How was our visit to the farm?
Well, it was disastrous.
To be honest, I didn't have high hopes right from the start, precisely from the moment I walked inside the guests hall and saw my mother in-law speaking on the phone with some acquaintance of hers.
What I heard was her saying:
_"__ if she's busy today then she would free her schedule once you tell her Eliyas is going to be there! She adores him, she always doted upon him like if he's a son of hers!__"
You see, there are moments in this life when you have this bad premonition coming from the deepest of your suddenly activated sixth sense, like this overwhelming and undoubted belief that you're going to have a really bad day for sure and you start to feel uncomfortable immediately, I had loads of this while making my way across the guests hall towards my husband.
Eliyas, being Eliyas, had his cold eyes on me ever since the moment I walked through the door until I sat on the sofa beside him, for an obvious reason of course, that is me walking inside the hall only moments after Nadir, which clearly meant I met Nadir before coming there.
I decided to ignore his piercing gaze though and more importantly I whispered:
_" Is mother inviting other people to come to the farm as well?"
This was a "yes or no" question, naturally, I expected to hear a "yes", still, this strange husband of mine coldly ordered:
_" Explain."
For few seconds, I seriously reflected on my question to see if there was something unclear about it, but no matter how I looked at it, I only came to 2 realizations: either my husband's IQ dropped so much that his head can't even process such a simple sentence, or that my question was simply ignored and the matter that needed explanation was something else.
So to be safe, I thoughtfully asked:
_"Explain what?"
_"Explain." He ordered again, with an even colder voice.
Seeing how tensed he was and feeling the temperature gradually dropping around me, I obviously had no courage to ask what I should explain to his highness, I mean there are a lot of things that need an explanation in this world, like why the sun comes from the east and why the sky is blue, how should I know what he wants to know?!
My head was silently going through an endless turmoil, that is until my husband finally came to understand that I'm not a deity therefore I have no idea what was going on inside his head, so he generously added another word to his order to enlighten my thoughts, he whispered with a tensed jaw:
_" Him.."
I know my husband isn't a very chatty person, but normally he would make the effort to say a full sentence at least when issuing an order, sometimes he even generously explain the reason why he's ordering my highness around.
in such a situation he would have said:
_" Noursine, I believe I made my self clear earlier, my words were explicit, honest and direct when I asked you to keep a distance from mr Ghemmari for the time being, I perfectly remember that you agreed to my demand, so how come the first thing you do right after that is to walk together with him? Coincidences can indeed happen but I don't think this is one, I find it a must that you explain what happened."
But again I'm not dealing with an ordinarily behaving husband, I'm dealing with a jealous one instead, and for an unknown reason I bet he finds it very bothersome to waste much words explaining what he believe is obvious.
Being the understanding person that I am, I decided to turn a blind eye on how he refused to come accompany me earlier from our room which was the main reason leading to me meeting Nadir, and I whispered:
_" when I was walking down the stairs the servants were in great torment as they were asked to go call Ines and Nadir and no one dared to go, you know I've already been feeling bad for them after your mother came and made them work loads more, I thought It was ok going to call.."
_"Noursine!" My mother in-law suddenly shouted name.
As I turned to look at her, she instantly added:
_" I was saying that you need to take another set of clothes for dinner, mr bla bla and another bla bla is coming, the bla bla of ..etc"
While I listened to her naming a list of people, I felt that the side of my face towards Eliyas was being mercilessly pierced through by a certain angry someone's fierce gaze, the name list haven't even ended yet when Eliyas suddenly stood up and left the hall without saying one word, or at least the way he loudly slammed the door shut was enough statement of how unwell he was.
My mother in-law couldn't miss such an event of course, she commented even before finishing introducing all her precious guests:
_" oh allah! Can't you two live only one week without a fight! I thought you both at least matured after 3 years of separation, why would you make up in the first if you're going to fight every two days again!"
_" they were separated for 3 years?" Nadir suddenly interrupted us.
As we both looked at him unsure whether he should receive a reply or not, my mother in-law had more confidence than me and she said:
_" yes."
_" what for?" He added with a complex expression.
This time though, I strongly believed that this matter is private and he shouldn't be informed more about it, yet she chose to answer him again:
_" Noursine had an accidental miscarriage and she blamed it on all of us, I don't see why the one should cut ties with his family for a matter that came by allah's will, even abandoning her grandmother who raised her up!__"
As she spoke, my initial plan of not saying a word simply vanished, because I really felt angry, how can this woman still live with a peace of mind after all she did! I never expected her to be fair to me but at least she should have little tribute to the grandchild she lost because of her cruelty, while she should be redeeming her crime she's seriously neglecting it as if it didn't happen!
