KING POV
"I'm surprised you're here for dinner." My dad spoke as he came down the stairs and came into the dining room where I was sitting across from his wife, already eating my food while she was waiting.
"Don't get used to it." I muttered dryly as he pulled the chair out and sat down after he shared a kiss with his trophy wife, taking the fork and knife in his hands and beginning to cut the pork rib.
"I'd appreciate it if you waited next time." He said and I clenched my jaw, my shoulders tensing as I tried to ignore what he had just said. This is why I'm never home. I come to eat dinner once in a blue moon and every single time he makes me regret it and makes me wish I never came in the first place.
"Don't push it." I replied simply, narrowing my eyes at my plate, feeling as though I had lost my appetite. He can't just let me eat in bloody peace. Hell, he doesn't let me do anything in peace. Always sticking his nose into my business.
"I need you to come to the firm tomorrow." He said as he swallowed his food and asked Linda, the maid, to bring a cooler jug of water while Nadia looked up through her eyelashes between me and my father, clearly realizing the escalating tension.
"I'm not coming anywhere." I replied, not wanting to go spend a whole day following him around while he ordered people around and made me handle paperwork. I'm surprised that after all the fights we have, he still wants me to take over his business when he's dead. If I had a son like myself, I'd have told him to get out of my house already.
"Yes, you are. I have a heap of paperwork to get done as well as multiple meetings." He said as he narrowed his eyes on me. I continued eating and ignored him. I wasn't going. He could handle his business himself for all I care. I went last month. That was enough to last me at least another two months before I sucked it up and went again for a day or two.
"King! I am talking to you!" He shouted and I noticed both Linda and Nadia flinch slightly as the booming voice filled the silence all of a sudden.
"And I am going out." I spoke, shooting out of my seat, the legs of the chair screeching against the floorboard as I left my fork and knife. I walked up the stairs, ignoring his shouting after me as I quickly packed a small bag and took my jacket, wallet and phone in my hand. My car was in service so it looks like I'd have to take one of my dad's drivers' cars. I had a party to get to.
"Good morning." A voice said. I screwed my eyes shut as I realized it was a female and I was in a foreign bed. Great. Yet another morning. Why couldn't these girls just leave before I woke up?
"It is not a good morning." I answered as I groaned and rubbed my bands over my face, turning my head to look at her. She was a blonde. I didn't even like blondes that much.
"I got you these." She said, handing me two pills. I sat up and took them from her, mumbling a small thanks and swallowing them with no water before getting out of the bed.
"Where are you going?" She asked me as I began getting dressed and only now did I realize that I was in a girl's bedroom. Was this her house? Was it her party? I was so confused, but thinking about the questions only made my head hurt more.
"What's the time?' I asked her, shrugging on my Jacket and picking up my phone that was dead and my keys. Did I drive here drunk?
"Ten thirty.' She answered as she took the hair tie out of her hair and sat up, throwing the blanket off her prude body and leaning on the headboard. I raked my eyes over her body and smirked slightly. I guess her body compensated for her blonde hair pretty well. She saw me smirking and smiled. I shook my head and exhaled trying to relax my morning hormones.
"I don't do morning after with the same girl, angel." I said, moving my eyes away from her so I don't go ahead and do something stupid. Morning after get way too attached and start crying before you even leave and I had no time for them.
I walked to the door, unlocking it as I walked down the stairs, ignoring her calling ray name. I briefly heard her tell me to leave through the back door, but it was too late and I saw who I'm assuming was her parent in the living room, the dad glaring and the mum with gape as she glanced at me looking horrible.
Sir. Ma'am. Your daughter was great last night. You've raised her well." I spoke, before pulling open the front door and leaving their house switch a smirk. I'm sure the girl, whose name I didn't even know, was going to be getting quite the earful from her parents. Serves her right for trying to tempt me this morning.
