Ines felt that she is cursed, like seriously, every time she breaks up with someone he ends up being involved in a lot of trouble:
1_ When she broke up with Azziz, he lost his magazine and was sent to jail.
2_ When she broke up with Iyad, he was beaten to the point of being disfigured, had a broken arm and his career suffered great damage.
3_ When she broke up with Nadir, he was publicly backlashed and his reputation was tarnished.
She really was a walking curse!! not only all her relationships were failing miserably, her exes had to suffer a lot of damage in consequence! who would want to be with her anymore??
Or at least this was what she wanted to believe when Akrem kept rejecting her advances: that he was afraid to be cursed.
After the mess with Nadir was solved, Ines understood that she made the wrong choice when she let go of Akrem, although he doesn't meet her family's and entourage's expectations, he's still the best man in her heart. when she realized this undeniable truth, namely that Akrem was the one she wanted to be with no matter what everyone around her thinks, she decided to ask him for one last chance.
She loves him..
She really does, maybe not to the point where she would be faithfully waiting for him for years like her brother did with his wife, but she still loves him to the point where she chose to step on her pride and kept asking for another chance with him.
After she came to this resolve, she called his phone often, no matter how many times her calls were facelessly rejected, she still called once every while in hopes that her call would be picked up one day.
And she tried to see him too, not in a direct "I'm here only for you" way, but more like.. often going to the Filladi company for no particular reason, and whenever she heard he was at her brother's villa, she would cancel all her plans for the day and go there in hopes she would chance upon him.
this was exactly what she did that day too, she was informed that her brother was taking a leave to stay home with his newly pregnant wife, it didn't require a lot of intellect to know that her workaholic brother will still work even on his leave day and would in consequence ask Akrem to come meet him there.
So she quickly canceled all her plans, dressed up beautifully, and quickly drove to her brother's villa.
but it was all in vain..
When she met Eliyas at his bureau, he sadly informed her:
_" If you're here to see Akrem, then you're wasting your time, he's not coming."
feeling embarrased, she quickly lied:
_"I'm here to check on Noursine! If I wanted to see an employee of Filladi then I would have went to Filladi company instead!"
Eliyas eyed her coldly, then sneakily asked:
_" If you're here to see Noursine, then why are you in my bureau and not at Noursine's room instead?"
there's no way to win a smart person in a wits competition, so Ines preferred not to make a fool out of herself any further, and remained silent.
_"I heard he's meeting someone at Gl restaurant for lunch today, it definitely isn't a work related lunch meeting." Eliyas suddenly informed her.. then with an even colder and more perfunctory tone he continued:
_"However, if I were you, I would not go see___" he didn't even finish speaking when his phone started ringing.
usually, Eliyas would have continued what he had to say even if the caller was the president of the nation, but the moment he checked his phone and realized the caller was of a much more importance, namely his wife, his line of thoughts was immediately cut and he quickly picked up.
he remained silently listening after he picked up, then he coldly said:
_" You still have the face to ask? I cancelled a programmed investigation trip just to spend the day with you.. Yet you dare say you're bored of my sight."
the couple continued to argue, but as Ines watched her brother acting petty and needy she no longer felt irritated to see him having fights with his wife like she used to do in the past, on the contrary, she's gradually understanding why he chose Noursine out of all the women he could have picked, it's simply because she's the most suitable to his temper, be it in how cold she is and her general desinterest in everything, her stubbornness and lack of sensibility, she's the perfect villainess for that coldhearted beast! where else would he find someone who is equally bad as Noursine who isn't tempted with his money nor afraid to put him is his place, she's his perfect match!
After the call ended, Eliyas quickly stormed out of the bureau to go see his wife looking angry, completely neglecting his sister in the process.
As Ines was left alone in the empty place, she felt envious..
Would she ever meet someone who matches all her shortcomings?
Taking this chance of being left alone, she quickly called a friend of hers, and asked to meet her at GI restaurant for lunch, where Akrem should be having his lunch too.
In the end.. she couldn't miss the chance to see him.
She quickly went up to meet Noursine not to lose more face in front of her brother, seeing that the couple were in a happy mood despite the fight they have just had and how they literally were trying to kick her out to spend their time alone, she understood the message and left the villa right afterwards.
She arrived at GI restaurant very early, well to be precise, the restaurant already started serving lunch and had few costumers by the time she arrived, however, Akrem was nowhere to be seen, As she was led inside by a waiter, she carefully scanned every person sitting there to make sure she was not mistaken, and she still couldn't find him anywhere, so either her brother gave her false info just to get rid of her or Akrem just haven't reached there yet. Ines chose to believe the later option.
Since she had nothing better to do, she simply asked for a table for two somewhere where she could see the entrance clearly, so that in case Akrem came she would see him, then she sat down once a suitable table was suggested to her, she kept watching the door tiressly.
