We'll never know
We'll never know
What stands behind the door
But I got a feeling and it's a feeling that's worth dying for
Just close your eyes and hold your breath because it feels right
We'll keep it moving until we make it to the other side
And let's enjoy the ride
---
When they crossed the door, Sarah was quickly snatched away from Hamdan's grip by Tom. Her best friend held her up in a spinning hug that made her squeal. The look on Sarah's face was priceless and exactly what Hamdan was hoping to get. It was a mix of surprise and overjoy, topped with that beautiful smile of hers. Sarah gasped when Tom put her down and realized Abby and Erin were there as well. The four friends embraced each other in a group hug.
On the right side of the terrace, there was a long table already set with ten chairs. The left side had been turned into a lounge area with couches and the karaoke machine Tom had requested.
"What are you guys doing here? How did this happen?" Sarah asked once they all took a step back.
"Hamdan called me and we arranged everything," Tom confided.
Sarah turned to Hamdan with furrowed eyebrows. "How did you--" She cut herself off when she noticed there were more people there.
She glanced at his siblings and then back at him. Futaim was sitting on a couch with Maryam and Ahmed.
"Come, I'll introduce you," he took her hand. "I stole Tom's number from your phone," he mumbled in her ear as they approached Ahmed and his sisters.
"I forgot you had a history of stealing people's personal info," she whispered back.
Futaim, Maryam and Ahmed stood up and Hamdan began with the introductions.
"This is Maryam. Maryam, this is Sarah."
"Hi!" Maryam gave Sarah a double kiss. "I'm one of the Maryams."
"There's more than one?" Sarah wondered.
The four siblings chuckled.
"Darling, don't even get us started on the Latifas," Maryam pouted.
"We'll take baby steps don't worry," Futaim winked, patting Sarah on the upper arm.
"You're so cute!" Maryam admitted
"I told you she was cute!" Futaim nudged.
"Shaikha is going to kill you, Hamdan," Maryan warned, looking at him under her lashes. "When she finds out that we knew and she didn't."
"Well, she's not going to find out for now," Hamdan placed his palm on Sarah's back to address his brother. "This is Ahmed."
"Nice to meet you, Sarah. I've heard a lot about you."
"Really?" Sarah turned to Hamdan while shaking his brother's hand.
"Just a couple of things," Hamdan shrugged.
She squinted her eyes and turned to Ahmed again. "Nice to meet you, Ahmed."
Hamdan continued. "Over there is Maktoum, busy on the phone."
Leaning against the rail, on the furthest corner of the terrace, Maktoum pinched his thumb and index finger together, indicating his call was not going to take long.
"So, you've met my friends?" Sarah guessed.
"Yeah!" Futaim replied. "We've been hanging out for a while here."
"Sorry, Sarah. See..." Maktoum broke in, squeezing himself between Ahmed and Maryam. "While my brothers travel the world and play around with their animals, someone in this family has to actually work."
Ahmed snorted while Hamdan told Maktoum to shut up.
Maktoum extended his hand. "I'm Maktoum."
"Hi, Maktoum," Sarah greeted him.
Maktoum opened his mouth to say something else when the door swung open, making everybody turn their heads.
"What did I miss?" Was Mansoor's way of announcing his arrival with wide open arms.
Hamdan instantly regretted inviting him.
"Oh! That one is the worst," Maktoum cautioned.
"You're late, as usual!" Maryam pointed out.
Mansoor politely smiled at Sarah's friends and his eyes swept the place around until they fell on her. Ignoring everyone else, he strolled up to Sarah.
"You must be Sarah," he smirked.
"Yes," she replied.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Mansoor," he introduced himself by holding her hand up and kissing it.
Hamdan rolled his eyes at the move.
"It's nice to meet you too," Sarah giggled.
Hamdan could not believe she was actually falling for that kind of stuff.
Ismail stood by the door and signaled Hamdan asking if dinner should be served. Hamdan nodded.
"Hamdan tells me you're American," Mansoor mentioned, not letting go of Sarah's hand.
She did not seem bothered by it, she never looked down at their hands, like she did when she and Hamdan first met.
"Yes, from Texas," she affirmed.
Hands still holding.
Sarah and Mansoor's meeting was taking way more than what it should have. Not only was his brother pushing the limits, Sarah was also playing along.
"Okay, everybody take a seat! Dinner is ready!" Hamdan announced, putting an arm around Sarah's waist, motioning her to sit but she did not move.
Hamdan looked around and everyone was sitting down except for Sarah and Mansoor, who seemed to not have heard what he said, so he remained in place as well.
"Never thought my brother would go for a cowgirl."
"Cowgirl?" Sarah covered her laugh with her free hand. "Well, my family does own a cattle ranch."
"Yee-haw, then," Mansoor wiggled his eyebrows.
Hamdan dropped his head, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to ease his throbbing head.
"Maybe you could give me a tour because I've never been to Texas. I normally stick to Miami, L.A. and Vegas," Mansoor added.
"I've never been to Miami."
"Are you kidding? South Beach is one of my favorite places! You should come this Summer with me and my friends! "
Enough!
"Or maybe not," Hamdan interjected, releasing Sarah's hand from his brother.
"But I want to go to Miami," Sarah protested, while he passed and arm around her, heading to the table.
"I'll take you to Miami," he said through his teeth.
"Hamdan, he was just being nice and he's your brother."
"And that's exactly why you're not going with him, because I know him," he muttered, pulling out her chair.
