Sudais arrived home late and exhausted. Him and Afaan decided to stay at the office and finish all the work they had so that they could make time for the family reunion.
His drowsy eyes landed on zaynerb as soon as he stepped inside his living room. He had completely forgotten that she was around. He lazily walked to the chair opposite to hers and slumped on it.
"Well hello to you too zaynerb." He broke the silence.
Zaynerb had her legs crossed on each other and her hands folded on her chest.
"don't act like you didn't know that I was coming sudais. how could you forget me at the airport." Zainab yelled and sudais furrowed his eyebrows in Confusion.
"wasn't martan there to pick you up?" he asked her, he was starting to think that her anger is justified but her answer changed his mind.
"So you sent him on purpose." she said, making him roll his eyes. They call her a drama queen for a reason.
"okay zaynerb, you should get some rest. see you tomorrow" sudais said as he stood up and went upstairs, leaving zaynerb whose eyes were stabbing daggers in his back.
She watched his every step until he disappeared from her sight and sighed.
On one hand, her marriage is being fixed with one of the brothers, on the other hand she's head over hills with the other brother. she wondered what his ex wife had done to him. They were happy until she decided to show up and ruined everything.
Just as she was about to get up, Afaan walked in and paused by the door when he saw her. He had completely forgotten that she was around. zaynerb looked at her fiancé, who looked like he just fought with a raccoon. Their eyes met and Afaan averted his. His heart was racing at the thought of getting married to her of all girls in the world.
"welcome Afaan" she said, bringing him out of his thoughts.
"hello" he replied, walking closer to her. His blue tie was loosely hanging around his neck. upon getting there, he leaned against the sofa, not wanting to encourage a long conversion.
"so, how was your journey?" he asked but she only stared up at him.
"you must be very tired, I mean, you haven't been here for seven years." he said again. He wasn't a fan of misunderstandings, he didn't want to misbehave because of his Father's relationship with her family.
"Alhmdulilah Afaan. I had a good journey." she stoop up and went away, intentionally letting him know that she was mad at him.
"Goodnight!" Afaan said behind her and she huffed. He rolled his eyes at her behavior and shook his head.
He looked at the brown envelope in his hand and sighed. It was something he got for his brother. Something that could make his brother realize that Farida would never have hurt him on purpose. It was a proof that could prove her innocence. He knew that his brother was stubborn but this would open his eyes.
He went upstairs and knocked on sudais's door. He waited for a few seconds and concluded that his brother had fallen asleep and sudais hated it when someone woke him up.
Afaan decided to keep the envelope in his brother's study room. He saw the picture his brother ripped out of the locket on his table. The poor man couldn't throw it away or burn it, he didn't want to forget about her. Afaan kept the envelope on the table and left for his own house. He didn't notice that his fiancée had been watching his every move. She suspected something when she saw him hide the envelope earlier. what was so important and secretive that he had to hide it from her. She knew that Afaan wasn't a person who likes to hide things.
Zaynerb sneaked, tiptoed into sudais's study room and opened the envelope. She couldn't believe what her eyes had seen.
"I will never let sudais see this. My chances will be ruined." she whispered to herself in horror.
She went back to her room wondering how Afaan had gotten his hand on that piece of evidence.
She stood in front of the dressing mirror and gave her reflection a sinister smile. She had taken the envelope and she planned to burn it.
Meanwhile. At home, Farida bathed her twins humming a song which ajwad found interesting. He continued to mimic his mother's voice until it was time to comb his hair, he let out a yell as his hair was pulled on.
"So sorry sweaty!" his mother exclaimed and the kid narrowed his eyes at her. Something he learned from his grandmother.
Farida laughed at the thought of it.
After putting the kids asleep, she went to her room and prepared herself for bed as well. Her phone flashed and beeped, she smiled knowing that the info she asked for had been sent to her.
she unlocked her phone and opened the message. it only said "On Friday, 7:00 PM at Mr Sagir's house. Goodnight"
she replied with "Thank you so much Betty. what can I do without you. Goodnight!"
she felt a contentment after seeing the message. The first step in her plan had been taken care of. Now what is left is to go there and ask for the chef. she was confident because she knew that the chef would recognize her somehow and she wouldn't have to search for so long.
"I have a long day tomorrow." she said as she laid on her bed. She would be going to Mr sagir's house after work. She drifted off soon enough.
***
It was a cold and windy Thursday night. Seema and her husband Ali sipped the hot chocolate their daughter made them silently in the living room.
