I'm always amazed by the Filladis ability to create total chaos out of nothing within a short amount of time.
For example, I asked my husband to go see his sister and give her little support, which is the simplest most ordinary thing a normal brother can do for a normal sister, however, being the unsociable creature that he is, and his family being whatever creatures they are, not only he did the exact opposite, meaning he failed miserably in calming his sister, within days the chain of drastic events resulting from my advice led to:
_ Ines and Eliyas having a big fat quarrel, or to be more precise, Ines big fat quarreling with the calm unperturbed Eliyas.
_ his parents being accidently informed about the canceled engagement during the fight instead of the following day as it was planned.
_ Nana being informed as well because she was nosily witnessing the fight, and who later told me all what happened in my absence in details.
_ his sister leaving the villa in the middle of the night because she couldn't wait till morning.
_ his parents being kicked out along as well.
_ his parents car changing direction midway to go to the hospital instead of their own villa because, well, my mother in-law decided to feign having a mental breakdown since magically she didn't have a real one.
_ the press getting heads of the news.
_ the news of the canceled marriage and my mother in-law's poor health spreading everywhere.
For this, as a journalist my self, I see no point or use in putting such news as a headline, I mean who cares to know about a certain heiress's marriage or a certain old lady's mental crisis except for their own wealthy gossipy entourage, the rest of the country certainly have more important things to know about, still, every news channel was talking about this as if it was the crisis of the whole nation, if there wasn't much bribes and money involved to achieve such a fame then I don't know a thing about this world.
_ The poor Nadir being blamed for everything, being accused of cheating and exploitation, even his law degree was questioned amid the exaggerating wave of news, which is more or less damaging to his reputation as a respectful lawyer.
_ Filladi's team, aka Eliyas, taking legal action for the defamation in defense of Nadir against the press and against, well, the rest of the Filladis, aka Eliyas's parents.
_ Ines Filladi taking her ex fiancé's side as well, defending his good nature and stating that their decision of canceling the marriage is personal and mutual.
_ Eliyas's mother having a real mental breakdown because she has the worst offsprings ever.
_ me being forced to go with my husband to see his mother in her villa and to share the scolding and curses with him because it was I who indirectly started all this? I'm pretty sure Eliyas just tricked me into accompanying him to laugh at me later.
And getting scalded was, ladies and gentlemen, the exact thing I wanted to avoid by giving my husband the freaking stupid advice to begin with!
It's definitely interesting being a part of such crazy wealthy family, I can see clearly why my decision of never getting involved in other's business is the most thoughtful and practical.
In this family they don't simply communicate like normal sane people, on the contrary, they immediately jump to the court room, waste their money, and use every little chance they get in attacking one another, like beasts.
I don't get why things ended up the way they did in Ines and Nadir's matter, why did my in-laws insist to bring damage to Nadir and to their own daughter when they could simply avoid all the mess? They gained nothing in the end, I initially thought my mother in-law was only acting like a crazy person like she always did, still my opinion changed so much when I heard what her true intentions were.
Few days after all the problems were seemingly solved, Eliyas suddenly hugged me and said:
_" It's really comforting to know I invested my life on a deserving woman, to be this close to you and know for sure you won't betray me for the sake of a better deal or a selfish desire."
You see, I was simply brushing my teeth in the morning when he hugged my back and said these words totally out of the blue, I was so confused that I choked after accidentally swallowing the toothpaste and coughed for an eternity afterwards.
In fact, he was acting very awkward all that morning, for example when I woke up the first thing I saw was his zoomed in face staring right at me, it was only then that I understood why during my sleep the tip of my nose felt very ticklish and was repeatedly pecked, why the air I breathed felt warmer and heavier than the usual and why it was full of Eliyas's scent.
When I opened my eyes I met his right away, he was just looking at me and blinking intermittently, he even forgot to say his typical morning salute: " are you awake?"
It took me quite a while to wake my whole senses up, once I did that I smiled joyfully then pecked the tip of his nose as a payback for bothering my sleep, and I whispered:
_" how come you are in the mood to kiss first thing in the morning? Shouldn't you be in work by now?"
_" I took the day off." he said.
Then he resumed doing what he was initially occupied with: awkwardly staring at my face like if that was the last day for me alive.
And I seriously mean it! He was so awkward that when I walked to the window to open it he followed me, when I walked inside the bathroom he followed me as well, his creepy gaze accompanied me while I was brushing my teeth then all of a sudden he hugged my back and said:
_" It's really comforting to know I invested my life on a deserving woman, to be this close to you and know for sure you won't betray me for the sake of a better deal or a selfish desire."
He naturally stopped hugging me when I started coughing, i generously rinsed my mouth with water then I turned to look at him with my post-choking red face, and yes ladies and gentlemen, even after almost getting my highness killed, he was still giving me that awkward sentimental gaze.
I didn't need much social intelligence to know that my husband was simply feeling unlike himself and in need of emotional support, I mean after filing a lawsuit against his own parents to defend the exact same man he was dying to get rid of, he should feel unlike himself or else he's not sane.
