When following Ines I didn't run like she did, I only walked a bit quicker than my usual pace and I dragged my husband along, while we were leaving the garden though, I was surprised to see Nadir tagging along with us as well.
What surprised me wasn't seeing Nadir coming with us, since after all, the woman who run after another man like if he was the centre of her universe was his fiancée, and he had every right to go see how further she could be inconsiderate and not mindful of his existence, what was surprising though is that he was walking beside Eliyas actually, and they both showed the same expression on their faces and seemed to have a tacit agreement, to have both these men reunited for the same purpose is indeed both surprising and epic!
When we finally reached the interior gate, except for the journalists there was none among the trio we followed in sight, as I was struggling to think of a place where they should be Eliyas calmly said:
_" They should be in the parking lot"
_" It's over there" Nadir added right away as he started to walk in a certain direction.
As for Eliyas, he tightly held my hand and he started dragging me instead as he followed Nadir closely.
As we were all heading to the parking lot, a flood of bodyguards quickly made their way pass us while others only circled our surrounding, I was somehow fascinated by the way they were all moving without orders coming from Eliyas, we barely reached the parking lot when Ines appeared to my sight, and not so far from where she was standing, Akrem and Marwa were standing beside each other and facing her.
When we reached them, Ines was still looking at the ground trying to catch her breath, it seemed like she called the couple from a distance, and once they turned to look at her she stopped running and now she was waiting for her regular breathing to be restored, which was taking so much time if you want my humble non medical opinion, I mean the three of us who followed her were already standing right behind her and waiting yet her highness was still struggling to breath.
Eliyas, being the brother that he is, of course harbored a different type of emotion towards his only sister, since while all the rest of us were only curiously waiting for her to speak he was the only one to ask with a concerned face:
_" Ines, Are you ok?"
He received no answer though, but before he had the chance to take any action she suddenly yelled while still looking at the ground:
_" Don't go."
We were all mature and smart people standing around her, so when she yelled this, even when there were three men standing around her, we all knew she only meant to address Akrem.
( author's note: In Arabic language, we use different forms of verbs to address masculine and feminine, singular and plural as well.
So in this context, the demand was directed to a masculine singular subject. )
But she didn't add any other word for a long time afterwards.
I always knew Ines can be unreasonable, but to suddenly attack her love rival in the middle of a gathering full of the most important of elites, then chase after a man when the most important news stations are all around the place, then tell him not to go in front of her fiancé watchful eyes. What the hell is wrong with her head!
Speaking of Nadir, It was him who broke the chain of silence and stillness, he started walking towards Ines, and whispered on his way to her:
_" Miss Filladi, you can discuss whatever you want later, we better go back inside now."
When Akrem noticed Nadir's actions though, his face turned dark and he was about to start walking away, that was when Ines yelled again:
_"I'm warning you Akrem! Don't you dare go! It's an order!"
And that was it, the spark that ignited Akrem's anger!
He suddenly started walking towards Ines, and as he was doing that he said:
_" I'm not your slave miss Filladi, I'm free to do what I want to do, miss Kaidi said you offended her for no clear reason while she's only here because she was invited by the Filladi's, I understand we have less money and status, but we have no less pride!"
_" How dare you stand up for her in my presence? Since when did she become someone of so much importance? You took her side without even listening to what I have to say! I'm telling you.. If you go with her today then I swear I won't forget it and I won't forgive you!" Ines yelled back.
Honestly, while this drama was unfolding, I was mainly observing my husband's reaction to all what was going on, he appeared quite indifferent from the surface still, his eyes were just very scary to look at.
Once Akrem was standing right in front of Ines, he stopped walking, and he looked at both her and Nadir who was standing beside her, he looked at them in a way I never saw from him before: with an non bothered confidence.
Then he calmly asked:
_" Miss Filladi, you called my name and you ordered me not to go, I'm standing here now so tell me.. What is it that you want from me?"
She looked at him for a long time, for so very long that even my mother and father in-law had enough time to come from inside the villa and reach the parking lot, and even inquire about what was happening to receive no answer yet Ines was still just plainly looking at Akrem whose face was becoming darker with every passing moment.
You see, people usually say the most heartfelt of words in such circumstances and after such a long wait, like: " I want you to be all mine!" .. "I want you to look at me solely and love only me!" .. " I don't want you to look at another woman when I'm here" or more importantly:
" I want you to know that I love you too, so please don't let go of me!"
But this is Ines Filladi we're talking about ladies and gentlemen, saying hurtful words is her specialty, as for opening up like normal people do, it's an impossible task.
So when she finally said:
_" don't leave, that is what I want from you, just don't leave, If you do that then you will have to bear the consequences!"
Once she finished speaking, Akrem just smiled, his smile was coming from the pain he felt I guess, or he simply was mocking her.
Then he said:
_" Then I'll bear the consequences, good day miss Filladi."
Ines was rendered speechless by that, I mean what else did she expect from him to do? She was only childlishly toying with him, neither tried to hold on to him nor fully let him go, he had every reason to just walk away from her.
He looked at our direction next, and addressed Eliyas with determination in his eyes:
_" I need to drive Miss Kaidi home Mr Filladi."
He didn't even make the effort to make it sound like a demand of permission, it sounded more like Akrem was simply informing Eliyas of what he'll do, and If all the actions he did were enough to cost him his job he was more than ready to lose a job!
And yes, apparently he became insane too..
Eliyas soon replied:
_" Go ahead, You can take the rest of the day as a leave."
