DALIA (Book 1 in the ISWAJI series)

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Dalia's POV

My first kiss.

I always imagined it would happen in some sparkly building or under the stars. But instead, it happened in a car. Waleed's lips on mine was probably the most explosive feeling I ever felt in my stomach.

I want to kiss him forever.

Waleed pulls away from the kiss a little, taking in quick breaths. I still cup his cheeks and then bite my bottom lip.

"That was the best kiss I ever had." He says in whisper, that makes my heart drop to my stomach.

He leans in for another kiss and instead a peck his cheek.

"We better go, they will think we ran away or something." I say and get down.

Waleed keeps his hand in mine, holding it tightly, while my hand is a bit loose in his. His words burn through me for some reason. Not the burning kind of pleasure, but a painful burn.

He locks the car and we walk into the restaurant, finding the table that's reserved for us, with our parents seated.

His mother waves to us as soon as she notices us and we take a seat next to each other. It was a table of six, Waleed's mum sits in the same row we are in. While my mum and dad, plus his dad, sitting across from us.

"Did you guys already order?" Waleed's asks, clearing his throat.

"No, we waited for you guys to come." She replies with the biggest smile ever. Oblivious or maybe not too oblivious to her son's actions.

I notice how her eyes drop to our intertwined hands, making Waleed squeeze it a little.

"Welcome to our restaurant. Here are your menus for today, my name is Hamzah and I will be your waiter for this afternoon." The waiter, Hamzah, says as he hands us the menus.

He smiles at me while he hands me the menu. I say a soft 'thank you' and begin to flip through it.

"What are you getting, Dalia?" Waleed asks me as he leans in his mouth close to my ear. If I knew any better, he was doing that on purpose because of this waiter in front of us.

Waleed was getting jealous because of another man.

"Not sure. I'm just in a little bubble today." Forcing a little smile and him turning my head towards him.

"That was the best kiss I ever had."

How many people has he been with? What if he is lying to me?

"By the way, that minty lip gloss you had on, tasted amazing." He whispers a few seconds later when he notices I didn't respond.

"Thanks?" I mumble and sit back, looking over more food options.

I look through the menu and I see a lot of Arabic dishes. A lot of rice to be specific.

Don't we Arabs just love rice.

"Why don't we get two things and share?" Waleed asks me while flipping through his own menu.

"Sure, if that's what you want." I shrug.

"Hey, everything okay?" He whispers to me, leaning his body closer.

"Yeah, just lost in thoughts." I squeeze his hand to avoid drama.

"I love you." He says and kisses my cheek.

"I love you too."

"Dalia, let's get some stuffed vine leaves, some kebbeh, some tabooleh, some shish tawook and shish kabab." Waleed says to me.