Emeralds

Thirty-five.

Thirty-five
[Leen]

Who in the world does she think she is to send my husband a text anyway?

I arrive at school with the thought burning invisible holes in my head. I take a seat at my desk and take out my phone to text Salam, asking her to call me, when no one's in the room.
"Were you sleeping?" I ask her.
"No, but I haven't gotten off bed yet," she yawns. "How is everything going anyway?"
"Terrible!" I exaggerate.
She lets out a small laugh, "What is it?"
"Today I was using Adam's phone when a text came in from a flight attendant that works with him."
"Do you know her?"
"Not personally, no, but he talks about his colleagues sometimes and so do I," I huff, "that's not the problem anyway, the problem is that I wanna go snatch out her eyes and pluck her hair."
Salam laughs really hard at this one.
"Don't you laugh!"
"Well I've never seen you getting jealous about a real man," she laughs again.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you only used to be like this if one Korean actor dated or something."
"Seriously, Salam?" I roll my eyes hoping she'd feel it. "I'm boiling over here and you're enjoying your time laughing at me."
"I'm not laughing at you Lee, I would come pluck her hair and take out her eyes with you dear, but why don't you just get some explanation from Adam instead of having murderous thoughts there on your own?"
"What?! Of course I'm not having that kind of conversation with him," I shake my head as though she would see me, "not in a million years."

Adam comes for me when school is over. I get in the car and mumble an Asslamu'alikom.
"W'alikom Asslam," he says as he starts driving again. "Was I late?"
"No," I say looking out the window.
"So, how was your day?"
"Good."
"Just good? You usually give full reports," he says glancing my way and I try to escape his gaze.
"Nothing really happened, so there's nothing to report," I shrug.
"Okay," he shrugs too. I look at him angrily and return to window. He has to figure out what's wrong, how dare he just okay me when I'm about to explode because of him!?
Damn, men and their coldness.
"What do you wanna watch?" He asks after a while.
"I don't know, did you check what movies are in cinemas?"

And with that we arrive in front of the cinema. Adam parks the car and we get out.
"Here," he hands me his phone. "Call everyone until I see what movies do they have."
I look at the phone lying coldly in his palm and nod, and we walk inside. Adam opens up the door for me first; well, that doesn't make me forget, yubo.

After the movie, we meet everyone in a restaurant where we agreed to have dinner. Salam, Jenin and Zeyad, Abed, Mariam, Aya, Ahmed, Omar and Hend and the kids. It is such a wonderful night, having everyone around, seeing how everyone is doing in their new lives. The way you can sit across from your sister, the one who you used to share your room with and watch how everything has totally changed, is beautiful, scary and sad all at the same time, and despite all the attempts to stop it, it brings tears to my eyes.

And Abed, my young brother, the one I was used to seeing as a kid, is all grown up now. A fully grown responsible man. Tall and handsome for every girl's taste. Salam, the friend whom I haven't seen for six years, is so much wiser and prettier, with a load of life over her shoulders.

Life robs us of the moments and give them back as memories, either good or bad. Life changes everything from the biggest to the tiniest, it never leaves a small detail untouched. I wonder what they must be seeing through me right now. If they were looking at my past and present embedded in the person I am, sitting with them right now, like I was doing to them. What would they see? What would they remember? How much have I changed?

Adam leans back in his chair when everyone is busy talking and he whispers to me, "I know you must have seen the text."
"What text?" I fake oblivion.
"The one from Reem," he seems to know I know what he's talking but answers unbothered nonetheless.
"It's okay," I say turning the other way.
"Are you sure it is?"
"Why are you being so talkative today?" I roll my eyes.
"Because you're the one who's supposed to be talkative but you're not being yourself." I sigh.
"There's nothing wrong you've done," I say quietly.
"I know," he says nonchalantly, "but I also know you're mad anyway and it's my job to change that."
I look at him and raise an eyebrow and snort, "You're unbelievable."
"Why?"
"I don't know," I give out a short laugh, "that was kinda dramatic."
"That's because I'm your kdrama oppa," he smiles playfully and it makes me laugh louder this time. Only then do we notice everyone at the table watching us with great amusement. Adam becomes aware of how close he is to me and backs away a little clearing his throat.
"Are you bored of us or something?" Aya says in mock anger.
"Umm, no," I say awkwardly. "Of course not, Adam was just-"
"Telling her something quickly," he finishes for me; we both look at each other and laugh.

