Just like I thought, Seif was already in the café, setting in our usual table with an extra tea cup in front of my seat. I walked to the tale with a smile on my face.
“Hey,” He said smiling.
“Hey, did you wait for long?” I said, taking my seat in front of him.
“Just a few minutes,” He shrugged it off, “How was your day so far?”
“Tiring, I guess. Just spend my day finishing the accounting assignments. They are so darn long though.” I sighed tiredly.
“If you are too tired we can do this another time. I really don’t mind.” He offered.
“No, we are already here so let’s just do it. Plus we need to finish up a lot of work this week because I’m going to be busy next week.” I said remembering that Zayn was coming home next week. I missed him way too much and I wasn’t going to waste a couple of hours in working while I could spend them with him instead.
“Oh, why? Is everything alright?” He asked worriedly.
“Yeah, everything is great actually. I’ll just be busy you know.” I smiled.
“Okay, let’s get started then.” We talked for about an hour or more about our marketing plan. Thankfully, I had already gathered all of my information needed for the plan but it wasn’t like Seif would have given me a chance not to do that.
“For example, we can have it like the bucket challenge. This is an excellent example for a successful marketing plan. They made their target audience a part of something by involving them in this fun challenge and giving them the change to nominate others to widen their audience.” Seif explained to me.
“Yeah, this challenge is getting way too popular on social media but I don’t think everyone who does it donates to the ALS.” I argued back. I do admit it was a brilliant idea that was very well executed but people just copy without thinking these days.
“Doesn’t- oh, sorry.” He was interrupted by his phone ringing.
“Hey, Noor.” He answered with a bored tone, “What? Where?...Okay, just don’t panic. I’m on my way right now.” His voice was one of panic and worry making me worry as well.
“What’s going on?” I asked concerned and a bit scared to be honest.
“My brother is in the hospital.” He hurriedly gathered his papers getting up from his chair.
“What happened?” I gasped and started gathering my stuff in a hurry as well.
“I don’t know. I’m sorry, but I have to go. Can we continue this tomorrow?” His tone was apologetic which I found was absurd. His brother was in the hospital and he was apologizing for a stupid project?
“What are you even talking about? Let’s go to your brother. We can reschedule anytime.” I pulled his arm towards the door. He was startled at first. Shocked at my reaction, I think, but he quickly recovered and started walking to the bus stop.
“What are you doing?” He asked confused that I was stopping a cap.
“What do you think I’m doing?- The hospital?” I asked the driver, when he nodded I got in pulling him behind me, “Taking a cap is the fastest way to get there.”
“But, Um…” His faced reddened with embarrassment.
“I got it. Don’t worry.” I smiled knowing that he probably doesn’t have any cash, that’s why he was going to the bus stop.
He smiled awkwardly at me, as the cap went through the streets till the hospital. The drive was only 10 minutes away from us but our nerves and thoughts made it seem much longer than it really was.
After we got there, Seif raced through the door to the front desk but he changed his direction when he reached it as he heard his name being called. It was his little sister.
“I don’t know what happened. One second we were crossing the street, then suddenly there was blood everywhere and Ali was just..” She was a mess with blood and tears staining her face and clothes.
“Shh, it’s okay. Where is Ali?” Seif was surprisingly very calm when he spoke.
“I don’t know. They took him inside.” She was whimpering while crying.
“Okay, stay here with Maggie till I find out what’s going on.” He waited for her to nod before leaving the two of us alone to walk inside the room she pointed to.
“It’s okay. He’s going to be okay.” I hugged Noor, I think that’s what he called her, closer to me.
“I looked away for a second. He just ran. It happened so fast, I couldn’t grab him.” She was shaking and crying. All I could do was hold her tight and comfort her with my words.
“It’s not your fault. Everything happens for a reason.” I tried my best to sooth her but she just snapped her head at me with this horror look on her face.
“Do you mean…Is he dead?” Her eyes were wide open.
“What? No,” I replied fast. I wanted to tell her he was fine but I couldn’t because I didn’t know that.
“S-So he’s o-okay?” She was shaking but not as bad anymore.
“In sha’ allah, he’s going to be okay.” I held her closer to me and she just let her hid rest on my shoulder as she cried silently.
“Did you tell your parents?” I asked as I brushed her hair with my hand.
“T-They are at an important business dinner.” She whispered.
I wanted to tell her that she should call them anyway but I got distracted when I saw a familiar face walk by. It was that nurse that found my phone a few months ago.
Oh, god. I panicked, quickly hiding my face in Seif’s sister’s hair as if I was sleeping or something. I waited for a while before peaking back up to make sure she was gone. Thankfully she was.
A few minutes had passed before we got any news from Seif and I began to worry. His sister just silently gazed ahead at the door, tearing a couple of times but wiping the tears away fast.
Finally, the door was opened and Seif walked out of it. Noor jumped from her seat and ran to him and I followed her no too far behind. His face held a normal expression which gave me a good vibe.
“Is Ali okay?” She asked worried.
