Damage Me

Chpater 40

I'm standing next to Eva and Aaron, and I can feel his discomfort as Haider kisses the air on either side of him, clamps his hands on his shoulders, and hugs him.

And, although I saw him but a half an hour ago, he does the same to me, skipping the part where his hands land on my shoulders.

He learned not to do that the hard way.

"Hela habibi shlonak? It's so good to see you," He says to Aaron.

He attempts a smile. "Ani zeyn shukran." He nods at the table. "Please, take a seat."

"Sure, sure," he says, looking around. "Wenha Nazeera. . . . .?"

"Oh," Aaron and I say, surprised. "I thought you came alone," we say in unison.

"La, habibi," he says, almost completely ignoring me. "Heeya shwaya mitakhira. But she should be here any minute now," then, the next part is directed more at Eva and I. "She is very excited to see you both—" he pauses. "Well, I guess she has no idea lovely Eva is here yet, but she will."

I clench and unclench my fists.

"Great," I say, and Eva sighs.

"Um, I'm sorry, but am I the only one here who didn't know you guys speak Arabic?" Kenji is staring at us, wide-eyed.

Haider laughs. "Your new friends know so little about you both." And then, to Kenji, "Your Regents, the Warners', speak several languages. Eva here, speaks eight." He says the last bit proudly.

"Oh please," Eva says, slightly irritated. "Sign language hardly counts, Haider."

"It does to me," He says, with a look that makes me want to strangle him.

"You speak seven languages?" Juliette asks, eyes wide.

"Sometimes," We say.

"Why don't we sit down?" Eva chimes in, and we all agree, doing so.

Juliette is sitting at the head of the table, Aaron to her right. I'm sitting to the right of him, an empty seat across from me. Haider sits across from Aaron, and Kenji sits to the right of me, Eva opposite him.

"So," Haider says, clapping his hands together. "This is your new lives? So much has changed since I saw you both last.

I pick up my knife and fork, in sync with Aaron. "What are you doing here, Haider?" We say at the same time.

"Wallah," he says, clutching his chest, "I thought you'd be happy to see me. I wanted to meet all your new friends. And of course, I had to meet your new supreme commander." He appraises Juliette out of the corner of his eye; the movement is so quick I almost miss it. And then he picks up his napkin, drapes it carefully across his lap, and says, very softly, "Heeya jidan helwa."

I take a deep breath.

"And is that enough for you?" He leans forward suddenly, focusing his attention on Aaron, but speaking quietly enough that only us two can hear. "A pretty face? And you so easily betray your friends?"

"If you've come here to fight," Aaron replies, "please, let's not bother eating dinner."

Haider laughs out loud. Picks up his water glass. "Not yet, habibi." He takes a drink. Sits back. "There's always time for dinner."

"Where is your sister?" I ask, working to defuse the situation, though I really want to put him through a wall. Like, really bad. Haider has easily been one of my two least favorite of all the Supreme children, for multiple reasons.
One person has earned the most hated spot, however. She is something else.