We are at 2k already😊, personal hearts from me to you💙
Previously on IELB
Contradiction, both of them talking in whispers.
They both are in dubai, for reason we don't actually know, we heard shes gonna be his 'tbw' -to be wife. But why? When? How? Where? We don't know, read on to see the reactions of his dramatic family members.
Like poles repel,
Unlike poles attract,
Introverts confound.
...
Whispers of a nameless fear, clung unto her being ever so devotely, grasping every minute detail of miserableness and attaching it somewhat to her. A storm , so brutal raged inside of her but that in it self, tamed her heart into a pretty calm organ. The calmest of all.
That empty world was back, a realm filled to the core with darkness looming around, it was so dark, that the darkness could not be seen!.
That domain, had a precised abstraction, one synonymous to the condition of a single atom of a molecule dropped in a vast sea, somewhere, oh no! It could never be found or seen..
Lost in this vacant world, devoid of any content, she knew she was not asleep, her mind was definately not at rest, yet, her eyes were glued down to their lids, ever so tight, one could relate, as tight and difficult as a newly manufactured bottle and its cap fixed to it.
Why they were closed despite not being asleep? Perhaps willing to witness brightness, luminess, cheerfulness..or something, just as odd, as a flicker of a light.
In this quite and devoid realm she was at, a screech sound from a car erupted around the walls, and the reverberation of the engines of that vehicle shook those walls, it almost seemed like reality, she knew it was. She could still not bring her self to open those eyes.
She hated opening her eyes to reality more than she loothed closing then to the silent brutal storms that rove within her.... the uproar, was too tumultuous, too loud, too outrageous that she totally lost sense of her hearing and all she hears every single time was silence, and that! Assured her, that..maybe, just maybe, this empty delusional world was so much better and realer than this so called Reality..
What was reality by the way? Didnt it give the idea of something not being fake? Did it not depict the notion of actuality and truth? If that was what true reality was, then Muneenah was nothing close to one..and that blank mind of hers, was maybe, just maybe, next to the only reality she held unto.
Finally, the reverberation from the car seized and Farouk turned off the ignition and for a brief second, pivoted his gaze towards her, eyes closed, lashes blanketed above her upper cheeks, face covered with a yashmaq, breathing soft and the little skin he saw from the sides of her eyes, rare.
What was meant to be a brief second glance trickled into tick- and tock, the ticking only noticed by the entire world that did not experience what a freezing time clock felt like, but just like that, Farouk's phone buzzed, which somehow, navigated his mind back to his mind..
That was clearly unlike his perpetual self.
He slid the answer icon, once he registered ukhtee's name, and he almost too immediately regretted that, the moment he took the mobile closer to his ears.. she shrilled into his ear.... someone would quite wonder if the Krakatoa volcanic eruption was just as loud,that was a bit exaggerated, but the main point was, his sister was loud.... Farouk mentally cringed but decided to use that to the best of his advantage, and so he took his mobile closer to Muneenah's ears, which was after turning on the speaker mode,
He was not sure if every other being in the universe found sounds normal, but he was sure the lady by his side didn't, which, he was proved right as he noticed her eyes flinch and he waited for few more words from ukhtee, which the only words he caught was.. 'about to sleep, when you're back, send someone, I want to see her..' and the line went dead, which gave him the more advantage to focus his intent gaze on her.
He observed every single thing from the little he saw, and he was starting to count the skin pores on her, he decided against that and almost quickly diverted his gaze. He should not be staring.. But, that, did not stop him from noticing how, she took more than enough seconds to turn those eyes open, and it was as if, she was lifting up rocks, it looked hard, painful, severe..
Finally, but surely, she blinked open her eyes and oh! They were piercing, so deep and enchanting, and hazardous, Farouk had to look away. As if, those eyes were not uniquely bizarre enough, she whispered-mumbled words along the lines of she wasn't sleeping, which resulted into an equally uniquely strange response, also in a mumble-whisper of, 'sure, we were having dinner'....from his side.
They did hear each other, but at the same time, they both decided they did not refer to each other, and so Muneenah waited patiently and watched him move out of his seat and moments later, saw him conversing with who appeared to be a security guard.
Again, her heart raced and more blood pumped, she could not help but let her gaze roam around the little she could witness from the window glasses of the car,
Magnificent buildings standing so grand and dignified, with postures so elegant and exceptional, Muneenah could not help but mentally honour the Builder of such great magnificence!. A fortune, it looked, almost the price of her entire generation, screaming so loudly.. value! Abundance! Grace! Majesty! Quality! Degree!... oh! She was lost with words.
