"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude the other day" said Omar looking at Mayar . She was looking the other way.
"I'm sure you didn't. It just your nature " she said without even looking at him.
"Oh, come on now. Don't be mean. I said I'm sorry" he said knowing that she would face him now.
"Never mind. Let's put it behind us. We are family now, I suppose. We'll have to act like it."she said thinking about her sister and her bad luck. And it's all because of his brother.
"Oh, you are saying : we have to deal with each other from now on. Only because we have to. I have to disagree with you. We all made our choices. It's not like we made your sister marry my brother against her will. She said yes. It was her choice." He said feeling so defensive for his brother.
"Oh, it was her choice. Is that really what you think? Or are you just defending your dear brother ?" Said Mayar feeling an urge to throw something at him.
"You know what, I'd rather we don't talk about them. We'll both take our family's sides. I have to go now anyway." He said and with a small salute he left. She stared at him for a while before he disappeared from her sight. The guy really got on her nerves.
Mariam stepped into the house. She looked around, from side to side. She was dazzled at how big the house was, how old-fashioned. It was almost a castle. She didn't know why but she liked the place, somehow. It has a historical taste. Suddenly she sensed his presence, he had a distinctive smell, but she couldn't recognize the perfume kind..yet. She heard the door closed. And she turned around to face him. Only 2cm separated them. She felt nervous. She couldn't breathe easily. As if he were absorbing all the air. Leaving her breathless.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten our deal. This is a paper-marriage. There are 20 rooms I'm this house, you are free to pick your room. I will only sleep here tonight as we don't want to draw attention to us. Other than that I'll in the army base. I will come from time to time to keep our profile checked." Youssef said feeling her gaze relieved by every word he say. He wasn't sure what to expect.
"Good for you" she finally said. She took her shoes off. Obviously she was tired of the high heels. She held her dress up, enough to move easily then she went upstairs.
In the morning, the sun was filling up the room. Youssef rose up , took a shower and put on his army suit. Today was a big day in the army and also in the ministry. He opened the door and although he knew she was there, somewhere in the house. He was surprised to see her ( first thing in the morning). She was dressed in a white blouse , a long blue skirt with a brown belt around her waist. A blue veil. He wondered what her hair looked like. He thought it was black similar to the color of her eyes. Might be long. It will suit her. He liked long hair.
"Good morning, soldier." She said not leaving his gaze.
"Good morning, ma'am" he said back, wondering if she suspected what he was thinking. He pushed the thought away as it was impossible for her to know. He passed by her and rushed out of the house.
Omar was at the ministry taking his new job as Vice President. Thinking that it was the deal they made. After negotiation, Youssef refused to take this job. He wanted nothing with politics and running the country. He wasn't here for this. He was here for one particular thing. The Army. Back at the base, Youssef was also taking his new position as the head of the army. Now the game was on.
Egypt was a huge country and it could be so dangerous if it was ruled by the right people. That's why Israel had kept it under its eyes. Spying on it and collecting informations. First with all the projects , then improving the army, and now the country was ruled by people they didn't know and wasn't sure if they could control them or not. Although it wasn't a big deal yet. But Israel wasn't going to wait till this becomes a problem. Phone calls had to be made.
"Officer Omar, you should know that news travel as fast as sound. Israel is already threatening us. They say that if we don't bring things back to the way they were, they will come here. They would step on our borders."said the president trying to stay calm.
"They simply can't do that ." Said Omar thinking about the possibility.
"I'm telling you, they will . You haven't heard them say it."answered the president , his voice shaking now. He was scared , even terrified.
Omar went directly to the army. He had to see his brother. They had to figure out something to fix this .
"So what do you say?"asked Omar looking at his brother, ali and their trusted group of soldiers were there. Youssef didn't say a word. He was considering all the possibilities.
"I think , maybe we should back down , for now. "Said ali , not sure of anything.
"This country can't bow down to them. We have to stick to our positions. They won't attack. They won't dare." Said Omar feeling the tension. He looked at Youssef from the corner of his eyes.
"They will attack."said Youssef calmly."and we will let them"
"What are you saying, Youssef?"asked Omar losing his calm tone now.
