Elhaam!

Chapter 30

I hurriedly wrapped a beige colored veil to accompany my brown flare gown. Grabbing my phone as I stuffed it in my half empty purse, I gave the disoriented room a look over gulping the massive feeling of guilt down.

I had left the room in the same condition the previous day, and now I'm about to the same. I just hoped Fahaad won't think he married a disorganised teenager cause it's really unlike me.

I pushed my thoughts aside as I recalled leaving Fahaad and our tour guide waiting for almost an hour now.

I blamed it on my oversleeping habit lately. The comfort of the soft bed was just too much to let go.

I rushed out the apartment almost forgetting to lock up after, then made my way down to the reception.

There Fahaad sat along with a splitting masculine image of Marcia, a bit older and mature looking though. The atmosphere between them clearly portrayed the awkwardness there.

I cleared my throat with a sheepish smile mirroring Fahaad's slight frown.

"Sorry I'm late"

"Hi, I'm Davi. You must be Elhaam, nice to finally meet you" Marcia's brother introduced with a pending hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you too Davi " I replied with a polite smile declining his hand.

"Alright. I've made all the preparations necessary for a successful tour. I hope to be the best tour guide I could possibly be considering the kindness you showed towards my sister." he stated formally.

I glanced at the silent Fahaad. He's said no word ever since I came down. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's upset.

Seeing as he wasn't planning to say a word, I decided to respond.

"We're ready I guess"

"Good. I'll go see if our cab ride is here" he excused himself.

I sat quietly at the seat next to Fahaad's as I waited for anything from him.

"Are you upset?"
It was a stupid question to ask, but his silence was weird.

"No" he curtly replied.

At that moment, I felt extremely stupid to ask in the first place. If he didn't want to talk, it was his choice, why did it have to bother me.

I decided to use my phone in the meantime, see if Fatimah was online so we could catch up for a bit. It's been a while I guess.

"I've never had to wait for someone, or at least I can't remember having to wait, so it felt a bit...strange " his late reply reached my ear, irking me to a certain extent.

"Well I never had to apologise for appearing slightly late either, but I did anyways" I shot back unintentionally coming off rude.

I sunk my head down at how tensed I just made things between us. Just when I was coming out of my cocooned shell, I had to mess things up. Or rather 'we did'.

"Sorry" we mumbled at the same time coming out as a whisper. It was almost as if we were apologising to ourselves not each other.

"Sorry" we chorused again, coincidentally looking up at each other. I watched as a slow smile made its way to his face mirroring mine before we broke into a rhythmic laughter.

Just on cue, Davi approached to inform us our ride was here.

I was glad we made up before our tour, it would have been a boring tensed and awkward moment for the both of us.

***

I laughed into the sunset as Fahaad shared a light joke, then a click sound, adding to the many pictures he took of me that day.