Forever Yours

Chapter 16

16| Ahad

We got into the car and I drove back towards our hotel and Nawal thought we were going back so she started whining about how she wanted to visit more places instead of staying locked up in our room. I assured her that we weren't going back to the hotel as she finally relaxed when I drove past it. A place a little high up from Mall road had a chairlift service going on so I planned to go there. Driving around here really tested my driving skills as I had probably made some of the sharpest turns of my life and dodged pedestrians on the roads as well. When I parked the car at the side, Nawal had looked around and observed that the place looked almost the same as where we had just come from. I told her that it was different and we were here to do something we hadn't done yet. I held her hand and led her down a seemingly never-ending staircase that led to the chairlift station and she gushed at the sight.

"Oh my God, are we going to sit in the chair lift?"

"Of course, I didn't bring you here to watch other people go on to the chair lift. You aren't scared of heights, right?" At that, her face turned solemn.

"I'm not exactly scared of heights but what if the chairlift falls? You won't be able to cushion my fall this time, Ahad." She sounded dead serious and that made me laugh.

"It won't fall, come on." We both stood in the not very long queue of the ticketing booth and purchased two tickets as we joined a very long queue to get to the chairlifts. We both sported the most bored expression ever as we stood in the line. I continuously tapped my foot in annoyance at how slow the queue was moving and Nawal just looked tired.

"This is so much work." She groaned out and put her head against my chest but the queue moved and the people in line behind us started yelling at us because we weren't moving. She quickly straightened up and stepped forward. When we were close enough to see people getting on and off the chairlifts, Nawal looked concerned and I asked what was wrong.

"The chairlift doesn't stop... How will I get on?" She nibbled at her lip and I patted her back.

"I can hold you and we can get on together or you can simply get on like every one else does." I shrugged in indifference.

We were now second in line and the family in front of us got on when the worker asked us to get prepared. I hooked my hand around her waist and counted till 3 until we both got on together. The worker ahead quickly pulled down our safety bar and Nawal finally opened her eyes. She had a death grip on the bar in front of us and clutched onto my thigh as well even though my arm was already around her shoulders. We were at an altitude of about 7,500 feet from sea level but I didn't tell her that. I tried clicking pictures but Nawal kept warning me to hold on tight to the phone so it didn't fall. Honestly, I was concerned about the phone slipping from my hand too but I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to capture such a view. Every time we passed through a two-end terminal where the chairlift bounced, Nawal's grip on me tightened and at one point I had to move my leg to get her to loosen her grip since I felt a bruise forming from the strength of her nails. The distance of the lift was a little over 3 kilometers long so somewhere in between, she had gotten used to it and was fully enjoying herself. Her pictures looked more lively and comfortable. There was a station at the top where people usually got off but it only had snacks so we decided to not get off and return back down instead.

After getting off the chairlift at our own station, we had an evening meal because we skipped lunch as we had breakfast late in the day. Nawal suggested we go back to our hotel room because she was tired and I was, too. When we reached the room, we both immediately passed out and it was 6 in the evening only.