"You guys suck!' I called as I bounced the ball down the court, easily dribbling all the guys who we were playing with: 'And I thought you had something to prove when you called me." I laughed cockily, Jumping as I threw the ball, watching it go straight through without even nipping the hoop at all.
"We're going easy on you, mate!" Ayman called back with a laugh making me scoff as I bounced the ball a couple of times before throwing it to Ahmad. They were not going easy on me. Apparently these guys preferred soccer over basketball, but we're just mucking around today. I was better than all of them since I played basketball and no doubt I'd be worse than all of them if we were to play soccer.
"Ahmad, you're the worst, bro. no offense." I said as I watched him miss his shot. He laughed and jogged to get the ball before throwing it at me, aiming at my face, except l caught it before it made contact with a chuckle.
'I've been stabbed only two weeks ago. This isn't my true potential." He said as he laughed and shook his head, the ball being passed to Ayman just as we heard a car horn beep.
We turned around and the guys clearly recognized the guy as they began picking up their jackets to leave. It was right on time since I was starting to starve anyway and was about to leave myself. "Hurry up, man." Walter called me.
'Oh, I'll just go home.' I said, not knowing where they were going or why they even wanted me to come with them. I mean, yeah, we had gotten to know each other quite a bit and they were pretty cool, but either way, they were still like a family and I was just with them out of coincidence.
'Nah, man. Come. We're gonna go to the mosque to pray. Wait for us and then we'll go out and eat." He said. "Plus, there's one extra. We need your car, man." He added and I rolled my eyes, muttering a 'fine' as I took my jacket off the floor and walked to the car park. Walter and Ayman came in my car as Ahmad, Talha and Bilal joined the other guy.
"You guys go. I'm gonna have a smoke.' I said as I parked in the mosque car park. The guys nodded as they walked up to the entrance while I waited against a tree towards the side, smoking a fag, soon realizing a second entrance off to the side that wasn't as grand as the main one. It was almost bidden.
I watched and soon realized that it was the women's entrance as I saw some women walk in through the door. I don't know why I let my eyes wander across it again as I dropped my cigarette and butted it out with my shoe, but as I looked up again, I saw a girl standing off to the side of the building, her phone in her hand as she typed away. She had a black dress thing on that was very baggy, her eyes the only thing on show besides her hands. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a clearer look as I saw her hazel colored eyes crinkle as she obviously smiled, I felt something spread through my body and realized my lips tug at the edges into a small smile, my heart racing as I tilted my head to the side and looked at her, subconsciously taking small steps forward.
She locked her phone and slid it into a pocket in her big dress, adjusting her face cover before she looked up and immediately, we made eye contact. I saw her eyes widen in the slightest bit, my breath being caught in my throat with a small gasp. She looked away too quickly, rushing and walking through the door and shutting it with her head held down before I even had a chance to evaluate what the hell was happening to me or before I had the chance to look at her closely.
What the hell was that?
I literally just got affected by a girl solely from her eyes and not her hair or her body.
What was wrong with me?
I was snapped out of my daydream where I was stuck looking at the door, picturing her eyes in my mind as a hand touched my shoulder. "You ready?" Ahmad spoke and I turned my head, looking at him and the other guys who were behind him, realizing only now how loudly my heart was beating in my chest.
"Y-yeah.' I stuttered, clearing my throat quickly and shaking my head. "Yeah, let's go." I said, my voice steady this time as I ran a hand over my face, trying to forget all about the girl and what she just made me go through Just by looking at me for two seconds.
"What's with you, man?' Bilaal spoke up, halting the conversation as he looked at me with a raised eyebrow as I bit into my kebab. After some arguing and countless suggestions, it was decided that we'd just go to a kebab caravan that apparently they always came to.
