Her Ideal Husband

💠9

Here I am staring back at the reflection in the mirror.
   She looks really beautiful and put together, dressed in an all black ibaya ( a loose fitting garment, usually black and made of silk or other materials worn originally by arabs) encrusted with silver jewels around the bust and tips of the gown and sleeves, her brownish hair in a neat bun high on her head, wrapped in the matching veil of her dress. Her eyebrows drawn in perfect arcs which served to  compliment her oval shaped face ,her eyes lined with kohl making their brown depths pop out even more, her lips in a dangerous red colour  and her cheeks tinged with golden blush similar to the colour of her skin.

I adjusted my bracelet with its matching ring and slipped on my silver high heeled sandals. Usually I would put no effort into my appearance when going out on a date, no- it isn't a date, just dinner. Yes. So like I was saying, I would put in no effort but mama Hanna insisted, saying something along the lines of how  a lady must always look her best.. So this is it, surely not my best  but good enough.. Its not that I like him anyway.

Or do you? That annoying voice in my head said. I shut her down immediately.

No, I do not like him.

I stared at my reflection one last time and I sighed. Well this is it, no going back now. You accepted to go out with him so stick with your decision, I told myself. Well how couldn't I accept? I had to admit, his voice, the way he spoke to me.. And he sounded so apologetic after what had happened when he came over to dinner, when really I should have been the one to apologise for overreacting. After all he did nothing wrong, so in other to make it up to him I had accepted to go out with him.

This better be worth it.

He came over at 7pm on the dot. Did I mention how my dad had been  shining his teeth ever since he found out I was going on a " date" with him, even though I had corrected him that it wasn't.

' Raya, you look absolutely beautiful ' Dad gushed for the umpteenth time.

' Thank you daddy.'

'Make an  effort to be nice to him, okay?.'

'Why does everyone keep saying that?! I'm not mean ..,am I?'

'Yes you are' Mama Hannah piped up  from the kitchen. " Not mean to us hilwa, but to the opposite sex particularly those interested in you"

'No I'm not'. I mumbled.

'She speaks the truth Raya.' Dad agreed.

'I'll try to be more accommodating. '

' I trust you will, Now go he's been waiting '

'Okay'

' Have fun Raya'

' Bye'

I took a deep breath and walked out the door..

Samir jolted upwards from his position  where he'd been leaning on the bonnet of  his car. His eyes widened slightly ,his lips curled into his signature lopsided smile showing that he liked how I looked. I smiled internally, happy to have affected him in a way. On my face,though, my trademark scowl was etched.

' Raya.. You look amazing'

'Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself .'

He wore a navy button down shirt, tucked neatly in black fitted slacks. His curly black hair shone in the night. But his eyes, that mesmerizing shade of brown was what had me enthralled. He looked at me in that way that rendered me speechless and like i said before I'm never short of words.
We stared at each other for a good amount of minutes before I decided to break the silence.

' Well,are we going or not?'

'Huh? Yes we are. I'm sorry I got carried away er by you' he stated nervously, while scratching the back of his neck.

If I wasn't determined to be nice, I would have laughed, internally though I did, I was enjoying his discomfort.

' I'll stop talking now' he laughed a bit, 'ladies first' he motioned to the opened door.

I got in as elegantly as I could while he closed the door almost immediately, hurrying to his side .
Such a gentleman.

We arrived at a cozy Italian restaurant, decorated in red, white and black colours with a touch of green. It wasn't overly big or small, just the right size also with few customers. This suited me perfectly because I wasn't one to hang out in crowded places.

' We are here, I hope you like Italian i was a bit confused and I didn't know which to choose between Italian, Chinese or Egyptian . I took a wild guess.. I guess' he confessed sheepishly.

I love Italian.

'Its fine' I said, trying my possible best to give a smile.

' Okay, good.'

***

-hours later.

I plopped face down on my bed, closing my eyes shut in an attempt to forget what just happened. How on earth did you allow him do that to you Raya? I thought you were smarter than this? What happened to your heart of steel? Don't tell me you've just grown soft overnight?! The little voice in my head scolded me. And she is right. How could I allow him?

I turned around, and faced the ceiling. It all happened so fast, one minute we were eating and I remembered thinking to myself how the dinner wasn't going as bad as I thought. The next minute, he was about to drop me off at home and I was standing on the porch thinking of how to end the conversation on a bad note so he wouldn't ever think of seeing me again. Even though I had promised dad to keep an open mind, I didn't want to let him in too easy, I couldn't afford to. But alas! Before I could think of what to say I felt a hand cup my cheek and brown eyes staring intently at me. Next thing I saw or rather felt was soft lips kissing my cheek . My God! And worse? I LET HIM . Me? Raya? Hater of the opposite sex let a man kiss me and I didn't shove him away or better still kick him in the balls!

The world is truly coming to an end.

I cringed at the thought once more. What was happening to me? I felt so annoyed at myself. Why had I let this happen? Why did my cheek feel tingly from his touch? 

Endless thoughts floated through my head before sleep in its mercy stole me away..