As she did so, her vision was sudden
Ines has never been in an official relationship with Akrem, she has never spent an abundance of time with him nor she knows him any better than a total stranger, but still, recently, she's missing him as if she has already spent a whole lifetime with him, she keeps wanting to see him, even the subtle mention of his name would stir a storm inside her heart. All these feelings were not new to her.. As she loved before, but they were never stronger.
during a lifetime a woman's heart may love so many, some might be better than the others.. some might be so easily forgotten when replaced by others, but there will always just be "one" man that no other could measure to, and she would know it for sure.. either when she has him, or when he's long gone.
Ines just knew Akrem was her "one", but either to have him or to lose him was a different thing, she's doing her best.. but if things still didn't work, at least she'll remember that she tried.
As she thought about this.. a long sigh escaped her mouth, the restaurant was getting fuller with every passing minute.. still he wasn't there yet.
While keeping her eyes on the door's direction, her view was suddenly blocked by someone, she hasn't yet gave this person a proper look when she heard this person saying:
_" Ines! How lucky I am to meet you here!.."
and to Ines's endless annoyance, this person was Wafa belkheir, the heiress of Belkheir business.
Belkheir family, who has been rich and prospering even during the french colonization era when everyone was literally just fighting to survive, is.. as the one should expect.. still rich and prospering. So even when the Filladi's strength and influence is unmatched currently, Ines always knew that she shouldn't mess with the belkheir's at all costs.
As a consequence, even when she always felt annoyed to the moon and back everytime she met Wafa, she had to deal with her.
with a perfunctory tone Ines replied:
_" Indeed.. what a lucky encounter."
after a little exchange of superficial greetings Wafa said:
_" Guess who came with me today!!"
she barely finished saying this when some guy, who Ines absolutely had no idea who he was, suddenly stood beside Wafa and so casually smiled while saying:
_" I'm more surprised actually, I remember Ines saying she didn't like the traditional cuisine, yet she's here at GI restaurant."
Ines never said this of course..
This "obviously lying" guy so swiftly pulled the chair and sat down right accross from her in the table, totally blocking her view.
Wafa quickly took the chance and left them alone as if she was never there, it was clear to the blind.. this was a setup.
going through such situations became a habit for Ines, it is thanks to her dearest brother's ruthlessness and total lack of sociability that such nameless people always think of her as an easy way to get closer to the filladis.
However, Ines believed that it wasn't by pure chance that Wafa and this liar suddenly chanced upon her there and then, someone must have told them where she was, she didn't need to burn her brain cells to know that the friend she was supposed to meet was bribed..
As she sighed, she quickly threatened:
_" You have two seconds to leave."
_" wait, relax.. let me first.." that guy struggled to say when Ines already contacted her security team and ordered them to intervene.
In matter of seconds, few guys who were lowkey blending among the restaurant costumers stood up and quickly dashed towards her table, two among them quickly fixed the liar guy's arms behind his back and pushed his head against the table. as if this was not already enough to stir fear and confusion inside the calm restaurant, a group of huge guys in formal suits soon barged inside and orderly surrounded the whole place.
_" Let me go! how dare you do this to me! don't you know who I am!" the liar guy shouted while struggling to breathe as the side of his face was being pushed against the table.
Ines watched him from her seat with a cold face, it didn't matter to her who he was or if what she was doing was wrong, if she was messing with a powerful person then her mother or brother will deal with the consequences on her behalf anyways, in fact the only thing she thought about was: if she ordered food, then her clothes would have gotten dirty, thankfully she didn't..
Then.. she turned around to see where Wafa went to, and quickly found her standing few steps away watching this whole situation with terrified eyes, it can't be said that Ines directly offended a member of the Belkheir family so she felt safe, as for the dumbfounded Wafa, she had no idea Ines could be this crazy!!
Well, it was well known how the Filladis can be so extreme sometimes, but Ines was always approachable and docile, what happened to her?? if Wafa knew that introducing a man to her would be so problematic she would have never done so!
Ines scoffed indifferently while watching the different reactions of the costumers at the restaurant, even the working stuff there watched this whole situation unfolding without intervening not to fall on the Filladis bad side, in whichever way we looked at this, what she was doing was a public display of insanity, but it still didn't matter much to her as long as when this incident gets known no one would dare to approach her again, it still hurts her when she remembers how Nadir, her ex fiancé, shouted in one of their disputes:
_" Let's be clear.. I'm only marrying you for the sake of your family. Other than that, I hardly find anything to praise in you!"
She's acting crazy .. because she doesn't want to be used again.
After scanning her surrounding, she turned to look at that liar guy again, as she ordered the bodyguards to free him she coldly threatened again:
_" You have two seconds to leave."
the liar guy, whose identity truly didn't matter, quickly stood up, fixed his looks and said as he was leaving:
_" I'll make you regret this humiliation!"
he barelly walked few steps through the bodyguards towards the door when he was blocked by someone, the last person Ines wanted to see in that situation.. Akrem.