The beautiful greenery that surrounded every corner her eyes could pivot to, looked peculiarly grand and sublime, she began to wonder, who would've dedicated their life to serving these plants into such vivid and delightful scenery. The arrangements of the several houses that lined up, as if trained in this seemingly to be villa, were so perpetual,looked illusional.. for a while, Muneenah allowed her thoughts roam at how much of the humanity could actually benefit from this wealth.
She instantly felt bad about herself for judging way too quickly, as most people who came across well-off people did. She had once, got the privilege of witnessing the long convoy of one of the numerous expensive people back at home, two women, who most definately were mothers, happened to pass by too, and she had to hear them be a bit too elaborative on how those rich people could feed the whole of northern Nigeria with the numerous cars and houses they owned.. Muneenah, had shook her head at that mentality and simply reminded her self that, she was in no place to judge someone just by the wealth that her lord blessed them with.
True!, a huge percentage from Nigeria's affluent Moguls, were definitely thieves..as believed!, thieves, meaning, they either stole from the country's wealth or squandered with the poor man's rightful own.. that, to her was too frivolous to judge or hate on all of them. One man's success even if its through an unfavourable means could never be the reason to another's failure/downfall.. she had always tried to believe, but the situation back at her home, was clearly the opposite.
That did not change her mindset though about a peculiar opinion,which was that,
Some states are rather pushed and forced, some circumstances are rather as a result of helplessness. Some commitments are rather compromises.a soft example, Chilled water forced to be hot with stoves, there was a bit of a coercive force.. Warm water forced into the refrigerator to be cold, a bit of coercive force applied..
At the end, she concluded that, What we see,is not always what is, what we think, is not always what is, and no matter the proofs pointing at a clue or the clues pointing at the proofs, she could not judge, not even a bit. Life did teach her that as a lifetime lesson..
True, First impressions do induce, helpless thoughts into ones heart, especially hers, just like she did on meeting Farouk the first time, just like she did on seeing the grand nature of his house, it always made her to define something she's never seen before, making her evaluate a meal before tasting it, making her like it at first sight or even dislike it at the sight. Due to judgements..
But again, she knew that one thing she wasn't amongst numerous others, was perfect and well...that word, judgement, fitted so well to the word perfection, which landed her to the final conclusion of only a perfect someone has that liability to judge, and most definately, that gives that perfect someone the liberty, right and authority to point out imperfections..
Oh no, she wasnt perfect..she was tainted, Much more tainted than the back of the black pot she'd grown her entire life seeing in their kitchen. Funny!.
Her door turned opened and her eyes had to catch a glimpse of the grey article of clothing he wore on the upper part of his body, she definately did not notice-notice him, and she knew if something had happen to him on or during their journey, she wouldn't have being of much use when it came to describing his physicality or to lessen that a bit, his outer appearance.. All she could tell was that he was a full human, he was not handicapped in anyway.. oh! And the grey piece of clothing she recently noticed too..
Farouk did not speak but with a slight gesture he threw her way, she knew she was meant to get out of the vehicle and move along with him, and that she did, trying her best not to allow the terrific nature of the flamboyant air around him intimidate her, again, she wondered if it was so normal and straight forward to arrive back at his home, with someone, his to be wife, namely to be wedded soon.. no, she wasn't so sure.
She did keep it somewhere at the back of her mind, that, the way he walked, his posture and stance.. would be the way she would move, whenever her father, voices out she was his daughter and he wanted her back!. She'd walk just that way, strong, bold and confident..But she doubted she was learning that anytime soon, anonymous to how she walked clutching unto the belts of her back bag, like a third or fourth grader walking into a new school the very first day..
Trailing her out of her willy-nilly thoughts, her ears caught the whispers of a girl and he got a girl, that she so much wondered if she had gotten her self into a campus of only boys, and that increased the sweat forming on both her palms and forehead, No! Her father approved him, that would mean he did a background check...
And no! The man before her did not seem like that.
Still the whispers from the synonymously dressed maids did not seize till she directed her gaze at them which calmed her a bit, noticing they were female humans.. but they could also be a bunch of trafficked ladies, her mind threw, and that squeezed her anxiety more, she couldn't filter what she felt no more.
Finally reaching a large white oak door that oozed a sense of complexity and grandeur, she halted once she saw him did, as he stood, in front of his mothers home, his home, he so badly wanted to turn back to his wig and after his family members were done with the drama he knew they will most certainly stage, he'd be back...But, again, he couldn't bring himself to leave her standing there alone and facing his family alone, that, in it self made him question himself, never has he ever, since the start of his maturity, or as long as he could recall him living and breathing, contemplated on something so slight. Even when it came down to making real-life decisions, he was one to simply make choices almost at the point, but this, was clearly different.