I think he could well make it up that yubo.

"Do you want to go?" I ask on our way home.
"Where?" he asks paying attention to the road and the radio.
"The engagement party."
"Do you?" he turns briefly to me then looks back in front of him.
"I would go if you want to," I shrug. "She's your colleague after all, you should go if she invites you."
"I shouldn't," he shrugs. "And I even have a better plan than going."
"What is it?"
"A Kdrama night," he winks at me.
***
Months pass, we fight sometimes and we make up quickly. We grow closer each day and we open up to one another. Our relationship has grown from being a husband and wife into two best friends that will laugh at the silliest things together, fight over almost everything, memorise the other's tiniest details and enjoy every bit of life we share. It has grown into a siblings relationship where we know the unconscious facts about each other, when we have embarrassing stories to tell about one another and threaten to say them in front of people, we would sit for hours in the same room not uttering a word and each one deeply immersed in his/her work and we'd yet feel so comfortable. It has grown into a parent and child relationship where we are always worried about each other when I'd scold him if he doesn't wear enough clothes to make him warm in winter, and he would tell me not to open up the door for anyone who's not family when he's not home. He's too much I know.

However, the only conclusive outcome is that we are happy the way we are, we are happy even when we fight, because the mere fact that you have someone who'd do anything to keep you and who would put your happiness before theirs and who would put a smile on your face no matter what is surely worth some tears.

"Are you going to be late?" I ask Adam who's putting on his jacket and getting ready to leave.
"No, I'll just see Ahmed for a couple of hours and be back," he says taking his phone and keys.
"Okay, bring some snacks on your way home."
"Okay," he says planting a kiss on my forehead and leaving.

I sigh and lay on the bed. I grab the Arabic book I've been reading called There's A Hebrew Girl in My Heart and start reading. I remember how the name disturbed me the first time I saw the book, but once I started reading it I found it was totally worth the time. My eyes start to hurt so I put the book down and take a look at the clock. It's eight in the evening. I call Salam and see if she's free so we can hang out for a while. She's found a job here not so long ago, and so she isn't as available all the time as she used to be.

I call her and she says we could go walking for a while, so I put on some comfortable clothes and sneakers and call Adam to ask for permission.
"Okay, but don't be late, and don't go too far from home."
"Okay, you don't be late too."
"Okay, take care, bye."
"Bye." I smile putting the phone in my pocket.

We agreed that I'll go pick her up and we can drive to a nearby coffeeshop, have something quickly and take a walk. Perfect plane for a typical autumn evening, when the air is a little too perfect and the sky is pouring freshness. People find me weird to be loving autumn and winter that much, but I just sense strange serenity during these two seasons that I don't find in summer and spring. Although everyone agrees upon my being a bright girl with glowing smiles and cheerful attitude, there's a weird darker side to everyone of us, and for me, part of it was the love I held toward those dark and cold seasons.

I get in the car and drive through the chilly night air, leaving the window open so that more freshness can get into my lungs. I carefully take a U turn when at the last moment I notice a car coming from the other side too fast, I press the brakes violently and my head hits the driving wheel. I straighten in my seat holding my head in pain when I see the phone had slid, I bend down to get it quickly, but I was definitely not in the most suitable place.

A car horn startles me that I forget the phone lying down there and look out the window on my left, and the headlights of the other car burn so bright they swallow my world.

~~~
Really sorry for the very late update guys, but the good news is... I'm updating again tomorrow inshallah! So you won't be left with the cliffhanger for long.
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Thanks for reading!
Nouran.