“Yes, Alhamdulillah. He has a broken leg and a couple of stitch but other than that, he’s fine.” He smiled.
“Alhamdulillah.” Noor and I both sighed in relief.
“Can I go see him?” She asked with hopeful eyes.
“He’s asleep. They gave him a drug for the pain but it was too much for him so he just went to sleep. They said it was normal for his age.” He assured her and she nodded.
“Maggie, thank you so much for staying. You really didn’t have to.” He smiled.
“What are you even saying? Seif, you are my friend. Of course I have to stay and make sure your brother was okay.” His gaze lowered after I spoke as he sighed. That was weird. But he has been through a lot today.
“Well, thank you. He’s okay now, you can go home. I don’t want you to spend your day here.” He tried to be polite. I hated how he was too nice to me but never let me be nice to him.
“Stop thanking me or…well, I don’t know what I’ll do yet but I’ll figure something out and it won’t be a pretty scene so spare us both the embarrassment.” He smiled, “Now, go call your parents. They still don’t know anything about this.”
His eyes opened wide remembering his parents as he fished for his phone in his pocket. I walked back to sit next to his sister, giving him some space to make his call.
“Hey,” I smiled sitting down.
“Hey,” She replied smiling, “Oh god. I’m really sorry. your shirt is ruined.” She gasped pointing at my shirt which had some tear and blood spots on it.
“It’s okay. I’ll send it to be dry cleaned. Don’t worry about it.” I assured her and she relaxed feeling relief.
We sat there me in her in silence for a few seconds. She seemed shy to talk but I wasn’t the type of person who knows how to ease the mood. I usually just stay quiet and let everyone around talk but she looked at me with this cute shy smile. I felt obligated to be nice to her instead of my awkward self.
“So, how is school, Noor?” I asked feeling dumb but I couldn’t think of any decent topic.
She giggled before speaking, “My name is not Noor. It’s Mahi actually.”
“Sorry, I thought I heard Seif call you Noor.” I blushed feeling stupid.
“He only calls me that to annoy me. My name is Mahinoor. So he just calls me Noor because he knows I hate it.” She rolled her eyes.
“He’s an annoying brother then?” I smirked raising an eyebrow trying my best to lighten the mood.
“Not really. Well not to me anyway. He’s more like my only friend. I can tell him anything and he won’t make fun of me like everyone else. But he just teases me sometimes. I don’t hate it that much but it annoys me.” She shrugged.
“That’s cute. That fact that you guys are friends, not that he teases you.” I saved myself fast when she raised her eyebrow at me but now she was giggling.
“What are you giggling at?” Seif asked taking a seat next to her.
“Nothing.” She smirked.
“Okay…” He trailed off, “Anyway. Maggie, you don’t have to stay anymore. We are just going to wait for my parents.” He smiled.
“Are you kicking me out?” I raised my eyebrow.
“No, I-I didn’t mean to. I was just-”
“It’s okay,” I giggled, “I was just pulling your leg.”
“So you are going to stay with us for a bit?” Mahi asked with hope.
“If it’s alright with you.” I smiled widely.
“Of course it is. You are really nice and I like you a lot.” She gushed.
“I like you too. You are cool.” I smiled.
“You really think so?” She beamed.
“Yeah,” I nodded and she seemed way too happy. I don’t know why she had no friends. She seemed like a very nice girl. It was weird that both Seif and Mahi had no friends and they had people make fun of them. They were probably each other’s only friends.
“سيف, علي فين؟ ابني فين؟”a middle aged woman asked hurriedly as she was out of breath, panicking. She was followed by a middle aged man who looked similar to Seif.
Seif got up and went to talk to who I guess was his mother. I could hear their conversation. They weren’t that far away from me and Mahi but they were talking in Arabic so I didn’t understand anything.
“She’s going to blame this on him while it’s my fault.” She whispered worriedly.
“It’ no one’s fault. It’s just meant to be. Ad he’s fine so don’t worry.” I assured her hugging her closer to my body.
“You don’t know my mom.” She said in a low voice.
And she was right. I didn’t know their mother. Just a few seconds later, she started yelling at Seif in Arabic and he would reply in a low voice as if not to upset her anymore.
Looking at Mahi, I saw her tear up a little as she heard the argument. At one point their mother looked at me and continued yelled. Was she talking about me?
From the look on Mahi’s face she was. Was this why Seif wanted me to leave earlier? Because he knew his mother would be mad that I was here?
I felt horrible. Like this was all my fault. Not the accident part but the yelling part.
The yelling seemed like it would go on for forever but it was over after five minutes where Seif’s dad whispered something in his wife’s ear and she stopped talking and walked behind him into the room that Ali was staying in.
“Is everything alright?” I asked worriedly.
“She blamed me. Like always.”
***
A/N
This is a bit later but yeah, i have a plot that I want to reach but i can think of nothing that would lead to it.
My mind is a big blank paper right now…
Anyways, I hope you like this. Tell me your thoughts. It really makes me feel like a kid in a candy store when I read your theories and thoughts on the chapters.