_" Are you jealous Eliyas?" I asked again with more determination as I noticed his eyes escaping mine.
Yet, he refused to answer.
He swiftly pecked my lips again, then started walking further in the garden leaving me behind.
I usually don't stubbornly insist on receiving an answer once my questions are ignored, but I felt really wronged after being roughly kissed because my husband's heart was stirred over an unknown reason! What if we go further than kissing later this night, will I simply accept to die without knowing why?
_" Eliyas! How dare you just ignore me?" I shouted impatiently.
He stopped walking, then calmly replied my question while giving me his back:
_" If you want the truth, then Yes.. I'm jealous."
As if that was not enough confirmation, he turned to properly face me and repeated firmly:
_" I'm Jealous Noursine.. I am .. Jealous."
Well, women in this situation usually feel pleased and satisfied, some even try to create competition in order to make their men jealous but I wasn't the tiniest bit happy about this situation, actually I felt bad because I thoughtlessly cornered him and made him confess something that he didn't want to admit, and probably wasn't so proud of experiencing.
And being Jealous is honestly really irritating of a feeling, this poor husband of mine was already enough traumatised this morning thanks to my accident, he doesn't need this jealousy thing to be the cherry on top.
I carefully stepped closer to him, then when I finally reached him he took a deep breath and explained while looking at me impatiently:
_"I know I'm being unreasonable, I know that already. It's not that I question him or you, I know that he wants my sister and that you love me, but I'm still unexplainably, irrationally but definitely Jealous! I'm jealous of the way he can so easily reach you Noursine, I can't stop thinking how easy he made you laugh earlier and how easier it is for him to read you__"
_" but there isn't anyone who's more close to me than you are! or who understands me better!" I objected righteously.
Still, He laughed as if mocking himself and to my surprise he continued:
_" No, the fact is .. I stand clueless once you stop telling me everything by your self. Noursine, every time I went out of words when we quarreled, or when you faced me with something, I wasn't acting smarter or ignoring you, Most of the time I was simply and plainly clueless! even when I love you the most.. I can't lie and say i understand you the best, So when a strange man who barely met you a couple of times before can so easily do the job I failed then how do you expect me to feel?"
It isn't only him who can turn clueless and speechless, even I, and precisely at that moment, I didn't know what to say either.
But, am I not this way because he truly matters to me?
It is because I don't want to say the wrong thing in the right moment not to hurt him, and I don't want to say the right thing in the wrong moment too not to hurt him even more, it is because I care for him so much that I work harder to understand him, but I still fail, because people shall remain a mystery no matter how hard we try to unveil it.
I love him the most too .. And I don't fully understand him either.
Remembering how he said that he needed me to talk in every situation, I found it convenient to say:
_" It is the same for me too, exactly the same, I think we need to spend another 20 years together before we fully know one another! as for now, I don't__"
I didn't even finish talking when we suddenly heard my mother in-law's voice shouting:
_" Eliyas!"
We both turned to look at her very startled.
You see, it is out of the fancy society's etiquettes for a prestigious woman to call someone so loudly, yet there she was so dramatically calling him while standing so far away, I bet with my life that the reason behind her acting so unreasonably is even more dramatic than her shouting!
Once she caught our attention, she bossily ordered:
_" you come here immediately!"
Needless to say it, Eliyas coldly remained fixed in his place like a statue refusing to move an inch, being more respectful and tolerant I decided to obey her order not to be accused that it is because of me he pretended to be deaf.
But I barely made a step when My disobedient husband held my arm firmly blocking my movement.
I sighed from the bottom of my heart, and decided that if I had to obey someone, then according to the religion and my logic, it should be my husband. So I stopped walking immediately.
