——Maryam's POV——
Noor tapped her long, neon green fingernails on the wooden table. She stared at me with an apparently bored expression but her eyes held a lot of questions and a hint of irritation. "Well?" she asked coldly. I looked at my phone placed on the table and revised my words in my head.
I was waiting for that moment but weirdly, had my tongue tied when it actually came.
"I wanted to meet you, Noor." I started after taking Allah's name and quickly reciting the dua:
رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّن لِّسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي
“O, my Sustainer! Open up my heart and make my task easy for me, and loosen the knot from my tongue so that they might fully understand my speech.”
I felt much better after that as if a wave of newfound courage had overcome me. That Du'a always helped me when I was nervous and couldn't find the right words to express myself correctly.
"I wanted to tell you something that might be helpful to you. Trust me, it's worth all the trouble you went through to get here." she raised an eyebrow at me as if totally unconvinced. "I don't believe it." she declared after thinking for a moment. "You can never think of helping me. There must be a catch."
I couldn't help but smile with amusement. "You know me, Noor. I'm not that selfish. But, you're right. There is a catch." she snapped her fingers in triumph. "See! I knew it!" she exclaimed. "Well, go on."
I nodded, clearing my throat. "You see, Damian is back from Turkey and you'll be happy to hear that he's not very far away from here," I told her. Looking at her, it seemed that she had switched personalities. At the mention of the name she so loved, she sat up straight and widened her eyes. No trace of irritation or annoyance was visible on her face anymore and it started to glow with joy and surprise.
"And how do you know this?" she quickly re-adjusted herself and put on her aloof expression again. "Are you still in contact with him despite the fact you're married? Something I'd expect exactly from a person like you."
My hand curled into a fist under the table but I maintained my cool and calm along with the fake sweet smile on my face, although my eyebrow twitched a little.
She just had to hit a sore spot, the wench.
"You're one to talk. But it seems people of your level think everyone else is just like them so I wouldn't be surprised." I somehow said that through gritted teeth and a forced smile. Noor's expression changed but she didn't say anything in reply.
"Anyway, I didn't call you here to fight. We can do this later. What I wanted to tell you is; Damian is going to meet Abdullah in his office today in the evening. And he's probably leaving for Turkey again tomorrow after his problem is solved. Don't ask me how I know this." I paused to look at her for a short second before continuing again.
"What will be very useful to you is to know that Damian seemed very interested in meeting you this time. And he even offered to plan a hangout again." hearing my words, Noor looked extremely pleased. She looked like she couldn't contain herself in her seat and would fly away to cloud 11 any time now.
I could see a tint of red blush start to cover her dark-skinned cheeks already. If I knew her well as I thought, I'd guess that she was probably imagining fake love scenes with him despite sitting in front of me. Noor was dense no matter how sly and cunning she tried to be. In the end, she was just a teenager like me.
An even more immature one at that.
"Did he say it himself? That he wanted to meet me?" she asked, giddy. I thought about it for a second and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did." I said, pressing on the 'T'. "Anyway, I wanted to extend a helping hand to you to get the man you've been crazy after for years." she piped down and shot me that suspicious look again.
"Damian, as I said before, is going to meet Abdullah this evening. You can get a chance to meet him before that in the lobby while I keep Abdullah away. Maybe even get his number or whatever you have to. I'll give you about fifteen minutes until Abdullah calls him in. I'm sure it'll be enough. Obviously, you wouldn't want your current boyfriend to know that Damian was your main preference all along." I stopped to take a breath.
Noor kept on staring at me blankly before her mouth twisted into an evil grin.
"You think I'm stupid? Did you assume I wouldn't question your intentions and accept your help just like that? Besides, I can get all the details I need from Abdullah's men. I don't need to be indebted to you. And even if I did agree to your deal, what guarantee is there that you won't tell Abdullah everything?"
I shook my head in disbelief at her. "Abdullah's men are his men, not yours. You're in more danger of getting exposed if you turn to them. But, I on the other hand have my own benefit in this." At that, I could see her face perk up with curiosity.
"That's where the catch is. Of course, I'm married to Abdullah, and unfortunately, am bound to him by the force of marriage. I want to stay as his wife but because you are his girlfriend, I can't start a proper married life with him. Just think about it, if you get together with Damian, you leave Abdullah and that makes it a win-win situation for the both of us. So by the end of it, I just need you to properly end things with my husband and be on your way." when I finished, she seemed to be sitting with a completely changed mindset.
"So basically, you want to get rid of me and you'll do that by setting me up with Damian?"
I nodded with a 'duh' face. "Of course. Why would I go through all the trouble to help you then?" her dark eyes fell to her lap and she got lost in deep thought. I could see the inner battle she was going through, written clearly on her face.
"But-uh..." she trailed off before starting again. "You can just get his number for me. We don't even need to go to such lengths. I can take it from there."
It kinda disgusted me how eager she was to leave Abdullah the moment she got to know she had a chance with Damian. But it was also an assurance that even though I was setting her up, she deserved it. It didn't justify that I was giving her white lies but it still calmed my conscience to some extent.