"If she can remember how to make a hot chocolate, then she will remember everything soon Ali." seema said uncomfortably. She was supposed to be happy about it but she knew that it would do some damages.
"yes zawjah. nothing will be hidden forever, i will have to face the consequences of my action." Ali said to his wife.
Seema kept her cup of chocolate on the table and touched her husband's shoulder. "it wasn't your fault Ali. All you did was for the best. look at the bright side, our daughter is a graduate, she's living well." seema calmed her husband.
"I hope she will understand this when she regains her memories." Ali said as he placed his hand on his wife's hand on his shoulder.
"I hope so too."
***
Friday!
A special day.
Everyone was all dressed up before leaving for work. Farida dropped her children at school and headed to work.
she parked her car and hurried to the office, not that she was late but she had a habit of leaving espresso coffee on everybody's table in the office she shared with her team.
she went towards the lift and smelled a familiar Cologne. She glanced around and saw sudais approaching, he wanted to get into the elevator as well. He looked down at her when he got very close and greeted. "good morning to you too" he smiled, revealing his heart warming dimple.
she greeted back, feeling embarrassed that she had been looking at him, but not in a romantic way of course. She stared at him because she realized that he was wearing the familiar Cologne and she couldn't remember smelling it on him.
The elevator opened and some workers got out of it. The two if them entered and there was tension in the air. There was a smile on his face and it was creepy. How could a man who always had a smug on his face suddenly be smiling for like ten minutes straight.
on her side, she thought he was smiling because of his little reunion with his family but on his side, he was smiling because he intentionally wore her favorite Cologne and he knew that she remembered it judging by the confused look on her face.
she tapped her foot rapidly on the floor as she waited while he just rested his back against the wall and stared at her with no shame at all.
The doors opened and they glanced at other before they departed. Her ocean blue eyes didn't fail to attach a few pieces of his heart together.
***
Pulling her car at the drive way, farida was grateful that the house didn't have a gate with tons of securities. she parked her car near the other cars. There were a lot of cars at sudais's house, his parents had arrived and they invited zaynerb's parents too. His cousins showed up without warning and the house got crowdy.
"did I say a little reunion?" she asked her self and got out of the car. The cold air made her shiver, so she pulled her sweater tighter around herself. There, she saw two men wearing chef coats carrying a some crates filled with apples toward the back door and she hurriedly followed them, she mentally thanked God that everything was going smoothly. Even better than she had planned.
If only she knew the shocking revelation that awaited her.
No one actually bothered to ask her why she was there or what she was doing. They were all busy cooking and arranging food in big silver trays. Arabs like to eat their food together in a big tray. With their hands, on the floor.
You know what they say. "The more, the merrier"
She entered the kitchen and inhaled the delicious scents of food. There were a lot of chefs in the huge kitchen, they wore white coats,white chef hats and black trousers. Some were running around to get their ingredients.
"wow" she said as she spotted a huge silver tray full of lasagna. She thought that the chef standing next to it must be the one she was looking for.
she walked up to the chef and touched her shoulder. The woman looked up at her and said, "do you need something ma'am?"
Farida looked down at the cooker in front of the chef and saw that she was making a red sauce and white rice.
"sorry. actually, I'm looking for the person who made this." Farida replied.
"oh. That'll be maryam. She just left this place, I think she's around the other side." the chef said, pointing at the other entrance. Farida thanked the woman and went ahead to look for maryam.
After searching for what seemed like ages, she finally decided to give up and go home. She turned around to leave and saw a young lady who was a lot younger than herself keeping another tray full of lasagnas on the counter. The young chef noticed that someone was watching her and looked up. Their eyes met and her lips parted to form an O. Surprised by what she saw, Maryam ignored the food she made and walked up to farida who was just standing by the door, wondering if the young chef was really the one who made such a delicious food.
"Madam. it's... it's really you!" Maryam almost yelled as she stood right in front of Farida with a surprised look on her face.
"Hi" was all Farida was able to say.
"Maryam. Sir is asking for the lasagnas" said an elderly woman who was peeping through the door. Maryam looked at the elderly woman " I'll bring them now" she replied. She turned back to Farida and smiled at her
"please, come back soon. I really need your help." Farida said to her.
"Okay. wait for me" Maryam said and left.
Farida went outside to get some fresh air as the food scent and heat of the kitchen had started to suffocate her.
***