"No one will back down. We'll keep moving according to the plan. They will walk to our eastern borders. The odds are: they would invade this part and set their Camp there. They would do it to prove that their threat is real. In other words to scare us. They will make up any story to the press. As a chipmunk from Egypt flew to Israel and destroyed their ministry ." Youssef said . And they couldn't help but laugh.
"If we that happened, they might destroy Egypt" said Omar in his serious tone now.
"It's not the point, what about the people who live there, and how will we stop them from invading the whole country?"ali asked losing his patience . He wanted to know what his friend was thinking . He wished that he could read his mind.
"We will build a fence and close it's doors after the eastern part so that they won't be able to get into the rest of the country . We' ll start working on that fence right away. As secretly as possible." Youssef said , his voice clear and steady.
"But what about the people that love there, joe?" Ali asked , he could hear the anger in his tone.
"Sacrifices had to be made." Said Youssef , his voice is void from any feeling. Everyone knew that it's time to go. Soldiers were confused what to think. They trusted their commander but this was so hard to believe .
Omar drove home wondering about his brother's decision. And wether his brother had always been that heartless or had he changed ?! Nevertheless Omar agreed with his brother , after all country comes first.
"What the hell was that,Joe? Have you lost your mind? I know you and this is not something you would do. You won't sacrifice them for the sake of your plan. I know you won't . " Ali said looking deep into his friend's eyes.
"Then be sure that I won't ."said Youssef . Ali's heart felt relieved by his words. His expression turned from pain and anger and formed a smile as Youssef explained his plan.
Three weeks passed and the fence was completed now. They didn't let the press publish anything about it. After all they were running the country now.
Youssef was feeling disturbed , knowing that his enemies will cross his land , soon enough. He took his black horse and decided to go on riding in the woods. The weather had been unstable for the past days. And it started to rain. Youssef looked up. He loved rain, immediately he started asking God to make his plan work.
As he rode through the woods, he noticed someone riding behind the trees , he recognized her at once. Mariam was sitting on her dark brown horse, wearing a long red dress and black boots. He liked the way she dress, he admitted to himself. Long dresses on top of her horse. She was the proud princess, he got to know on the dusty roads of the country.
"Soldier, are you stalking me?" Mariam asked knowing that he wasn't , but enjoying teasing him.
"No, ma'am. Why would I do that? When I could just find you, anytime I want." He said teasing her as well.
She said nothing realizing that she won't get anywhere by this. He has an answer for everything. The guy was a genius, she admitted to herself.
"You should go home or you'll get cold." He said to her knowing that she hates when people tell her what to do.
"Well, I don't always do what I should . I thought you knew that by now. Besides I'm mad at rain. Rain is a gift. And I don't get it, when people run and hide , trying to find shelter from the rain. Why don't they just enjoy it? Isn't it just beautiful, the way it touch your face and slide down slowly? It's the closest thing to miracles." Mariam said knowing that he felt her every word, that he even thought the same.
"I have to agree" he said catching her gaze. Her eyes were sparkling. She really loved the rain. He could see she was happy.
" you know, at first I thought that you could be a teacher, a professor, teaching people and explaining things. It suits you . But then I thought you could also be a doctor, you got all that angle of mercy thing. A psychiatrist also. But now I got it." He said glancing a quick look at her bag. He could see it contained a book and a notebook that he noticed with her before.
"You are a writer . And writing really becomes you." He said watching her expression that assured him, he was right.
"Yes, I write but not professionally. Just on a small website. I never published anything."she said wondering how on earth did he knew that.
"I'm sure you are a great writer."he said,even that he didn't read a word that she wrote. He knew it.
"You too, actually. I mean you could be anything you want, you could be a scientist , discovering new medicines, you got the mind for it. Even a physics genius. You could be a detective, for all that matters. Like Sherlock Holmes and so. Solving crimes, getting criminals to justice. A soldier, a war master, well that definitely suits you. But you choose to be an engineer. And engineering becomes you. It does."Mariam said as their horses revolve in a circle now. She stared back at his eyes.
"Engineering is my first and only love, I mean engineering is the art of doing nothing. Let me rephrase that: it's the art of doing something out of nothing. What would be better than that?"said Youssef .
"Nothing. There is nothing better than that"she said because that's what she believed , she loved engineering and engineers. She looked at them with admiration. Now that she looked at him, she couldn't help it. He had the best gaze in the world, the way he stared at her. She thought that she will melt , any second now.