Sarah was shaking her head as she sat down. Hamdan took a seat next to her and right across from him was Mansoor pulling the same kiss on the hand trick on Erin. He was about to puff, irritated when he felt Sarah's hand going up and down on his leg while she chatted with Tom, who was sitting next to her. It might seem like something casual, but he could tell it was not, she knew how he felt and was trying to soothe him. As powerless as he was at her touch, he stopped the movement by placing his hand on top of hers and lovingly squeezed it.
Sarah started an interrogation and her friends explained to her how Hamdan called each one of them personally to invite them over. Hamdan tensed up a bit when she asked Abby about Josh. The only thing Hamdan knew about Abby's husband was that he was friends with Nathan. Despite that, he did the right thing and extended the invitation to Josh, but Hamdan was secretly relieved when Abby told him that her husband was going to be out of town. He thought about the possibility of them telling Nathan what was happening and he did not dislike the idea of Sarah's ex knowing she was with someone else and not coming back. Ever. Maybe that would make him back off for good.
"Sarah, did you notice?" Tom asked.
"What?"
Tom pointed with his head towards the karaoke machine across from the couches. Sarah glanced at it and then looked back at Hamdan with an open mouth.
"I told Hamdan we had to have one!" Tom explained.
An amused smile adorned her face. "You have no idea what you have done."
As the waiters started to serve the first course, Rooster's head popped up between him and Sarah.
"Aw! Is he yours?" Maryam was peeking at Rooster from the other side of the table.
"Yes," Sarah replied.
"Where was he?" Maryam wondered.
Sarah shrugged. "Probably in the kitchen, trying to steal some food."
Hamdan waited for Sarah to look away to share some of his plate with the Lab.
During dinner the girls called dibs on the karaoke and settled on singing the Spice Girls' Wannabe. After a little coming and going about who was going to sing what, they all did their little number while the boys watched sitting in the couches, cheering and laughing with them.
When they were done, Sarah spoke on one of the microphones. "So, which one of the Al Maktoum boys is going to sing with me?" And started walking directly to where Hamdan was sitting.
He felt all eyes on him. "Don't look at me," Hamdan told her.
Her shoulders hanged but she quickly perked up again. Raising one eyebrow, she held the microphone up again and turned to his little brother. "Mansoor?"
Mansoor sprang up from the couch. "I never can say no to a beautiful girl," he admitted, cheerfully offering his arm for Sarah to hold on their way to the machine.
Hamdan scoffed at his own naive self.
"He's just messing with you," Ahmed eased.
"It's your fault for showing your weakness," Maktoum stated, while looking at his phone.
They were right. Sarah made him selfish and Mansoor saw right through it. There was something about her that he wanted only for himself, something he felt he had not gotten yet. He had surrendered completely to her, whether she knew it or not, his heart was in her hands but she had not done the same and he was aware of it.
Rationalizing his emotions, he remained cool while watching Mansoor and Sarah sing together. His brother's high pitched voice went almost unnoticed as he focused on the gorgeous smiling girl in front of him.
Maktoum went inside to take another phone call, while the rest gathered around the karaoke machine fighting over who was next. Sarah squirmed away from the small crowd and went to sit on Hamdan's lap.
"I can't believe this is happening," her eyes wide open.
He encircled her waist and rested his other hand on her knees. "Are you happy?"
"Very," she grinned.
"Good," reaching up, he kissed her cheek.
That was all he wanted, to show her that their worlds could fit together, that not everyone in his family would disapprove of their relationship and that things could actually work out if they were willing to take a stand.
"The way you look at each other is nauseating," Tom interjected. "Just get married already," he said, flopping on the couch next to them and waving his hand carelessly.
Sarah stiffened up immediately. Her mouth was half opened with darting eyes glaring at Tom. Hamdan reached for her hand and curled his fingers around hers.
"I have the feeling she's going to say no if I ask her," he replied to Tom but his eyes were set on her.
Sarah looked down, pressed her lips together and tucked her hair behind the ear.
The tension was broken by Mansoor and Ahmed singing the chorus of David Guetta's Lovers On The Sun. Nails on a chalkboard were preferable over the screeching sound coming out of his brothers' mouths. It was so bad that Rooster started howling at them and making everybody laugh. The rest of the girls and Tom joined them to dance and sing along, easing off everyone's ears.
Sarah took a deep breath once she was done laughing. "I see what you're trying to do, you know?" She said, passing an arm around his shoulders.
"Am I succeeding?"
She angled her head while her eyes roamed his face. She was not sure, he could see it but she didn't say anything.
"We would be the happiest, Sarah," he coaxed. "Or at least I know I would be. But I promise I would spend every waking hour trying to make you feel the same way."
The corners of her mouth lifted and her hand went up to the side of his face. "You know I love you, right?"
"Hey! You! Lovebirds!" Mansoor yelled at them. "Are you going to join the party?"
Sarah got up and pulled him by the arm. "Come on!"
"No, Sarah..."
She spun around. Still holding his arm, she leveled her begging eyes with his. "Please."
"Don't look at me like that."
She planted a soft kiss on his lips. "Dance with me."
Hamdan caved in and followed her. Watching the woman of his dreams smiling, laughing, dancing around and singing, reminded him how she made his heart feel. That was how he wanted to see her everyday and what he meant when he talked about making her feel the same way. But her silent moments, that were always the more defining ones, were telling him that she had yet to succumb to their love, like he had done so long ago.
***
Don't forget to tap on the little star!
XOXO,
Sophie.