Fate is truly unfair, how come when she prettily waited for almost an hour he didn't show up, but the moment she acts crazy he jumps from nowhere, why does he always have to see this side of her!
It seemed like Akrem saw everything from the start, since the moment he blocked the liar guy's way he coldly said:
_" I heard you clearly, We'll see how you'll make the Filladi group regret, Mr Kermich.."
Hearing this, the liar guy's face darkened, he wasn't given any chance to fix the mess since Akrem quickly walked pass him totally ignoring him and the bodyguards pushed him away.
Akrem approached Ines's seat next, at that moment, She felt so embarrassed that she wished for nothing but to magically disappear from his sight! once he was close enough.. he asked:
_"Are you ok Miss Filladi?"
Akrem always addressed her as "Miss Filladi", only on rare occasions did he call her by her name, but still.. there was always warmth in his tone when he spoke to her, like if talking to her about the most formal of matters was still a great joy to him, however, lately all that warmth and joy were gone, it was hard not to notice how much he changed, and that was why Ines chose to ignore how embarrassed she was and rudely asked back:
_" Are you asking me how I am just because it's your job?"
To this, Akrem icily replied:
_"I'm the Filladi group's VP and not your bodyguard Miss Filladi, so it isn't my job to look after you, by asking how you are I'm merely acting decent."
Seeing how bad the situation was getting, Ines didn't know whether she should cry or laugh at her absolute ability to say all the wrong words every time she spoke with Akrem, She's seriously cursed!
As if this mess couldn't get any worse, when Ines looked behind Akrem she spotted Marwa, that freakishly annoying Marwa who was trying to seduce Akrem, she was standing right behind him!!
Ines quickly came to realise that the person Akrem was meeting for lunch was Marwa, and this actually hurt her beyond the words can describe, although she wanted to act like a sophisticated lady and save what was left of her dignity, she couldn't..
the moment she saw Marwa felt like if a raging fire was ignited inside her heart, she lost every particle of rationality as she yelled:
_"I see.. then I'm sorry for troubling our great VP while he's on his date, it isn't part of your job to act decent towards me either, so let us just pretend we don't know each other since this would be more convenient for you!"
_"Indeed it would.." Akrem whispered as he sighed tiredly.
Sometimes, he truly fails to see why he loved Ines in the first place, she is nothing but a rude walking trouble, she never hesitates before saying the most insulting of words, or throwing herself in the most complicated of situations.
just a minute ago she provoked the Kermich family's heir and the whole Filladi group will have to stay alert and counterattack at any given time, as if this wasn't enough trouble to him, she had to yell at him in a crowded restaurant and make him lose face in front of Marwa again.
it indeed was much better if they both started to act as if they didn't know each other.
However, the moment his eyes landed on Ines again he instantly regretted what he whispered.
because he saw how her expression suddenly broke..
Whenever Ines Filladi looks at him with those sad eyes, his chest feels like if it's being squeezed and pressed by an enormous power, like a fool, it always pains him to see her sad..
After giving him that sad look, she calmly stood up and walked out of the restaurant leaving him behind.
The Ines he knows would never walk out of a situation without saying a thing.. unless she was seriously hurt.
His eyes followed her when she was leaving along with the bodyguards team, all his senses urged him to follow her and see how she was doing, but he still chose not to do so..
Marwa was with him, and he didn't want to offend her or be unfair to her for Ines's sake, so no matter how he wanted to go see Ines, he chose to stay with Marwa instead
Still.. Like a hopeless fool.. he couldn't forget that sad face of hers, and he failed to think or focus on anything else.
Although he soon changed the restaurant and went with Marwa to have lunch together somewhere else, he still couldn't brush Ines's image from his head.
As he was eating his food and trying to have a casual chat with Marwa so as they get to know eachother better he was surprised when she suddenly said:
_" My name isn't Ines."
Seeing how confused Akrem looked, she quickly explained:
_" You have just called me Ines."
_"have I?"
_" Yes, When I asked if there's something troubling you because you've been acting unlike your usual self for hours, you said: No Ines, I'm fine."
It was just a slip of a tongue.. they both didn't want to make a big deal out of it, Marwa was already aware of Akrem's old feelings for Ines and she has long decided to look pass them since he really was very good to her and treated her so well.
The couple continued talking normally afterwards, and they met in few other occasions, however.. that little slip of a tongue had a domino affect and caused a larger damage, as insignificant as this mistake seemed to be.. it was actually at that moment that both Akrem and Marwa trully realized that they will never work, Akrem's feelings were too strong to be successfully hidden or ignored.
Although they were a good match and good to one another.. they just met in the wrong time.
within few weeks after that day, the couple mutually agreed to walk in separate ways..
It's truly unfortunate.. How Akrem became another victim of Ines's curse although he was never truly hers..