39. Too Close

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Layla

We squeeze our faces together to look at the phone in my hands and there she is; smiling in a hat with feathers next to my husband. Almost next to him to be exact, but still too close to him.

"Who is the guy between them?" I ask.

Sheikha answers. "That's Amir, her brother."

"He's so cute!" Maryam squeals.

"Ha," Latifa chuckles. "Dad would be so happy if you married him, he appreciates anything that gets us closer to the Saudis."

"But then, Nafisah would be your sister," Sheikha points out.

"Yeah," Maryam laments. "He's probably not worth it."

I swipe with my finger to look at the rest of the photos, there are a few of them and she is almost in every shot, never alone with Hamdan like I saw them, but still... There. She. Is. And I can tell by the pictures that they are having a pretty good time.

"Why?" I wonder. "Why did she have to be there today when I wasn't?"

"I understand that she bothers you, but you really have nothing to worry about," says Sheikha at my right, with her face still next to mine and her eyes on the screen.

"That's true," to my left, Latifa agrees. "Hamdan practically drools every time he looks at you."

Above me, Maryam also concurs. "Yeah! Did you like the bunny slippers? I ran into him in the hallway yesterday and he was so excited to show them to me, he's totally head over heels with you and the baby."

"I know, I know," I put the phone down and all of them disperse and go back to their places. "In my head I know that but when I see her I just..." I trail off, unable to put into words my feelings, until an idea comes to mind. "You know that scene from Mean Girls? When Cady imagines how she would settle things in the animal world with Regina?"

"When Regina was touching the boy's hair?" Latifa asks.

"Yes!" I reply, pointing at her with my finger. "And she flies across the table and pins Regina down on the floor and goes completely primal on her!"

They all start to laugh.

"That's what I feel like doing to her!" I start laughing too.

"I would so help you, sis." Sheikha offers.

I sigh. "But I have to be better than that. You guys are right, I have nothing to worry about and I'm not making any sense."

"Talk to him," Maryam advises.

"Yes, come on, it's Hamdan," Latifa tells me. "He's the sweetest, he loves you, you're pregnant... of course he will understand."

I know he will, but I feel very guilty for all the drama that I caused, it was definitely not worth it. Hamdan and I spent so many years apart and I never want to feel like we're somehow distanced, more than enough time has already been wasted. I want to do something special, I want to make it up to him and I'll figure something out.

---

Hamdan

I walk into our suite and hear nothing. Slowly, I close the door behind me, trying to not make any noise in case Layla is asleep. I truly wanted to get out of the Ascot, my mood is weird because of how things are between us but now that I'm here, I'm not sure how to proceed. Maryam said that Layla was feeling better and that they had fun. It's still early, all I want is to have some of that fun with her even if it only means watching a movie or something like that, I just wish for things to go back to normal.

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