The restaurant was huge..
I'm not an expert in architecture but that building made me want to have a bit of knowledge in the field so as I can be fair when describing it, since it's not the case then I'll just speak about what caught my attention the most about it.
It had a European style, although buildings with such a style were frequently found In D city but this place really looked like it was taken from a dream.
It was white, had statues of angels on the external walls, all windows were decorated with beautiful frames and there was a huge sign with the name of the restaurant on it above the large gate.
This place was so fancy that we had to drive through a long garden first before we finally arrived at the gate, and there were even workers waiting outside to receive customers.
_" It seems like we need a reservation before we come here" I commented when I noticed that this place even had a segment where customers can eat by the sea on balconies.
Eliyas didn't even waste his breath answering me.
Our protection team soon took care of all the procedures, as they surrounded our car and even the area around the restaurant the team's leader finally informed Eliyas:
_" a private room is already reserved, you can safely leave the car now."
Eliyas walked out of the car first, then helped me out with gentlemanly gestures, As i scanned my very handsome husband and his effortlessly elegant looks, that fancy place and all the clamor our entry to the restaurant was causing I felt that the effort I spent on dressing beautifully was not enough, I have to hire some expert in the future because I'm really lacking in this aspect.
Speaking of the clamor we caused, although our protection team cleared the surrounding and even prevented coming cars from entering, they couldn't stop the gossipy people who were already inside the restaurant from watching us from the windows, and even those who were touring in the beautiful garden they stopped walking and decided to observe the interesting scenery in our direction instead, I felt so embarrassed by their looks that I already regretted my choice of coming there, I held Eliyas's arm tightly and tried to ignore them all.
When we were about to walk inside the restaurant, an elderly man suddenly blocked our way accompanied by two workers in unified suits and he excitedly said:
_" It's such an honor to have you in our humble restaurant Mr and Mrs Filladi! I pray you'll enjoy your time and meal here.. some French bla bla .. Etc"
To which I nodded with a smile, as for Eliyas, he acted as if this poor Elderly man was a ghost.
The man was not the slightest discouraged though, he so cheerfully led us to our private room, it was so large and shiny, with very fancy furniture, a view like if we were in the heart of the ocean, and even a high roof of glass with a chandelier hanging in the middle.
The man didn't stop talking even when we took our seats, he mentioned few people who were already dining in the restaurant and asked whether we could meet them, at this point, even I lost my courtesy and glared at him angrily until he finally left.
I sighed once he was gone and asked:
_" Is it always like this? Wherever you go people try to make acquaintances with you?"
_" it's just a habit in this circle, people need to have strong ties in order to survive."
I gave his answer a bit of thinking, then said:
_" since it's like this, then you too need to have a decent social life as well, your mother used to care a lot about this, she often organized dinners and parties, should I do that too?"
As he was scanning the menu he carelessly replied:
_" that's unnecessary, the whole country knows how protective I am of you, mother is still taking care of this business on your behalf, I'm even paying her for it."
It's indeed very bothersome to live in this world of the rich, isn't it? Well, all I can say is that I'm very grateful for having a mother in-law who is freaked about her social status, otherwise my life would have been very annoying.
When I took the menu, I didn't even bother reading the names of the plates or their contents, I directly red the prices and selected the top most expensive dishes.
When the waiter walked inside the room to take our orders, I didn't even make the effort of reading what i wanted, It was more probable that I would misread them anyways, so I simply pointed at what I wanted then mischievously glanced at Eliyas.
After he gave his order and the waiter left, we remained silently waiting, I didn't mind our silence though, since I was busy observing the decoration and listening to the sound of the sea waves, while I was doing this, someone gently knocked on the room's door then walked inside, when I looked at that direction, I saw a woman standing there, she definitely wasn't a waitress.
She was wearing an elegant white suit with very high heels, the sort of high heels where even toes can barely reach the ground, her dark long hair was tightly held in a high ponytail while shiny eye catching earrings hang down her ears, they were the only accessory she had on besides the watch on her wrist.
As for her face, she strangely, resembled me, although she was more like a more attractive version of me.
She walked steadily until she reached our table, then rudely ignored me and only smiled for my husband and said:
_" long time no see Eliyas, how are you doing?"
_" Good." Eliyas answered dryly.
He was too busy looking at me with a weird expression to have a chat with that rude woman after all.
What I didn't get though, Is if this woman wasn't a waitress, then why would the protection team allow her to walk inside our room?
While I was thinking about this, she finally remembered that I was not a worthless piece of furniture sitting on the chair, she smiled while intensely looking at me then said:
_" I must properly introduce my self to you mrs Filladi, my name is Serine Ladou, I'm the heiress of Xx chain restaurants and an old friend of Eliyas's"
_" his friend?" I asked very skeptically as I moved my eyes between the pair.
Eliyas having a friend? What a joke!
This man never befriended anyone, even during his childhood, I so naively asked him once whether he had friends at D city and whether they spoke like him, because when I was young, I found Eliyas's much different accent from mine very strange and awkward, since his father spoke just like me and his mother never visited, I thought the way he and Ines spoke was only common in their school among their friends, even at that young age, this future cold creature answered:
_" I have classmates and children who come play at our house, but I don't have friends."