My mother in law realizing that we were not coming anytime soon, she furiously stamped towards us and yelled the moment she reached:
_" You unfilial child! can you disrespect me even more! I failed to raise you! But it's not time to talk about your disrespect for me, tell me what did you do to your sister's fiancé?? He came to call you two for dinner, but not only he came back without you, he even left the villa refusing to dine with us as well! This is your wife's deed isn't it? What she loves best is to make every groom who comes to my daughter run away! What did I ever do in my life to deserve__"
_" What did he say before leaving?" Eliyas coldly interrupted her.
She looked puzzled for a moment, then she replied:
_"He said he received a message from work and he should urgently leave."
He looked at her very impatiently then said ruthlessly:
_" If he had to leave because of work then in what way my wife is involved in his affaires? I don't expect you to be smart all the time, but sometimes, even I feel surprised of how little you use your brain."
_" You brat! How dare you speak to your mother this way?" She yelled insanely.
It's good thing the villa garden is very large and the dining hall is in the opposite side, otherwise our guests will be so surprised of the elegant Mrs filladi's vocal power.
Still unaffected at all, her son continued his careless attitude saying:
_" Mother, If you don't have anything else to report, then excuse us."
Once he finished saying this, he immediately started walking away in the garden leaving her boiling in anger behind, naturally I was dragged along.
She soon went inside the villa, she didn't even waste her efforts asking us to join the guests at dinner not to embarrass her more in front of them, it would have been undoubtedly fruitless anyways. As for us both, I only kept skeptically watching Eliyas's very calm expression.
I was surprised that Nadir left the Villa in this weird manner, it's so odd how this urgent matter came right after he met us at the garden, but I'm not a deity to know for sure if this was what exactly happened.
_"Don't keep looking at me so much." Eliyas suddenly commented startling me.
I didn't want to share my doubts with him, so I cheekily asked instead:
_" why? Are you being tempted?"
When I asked this, he barely looked at me for two seconds when he smiled joyfully then kissed me deeply.
I have no Idea how we reached our room after that, or how my dress and his suit were so monstrously torn apart and thrown at the floor of our room, All I know is that very late that night as I lied beside him extremely powerless, I regretfully commented:
_" In the future, I will never ask you whether you were tempted again so you won't prove it like you did tonight!"
He laughed soundly, then hugged my waist and pulled my back to his embrace without saying a thing.
Only a little time later when I was drowsing he pecked my neck and whispered:
_" I missed you .. so much."
Consequently, your girl fell asleep smiling happily.
When I woke up the next morning, the husband who missed me so much was already gone, I checked my phone to see what time it was.
It was already about 9:30 am.
I sighed tiredly realizing that I already missed the family breakfast, adding to my husband's attitude with his mother last night, this woman will definitely search me now to give me a headache.
I quickly left my bed, took a shower then decided to go see Nana after having breakfast.
She acted exceptionally calm after my accident making me feel a little guilty that it wasn't I who personally informed her, so in order to make up for her, I wanted to report to her the happy news that Eliyas and I are finally back to normal.
When I went to her room though, it was empty unexpectedly, so I soon headed towards a group of servants who were in the process of moving an antique piece of furniture probably following my mother in-laws orders, I felt a little bad for them since they were sure having it much harder than me with that bossy woman, then I asked them where Nana was.
_" .. At el-mossala (prayer hall).." One among them replied.
Remembering that she usually goes there only for special occasions or when she receives scholars for Quran reading and religious teaching since otherwise she likes to pray in the simplicity of her room, I curiously asked:
_" Is there a visitor with her?"
The same servant replied:
_" Yes master lady, Mr Ghemmari is with her."
What ?
How in earth did that couple of people end up being in a prayer hall together? The first, Nadir, probably knows only the basics of our religion to begin with, and the second, My dearest Nana, hates to even share the same air with him!
I was so surprised that I even forgot to thank the servant before leaving, I headed towards the prayer hall immediately, and once I opened the door I was uneasily surprised with the holy atmosphere I saw:
Nana reading Quran, and Nadir sitting in front of her and attentively listening.
