Walls Chapter 1

Hey guys! I'm SO deeply sorry for not posting for such a long time. I've stopped blogging ever since university started but I got the sudden inspiration to start a whole new story. But NO, I WILL continue Paradise but not now, probably after this story if people still want to see Paradise continued, it's because it's been so long that I honestly just got bored of Paradise, the ideas stopped coming in and I got inspirations for new stories.

This story will be VERY confusing at first but keep on reading, it gets better as you go on. There will be a LOT of events/action going on at once so it needs patience. :p

Everything you're expecting to happen in this story is completely wrong, it's a mind game haha.

Enjoy and tell me what you think in the comments below as a first impression, thank you so much! (comments are now open again, even for anonymous writers.)

-

“Ma et3rft 3la w7da aw9akh mench, mabe akelmch, ya wailch etha dageitay 3lay aw kalemteeny mara thanya, ma a3rfch wela et3rfeeny, fahma?!”

I read the words over and over again, playing them back in my head. It’s been five days since he sent that message to me, five whole days. It was a text message, he had deleted me off every social network, every chatting app, blocked my number and I didn’t even need to check to know it.

It broke me, every word; every letter that was typed in one easy text message broke me. My walls were all broken down into crumbs of nothingness, he broke them down and now I had no tools to build them back up.

-

Nine months ago.

“Hey, you.” A male voice behind me startled me. I turned around and met his dark eyes, they reminded me of the mahogany colour of my coffee that I was hugging to my chest, trying to use it as a mini fireplace to warm myself up in the winter’s weather.

“Na3am?” I answered coolly. He took a step closer, he seemed too tall to my 161cm height, his jawlines were sharp and his dark hair would cover his eyes ever so often whenever he moved.

“Yasmine Al-X, right?”

“A3rfk?” I looked up at him, confused. We were both standing in the streets of New York City, it was 9:03pm exactly and I had just left Starbucks after a night with the girls.

“Shfeech neseiteeny?” He chuckled and I noticed a hidden dimple on his left cheek.

“Sorry?”

“Jassim Al-X, your chemistry partner during ninth grade?” He seemed a bit embarrassed now, I noticed because he suddenly stuck his already gloved hands into the pockets of his true religion jeans, looking away slightly, rethinking the whole choice of approaching me.

“Jassim Jassim? The one with glasses and was shorter than me Jassim?” I seemed even more confused now, looking up at his tall height and naked eyes.

“Ee teghayert shway,” he chuckled.

“Shway?!” I laughed. “Mashallah, teghayert 7aail!”

“And you didn’t change at all,” he smiled.

“Shd3wa 3ad ma teghayert at all?” I took my braces off, had my hair dyed to a lighter shade of brown and I started applying a bit of make up, I looked far different than the ninth grade version of me.

“It’s a good thing, ha shlounch shakhbarich?” He continued on, noticing that I’ve relaxed a bit after recognizing him.

“El7mdellah tamam, what are you doing here in NYC?” I asked, curious.

“I’m visiting my friends, ma36eena 3 weeks off after our last course ended, entay?”

“I study here.”

“What major?”

“Nutrition, enta?”

“Chemical engineering in KU.”

“Mwafg enshallah,” I began saying, ending the whole conversation. “It was nice seeing you.”

“Ajme3een, hey dgeega,” he said once he saw me take a step back, ready to walk back to my apartment.

“Yasmine!” I heard the familiar voice of Hawraa calling me from afar. I looked past Jassim and saw her hurry out of Starbucks holding her Miu Miu purse on one hand and the other one clutching her books to her chest.

“Bayee m3ach, male khelg anam 3nd el dorms,” Hawraa’s ponytail slapped her cheek in the wind as she hurried to my side.

“Yalla okay,” I agreed, Hawraa always slept over at my apartment whenever she got bored of the dorms at her university. “Shnu kent betgoul?” I turned my attention back to Jassim.

“La khala9 wela shay, it was nice seeing you too, take care!” And just like that, he turned around and walked away, erasing the words completely from his head that he had planned to say.

“Mnu hatha?” Hawraa hissed once we began walking in the direction of where my apartment was, it was fairly close to Starbucks, which meant daily doses of beautiful coffee.

“Wa7d men my old highschool.”

“He’s cute!”

“He’s not that bad,” I shrugged and changed the subject.

-

I didn’t see him again for another two whole weeks. By then I was back in Kuwait, visiting the family.

“Yasmine!” That same familiar voice called me.

I turned around and those dark coffee coloured eyes stared right back at me.

“Jassim,” I politely called back. We were both in Starbucks, yet again. This time it was the one in Nuzha, not in NYC and it was packed with Kuwaitis who stared at the both of us once we began speaking to each other.

Yara, my cousin, elbowed my waist once she saw Jassim. “Mnu hatha?!”

“Ush,” I hissed back as Jassim approached us.

“Shlounch?” He was holding onto his receipt, waiting for his drink and he had a dimpled smile on his face.

“El7mdellah,” I smiled back, “enta?”