"I'm fine. Why?' I asked with a shrug, seeing the rest of the guys also look at me as if they too were going to ask me the same question. Truth was I was still reeling at the fact that I was so affected by the girl's eyes. It wasn't even her eyes really, but just the way she was so covered, yet still left an impression on me. She didn't need to show me her body or try to get my attention. She didn't show anyone her body. Yet still, I was intrigued by her, not physically or sexually at all of course, but I felt something. My heart beat had increased and I felt weird.
'King. Seriously, what's up?' Walter said, as he narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to work out what was wrong with me. Hell, I didn't even know what was wrong with me. Bloody hell.
"I have a question.' I said skulling the can of coke in front of me and unwrapped the foil around my kebab a little more to keep my hands busy so I didn't look too affected.
"Shoot." Ayman said as they all looked at me.
"I was smoking at the mosque, yeah. I saw this girl. '' I said, my heartbeat Increasing as I mentioned it out loud and the guys all borrowed their eyes a little while looking at me. "She was wearing this big black dress and her face was covered. You could only see her eyes.' I said and they nodded.
"That's called Niqab." Ayman said.
"But there were other girls not wearing it?" I said, Ahmad swallowed the food in his mouth before he began speaking, explaining the concept to me.
"Yeah, there's a difference of opinion about whether it's obligatory or not. Most women don't wear it. The ones who do are the ones that are striving to be like the women that were alive during the Prophet's times because they used to cover their faces, and most of them don't even believe it's obligatory. All scholars agree that the obligatory covering, Hijab, is just to make sure everywhere except the hands and face are covered, some say feet can be left uncovered too. The clothes can't be seen through; colorful ... nothing to attract attention so that's why a lot of them wear black or one color dresses. It has to be loose and not highlight their figures." Basically, that's it."
'Why don't guys dress like that then? Why only the women?' I asked, gesturing my head to Ayman's T-shirt and jeans. The other guys were all wearing their thobe's.
""We have to cover from the navel to under the knee caps and not wear clothes that are tight around the groin area.'' Ayman said.
"No, even if there wasn't a thing about men covering. It's not about equality in this religion, its justice.' Walter said before continuing. "If we could walk around naked, let's say..... Come on, man." He laughed. "We're men. You and I know better than these guys how we see women. What we look at when we see them. How many times do you hear of women raping men? How often do you see a girl look at a guy's body and go for him even if she doesn't find his face attractive? God made our minds think differently and in order to protect our women, he ordered them to cover to protect them from the gaze and disgusting thoughts of men like us.
When you look at a woman, you should rate her for more than just her physical appearance. She's a human. She deserves respect, not attention. You look at a woman's heart. Her character. Her status among the people.
What people say about her behavior? Her religion mainly. How devoted she is to worshiping her Lord. But nah, guys like you, no offense, and guys like who I used to be, rate or hate them because of their body and only their body. How low. How disrespectful." He explained and for another goddamn time, my heart rate increased. Why were these things affecting me so much?
"Women in Islam are queens. When they are born, they open the doors for their fathers to enter paradise, when they marry, they help their husbands enter paradise and when they give birth to children, and paradise is laid beneath their feet. We won't let our women be someone you see in the street and say 'oh she's so hot' to." Ahmad said.
'Our women deserve respect. When you speak to her, she won't tolerate or allow and we as their protectors won't tolerate or allow filth. You speak to her with boundaries and with respect." Bilal added.
My heart was pounding against my chest by this point and I could hardly focus on my god even though I was trying my absolute hardest to seem unaffected.
'Amazing how in a world filled with all these girl flaunting their assets everywhere to get the attention of men, falling victim to society's standards and expectations, being shackled by the media to show more to be more, our women protect themselves and choose to only show themselves fully to their husbands and no one else. They obey God's command. They don't fall victim to society. Instead of letting the media and society, instead of letting the creation have authority over them, they only allow the Creator to have authority over them." Ayman finished as all the other guys nodded.
I nodded my head simply, not knowing how to answer as hundreds of thoughts racked my brain. I cleared my throat and continued eating my kebab.
It was a good kebab.