For a moment I planned to swiftly leave them alone and close the door again pretending I was never there, but then I felt extremely curious to know how did this endlessly awkward scenario happen!
So I quietly stepped towards the closet to take out prayers clothes, I put them on, covered my head then went to sit with them.
When Nadir finally noticed me sitting a bit far from him, he nodded in greeting before he quickly turned to look at Nana again and continued listening.
As for Nana, She continued her task without giving me any attention.
When she finally finished reading, Nadir had few questions so she answered them all, once that was over, she closed the book, put it on the shelf then left the hall without even looking at me.
Seeing her giving me the cold shoulder made me feel really bad, she must be upset because I ignored her the previous day, but she always had a short temper to begin with and a piece of news like me and Eliyas getting back together will sure make her so excited and chatty that she'll forget how angry she is with me. As I was planning to catch her and make it up for her Nadir suddenly commented while smiling:
_" You look different with Hijab."
Of course I look different with hijab! Who doesn't? Whether it is a positive or a negative change is what it should be said!
But I wasn't going to ask him whether I looked beautiful anyways, this question should exclusively directed to my lovely husband.
I logically inquired instead:
_" Why are you with Nana though? Is this your newest strategy in getting closer to the family?"
_"No." He laughed heartily, then explained:
_" It was her who asked me to come today, I mentioned my lack of religious knowledge yesterday so she volunteered to teach me little important things."
Remembering the verses she specifically chose to read, mainly about adultery and its punishment, I really started to question the sincerity of her intentions, wasn't she just shamelessly using her faith to attack him and his uncle who bribed my mother away?
Feeling that this smart lawyer must have clearly saw what's underneath the surface, I decided not to give any remark about this.
As I stood up and headed towards the closet to put the prayer clothes back in there I said to him:
_" You left so suddenly yesterday."
_" I had to leave urgently for work."
I turned to look at him feeling a bit skeptical, but I didn't say a thing in response to that.
He soon stood up and walked to the door, then elegantly opened it for me.
_" thank you." I smiled as I walked out first.
Felling that I was rude of me to leave him alone to go find Nana, I decided to act like a decent master of the house and accompany him to the guests hall.
He silently walked beside me in the large corridor, feeling very uneasy inside my heart I decided to cut the awkward silence by asking:
_" Are you getting well with Ines?"
_" It should be like that." He weirdly replied.
What the hell is this 'it should be like that'? I mean he's about to marry this woman, if they both don't want to end up separating for 3 years like Eliyas and I then he must feel more affection and warmth when talking about his fiancée and not just dryly say such an answer!
I bet this is the reason why Ines is still so playfully keeping Akrem as a backup, it's because this dry man is probably doing nothing to catch her heart!
Being the righteous person that I am, I couldn't help saying:
_" I know it's not my place to say this, but I think you should try harder getting close to Ines, she's a woman after all, and she'll naturally feel insecure if you don't show your goodwill to her."
_" You don't have to worry about her and I Noursine" he said with a smile once I finished talking.. Then added:
_" We both are aware of where we're heading to."
After he said this, we both fell into an awkward silence again.
When we finally reached the entrance hall midway I was so surprised to see Eliyas standing there next to Akrem and my father in-law, the trio seemed so engaged in a heated business discussion that even my father in-law's face looked unusually flushed from anger.
I thought Eliyas was already at the company, this was the reason why I didn't look for him after I woke up, apparently I was mistaken.
It wasn't their business quarrel that gave me shivers though, it was Eliyas's icy stare instead once his eyes landed on Nadir and I walking side by side.
This man, flipped from being coldly expressionless to being icily dark in a matter of an instant. I felt so terrified that I froze on my spot and even forgot how to blink while looking at him.
Nadir stopped walking too noticing my frozen state.
As for my terrifying husband, He ignored the two men he was standing with as if they turned into thin air then he slowly walked towards me with a heavy aura.
Why do I feel like If I was caught red handed cheating on him?