𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐄𝐀 ✔︎ (ongoing)

|17| cake

After hours of staying in the same place, I hear the call to prayer coming from the nearby mosque. I've heard it before -many times- but this time, it's washing everything inside me away. It seems to slowly drain all my anger out and massage my nerves.

I don't understand anything that's being said but by the end of the call, I'm suddenly relaxed.

And I can finally breathe.

Ten minutes later, Abdel is calling us down to drink some tea. I wait until I hear everyone going down the stairs. When it's silent, I know it's safe to go.

I walk out of the room and close it behind me.

It is when I walk past Sara's and Marina's room I hear muffled sobs.

If I hadn't listened to the call to prayer, I would've scoffed at the fact she's still crying. But now everything's drained away, my heart seems to have softened.

I knock on the door and the sobs immediately stop.

"Sara?" she calls out. Damn it, her voice is cracking. "Is that you?"

Cautiously, I open the door until I see her huddled up on the window seat.

As soon as she lays her eyes on me, she looks away with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," I say. It's the first thing that comes into my mind. Then I let out a groan. "Actually, no. You deserve more than just 'sorry'. I'm sorry for what I said. For everything. For blaming you. I didn't mean it, Sam was right. I was just angry that I grew up without parents. Please come down and have tea with us?"

She wipes her tears away and stands up. "I'd like to be left alone for a while, please."

I frown. "Will you at least accept my apology?"

"Francisco." She chokes out my name. "I don't think I have the guts to even talk to you. You've hurt me so much and it definitely didn't help over the phone call with my dad."

"But I told you I'm sorry! And I mean it, I promise I do."

"Maybe one day I'll forgive you, not today while I'm still hurt." She softly smiles. Then it turns into a solemn expression. "But what's really important is what my dad's planning. He's sending spies over."

"He might just be threatening you," I suggest. "To scare you off."

Marina shakes her head. "No. He isn't. I know my dad. Whatever he decides, nothing can stop him. He's hungry for money, hungry for power. That's why he's insisting to get the spearmint herbs too; to find out where it is so that he could gain power. I know it sounds cheesy, but he wants to rule the world."

I sigh. All this is too much for me. I want my mind to be free from stress for once.

"Why don't we just go down and join the others? I want to forget about everything. Later, we can discuss this with Sara and Sam."

She nods and we go down stairs.

"Hi," Sam says as I take a seat next to him. He beams. "I see you're feeling better now. Did you two make up?"

"Yeah, I apologised. I'm sorry for earlier."

I can sense Karim smiling two seats away.

"Good," he mumbles under his breath.

Abdel's mother slowly comes into the room carrying a tray of mint tea. As she sets it down, my mouth waters at the sight of beautiful looking Moroccan sweets.

While we have some tea, I take one of the sweets and take a bite. It's delicious, sweet and nutty, coating my tongue with honey. It's crisp in the middle and makes my mouth water.