Endless Summer🌞

35: Sacred ties

9th May, 2017.
Ubud, Bali.
Huda sat with the others on the outdoor breakfast table. She watched Muhsin and Hanan talking and laughing as they walked hand in hand towards them. For the past few months, all she had been looking forward to was June. She couldn't wait to see the end of them and the beginning of her own love story. She had already gotten her cards ready and was sure going to play them well. She knew it wouldn't be an easy game, but she lost him once, she wouldn't lose him the second time.

Clad in a red polo shirt and white pants, Muhsin salaamed, with Hanan repeating after him. They exchanged morning pleasantries before settling for the morning bowls. The table was stuffed with blueberry pancakes drizzled with oozy maple syrup, sandwiches and smoothie bowls for the sunrise treat. The attendant served Hanan a bowl of smoothie, topped with strawberries, bananas and other tropical fruits while Muhsin got a similar bowl with strawberries excluded as per his order.

"Excuse me." Hanan called for the attention of the attendant.

"Yes ma'am"

"I will have something like that." She pointed at Muhsin's bowl. "No strawberries please." She watched as the bowl was taken away before muttering a thanks.

When her gaze darted sideways, she was welcomed with a piercing stare from Muhsin's glowing hazels. He raised his brows at her, his back resting on the wooden chair and his hands held across his chest.

"No more strawberries for me." She said, pulling closer a plate of three medium-sized pancakes.

"And why should there be no more strawberries for a strawberry fanatic?" He asked, one of his full brows raised questioningly. Hanan found it cute.

She picked a piece of the pancake and poke it towards Muhsin's mouth. When he shifted forward to take a bite, she pulled back her hand, moving her lips to the side of his face to level up with his left ear.

"I can't eat something that almost killed my new favorite person." She whispered, adjusting back to her previous position. When their gazes met, she winked, biting on her pancake.

He closed his unlatched lips that were ready for a pancake bite and shook his head, a smile adorning his charming features.

When Habib cleared his throat, Hanan felt like vanishing into the thin air. She couldn't believe she just did that, in front of everyone too.

And Huda felt she had seen enough for the day, so she pulled back her chair, rose to her feet and made her way out of the poolside, leaving half eaten slices of sandwich.

She was done.
*****
After a short walk in the greeneries, Huda found a concrete bench in the middle of two long palm trees. She sat down, hoping to clear her mind off every heartache she had been going through lately. She didn't want to accept the fact that she lost Muhsin already, she didn't want to believe there was little or no hope for her. She knew she lost not just a lover but a friend, a best friend. But she will be brave, brave enough to ignore the love she was seeing in Muhsin's eyes every time she looked into them, brave enough to stand their affection and brave enough to wait for everything to end. She was tired, yet she needed to stay strong.

She took out her phone from her palazzo pants pocket and began to video record herself on Snapchat to distract herself from her thoughts but they got the better of her. She brought low the phone, letting the tears she had been holding back roll out of their hiding place. She let them fall without restriction. She didn't know whom to be mad at, Muhsin for falling in love with Hanan? Hanan for accepting his marriage proposal? Or herself for not realizing she loved Muhsin until she heard of his engagement?