He could not get himself to turn around and leave, she was in safe hands,so that wasn't his concern, even when he so badly wanted to rest away from his long journey, maybe have a call with arshlee, and then relax, which..elaborated his thoughts down to Arshlee,
Was she ever serious about their relationship?
Was he doing the right thing waiting for her? When she so clearly told him she wasn't ready?
Was her reasons justified?
Could he let go of his love for her? What they shared?
Pulling him slowly away from his mind operations, the double outlet, in this case, inlet, turned open, and with the activities, chants and movements dancing across the corners of the house, someone, could assume.. that a concert was going on.. a kind of, more civilised concert to say the least.
Dangling rosemary flowers in different vibrant and lustrous colors hanging at nearly every wall, and item around the room, Ladders of different sizes distributed around as few professional looking designers hung amazing decorations, one couldn't just give a single look to and glance away, with tools, shuffling here and there,
Banquet flowers, both in lilies and roses of different shades, bundled around and vases of natural flowers engulfing the environment with a natural relishing sense of living, Muneenah could not miss out the strong scent of arab incense that welcomed her by the door.. she breathed it in selfishly..it was accommodating and that took her mind off for a while, before she noticed farouk leaving her side and turning around to somewhere..leaving her there stranded, like she did most of the time she stayed back late at school alone..
The special fragrance of the incense gave her a welcoming ambience and she thought to herself, his family seem welcoming... yeah!. She stood which was seemingly the only reasonable way to confront a situation when stranded, and before she could notice the seconds that went by, she was dragged into the house by a young girl she didnt spend too much time, staring at, and then another similar looking young girl also came holding unto her other hand, was she so jet lagged that she was seeing two? Before she could focus more on the looks of these girls or ladies, one of them spoke,
"Hey! I'm arfah"
"And I'm arifah" the other one also smiled, reciprocating the wide smile on the first girl's face. They were clearly not clones..Muneenah inwardly sighed at finally realizing they could just be twins, which was modified the moment another similar looking girl descended the steps and for the brief second muneenah had noticed the similar looks of these three girls, she noticed that, while the two girls by her side held smiling faces and gave off jittery and overly joyous personalities, the third girl was grim, and she clearly knew, she was not liked by this third identical sister of theirs.
But that assured Muneenah that atleast, there was someone that didn't smile, just like that,
"You see, I'm faruk akhee's immediate sister and---" the girl by her right who was arifah began before she was caught off by the one on thr left,
"No--i'm his immediate sister,and, I'm so happy that you're here,--" arfah started.
" I'm more happy, and No---"
Muneenah zoned out of their argument, for two reasons, one, she knew and heard that twins could get really chattery and could argue a lot for silly reasons, which she was not ready for, and two,
As she turned her head by accident, towards the steps, to know if the third look alike was still there, her eyes caught sight of a woman that had to catch her attention. With an air of flamboyance, grace and majesty, streaming as she descended down the steps, Muneenah needn't be told, that was Mrs.Ghazaali.
The maids around bowed slightly as a sign of reverence and as the woman walked graciously to where muneenah stood, muneenah could only conclude from her features that she was Shua-Arabic.. she just knew it, and she clearly did not know how to react or approach this woman and much to her appreciation, the woman held her hands and looked her into the eyes,
"Marhabaan laki, habibtee.. how was the journey?" The woman smoothly spoke which, Muneenah had to tame her composure to come to terms with the sweetness yet precisedness.
"As-salamu alyki, Alhamdulilah" Muneenah carefully chose her words,
The woman replied with a nod "wa alaykis salam, I see, you sure are not close to that arshlee girl who greets people with yo!" Mrs ghazaali, replied with a flash of satisfaction in her eyes before turning to both the girls that stood at either sides of Muneenah.
"Arfah, Arifah take her up to her room, I'm sure she's exhausted after the journey, we wouldn't want our bride to look all groggy tomorrow, now would we?" She focused on Muneenah who neither nodded nor spoke nor acted, she simply stood,
tomorrow was the day,
Very easy to voice out, yet hardest to register to Muneenah..
Out of every mind thought She had that particular day, she didn't want to think much about what the next day entail,it was hard, but she assured her self with a lesson she happened to learn that moment,
'anticipations are next to discomfort, stay calm, keep calm, know it must if at all it shall'.
🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁
As salam alaykum.
This chapter was hard for me to write, I don't really know why, probably as a result of my laziness. Who knows😚.
Aha, I've being thinking of dedicating chapters but the thing here is I don't know to who exactly. So--😉 I thought.. let's play a game, why not?
The rule here is, I ask a question about my self, and who ever the winner is gets the next chapter.
Wtchaa think? Yay or nah?
Starting from next one or two chapters insha Allah.
And oh, you might wanna get your popcorns ready, as things are about to get even more thrilling.....
Khadijah🌹