I stared at her wanting to jump at her and slap her face, still I only calmly said:
_" If you'll keep behaving like if you had no hand in what happened in front of me then I'll not be kind to you, I don't care whether you have consciousness or not, but in front of me, you better fake having one."
Once I finished speaking, she only kept looking at me and didn't utter a single word for a long time.
We all remained silent afterwards in fact, that is until my father in-law who was sitting quietly at the corner of the hall suddenly addressed me:
_"Noursine, you go see your husband and speak with him, you're meeting important guests today and you shouldn't show any friction in your bound."
I was planning to leave the hall anyways, so his suggestion only corresponded with my thoughts, as I was leaving the hall, he strangely said to Nadir:
_"As a future son in-law to the filladis, you should know better what you need to be informed about and what isn't necessary for you to know, you're marrying Ines, yet I hear no inquiry of yours about her matters."
It wasn't hard to find Eliyas once I left the hall, he was at his bureau as expected, the door was left open and when I looked inside he was standing at the window and looking at the villa garden outside.
When I walked through the door he probably mistook me for being Akrem, since he said while giving me his back:
_"Mr Yaoudi will be there as well, we should stay alert about his advances, he'll probably suggest the Xj deal to Mr laridi and offer a reduced financial plan with more fictional profit, Mr Yaoudi can't be trusted until we sign the contract and he might be lured, I don't want us having to take extreme measures later on."
When he received no comment from my end, he finally turned to look my direction, realizing it was me and not Akrem, he initially turned so sour and was about to ignore my existence, but he immediately had a change of heart and quickly walked towards me.
_"What's the matter?" He asked frantically as he cupped my face with his hands and wiped the tears from my cheeks.
And yes, I was crying.
You see, losing a child, even an unborn one, is a torture to a mother, my heart still hurts by his mention and shall always hurt, hearing his hard memory being treated unfairly made even the typically silent me speak and the strong me weaken.
But I wasn't planning to cry, I rarely do, in fact, I didn't cry until I arrived at Eliyas's bureau and I saw his tall back inflected by the sun rays coming from the window.
For a complicated reason, that plain sight made me tear.
I refused to let my emotions take more control over me, so I gently moved his hands from my face and said:
_" I'm ok.. Is my makeup ruined?"
He kept looking at me for a long time with a concerned face, yet only said at the end:
_" your makeup looks fine."
I nodded feeling reassured while escaping his gaze, then explained:
_" earlier I didn't go see Nadir simply to anger you, I really felt it was ok to go call Ines and him to come on my way, like I said the servants__"
_" it doesn't matter, I know you had your reasons so you don't need to explain more." He suddenly interrupted me.
He stepped to stand behind me, and as he gently hugged my back he said while resting his chin on my shoulder:
_" I was acting childish, this is very unlike me but I feel irrationally angry when I think about you both having any sort of interaction."
I wanted to say that when it comes down to me he always acts childish but I didn't want to ruin the mood of the moment, especially that my husband decided to start acting more indecent towards my neck and waist.
As he was engaged in his business, I saw the door which I left open slowly moving then gently being closed shut.
Realizing that my thoughts were distracted by the movement of the door Eliyas intermittently whispered:
_"that probably was Akrem, you should always remember to lock the door whenever we're alone."
As I firmly held tight his naughty hands and stopped them from moving around, I stubbornly objected:
_" how would I have expected things to turn this way after you coldly left the hall? plus, you shouldn't ruin my looks, I need to meet a lot of important people today"
_" I guess mother finally did something good, she probably invited all the people who should come to visit you for the accident and will finish her long task in only one day, now she'll go back to her house and you wouldn't have to see what upsets you from her."
I tensed once he said these words, feeling my reaction he gently kissed my neck again and sighed:
_" you don't need to tell me, as her son, I can figure out that bit at least by myself, she did something upsetting to you just now, didn't she?"
Well, my husband sure knows a lot, as I came to understand his sudden impulse to act indecent and forgetting his earlier fit of anger was his way of coaxing me I seriously felt touched.
I moved away from him, then turned to look at him and suggested that we go back to join them again and wait for Ines to come.
_" I need to talk to Akrem first though, you do what suits you and we'll meet later in the car."
Realizing I was indirectly kicked out of his bureau, I preferred to save my face and leave him alone, as I was leaving, Akrem was indeed standing at the corridor not so far from the bureau probably waiting for my highness to leave, so the matter they needed to talk about was really important.
As I was walking pass him, Akrem suddenly called:
_" Mrs Filladi.. can I ask you for a favor."
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the official start of what I call: "what the hell is happening today!"