The whims of her bewildered heart.

Chapter thirty three

"I'll get the fried calamari too please" I said flipping through the menu.

"Would that be it?" The waiter questioned scrawling down what we were ordering.

"A lemon and mint juice and that's it" I said shutting the book with a thud.

"Great. Your order would be here in an half hour time" the waiter spoke and with a slight bow he left our table.

I looked at ilham who was sitting next to Fahd and whispering something.

Next to me was Sophie and Yusuf who were in their own bubble, Amir and Sara who bickering about something that Amir showed in his phone. Kulthom and qamr were whispering something to each other glancing time to time at the table opposite ours.

I sighed and picked my water glass and sipped it taking in the surrounding.

The ambience of the restaurant was pleasing, it wasn't crowded and also not sparse. People were Making conversation in hushed voices and the clinking noises of spoons and fork were also subtle. Of course this is how it would be. What can I expect from a five star restaurant.

It was Yusuf's treat for getting his girl. I was dressed in a pale pink abaya with a black hijab for the night.

Everyone was busy in their own bubble and a feeling of loneliness and longing hit me, I shook my head from the thought and buried myself using the phone, scrolling through Instagram.

The food we had ordered were placed on the table and just the smell made my stomach grumble.

"It smells good" Sophie spoke from beside me.

"It does" I agreed.

"I know" Ilham sniffed.

Imaad scrunched his nose and placed his hand on top of ilham's.

"Darling, it's weird when you do that" he said and ilham shot him a glare.

"Is it Ayesha?" She asked me.

"Kind of" I replied giving her a sweet smile.

She groaned and Imaad patted her soothingly and served food for her.

Conversations flew as the men spoke about business and sports and the we women began speaking about Sophie and the wedding.

"I still can't believe that everything you and Yusuf had was fake" Kulthom spoke and I shrugged and dipped my calmari into the sauce and popped it in my mouth.

"Imran!" Amir exclaimed and waved his hand.

I froze and my heart beat accelerated, for some reason this was weird, me meeting him now was weird because he'd have realized that I was still single and open to marriage. Ilham noticed my moment and immediately put her hand forward on mine and gave it a slight pat.

I sighed and continued eating ignoring him as he made his way towards our table and as everyone greeted him.

"What are you doing here?"Sara questioned twirling her fork in her hands.

"What would a man do in a restaurant Sara? Eat of course" he replied chuckling.

"Is someone here with you?" Imaad asked teasingly and my stomach dropped at the thought.

"No, it's a self date actually" Imran replied.

"Don't you always do that when you are away back in your home?" Sara asked bitterly.

I looked at her and I could see that she missed her brother being around with them always and my stomach churned further.

"Unfortunately I have too many work pulled up there to have some me time" he replied.