When I woke up the following morning, I found Eliyas lying deep asleep beside me, remembering he probably spent the whole night awake I preferred not to wake him up.
I made sure not to make any noise while I washed up and changed my clothes, then I carefully tiptoed on my way out of the room.
But once I was out, I realized the situation was rather chaotic outside of our calm room.
For example the first servant I met immediately ran towards me the moment our eyes met and she said:
_" Good morning masterlady! I hope you're doing better today, Miss Filladi is at her room now and she asked us to inform her once you are awake, should I do that now?"
Another servant soon walked towards us both from the stairs direction, and right following her colleague she said:
_" Masterlady, Mrs Filladi has been calling repeatedly and asking to speak urgently with either master Eliyas or you, should we call her back?"
I barely had time to listen to them both when a third servant who appeared out of the blue in front of me was already in the middle of informing me:
_" Master lady, the villa lines are almost blocked because of the incoming calls we only answered those coming from Mrs Filladi, what should we do about the rest?"
_"You ignore all the incoming calls for now.." Eliyas's hoarse voice suddenly declared from behind us.. When he finally appeared in my sight he calmly added addressing the servants:
_" I need to see the butler at my office, so you inform him to join me there as soon as he finishes his current task."
When Eliyas finished speaking, the three servants soon walked away and I was left alone standing in front of him.
when I gave him an examining look.. he seemed rather tired and disheveled, although his eyes had deep dark circles and were barely open, his cheeks were rosy probably from the warmth under the blanket.
And he still was.. very handsome.
Although I initially wanted to ask if he knew Ines was at the villa again, when I saw how tired he looked though, I felt more concerned over his well being, so I asked instead:
_" why did you wake up? You should sleep more."
He eyed me coldly, then he grabbed my hand and put my phone on my palm, once he did that, he immediately started walking back to our room as he explained:
_" Someone set an alarm at 9:30 am and forgot to turn it off before she went to the bathroom, I was awake when you left the room, and I followed you out to hand you your phone which you forgot. "
Feeling guilty, I followed him back to our room and apologized, I don't think he even heard my apology since he was already busy changing his clothes, and when he finished that he quickly held his phone and went to the balcony to make a call.
Seeing how busy he was, I felt that my apology wasn't necessary after all, it's good thing in fact he woke up, god forgive my selfishness, but if he didn't I would have been obliged to deal with my mother in-law first thing in the morning, a true living nightmare!
Speaking of the devil, I wondered why she missed us so much that she almost burned our contact line with her repeated calls so early and why did she want to speak with us urgently?
Guessing the matter had to do with the news of my pregnancy, I quickly checked in my phone whether the press spoke about our visit to the hospital or something, and as expected, no one did.
I sighed in relief.. Then I threw my phone somewhere on the large bed and lied flat on it.
Initially I was planning to go down stairs and have my breakfast in peace, stroll around the villa to kill time, then go see Nana when it's almost lunch time and inform her I was pregnant. As to why I specifically chose to do this task near lunch time and not earlier, the reason of course is related to the character of my dearest Nana: she's a very chatty person, and the earliest I go see her the longest I will have to keep her company and listen to her telling me the story of the birth of the second half of children in our village and how women at her time used to give birth in morning and prepare the food for their own birth fest that evening, I know this because I already listened to the stories of the birth of the first half of children in our village during my first pregnancy, and she's just so proud of her self and the women of her time that she would repeat the fest food preparing thing again and again.
What I find even more fascinating than Nana's ability to chat and tell stories about absolutely any subject is my memory's ability to remember everything she says.
Anyway, my very convenient first plan went to waste after all, seeing the chaos outside, it was impossible for Nana, being Nana, not to know a thing until that late, I bet she would climb the stairs she hates and come see me at my room within an hour max from now.
Just imagining how much she will have to say later already made me feel very heavy, and this was why I lied on the bed again and closed my eyes to give my head the little peace and rest it truly needed.
While I was doing this, I heard the balcony door being opened then closed, and Eliyas's footsteps heading towards the bathroom, few time later, I heard him getting out of it, then calmly coming closer towards me and stopping probably right in front of me.
He remained in this position for a weirdly long time, he made no sound.
As I started to wonder whether I should open my eyes and see if he was planning to prank me or something, I suddenly felt his weight bending the space on the bed right beside me and heard his sigh near my head: he lied down beside me.
And he asked:
_" are you skipping breakfast? You shouldn't.."
_" laaa~ (no), I'll eat in a bit, you eat first though, don't wait for me." I lazily replied, without even opening my eyes..
I waited for him to make some comment, or bossily order: "Noursine! You're now responsible of feeding my child inside, if you starve him for so long he will think I'm a stingy father who refuses to provide for him, and I refuse to be misunderstood because of your laziness!"
But then I waited for so long, but no word was heard from the person lying beside me.
I curiously opened my eyes to check on him, and as I expected, he was dead asleep.
Initially I was planning to act like a lovely wife, cover him carefully with the blanket then soundlessly leave the room and take care of all the chaos outside on his behalf.
But remembering that the top priority I needed to take care of first was my dearest mother in-law whose calls I was told flooded our contact line, I just knew she certainly had a lot to nag about and will give me, on top of a headache and a heartache, an unnecessary nuisance which I definitely don't need given my health situation.
Therefore, I decided to do me justice, and naturally, some sacrifices should be made when being righteous, so, although I felt bad for my husband, I still had to righteously wake him up.
I moved closer towards him, then forgetting I was about to wake him up, I just kept staring at his sleeping face.
It's quite awkward how sometimes in life you experience moments of total loss, when you just stare at someone with who you spent a long time yet you start to wonder: when did this person come to my life? and why is he so important to me?
