That Winter You Came (Completed)

season 3: Episode 9

Rayan didn't hang up the phone that day.. 
He kept talking with me all along my way back to a familiar zone, 
He hadn't offered one tip of advice in the matter of navigation to me though.. Maybe it was for the fact that he too lacked in the sense of directions, or because he was so chatty that he just forgot the main point.
It seemed like he had a thousand stories to tell that day.. For a reason i would never know Rayan was opening a lock after another while speaking.
He told me how back in the days of our separation, how he secretly anticipated news of me everytime he called or met with badro and Imad, how he waited for the slightest chance to find a reason to contact me, but failed even when he could, he even spoke about how he in numerous occasions chose to wait in the middle of the street where paths cross and i probably would pass by on my way home. He shamelessly said: 
_" still when i encountered you .. I never mastered the courage to jump in front of you and talk" 
_" so why did you wait?" 
_" because i wanted to see you" 
_"was i that pretty in your memory to the point of enduring the storms of winter and the heat of summer?" I asked in mischeif.
_" ... " 
After minutes of talking the call abruptly cut, i finally breathed in ease and continued my serious search.
As it turned out .. All the words rayan was saying made my heart flutter and my mind go blur. How can the one do a serious task like finding a way from a loss road while being in such state?
When he finally cut the call .. It didn't take me much time to realise that i was finally back on track again, in a rather faster pace i started to walk my way to the bus station when the phone in my hand started buzzing again.
It was Rayan..
I earnestly didn't want to pick up the call, because although i really felt happy hearing all those words from him i still wondered in the back of my head whether he was still in the company of all my friends and so all those intimate words were ultimately heard and made them laugh until their teeth fell.
Still a part of me didn't care much about being humiliated anyways, i picked up the call..
_" my credits were all consumed earlier.. I've just recharged my line" he said in what seemed like a voice coming out between smiling lips.
_" i'm on my way to the station now .. I finally found my way __" 
_" i can see you" he interrupted immediately.
I reflexively looked around me, and not before long i spotted him down the alley.
For the second time that day .. He tried to find me.
I cut the call .. And walked towards him, the closer i walked the clearer was the smile on his face.
It was so hot that even him having a tanned skin still his cheeks and the sides of his neck could appear reddish. His beard was impolitely grown and his hair was a black mess but how could he still look so handsome?
With no exagerations .. Rayan Amer was undoubtedly handsome.
Knowing that i .. Nadia Hamidi .. Could put a smile on such a handsome face i already felt flattered and special, that is not even to mention that he was also the man i really loved, and that somehow i managed to steel his heart too.
To be fair the steps that he took to finally meet me outnumbered mine and were even wider, in spite of this effort i shall admit that he was more eager to meet me.
He smiled silently when we finally had only one step that separated us. He reached to get a bottle of water from the plastic bag he was holding and then he handed it to me.
Although i already had a bottle of mine still the fog on the plastic cover and the little drops that were finding there way down were very tempting.. And as i finally took it the cold exceeding from it was very satisfying.
I put it against my cheeks immediately to cool them down. Probably ruining my makeup in the process.
_"thank you" i said.
He only smiled ..
_" why didn't you just wait in the bus station? " 
_" i was worried .. And it was more convenient talking with you away from the others" 
I smiled finding it so thoughtful of him to do so.
He finally took a step to stand beside me, and then he suggested: 
_" let's go" 
He didn't mention anything about our fight earlier nor about what happened in the restaurant, he didn't even comment on my disappearance.. He just walked beside me in silence, as if he already consumed all the words on the phone.
_" have they decided where to go from here?" 
_"en" .. "To another restaurant to have a proper meal, and i'm going to pay for everyone this time round too" 
_"and you agreed?" I laughed..
_" i had to, i was at fault to begin with" 
_" your dearest friends are going to join?" 
He eyed me in guilt .. And admitted: 
_" they have already dismissed them selves when i followed you earlier, i went back to find an empty table and hichem owes me the treat now"
_"what? When you followed us haven't you excused your self first?" 
_" and have i ever been socially adequate? .. Your seat looked very empty and the next thing i remember was that i was in the street after you" 
Although i felt very satisfied .. I still faked concern and said: 
_"this was very inappropriate of you! Next time when i have your ring in my finger i will invite them to apologize for your misbehavior" 
He shook his head and only laughed at my suggestion.
It wasn't long before we finally arrived at the station. But no one was in sight there.. I immediately took my phone to call Yassmine, her answer was: 
_"we waited until we almost melted, we idly decided to go have fun on our own when Rayan called and said he found you, you two have fun alone" 
When i hang up i immediately asked Rayan when did he call them.
_" just before i called you for the second time.. I saw you coming when i walked out of the store"
He paused for a bit before he had a pleased look on his face and he said: 
_"should we go have a proper meal?"
_"i have no appetite, and my energy is drained .. Let's just sit somewhere and then go home" 
Being the lazy person that i am, i really didn't have the heart to move my feet more .. Even when the look on his face was very disapproving i still preferred the comfort of my feet more than his pleasure.
After we sat on a bunch under the shadow of a long tree in a nearing park, i sighed and commented: 
_" i really feel sorry for the cookies Imad have taken.. I wonder if he'd eat them or just throw them, i spent a lot of money and effort making them, they are made of nuts and pistachios ..do you know how much they cost!"
I glanced at the man sitting beside me quietly, and i added: 
_" the girls in the architecture department sure can't make such cookies, they spend all their time drawing a graph after another , making a design after another .. How can they spare time to master the art of cooking? i'm not implying anything but a man should settle his priorities.. The one should sacrifice his stomach for the sake of such wife" 
I glanced at him again .. But there was no trace of a word coming out of his mouth.