"I can't take his number. It puts me in a controversial spot because both Abdullah and Damian know I don't talk to boys or get their numbers so shamelessly. It'll put them in a doubt." I quickly made up an excuse, which was quite believable and not completely untrue.
Noor looked at me skeptically for a minute before giving in. "Okay. We have a deal. But, I have a condition." I was about to smile triumphantly but stopped when she said that. "You're in no position of keeping conditions but I'll hear it. What is it?"
"I'll leave Abdullah only when Damian agrees to go on a date with me. It'll give me a sign if he's interested in me or not. Obviously, I won't leave Abdullah if I'm not getting Damian either."
I rolled my eyes at her. "The way you mean girls think will never make sense to me. But, okay. I'll accept this condition." she looked like she wanted to throw a mean remark at me but she didn't. And the reason was pretty clear; she thought she owed me big time.
"Good. Then this deal is done." she took out her hand as if to make things official. I looked at her once before glancing at the hand loaded with bright colored bangles and long neon painted nails. Finally, I shook hands.
It was like an indication that there was no turning back. I had done what I intended to and that was that.
With a heavy breath, I pulled back my hand and placed it on my lap. "This is all. I'll be leaving now." I announced and collected my things. I was about to stand up when she stopped me by calling my name.
"Wait, Maryam." her tone was simple and there was no sign of rudeness or jealousy. "Yes?" I asked, a bit confused.
"Won't you have something to drink? I mean, we're here already." I raised an eyebrow at her, trying to digest what she had just said. "Really?" I asked in disbelief. "Are you inviting me?" she rolled her eyes at me. "I won't if you make it so awkward. But yeah, I am." I thought I saw her smile a little bit, almost unnoticeable.
I sat down again, my expression a mixture of curiosity, excitement, amusement. "Why not? I want to see how it feels to have lunch with my ex-best friend." I admitted to her, pretty confidently.
"Might I remind you, that ex-best friend is only because you didn't want to keep her as your friend?" Noor replied, folding her arms over her chest.
There were so many things wrong with the sentence she had just spoken but before I could respond to it, Stacy walked up to us and cleared her throat to catch our attention.
Yeah, Stacy. Remember her?
"Would you like to order now?" Weirdly, she was smiling and overall more friendly than before. In addition to that, her eyes were fixed on Noor and she looked like she already admired her. Noor turned to her, leaving the tense but cold atmosphere between us.
"Yes, please. What would you recommend?" she smiled brightly at her as if she was the nicest person on planet Earth. I gagged internally with disgust. "Our steamy steak is new to the menu and I personally love it. You should try it." she continued recommending more items to Noor while I just sat there, trying to comprehend why she was being extra nice and sweet to a person like my nemesis.
When Stacy was finally done writing our order, Noor looked back at me to resume our previous conversation. "Before I go, I just want to say that I love your outfit. It's so bold and flamboyant." Stacy's unexpected voice startled me but I rolled my eyes when she completed her sentence.
Once Stacy left for real, Noor turned back to me. "This place really does bring back old memories," she remarked. I, with a stinky expression just looked at her boringly. "How does that bring back memories?"
Noor chuckled a little menacingly. "Well, people always tend to like me more than you. They always did even before we broke up. That waitress reminded me of that. Maybe you're just not as great as me."
I couldn't believe Noor was actually saying that. My eyebrows furrowed and my expression switched from blank to a red tomato.
The audacity!
Unconsciously, steam flared out my ears and I felt like kicking her in her pretty face. She had, no doubt, hit a sore spot. Noticing me, Noor frowned as if she was so confused. "What? I'm just being honest. Sorry if that offended you." she said it so simply like it was nothing.
"You know what? This is stupid." I stood up suddenly, her eyes following me. "I can't believe I stayed to have lunch with you. If you just wanted to insult me, you could've said that sooner." With the last death glare directed at her, I twirled around sassily and walked away.
The moment I brought out afoot to move ahead, her voice caught me in my steps. "Wait. Before you go I want to make one thing clear," My first thought was that she was going to stop me but her words surprised me. I glanced sideways at her to let her know I was listening.
"If I lose Abdullah without achieving my goal, I'm not letting you have him either."
My hands curled into a fist in annoyance. "And you very well know I don't give baseless threats." I rolled my eyes after giving her a stinky look. "Whatever."
My shoes clicked on the smooth floor and people actually turned their heads to see me storm out like that. Stacy met me halfway, holding a tray of food but I ignored her.
I didn't care if she didn't think I was as beautiful or charming as Noor. I didn't give a darn what anyone thought! But I certainly could not stand the fact that Noor was so full of herself.
I quickly found a cab and went home. Once the mansion came into my view, my face lit up at the thought of getting a good rest before I went to make my visit to Abdullah's office in the evening.
I was still feeling sad and hurt about what that fox had said but sitting in the coziness of my bed, I thought to myself whether she was right or not. It hit me, not a while later that she wasn't exactly wrong.
She got Abdullah before me. She was better looking than me, not to mention more stylish too. And I could keep on going about how she looked much more welcoming and friendly than me.
Maybe I really was just the ugly best friend.
Before I realized it, a cloud of gloominess and despair had surrounded me in my room and suddenly, I felt like I desperately wanted to get back at Noor and expose her.