Bittersweet reunion (22)

I don’t believe it has actually been three years. I still remember that day very clearly, I remember the place, the smells, the details, his face and my feelings. I still remember his face when I walked into that café; I was wearing the black dress I wore the day of his exhibition, I knew he loved it and I had every intention of torturing him with my beauty just like he had always done to me.

His entire face lit up when he saw me approaching our usual table. I made sure I looked relaxed and happy, I didn’t want him to see how miserable I was. He stood up when I reached our table,"hi" I said.

"Hey…Jana" he frowned when he said my name as if it bit his tongue. He was in a baby blue shirt that matched his eyes so perfectly; his eyes were grey- blue at that moment. Weirdly beautiful eyes I thought.

We both sat down, his eyes never leaving mine, I was uncomfortable. "So how's life treating you?" he broke the ice.

" um actually, I've never been better" I lied.

" oh, that’s ..that's great" he hesitated.

"how's your heart, and your overall health?" I asked.

" el7emdella 3la kel 7al" he smiled.

" 5athait your meds elyom?" I raised an eyebrow.

he nodded .

" gym?"

he nodded again.

I giggled. god I missed him.

" so, sheno a5er a5barech jana?" he grinned.

" well,I've been working in an attorney's office, bas maidany mu sh'3el 9ijy ya3ny, bas I like work already, el7emdella!" I said excitedly.

" wow, my little girl grew up" he smiled, his eyes were still fixed on mine.

I blushed. He shouldn’t have said that, I wasn’t "his", or was I ? . I looked away " what about you?"

" wallah nothing much, radet lekuwait last week, el sh'3el may5ale9,bas el7emdella im having good deals" he said in a businesslike tone.

" you never told me sheno your business, you know that?" I looked at him again.

"well, it's called YOUKUW you can Google it" he smiled. He had one of those smiles that broke the heart. Thinking of it still breaks my heart.

" you know I wont , I suck with computers" I blushed.

His palm brushed mine accidently, sending a warm delicious feeling through my entire body; I jumped when I realized how this tiny touch caused all this. Suddenly tears gathered in my eyes, stinging them like lemons. I tried to fight them off but they betrayed me. Terki got so close to me, he held a strand of my hair and inhaled at it deeply. "coconut with a hint of lemon" he murmured as if to remind himself what my hair smelled like.

He placed it gently behind my ear and pulled away slightly. "When I was seven I found a little kitten outside our house, the moment I laid my eyes on it I felt responsible for it, I couldn’t leave it in the streets , it was suffering , it couldn’t stop meowing for help, I begged my mom to keep it in our house, she refused at first but then she finally agreed when she saw how desperate I was to have it" he said " when I held it in my hands for the first time it stopped crying for help, it thought I was it's mom or something, it became like my lil child, I fed it , took care of it and put it in bed with me, I even fought with s3ood when he tried to kick it" he giggled. " wallah we couldn’t be away from eachother. It used to be jealous when I was around little kids hehe, it died after two years "he looked deep into my eyes.

" er .. im sorry for your loss. but why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"You remind me of that kitten" he said .

" I remind you of a KITTEN? Min gaddy!" I said sarcastically.

He laughed "I meant I feel the same way about you a7es I cant be away from you, I want you around me all the time"

"Nice try" I said " I know I shouldn’t say this but I cant be away from you too, and I want you to be around me all the time"

"Do you want to start over?" he sounded serious.

" no, lets leave it 3alallah ya3ny I don’t want to be your girlfriend , lets just be in touch , just because we cant be away from eachother" I winked.

He laughed "yeah sure"

The rest of the evening was perfect; we talked a lot and shared childhood stories. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this happy, that man completed me. I promised myself that I would never leave him again.

------------------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately my mother was still awake when I reached home. " wain kentay?" she said coldly without looking at me.

" 3end farah" I said and ran my away upstairs. My relationship with mom was still tense, since the volcano eruption that happened between us two months ago. Despite all that I really missed her.
-------------------------------------------------------------
I woke up to the sound of my phone announcing a message. " good morning pussy cat;)" from terki.

" morning;p* I sent back and headed to the bathroom.

I spent my day with farah, we did some shopping and then we went to the movies. she told me all about zain, and how she began "developing some sort of feelings for him". I wasn’t exactly happy for her because I didn’t know the guy but I was relieved that she no longer had feelings for saud, little did I know that she was even more in love with him by now.

While I was driving my way home, my phone beeped indicating a message. I flipped it open and gazed at the screen * it took just one hit of you, now im addicted* saud. SAUD?!! Okay I've had enough, I had to call him and put a limit for this! . I dialed his number and waited, my heart was pounding so hard. " aloo" he said softly.

"s3ood, what the hell are you doing?"

" what? I.."

" you CANT keep on sending those messages!!! May9eer!!! " I yelled.

" listen I have to see you, I know its wrong but I really need to see, aby agolech sha'3la" he said. He had a very calm, low pitched voice, I came to notice that.

"I cant!! S3ood you shouldn’t send me messages and you shouldn’t call! please understand"

"I promise I won't bother you again, I just need to see you el7een for five minutes only, okay?"

"Five minutes only!" I sighed.

-------------------------------------------------------
I refused to get in his car. We parked in an empty place; he turned the engine off and got in the car with me. " hi jana" he greeted me with a big smile on his face.

" hey" I said without smiling.

" please 5ale9 bser3a, what is it?!" I was seriously uncomfortable.

" I'll tell you everything bas don’t interrupt me okay?"

I nodded.

" from the first moment I saw you I knew that you’re the one for me, jana latefhemeny '3ala6, I want you bel7alal , I want to marry you, ana maby sowalef yahal o relationships o hal 5arabe6, trust me im not like that, o adry enich wa7da mo7tarama , ana meste3ed atqadamlech min bacher, adry you think enich t7ebeen my brother.."

" I do!" I interrupted him.

" please, let me finish.., I know my brother very well, I love him and everything but terki is always like this , all his girlfriends suffered with him, he gets serious for a few months ba3dain efel , madry laish , he always claims that the girl is not for him , o he hasn’t found the one yet o madry sheno, maybe he loves you but he treats you like the rest of them, what makes you so sure that he will marry you? jana IAM ready to settle down" he looked deep into my eyes " I swear im serious, I even talked to my mom about it"

I sighed " s3ood look, you're a great guy um apparently, but Im in love with your brother, like DEEPLY in love with him, I know that he can be so immature sometimes, maybe all the times but I know that he loves me , I saw it s3ood"

" okay ma5talafna, he loves you, but not enough to marry you" he said.

" I guess we'll see about that" I looked away, I was getting seriously annoyed.

I felt his hand touching my chin, he lifted it up with his fingers "look at me" he demanded.

I forgot how handsome he was, his face was so tanned, his small nose was perfectly placed above his pink lips.

"I tried to fight the feeling off but I couldn’t, I swear I tried to forget but I couldn’t, I tried to stay away from you bas magedart, I can do anything you want, I even talked to your doctor 3ashan enaj7ech, I really think I can do anything for you, I love you jana, im sorry" he said. I was stunned, I looked at his sharp black eyes and to my utter surprise I saw pain in them and … love.