Under the cool shade i emptied the cold bottle of water inside my mouth and said a thousand word,
Even stubbed and sliced innocent people and said lies but the man beside me only nodded in some occasions.. And only looked aimlessly at the passing people in front of us in others.
After a long time of leading a one-sided conversation even a chatty person such as my self was out of words: 
_" just now on the phone you wouldn't stop talking! On the restaurant you wouldn't stop talking! But now it feels like i'm talking to the air!" I commented displeased.
He looked at me with a smile and replied: 
_" i was enjoying your line of thinking, i always loved how you spoke" 
_" and you don't have a saying in all what i have mentioned" 
He shook his head.
Such a shameless person.
What happened after that is that we simply went home, and he went back to his aloof self..
He rarely called in the few next days, each one of his calls had a precise purpose.. Like informing me he had purchased a certain furniture .. That he was offered a job, that he started working on a certain project. The quality of our topics were growing in the skale of boredom with every passing day .. And i was running out of congratulating words, that is until one day i called him in tears and yelled: 
_" what should i do Rayan! My brother is getting a divorce!" 
As for what led to that sad confession, it was one fateful day of august when my sister came to our house again with her son to laze around and to complain about her husband, her visits were of course only welcomed by her dearest mother..
Even my father who was at his leaf at that time preferred the company of his cup of coffee and the newspapers in the garden rather than staying inside the house where my sister's continuous complaints would reach his ears.
During that visit same as others i especially paid more attention to Hidaya's _ my brother's wife_ spirits. I would ask how she was doing every time i leave for work and the moment i walk inside the house again, needless to say it .. My sister who i love despite everything has the sharpest tongue and the most merciless set of words, so i was worried all the time that Hidaya who was more on the sensitive side would turn into the bullseye in which my sister successfully trigger an arrow after another.
I had no idea that even in my presence she would manage to do harm, 
The little boy who had the attitude of his father and the spoiled persona of his mother somehow snuck to Hidaya's room and turned the roof into a ground, turned the ground into a roof. That brat even had the heart to scream in protest when Hidaya
grabbed him out from the drawers that he messed up to the extremes and brought him to his mother while he was acting like a monkey and throwing a fit at her, i was in the kitchen when this mess caught my full attention and brought me there to the living room: 
_" your son has went inside my room and messed it all around, how can he act like this! You have to discipline him!" hidaya shouted unlike her calm self
_"why are you yelling! He's just a little boy.. Who are you to say that my son is not disciplined!" 
_" you go see the mess he made your self.. All kids mess around but not to this extent, he barely walks and he already ruined my room!" 
_" and what do you know about children? You don't even have ones of your own you childless" Mimi said 
The hurt in hidaya's eyes was clear to the blind, it was so evident and painful that my brother standing beside me by the door frame could no longer control his anger.
He dashed inside the room .. And before anyone could stop him he slapped Mimi so hard that she fell to the ground and he cursed: 
_"undisciplined!" 
My mother who was calmly observing the situation finally spit out her words of wisdom and maturity: 
_" how dare you raise your hand on your sister for the sake of a stranger!" 
It was at this very moment that Hidaya stormed off to her room and i followed her to see how she was, i spent those minutes trying to calm her down and dry her tears not knowing that in the process i left my brother alone to the mercy of my mother's subjective words and irrational decisions.
By the time i went down again the situation accelerated to the point where my brother was forced to choose between his mother or his wife.
Keep this then lose the other.
My brother went out of the house before making a decision. Knowing that he would choose to divorce his wife for the sake of being obedient to his mother was the decision he would choose i felt my heart breaking to a million pieces.
That brat wasn't even an obedient son before he met his wife! And now that he is married to the perfect woman and finally became a descent son my mother was already exploiting that weapon! 
No matter how i tried to talk my mother out of that promise of hers she still insisted that i was an ungrateful daughter, and that i always took hidaya's side just to mess with her poor nerves.. 
When i finally lost hope .. I could only call Rayan and throw all my damaged feelings on him.
_"i feel so bad for them both .. I feel so helpless" i cried after i told him what happened.
It was one of the rarest times when i shared my family situation with him.
The man on the receiving end was calm for a long time.. And then he said: 
_" talaq "divorce" is not such a simple decision for a man to make, your brother sure won't divorce his wife over such a trivial matter, have more confidence in him" 
_" if in the future your mother forced you to divorce me will you do that?" I asked between my snobs.
Again a very long silence, i thought that in his head he was weighing my value against his mother's .. Was analysing his filial affection and his love for me, but what he said next utterly crushed my expectations: 
_" your ability of turning every matter in this life into something related to you surprises me every time" 
_" no need to be philosophical about it.. Is it a yes or no! I need to know if i'm threatened with divorce in the future!" 
_" i won't divorce .." 
i hang up the phone .. And The doorbell rang few minutes later, i ran to open the door before anyone could only to be surprised with my brother standing there with my father by his side. It was very rare for them to come back home together..
My father.. Who was a military man.. Always had no hand nor a saying in the drama that my mother created, still that time he had strongly intervened .. To the point where he declared: 
_" fine, let your son divorce his wife.. But be sure that the moment the girl walks out of our house i'll send you divorced to your family with her, and i'll divorce your undisciplined daughter as well" 
My mother who knew better that the man she was married to for almost 30 years was in no way telling a joke soon looked at Mimi and said: 
_" go apologize to your brother's wife .. And bring her down to eat" 
And no one had any further objections.
That night i realised that marriage was as wide and strong as an ocean .. Still as thin and weak as a spider's thread.
There were no guarantees in it .. Still i was ready to take the risk for the man who later that night sent me a message saying: 
" no matter what, just stop crying , Your crying won't solve anything anyways" 
What a heartless way to say that he had all his heart in.