I had a sharp mind even when I was very young, I remember after hearing this reply I thought " why would someone make the effort to go play at his house if he didn't want to be friends with him? It is surely Eliyas who is refusing to have friends."
And now that he grow older and colder, would I be the slightest deceived?
Although I clearly didn't buy her words, Serine still cheerfully insisted:
_" Yes, college friends to be precise, we had the same major, even were in the same class."
As she was answering she boldly moved a chair then joined our table without even asking for permission, while observing her behavior I realised this woman surely didn't come to simply greet us with pure intentions.
After finishing her introduction, she ignored me again, while glaring at my husband she said:
_" congratulations for your marriage, you announced it so suddenly, I heard you were married for years though, I thought you would at least invite me to your wedding, you disappointed me."
Eliyas coldly stared at her and replied:
_" Miss Ladou, I don't think we were ever acquainted enough for me to invite you to my wedding or even for us to be called friends."
I'm always amazed by the absolute lack of warmth Eliyas shows to people, if I was stared at the way he looks at others, I don't think I would ever had the heart to love him.
Serine was not affected by his lack of courtesy at all, she even daringly asked:
_" Really? I guess you became very forgetful since__"
She didn't even finish speaking when Eliyas received a phone call, he didn't bother excusing himself out properly from her, He looked at me and said:
_" I'll be right back."
Once he walked out of the room, Serine turned to look at me and said to my total shock:
_" I guess Eliyas deals with breakups very differently from me, I don't mind being a friend after breaking up with him, but he has been treating me sourly ever since, you know what they say, the side who is more in pain in a couple will tend to act more harmful to the other."
What the hell..
His girlfriend??
Cool, either this woman was inventing a story from her imagination, or my husband has a dirty past that he didn't want me to know about, remembering his drastic change of expression once he red the name of the restaurant I can initially assume she's partly speaking the truth.
Actually, it's not cool at all! I mean who am I to judge him when already having two exes and I would have gotten a third if I could but at least I was frank about my past experiences! I didn't pretend to be a saint who only had eyes for one man: my husband!
If he lied about one ex it means he might as well have had many! And still he so shamelessly pretended that I was his one and only.
You see, all sorts of thoughts quickly came to my head, I mean if he lied about having an ex, it means that he can lie about anything, like being faithful to me too during our marriage.
Before my thoughts went drastically even further, Serine taking advantage of my silence added:
_" When I saw your picture in news, I couldn't not notice how we both resembled one another in terms of appearance, sigh, only then I realised how aggrieved Eliyas must have been after our breakup."
Wait a minute..
Is this woman referring to me as the alternative Eliyas had to have to compromise for not having her ?
Hell no! My highness is the one and only original!
I fake smiled to her and said:
_" It seems like you're awfully misunderstanding my husband's character, you can take my word for it since he and I were close since our childhood, he isn't a man who weeps a loss, he never loses in fact if he wants to have anything, take me as an example of that, he confessed to me when I was 18 and I rejected him, did he give up? If he gave up and didn't try to court me countless times along the years I wouldn't be his wife now would I? Although I must admit my repetitive rejections must have left a great impact on him, I assume he tried to compromise by dating another as a pass time, I think I should apologize for his bad manners with you on his behalf then, don't take it to heart Serine, this is the way he treats everyone anyways."
Once I finished speaking(half lying), I noticed she was too dumbstruck to think coherently and reply back to me.
The waiters soon walked inside the room and filled the table with gorgeous dishes, it's such a pity that I have no appetite for them any longer.
Although this was the case, I still tried to act decently and invited Serine to eat with me saying:
_" you can join me for this meal Serine, It's such a rare thing for me to meet with old acquaintances of my husband, If you know him well you must know how unsocial he is."
_" Indeed he is." She replied to my confusion.
She looked at me profoundly then weirdly added:
_" you and him are very suitable for one another mrs Filladi, only a hard to reach woman would tempt him to foulness, excuse me for intruding, I must leave now, enjoy your meal."
She soon left after saying this.
I guess Serine seriously thought Eliyas married me just because I resembled her, especially that my background isn't as great as hers, this was why she so daringly came to interrupt our meal thinking that my husband has brought me to her restaurant to pettily tease her, since she realized it was not the case she elegantly withdrew her self.
I mean some women are much more prideful than Lydia khodjali after all.
But even after she left, I still felt very bitter.
I stood up, walked to the door, opened it then called the first two bodyguards who my eyes spotted:
_" come inside." I calmly said.
The two huge men walked inside the room acting very alert, I on the other hand dispiritedly led them to the dining table then to their shock I said:
_" you can sit down and have a meal, it's all yours."
They both stared at me very confused, so I reassured them by saying:
_" I thought it's such a waste not to let someone else enjoy this delicious food while we have no heart to eat it, please feel at ease and eat to your heart's content."
They warily sat down on the table frequently picking looks at me with very confused expressions, then took slow bites of the food.
Few seconds later, they started to ravage through the full table with a "we don't mind dying if this food was poisoned!" attitude.
As for me, I steadily walked towards the large window and stood there to watch the waves slamming the shore.
I felt so down that I simply wanted to go back home and bury my head in a pillow for long hours.
I wasn't feeling jealous of Serine, not even the slightest, I was disappointed in my husband who chose to lie to me instead.
Man are indeed .. very untrustworthy.