sobbing quietly against his lips, not able to keep any of the pain inside any longer.

Thari slowly let go of her lips but kept his arms around her. Her eyes were still shut tightly, her head hidden into his chest, her tears cascading down her cheeks. The symphony of her quiet sobs ached him even more, he couldn’t watch her be in this much pain, he just couldn’t.

“Why does it hurt so much to love? I imagined it to be so wonderful, so perfect but it feels like such a nightmare, a nightmare morphed into reality,” the ache in her voice was obvious. He could see that she baring her soul, he successfully broke down the walls that were built in between them.

“Layal… I didn’t want to hurt you, I didn’t,” Thari murmured to himself, feeling his eyes tear slightly from watching her sob.

“Then why did you?” Layal’s eyes hardened once again, they were moist from the tears and the colours of forest green and brown wood were mixed around her pupils, the colours were glistening with the tears. “Isn’t love supposed to fee like happiness, protection and loyalty? I haven’t felt any of that.”

“Never? You never felt any of that Layal?”

“I did. But it stopped. I’ve accepted that you’ve changed, everyone changes, it’s the cycle of life but why did you have to do it for the worse?” Layal’s eyes pleaded for an answer that I didn’t have.

“Because I was scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“That we’d never be happy without children, that we would leave each other, I was scared of becoming my father.”

“Can’t you see?”

“See what?”

“Thari, you are not your father. You’re not the image of your parents; you’re not destined to have the future they ended up with. You’re Thari, my husband, 3abbas’s best friend, their son, you’re your own person and you’re not obligated to follow your parent’s footsteps. You’re also not obligated to marry Aisha…”

“I never wanted to marry her Layal! It was 3abbas’s stupid scheme, I didn’t know anything about it and then you showed up at the worst time too. I had no idea what to do, I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?!”

“I was-“

“Scared? For a man of your personality and strength, I would have never thought you of all people would be scared.”

“I only knew true fear when I met you, the fear of losing you and as much as I did the most horrible things, I did it our of fear of losing you.”

“Even spending so many nights on the couch and ignoring my existence?” Layal’s tears were refilling her eye sockets, threatening to spill over.

“I was numb, I didn’t know what to do. I was stupid, an idiot to leave you like that when you needed me as much as I needed you. I’m so sorry Layal, so sorry. I’ll do anything to fix everything, anything. I’m so used to being alone with the family I grew up with, I wasn’t used to the love you had for me. Please Layal, anything you want. Just name it.”

“But I think…”

“What? Anything, please I need you. Screw Aisha, I never wanted her; I’ve always wanted you and you. No one else besides you, there is any other soul that can ever capture my heart as much as yours has,” Thari pleaded, using every last bit of strength in him to keep the only valuable relationship in his life.

He was about to smile, to feel relieved to get rid of the pain and heartbreak, finally sure that he had his wife back but her words denied every good feeling he had.

“I think we need a separation.”

-

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