Then as soon as Akrem left with the poor dumbfounded Marwa, Eliyas turned to look at Nadir and he said to him:
_"Mr Ghemmari, I suggest you drive your fiancée home as well, you both sure have a lot of things to discuss."
Surprisingly, Nadir didn't object to Eliyas's words at all, and obediently pushed the resistant Ines towards his car.
When he was doing that, my mother in-law who was standing like a decoration since the moment she arrived finally commented while looking at Eliyas:
_" how dare your employee offend my daughter? This isn't his first time doing that, he holds no respect to your family! You have to fire him and find a better man, even a dog doesn't bite the hand that's feeding it!"
When she was speaking, Eliyas looked like if he was totally done with her, he looked at both his parents indifferently once she finished then he said to her:
_" the only thing that happened today is that you miserably failed to raise your daughter, I see no reason for my employee to take the responsibility of that, I suggest you better get back inside and come up with a decent explanation to cover up for your daughter's public display of idiocy."
_" how dare you talk to your mother with this manner!" She yelled at him.
It seems like "how dare you do blabla" is both the mother's and daughter's motto in life.
My father in-law, like the usual never bothered him, simply looked at Eliyas and asked:
_" Are you both going back inside too?"
To which Eliyas replied while carefully and seductively examining my face:
_"Yes, If Noursine doesn't mind, we need to go back inside."
Of course I wasn't going to mind even going to hell after that very handsome husband of mine gave me such hypnotic stare! To be more precise, not only I went back inside smiling like an idiot, I even changed my clothes in the evening and walked around with my mother in-law as if she and I were closer than a mother and a daughter, we watched people horse riding and even the phobic me fed some of the animals kept there without fearing them eating my hand in the process, and that is, ladies and gentlemen, how dangerously seductive my dearest husband can be, if he uses his charms more often, then I'll definitely be doomed!
We didn't leave the farm only when my mother in-law felt totally satisfied with our visit, strangely though, we were the first to leave because none among the rest of the guests wanted to leave that place.
Still, even when we did our best to fix what Ines did, people apparently heard about what happened at the parking lot, so they secretly gossiped about her and were discussing all sorts of rumors.
I feared to mention Ines's topic to Eliyas on the way home, he wasn't so pleased when his mother tried to talk to him about it in the evening when we were left alone for a breve time before the dinner was served. But I was eager to speak to anyone about it! You see, I knew much more details than anyone else, I bet I even knew better than the parties involved because the communication between them is amiss, I desperately wanted to chat about what I knew but there wasn't really anyone I could talk about this with!
Nana is usually my chat partner, but I can't tell her about this matter.
When we were almost home I was obliged to come to this conclusion: the only thing I could do was to just die inside with all my thoughts!
However, and even though I was exhausted, the first thing I did the moment I left the car once we reached the villa was to turn around to look at my husband and say:
_" You go up first, I'll go see Ines for a bit."
And Yes, for absolutely no reason, not even to gossip, I wanted to go see if the sister in-law who always said the worst of things to me was ok after all what happened, to be honest, I was a little concerned over her, my concern was of course coming from a dark abandoned corner in my heart which I never knew it existed, this tiny spot that only can be seen with a microscope held feelings such as care and worry towards Ines Filladi.
Eliyas wasn't very welcoming of my idea, he shrugged his shoulders and simply walked away leaving me behind after I suggested it.
I took this strange attitude of his as a yes.
Then, I went straight to Ines's room, and knocked on the door, I was expecting to receive no response from her therefore I was preparing my self to knock more and even plead her to let me in if the case became extreme. Much to my surprise though, I barely finished the first series of knocks when the door was suddenly widely opened from the inside and Ines appeared in front of me.
_" oh, it's you.." She said with a disappointed tone.
She was disappointed to see me!
To hell with the abandoned corners of my heart! How did I stupidly feel concerned over this woman in the first place!
I was seriously about to head to my room and sleep until morning when she added:
_" come in."
She lazily walked towards her bed where the sheets were messy and a pile of used tissues was accumulating.
_" Are you ok?" I carefully asked while examining her swollen face and red eyes.
She must have cried awfully.
She simply threw her self on the bed and didn't even mind answering my question.
I wasn't sure where I should sit down, I mean the sofa in her room was far away from the bed so it wasn't convenient to sit on, and she didn't invite me to sit on her bed either. In the end I could only stand next to her bed and cross my hands waiting for her to gain a bit of social etiquettes.
_" I'm a failure.. In every way possible, am I not?" She suddenly asked me with a mumbled voice while lying flat on her stomach and burying her face in the sheets.
Her question threw me into a serious turmoil, I mean no way I was going to say an honest answer like: "Yes, in the way I'm seeing things, you're making every wrong decision that you possibly can!" But then If I say: "No, you're not a failure." And she asks me in which way I consider her as a successful person then what should I say?
Thank god she finally decided to spare my poor nerves from burning, she soon added as she turned to look at me properly:
_" You know? I don't even know whether I truly and undoubtedly want him, I thought that what I had for Aziz was what love is, but even when Aziz betrayed me I didn't feel this much pain, I feel regret when I think about Akrem, I'm so regretful, should I ruin everything for his sake?"
And just like this, I was thrown into another turmoil..
Ines soon became very impatient after receiving no word from me, as she held my hand and pushed me to sit on the bed beside her she added:
_" Of all people you should know better what regret is after what happened with Eliyas! Eliyas was choking in his regret too, How could you two simply look at one another in the eyes and ask for a second chance after all the hurt you brought to one another?"
This time round, I really had no answer to give..
___________________________________
Author's note:
Happy new year!! â¤