His silence is his Pride (ON HOLD)

Chapter Twelve ♥ "Friend's Betrayal"

                                             Chapter Twelve

                                           “Friend’s Betrayal”

Seeing Janaan was like another day filled with delight. Zayed entered the hotel with high spirits and hopes to lessen his distress but upon seeing her talking to a man and shaking hands with him, that mood gradually diminished. He made his way to them when the man was about to leave. She looked up at his approach and gave him a beautiful smile that reached her green eyes.

“You’re late.” She announced. Zayed walked up to take the seat opposite her.

“You don’t look like you’ve been bored!” He asserted, and slightly waved his left hand to the man who had just left. “You’ve had company.”

Janaan turned to where he pointed, “Oh him.” and blinked her eyes in realization. “That’s Nassir. He’s just a colleague.” She confirmed. But for some reason Zayed was a little annoyed at that. He didn’t like the idea of Janaan having meetings with unknown men alone. No matter how open-minded a woman may be, she still had her limits, he thought.

“So, how have you been?” Janaan broke the silence.

“Good.” Was Zayed’s simple answer and when he felt awkwardness spread in the air he added; “How about you? How’s the research been?” Janaan smiled at his effort of making conversation.

“It’s going good.” And then even she realized that he deserved a detailed answer. “Although I don’t agree with some of our norms at some point,” She proclaimed. Her reply made a slow smile spread across his lips.

“Off course you don’t.” He made fun and turned to look at the waiter who was approaching them.

“Hey, I am serious.” She defended.

“I know you are, the world never really works the way you want it to.” Zayed jeered as the waiter put the menu’s in front of them. He gave his order without looking at the menu and turned to Janaan, who asked for the same. She then thanked the waiter and turned to Zayed who wore a light smile

“No seriously. I could fill you in on my opinions and we could argue about it, but I know you don’t like arguments so I am letting it go, just this once.”

“You don’t have to keep all those hypothesis in your heart.” Zayed spoke. “Go on. Tell me. I’ll try and be patient with you.” He put his hands on the arm chair and looked at her, amused.

“Yeah, but be aware. Too much patience pressurizes the heart.” Janaan teased and then after a while she sighed. “There are too many barriers in our society.” She declared. “And I personally wish to unleash my reluctant self and let it wander in wildness.” The writer spoke, once again.

“So that’s it? You think you are being deprived of freedom?” Zayed guessed.

“No, not me. I have been free ever since I was young.” Zayed looked closely at her and realized that that was true. She hasn’t been following any of the cultural values and might not even be familiar with them. “I have seen people here, people who could do anything just to appease their families. In some cases it might come out of ones good character but mostly I feel like it is being thrust upon them. It sort of has become a duty.” She explained.

“So what’s the problem in that?” Zayed asked sincerely because he seriously couldn’t get what was wrong with that.

“Most people don’t want to do that.” She claimed.