“Tara ma maleitay men hal small conversations, bas shlounch shakhbarch w b3dain ashoufch 3la khair?” His eyes teased me, I laughed and forgot about the Kuwaitis who kept staring at us, as if we were both dating each other, not simply having a conversation.

“Ee wallah maleina,” I confessed. “Yara, Jassim, Jassim, Yara,” I introduced them both. Yara was a bit close-minded; she was still a senior at high school and had a very shy personality, especially when it came to men.

“Ahlain,” Yara barely uttered and avoided eye contact. “Ana barou7 el 7amam, dgeega.” And just like that, she escaped.

“Gelt shay ghala6?” Jassim hissed, staring at Yara in worry.

“La la don’t worry, she’s always like that,” I laughed.

“AMERICANO FOR GASSIM? GASSIM?” The Filipino Starbucks worker yelled out.

“So, back in Kuwait I see?” Jassim ignored his obvious order and kept on talking to me.

“Eee, Christmas break! Mu hatha your drink?”

“Esmy JAY-ssim, mu GAY-ssim, with a JAY.” He shrugged, a hint of a smile in his voice.

“Bas lal7een, your drink!”

“Ee okay so Christmas break?” He ignored me, continuing.

“Feek e3nad mu 6abe3y,” I suddenly said.

“La7athtay men al7een?” He laughed.

“JASMEEN, HOT WHITE MOCHA TRIPLE SHOT?” It was my turn now, I took a step forward to grab my drink but I felt his hand on my arm, stopping me.

“Esmch Yasmine, mu JASMEEN,” he smiled, trying to keep me by his side longer.

“Unlike you, I’ve grown used to them getting my name wrong,” I pulled my arm away, not accepting the hint of staying longer and went to grab my coffee. I felt his eyes on me and I knew for sure he was flirting but I wasn’t interested, yes he was handsome but I was too used to the typical Kuwaiti guy ways of flirting, it soon got old and boring and they soon gave up and went to the next girl to hit on.

He soon gave up and went to grab his drink too with the misspelling of his name, right on cue Yara left the bathroom and was back at my side, he lost his chance to continue the conversation and was forced to give me a smile goodbye.

“He’s cute,” Yara whispered.

“He’s not that bad,” I repeated the same exact words and sipped the luxurious taste of my hot coffee to avoid her dwelling on the subject even further.

-

The third time’s a charm, no?

“Yasmine!” He called me once again.

Three days after Starbucks, I bumped into him yet again in Starbucks, this time, it was in Starbucks Mishref.

“We keep bumping into each other because of coffee,” Jassim smiled. I was alone this time, trying to get my coffee before going back to my grandmother’s house for Friday zwara.

“Oh really?” I acted like I didn’t notice.

“Hot white mocha, triple shot?” He asked, his eyes on my coffee.

“Maybe,” I took a sip and looked at the door, giving him the hint that I’m leaving.

“You’re staying this time, you won’t escape.”

“Kaifik oho?” I laughed.

“You owe me one conversation.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” I was surprise with his boldness. He was so straightforward, so early in the game.

“You will owe me after I tell you something.”

“Tell me what?”

“Back in ninth grade, I switched our test papers.”

“Shnu?” I gulped.

“Tethkereen lema kentay ga3da tabcheen? You didn’t study for the test, you forgot about it and we were sitting next to each other so when you finished your test and left to use the bathroom, I switched the papers last minute w 7a6ait esmch 3la my paper.”

I remembered it too well, I was shocked to find a 100% on a test I hadn’t studied for, they didn’t give our tests back, they just gave us the marks to avoid students giving the tests to other classes who hadn’t taken the test yet.

“Bas gltly you got a 100% too..” I remembered asking him what he got.

“I lied, I got a 12%. I didn’t have enough time to correct your really bad answers,” he laughed.

“You did that for me?”

“Yeah, so you owe me Yasmine Al-X. One conversation over a cup of coffee.” He pushed the hoodie cap off of his head, running his fingers through his tousled hair giving me a clearer vision of his eyes.

“That was the ninth grade!” I had nothing more to say, I was at a loss of words, I still couldn’t believe that he did such a thing for me and kept it in for so long.

“So it doesn’t count for anything?” He shot up an eyebrow at me.

“Embala bas…”

“3yal khala9, bacher, 9 am, coffee at 3daileya Starbucks.”

“La7tha shm3na 3daileya?”

“That’s a Starbucks we haven’t bumped into yet,” he chuckled.

“W laish 9 am? Banam!”

“You never sleep.”

“W enta shdarak?”

He tapped a finger over my iPhone, which was in my left hand.

“Twitter.”

And just like that, yet again, he walked off without another word.

I checked my twitter followers and found his name. How did I never notice? I barely checked who followed me, my account was public and I barely tweet.

Suddenly, it struck me.

The times I used Foursquare to check in at Starbucks were the times I bumped into him.

Could it be that it never was a coincidence with bumping into him?

Before I could dwell more onto the subject, I was grabbed from behind then pushed suddenly to the ground hitting the side of my head hard.

Everything after that was completely black.