Mentally Occupied

17

She asked him to accompany her to the club. He hesitated at first, but her determination, he could not apologize. He sat next to her in the front seat of her car. Rufaida did not notice that there was another passenger in the back seat. A little girl who did not exceed ten years. Her mother killed her to get rid of her fears that her betrayal of her husband would be exposed. Expatriate in search of a living.

At the pool they sat talking while he was sipping his coffee, while she was drinking avocado juice. It was her favorite drink. Malik watched the dead girl, and she was happy to be at the pool, sitting on the edge of it and placing her feet shaking them in the water. Malik smiled. Rufaida asked him:

- Why do you smile? Is there something strange about me that makes you smile like that?

She did not wait for an answer from him and took out a mirror from her handbag to look at herself in it. Malik said while moving the mirror away from her face:

- You are beautiful as usual, but I smile for something else..

- What is the?

- Can I go down the pool?

Rufaida looked at him in astonishment and asked him:

- Do you have a swimming suit

- Unfortunately no.

She stood and told him that she would bring him one. She came back a few minutes later with a small paper bag in her hand. She extended her hand to him. He took it from her and opened it. He found a swimming suit inside. He did not think much. He took off his clothes and put it on. He jumped into the water and motioned for the girl to follow him. Rufaida thought he was indicating her. She took off her clothes. She had a swimming suit underneath. She jumped into the water and hugged him for the first time.

***

Malik choked on his conversation with Rufaida feeling that was useless. He left her and turned back. Then he went inside. He found the chatter in front of him. Facing up to him again. He looked at her angrily.

- Wissam Don't you have a job?

- What have I done to you now! Why are you bullying me?!

- Wherever I go I find you in front of me, I become more frightening than them.

Wissam looked around her, pointing her arms in a circular motion, pointing at the people in the place, and said:

- More than who?! I do not understand what you are talking about.

Malik turned his face away from Wissam and said:

- Perhaps. Anyway, where is Hana?

- She has just gone through the back door.

- She's home I guess, she has no friends to meet after work. Anyway, she's miserable...

Malik felt more upset and headed to the back door before Wissam completed her chatter. He left her without a single word or farewell so that he could catch up with Hana, but he did not find her, so he continued walking until he found her standing in front of the coffee shop that is located next to the company, the sky was behind her at sunset.

The sky is pigmented behind Hana in red color. Scattered clouds colored in degrees from deep red to pink in exquisite consistency. Decorate the scene in Malik's eyes. While Hana was going on consideration and stare to pass by next to it and in front of her. She examined their face carefully especially their eyes. She Smiled like an idiot. He walked towards her quietly until he stood beside her, saying:

- What are you doing here?

Hana continued to smile at the passers-by without stopping of looking into their eyes. She did not look at him.

- I'm trying to look at the bright side, the full half of the glass, trying to enjoy something that has always scared me and made me hide in my house for days and months, looking at people's faces without fear, without worrying, without caring..

She looks bright, as if she is seeing life for the first time, she looks at everything, and the fascination is clear on her. A child explores the world for the first time and sees everything new in it.

Demiana, Naim's wife, did not come to the clinic as he had expected. He had to go back and go to her. It was hard for him to go home with his feet. He decided to eat the dinner he liked before returning. He passed by Hati's shop. He ordered some grilled meat and a plate of kofta grilled on charcoal. He brought The waiter ordered some salad dishes and appetizers. Naim did not care about them, but pounced on the soup until he finished it. He signaled to the waiter, so he quickly came to ask for another dish of soup, which he brought to him quickly. It was hot, steaming from it and smelling of spices. When he finished, there were two new dishes that settled on the table in front of him. He grabbed the fork and the knife and started cutting in the meat and kofta and savoring their taste. Sometimes he dipped the part he cut in tahini and then devoured it. He could not live without eating meat. How much he suffers during the periods of fasting. Demiana prevents everything In the soul, he knew very well his love for meat of all kinds. She was his cousin before she was his wife. She suffocated him until she was sure of his fasting. He resisted and escaped in his own ways.

He finished his dinner and went to the wash basin. He washed his hands with soap and water more than once. He did not stop until he made sure that they did not have any smell or trace of grilled meat. He did the same with his mouth, after he cleaned between his teeth with a stick, he paid his account and returned to his car. He pulled a strong mint-flavored gum from the drawer of the car and chewed it, licking it to get rid of any smell that might have lingered in his mouth.

Despite all this, fasting is not without benefits. Damiana does not ask him for any intimate relationship in it. He is very comfortable with this and even encourages her to do so, stressing that it is one of the constants of religion. If fasting was prescribed to resist the desires of food such as meat, milk, eggs and fish, which are foods that make souls happy, then who It is more important for the fasting person to prevent himself from the rest of the bodily pleasures, such as sex. At that time, Naim turns into a monk who is an ascetic in this world and keeps talking to her and telling her about the body and how heavy it is on the soul imprisoned in it, and that by fasting it softens and eases so that the soul can release more in it. Demiana is convinced of this, but she is surprised to hear such a thing. Speech from a man like her wife, which she considers lustful, is always at odds with the fathers in the church.

He is the prodigal son of them always, they attribute that to his travel to the West to complete his studies after graduating many years, he obtained a master's degree from Egypt and was on his way to obtain a doctorate as well from here, but his mother and for special reasons that only he knows and she insisted and determined that he travel to get it from other countries Far away, even Damiana, who was his wife at that time years ago, did not know an explanation for this.

But why didn't Damiana change her life there, as happened to him? A question that parents always ask her, and she replies to them that the bliss of a Savior of the Cross may be more than her, but he expresses that in his own way. They spray her and feed her with the blood of Christ to leave knowing that she is a liar.

He arrived at his house, hugged his wife, and told her that he was very hungry. He had not eaten anything since he left the house in the morning. He hurried to bring him a large plate of basara, local bread, and pieces of sliced onions dipped in vinegar. Often, he rushes to his room, takes a quick shower, and gets ready for bed.

***

Malika wants to be free from her fears that have besieged her for years and years, to get rid of the way she walks and to always look at the ground, to fight her past to become worthy of a new future,She smiled and continued speakingNot interested in anything:

- Let them think what they think, and let them say what they say, I am only at that moment happy to be in this place, now I look at the passers-by even though I have passed here hundreds of times and I was afraid that I might mistakenly look at Someone's face, here I am standing now and making that mistake completely on purpose.

Malik smiled at her speech and the happiness that overwhelmed her innocent childish face, saying:

- You didn't give me a chance to be angry with your leaving and not waiting for me.

Hana turned towards Malik. She looked at him. Then, she stopped smiling, she said seriously:

- I'm sorry. Really sorry.

- Why did you leave me in this situation?

Hana crossed her fingers and said:

- no thing..I finished work early and wanted to come overto meHere to spend that momentThe unique onewhich is not repeated often.

Malik looked straight into her eyes and said:

- Well, to rephrase the question; Why didn't you wait for me?

Hana loosened her fingers and said:

- you know that every new day proportions for me like a ticking time bomb that could explode in my face in any moment. Those days are not seen in which any vision was going through difficulty because the day is on. It's about to end and the possibility of seeing a vision is still there. Rather, that possibility may be greater.