Hijabi Not in Distress

Chapter 30

Continuation of Flashback:
Ahmed's POV:
Was I surprised that she wasn't coming? No, not really. But I was shocked that she wasn't going to come just to get me mad. Sairah always has a way of getting under my skin... I guess now she's sick of it.

I sigh as I head onto the boarding room with Yusuf when I hear a familiar voice. A soft, angelic voice.

I smile forgetting all the things that went awry between us. I mean can you blame me? Her smile was beautiful but when I saw her eyes-- her eyes hid an emotion. Masking something.

"Sairah? You came?" Yusuf drops his suitcase and air hugs Sairah.

"Of course I came dummy." She laughs. "You're my least favorite cousin. So it's my duty to celebrate you leaving." She shrugs playfully. 

Yusuf rolls his eyes laughing. "Of course you're going to milk this opportunity to steal Zayna from me."

"Oh you bet I will. She deserves a better influence than Mr. Y-useless." She points a finger at Yusuf.

Sairah locks eye contact with me then immediately turns her face away. But before she turns away I see her face tense again. She turns and talks to Nina and Amina who are also shocked about her coming. 

"Damn, I guess she came." Marco sighs as he turns to me.

"Yea and she's still ignoring you." Yusuf widens his eyes and gives me a pitiful pat on the back.

I gulp. "Yea I guess she is. But to be honest I don't think I can talk to her right now either." I head onto a Starbucks in the airport since we had 2 hours till we board.

I decided to roam around while drinking my coffee to avoid the awkwardness with Sairah. Don't get me wrong I was so thankful to at least see her face before leaving but a part of me couldn't see her the same way and another part of me felt guilty. Guilty for letting me get this far with her and... as much as I won't admit it, I felt guilty for hurting her, too.

As I was lost in thought I bumped into someone. And with my luck I think we all knew who it was. Yup, you guessed it. Sairah! I knocked her keys out of her hand and some napkins.

"Oh my god I'm so sor-"  She bends down to pick up her things and I hand her keys to her when she looks at me. "Oh this is perfect! I needed to throw my napkins in the trash but I guess anywhere near you will do." She plasters a fake smile on her face as she stands back up.

I scoff letting out a fake laugh. "And the cruel Sairah is back!" 

"Oh she was always here. She just shows up when jerks are detected within the perimeter." She circles her finger in the air pointing to our surroundings. 

"Well that's rich... coming from the gold digger. Hey would you look at that irony? Rich from the gold dig-" I feel a sudden pain. "Damn it!" I wince.

"Wasn't it you who asked if my signature move was kneeing guys in the balls?" She puts a finger on her chin. "Well I guess you found out today!" She flips her hijab then walks off as I wince in pain.

Damn! She's good, I'll give her that. 

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The whole time Sairah kept giving me dirty glares and I returned them. Did it hurt me to do this? Yes it did. Literally! But she ripped my heart out. And it clearly didn't affect her as much as it did for me. She seemed to be fine and back to her normal rude, sarcas-

"Hey! Badri lower your gaze!" She scolds me. "I know I'm pretty but your amazed stare isn't needed." 

"Of course it isn't." I cross my arms over my chest. "But you should stop staring, too." I sigh. "Don't think I didn't notice your glances."

"I mean can you blame me?" She shrugs dramatically. "After all seeing a disturbing sight catches glances from many." 

"Then you can't blame me either. It's not everyday someone cons you into loving them." I flash her a fake smile as I blurt the words out impulsively.

I see her wince at my words and her eyes become watery. She stands up and gives a dry laugh, "I guess we both learned that the hard way huh?" She turns to walk away then stops and turns to me again. "And Ahmed, trust is a two way street. I only wish you didn't roadblock our path by listening to a pathological liar." She turns away again.

"Hey! You shouldn't talk about trust when you're the one who made me lose my trust in you. That footage-- it showed me who you really are. It was eye-opening. " I get up looking her dead in the eyes before looking down feeling my heart clench.

"You're right. That footage was eye opening. It also gave me a heads up on how easily you could doubt me and my character. But unlike you, I can still stand my ground." She gives me a pitiful glance. "Can you? Can you live with the fact that maybe just maybe your dad lied!" I see her eyes become glassy and her lip begins to tremble. 

"My dad could lie. Sure I'll believe that. But how can my own eyes lie. I saw you!" I feel my temper rising just thinking about the video.

"The eye can only see as much as we want it to. If you bothered to look closer-" She laughs shaking her head.

"Look closer for what? More clues of you using me!" I scoff.

"Ahmed I never used your credit card let alone you." She takes a step closer to me and I see her face soften. "My heart simply wouldn't let me." She gives me a sad smile. One that breaks my heart all over again. "And we live in the 21st century!" She scoffs. "Editing exists! Shame that I won't care enough for when you realize this." She huffs then turns on her heels.

I'm left dumbfounded as I see Sairah walk away. I could see it in her eyes. She hates me. Actually she doesn't even care about me. I hated what she did to me and the effect she had on me but I could never hate her. I'll always be madly, insanely, fully in love with her. No matter how much she broke my heart.

"Bro," I turn and see Yusuf nudging me. "We board now."

I nod slowly still thinking about what Sairah had said. Editing exists. Could my dad have stooped that low and lie to me about his conversation with Sairah? If he did- then I screwed up big time. I feel my heart sink as Yusuf and I head onto the plane.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter... it was more of a transition.