I experienced such philosophical thinking when looking at this man sleeping on the bed beside me, and somehow this beautiful insight of mine had a drastic change of direction and I ended up attempting to undress and attack this man.
So when Eliyas first woke up, this was the scene he found himself living: being raped.
He was startled for a second, he soon responded aggressively although he was literally half asleep, only for a little time though, because he quickly pushed himself away and decidedly declared:
_" No! The doctor advised us not to!"
I sulked feeling very wronged, then as I properly stood up I lied:
_" I was just giving you a morning kiss to wake you up because I felt bad for bothering your sleep, it's you who wanted to go further!"
As he fixed his messy clothes, he could only smile while shaking his head then say:
_" I see, it's my fault then .. I apologize."
I didn't even want to comment, I just looked for my phone which was thrown somewhere between the creases of the blanket, and when I found it I soon sat down on the bed again and occupied my self with it.
_" Noursine, I'll meet the butler and Akrem first, later we'll meet the whole family together and inform them about the news, I'll send a car to bring my parents, are you ok with this?"
I lifted my eyes to gaze at him, and seeing how this usually cold faced man was still so amusedly smiling I only humphed and ignored him.
He took a that as a yes, and soon left the room.
I didn't feel the slightest nervousness when we later met everyone, we all gathered at the guests hall, while both Nana and Ines both looked at Eliyas and I with expectant eyes because they probably already knew why we suddenly called them all and asked to speak with them, my father in-law on the other hand showed no expression on his face, he clearly passed down this treat to his son, along with the tall height, the strong facial features, and of course the devilishness.
What I guess runs in the blood of the filladi men as well, is their faithfulness to their wives, god bless the nerves of my poor father in-law, they must have endured a lot of suffering during his long marriage to my mother in-law, who by the way was gracefully sitting across the large room wearing very expensive clothes and eying me with clear contempt, I bet that deep inside she secretly wished that we had them all come to inform them we were getting a divorce, this way she would be able to match her most amazing son with one of her acquaintances then exploit this later in spying on him.
As I was still scanning the room, Eliyas soon emotionlessly declared:
_" Noursine is pregnant."
And that was it .. No "good morning people" was said, no "how are you doing?", no "sorry we troubled you all to come, it's because we have important new to announce." no nothing..
He simply said this small sentence, and seemed like he was already about to kick them out again.
Thankfully they were all so emotional to mind his total lack of hospitality.
Ines immediately hugged me in total excitement and her brother next, as for Nana, she did a loud Tzaghrita (celebratory long yell) and thanked the god repeatedly.
My father in-law showed a rare smile as he calmly walked towards us and congratulated us, and my mother in-law, being her, immediately commented:
_" Why did you hide such happy news from us! I'll finally have a grandson! When I was told you went to the hospital last night I thought something bad happened with you! You made me worry all morning! this news should be widely celebrated, I will start the arrangements for a dinner gathering at the villa here."
_" No, mother." Eliyas soon objected.. He looked at me for a slight moment, then he turned to her again and continued:
_" We will not announce Noursine's pregnancy until she safely delivers, you will be the only people to know about this, in addition to the working stuff at the villa and the medical team."
She looked very displeased after hearing this, and soon objected:
_" What are you saying? Are you asking us to hide your wife for 9 months?! Nonsense! People will ask! and if a baby appears all at sudden in the family people will undoubtedly question his legitimacy, I refuse to let my grandson's reputation be tarnished because of your overprotectiveness of your wife!"
They all seemed to share her same opinion, surprisingly, even Nana agreed with her and said:
_" Souad is right, it was already a lot to accept when you chose to conceal your marriage with my granddaughter for long years, I considered your motives, but I will not accept to hide her pregnancy again and give people the chance to question her dignity!"
_" mother, Souad, let Eliyas explain him self first.." My father in-law intervened, as he examined his son's eyes he must have knew him much better than the others did, because he soon added addressing him:
_" Is there a worrisome matter with Noursine's pregnancy?"
For a slight moment, the expression in Eliyas's eyes while he looked at his father was something I never saw in them, like if he was lost without his help and was ready to hand everything to him, but that was just for a tiny passing moment, he soon had all his coldness and strength restored, and as he inspected the whole room including my self, he finally said:
_" Yes, indeed.. Only allah knows how things will go from here, My priority now is to protect my family, and I don't care about the rest."
_" Why though? Is there something wrong with the baby?" His mother asked.
He didn't answer, he kept looking at me, he probably was wondering whether I was ok with hearing the doctor's explanation again, so not wanting him to feel more stressful, I decided to explain everything for them my self, after all, these people will see everything with their own eyes later so it was pointless to conceal any news from them about my case:
_" I have a mild malformation in my uterus since birth, which makes pregnancy difficult but not impossible, but because of the accident I had years ago and the complications that resulted from it, pregnancy now is not only more difficult and very hard to keep to term, but in later stages, I'm prone to develop certain health complications that can endanger my own safety, since we can't know for sure what will happen later, Eliyas and I decided to go as long as we can for now."
When I finished speaking, they all went silent for a long time..
We just sat down in separate places in the large hall, and no word was said..
That is until my mother in-law suddenly said:
_" Noursine, I know how protective a mother feels and how ready you are to do everything for your child's sake, but you shouldn't neglect your husband and the rest of us and act selfish in the process , you should always keep in mind, that to us.. you're much more important, and it is your safety that comes first and before everything."
I listened to her with my eyes wide open in surprise and my heart full of pain..
Because I never expected this woman.. to act this motherly and kind towards me.