So I did what a wife should do, I cupped his cheeks with my palms and I asked:
_" Are you ok?"
_" Don't you love to be praised from time to time?" He asked back while extending his arm to grab a towel and wipe my wet face with it, although his face became wet too because of my hands touch, he didn't wipe it.
Probably not to push my hands away..
I guess he loves to be touched..
It's funny how, for a long time, I thought I was the shameless party in our couple and that it was mainly me who liked physical intimacy.
During the first year of our marriage, the times in which Eliyas voluntarily hugged me first can be counted, the times in which he kissed me first can be approximately counted too, as for how often your shameless girl gave up to the temptation of this man first, no need to count the uncountable.
You see, at that time I had this weird philosophy: my husband's head is busy only thinking about work to have space for other thoughts and we both had no feelings for one another anyways so if I don't take action my self then would that workaholic do?
Plus, he made it clear for me that I shouldn't be shy, although I was angry for a couple of weeks I came to agree with him eventually.
It never downed to me that.. perhaps.. that person's heart was in fact much more invested and his mind much more full of thoughts about us, and for a reason only he knows, it was hard for him to come closer to me first, however, once I made the first step, he was always fervently passionate in response.
At least the long years of separation did him good in this department.
For example in the bathroom, right after he finished wiping my face, he returned the towel to its initial spot then he hugged me again.
The me from the past would have been very surprised.
Although I had not a single idea what was going on, I still hugged him back too and buried my face in his chest.
Few moments later, I finally said:
_" You don't randomly compliment me, when you say something to me out of the blue, it always means you spent a long time thinking about it, saying I won't betray you, were you thinking about your parents who probably did? did they disappoint you again?"
He raised my chin to look at my face, his eyes filled with admiration, I must have hit the right spot.
He then admitted:
_" If I say I'm disappointed then I'm lying, in fact they both acted exactly the way I expected them to do, I would have been more disappointed and regretful if they opposed to my ill expectations of them and showed more mercy and love."
He sighed, and explained:
_" I assigned mr Ghemmari to lead the law team responsible for the Xx case, he's one of our most competent lawyers after all, if matters went accordingly he would have profited much in share with Filladi co, Hj company which belongs to my father's associate would have suffered considerable loss though, now I don't know how Ines was informed about mr Ghemmari's involvement in this deal nor why she assumed I used this assignment in order to lure him out of their engagement, all I know is that she accidentally mentioned this matter the night we quarreled in front of our parents and the next thing I see is mr Ghemmari's reputation slandered everywhere and Xx case getting affected with that."
So in the end.. His parents are still the same old greedy people that the one should never stand unguarded in front of them no matter how thoughtless they appear to be.
I had to ask feeling concerned:
_" Did Filladi lose the deal because of them?"
_" would mother fall ill instead of joyfully celebrating if that was the case?" He calmly asked back.
I assume not, since Filladi wasn't hurt, and everything else was fixed, I very logically asked:
_" then why are you feeling unwell?"
_" when was I unwell?" He asked confused..
I naturally had to explain:
_" all this morning you were acting unusual, you're even taking the day off, today isn't a birthday nor Eid ( religious holiday ) and you're perfectly healthy so why would you not go to work if you weren't unwell?"
Once I finished speaking, he stepped away from me and leaned his back on the sink.
He calmly tilted his head and looked at the floor pensively.
I naturally expected to hear something out of the habit after he did all this, but once he spoke, his words were more surprising somehow, and made me feel strange.
He said:
_" on the contrary, today I felt rather blessed and thankful, I took the day off because Filladi finally sealed the deal I've been working on for so long and I wanted to rest, yesterday though I received a message from the bank indicating that my sister withdrew all the money I recently put in her account as a payment for her to defend mr Ghemmari publicly, a thing she rightfully should have done without my involvement, but she accepted to be paid, she securely forwarded the whole some to the account she's keeping secretly hidden, because she simply can't trust anyone,
I was a bit surprised with her actions not to hide from you."
It was surprising from me as well to hear him voluntarily bring up a family matter without me asking about it, I'm not in a place to judge Ines since I'm not her, so even when he shared this with me.. I had nothing to say.
He didn't wait to hear the fruits if my wisdom anyways, he soon continued:
_" it's the hardest to give trust or be trusted after all in a world where people only run after their benefit, then today I was looking at your sleeping face and I was reminded it was absolutely the hardest to have you of all people, because it's easier to tempt someone who just wants to benefit from me with money or a good offer while all I had wasn't enough to buy you, what I wanted to have with you wasn't something my money could buy, and I had no idea how to deal with you, what I should have given to receive, then it worked somehow.. and now I'm blessed to have the only true person I wanted."
This was when I felt strange, because It's still strange to hear Eliyas expressing himself, still brings much joy to me..
Again, I had nothing to say back to him because I don't know the struggle he had to endure, Since we both are very different.
To me, Eliyas was always there and he was always the easiest thing I could have had if I wanted, while the money he claims to be the easiest to offer to people, if my family had it, I wouldn't have lost my father nor my mother afterwards and lived hard days without them by my side.
How come in life.. No one has it all?