Love after Loss

Chapter 6 - Heels

Ahmad

What happens when your sister wants to marry someone you barely know? Easy to doubt it, right? I mean, of course you can poke and prod (metaphorically speaking) at the guy all you want. But at the end of the day, you do what you can to make her happy. She's your sister, after all. After what happened, I only let that happen to a point. I have this idea that I need to know them first to help protect her. It's the least I can do.

Hiba seemed... different today. This morning, something definitely must have happened.

For starters, Hiba put on her heels instead of her Jordan 1's I bought her the year she went to Uni. Along with those two pairs, she had also brought along AirForce 1's and flat shoes, but I think only because I said "it's New York, I'm taking my Jordan's to a business meeting and we're going to be walking quite fast to keep up with everyone in the day", so as well as her heels she brought two different pairs of trainers. She only wears her heels when she feels so confident nobody could do anything to her. And when she felt like something special things might happen, it the day just felt so special or different.

The last time she wore her heels was when she finished her last proper session of therapy. Dr Begum had said there was still a rocky journey ahead, but she was ready to tackle the world again by herself. Since then, she kept on trainers because they were more comfortable around our city. She never wore heels much, not even to go out - she wore Jordan's instead.

Then we walk past the door of the restaurant and she's asking if we can go around a certain way. Naturally I said yes, but then she took my arm. Last time we did that was when I graduated... so something was definitely up. And I could feel her too - she was warm and started to very faintly shake as we walked past a table with a dad and two kids, but as soon as we got past it she cooled down a little.

This is the second time now, but there's something different this time. The guy seems alright so far... we'll have to see. Last thing I want to do is to make the same mistake I made last time. But then again, he's a father. If anything, Hiba will probably find out he's got a wife and I'll have to just make sure she's ok. He shouldn't be an issue.

***

It's been an hour since we entered the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I'm telling you as her brother right now, Hiba is definitely falling for this guy. I know it. I can see it. Not in a head over heels, straight away infatuated with him at first sight sort of falling for this guy, but I can see the feelings are growing. She's nervous. She must have had a flashback to... you know. That means she doesn't know if she should trust him yet. But I'm torn. Do I support her? Or do I keep him away? No, let's not think of that. My reasoning for either is the same. I just want to protect her, but the best I can do to do that is support her.

He's sat at our table with his kids, and she's already shown affection to them. Making him trust her a little. Hiba can do that. She's the person everyone should trust. I guess having an uneasy past helps with how you feel when you're earning someone's trust, because you know how hard it is. She has his, but I think he may struggle to get hers. Even after he told us of his late wife. Inalilahi wa ina ilaihi ra'ji'un.

This guy - Arsalan - he trusted Hiba enough to let her hug and play with his daughter. But she's starting to give in to trusting him. I know she feels something. So I decided to do something about it.

Luckily Arsalan's daughter asked Hiba to do some drawing with her, I knew that would make her happy. She hasn't drawn in so long, and right now I bet in the back of her mind she's picking out things that are wrong with this restaurant's decor, which to be honest is a little old fashioned but in a good sense. It is the Hilton, after all.