My glimpse of Paradise

Chapter eight: those eyes

Amine Bensaid

Those eyes are the same eyes from the past. Those who have not stopped hunting me to this very moment. I never thought that I would meet her again. Not after so many years. After she left the library, my mind went blank. How did I not notice before? How did I not regocnize her?

It has been a couple of days since I last saw her. I didn't even go to the meeting for the project as I was aware that I wouldn't be at my best when she was there. Especially now that I know who she is.

Suddenly, my doorbell rang. Who would come at such an hour? I walked over to the door and opened it. 'Naoufal? What are you doing here?' He gave me a strange look. 'What do you mean? It's Friday so that means tomorrow is Saturday.' I scowled at his response. 'Like every week?' I really don't know what he's talking about. I closed the door and went towards the living room. 'Wait are you serious? Did you forget my wedding day?' Hearing it, I abruptly stopped walking. He is right. Tomorrow is his wedding day.

I allowed myself to collapse into the couch, clutching my head with both hands. How could I forget such a day? Naoufal came to sit besides me. 'Are you okay?' I looked over at my best friend with a lost look and let out a sigh. 'I don't know.' 'Well, I am all ears.'

I gave him a quick look. Naoufal knew who I will be talking about. He knew that I'm still living in the past for her sake. He knew that I couldn't forget those eyes. He knew me. He knew why I came back.

'I found her.' I could see the surprise on his face as he gazed at me. 'Found? What do you mean by found? Why do I not know anything about this?' 'Well technically, fate brought us back together.'

I stood up and walked back and forth in my living room. 'Jannah. Jannah Ziani. She is the same girl as the one from middle school. The one who's eyes never left my mind.' I could read the confusion on Naoufal's face. 'Wait, are we talking about the same Jannah who's best friend is Rahma, my wife's little sister?' My head snapped back to Naoufal. What is he talking about?

Rahma is indeed Jannah's best friend, but I would have never guessed that Rahma is the little sister of Naoufal's wife. 'Wait, you said Ziani. So Deen Ziani is her brother, right?' I looked over at Naoufal who had a difficult face. 'Yeah he is her brother.' Naoufal started to laugh. 'You really aren't lucky, are you?'

We both knew how protective Deen is over his sister. This was told to us by Salmaan as we first didn't even know that Deen had a sister. This made me only realize how small the world is. From all the people in the world, that girl turned out to be Jannah Ziani. I would have never guessed it, if it wasn't for her eyes. Did she recognize me? Did she even see me at those times?

Amine's flashback

I hurriedly packed my things to get out of this classroom. It was almost time to train at my football club so I better hurry. My coach doesn't like late comers. I went down the stairs and rushed out. I still had to go through the park to get home fast as it was the shortcut.

Suddenly my eyes locked with a girl. As she glanced at me, her laughter subsided into a slight smile. It was then that she shyly looked away. As for me, I still stood there waiting for here to look at me again. Hoping that I would see those eyes again. An odd feeling came over me.

Back to now

A small smile covered my mouth as I thought back about these times. I can clearly remember that my training didn't go well that day as her eyes haunted me. 'You have that creepy smile again on your face.' Naoufal brought me back to reality.

'It's just, I never thought that I would see her again. And now that she is back, I don't know what to do. She doesn't even remember me and probably never thought that way about me.' 'You can't know that until you talk to her.' 'She probably hates me.' I said while remembering what I told her at her house and the library. 'Why would you think that?' I looked over at Naoufal while sighing.

'I might have ruined the first impressions.' I told Naoufal everything about my silly comments and being at the house of the Ziani's. 'Wait, Mohammed Ziani likes you? Deen's father?' I looked confused at him. 'Yeah, that's what he said why?' 'You really have to put a lot of work into impressing Mohammed Ziani as he doesn't like everyone that fast. I can remember that someone wanted to marry Jannah some years ago. He literally did a whole research to find out who that guy was. It turned out that he only wanted to marry Jannah so that he could avoid marrying another girl who was pregnant.'

My fists clutched. Anger overtook me. 'Who was that?' Naoufal broke out laughing. 'Will you go to him and ask why he wanted to marry Jannah?' he said while still laughing. 'Obviously, I don't know why you're laughing.' 'Bro, this was years ago. He probably ended up marrying that girl as Mohammed Ziani really made sure to tell his parents.' Still, why did he dare to ask Jannah's hand in marriage?

'I never thought you to be the jealous type.' I looked over at Naoufal. 'Why would you think that?' 'No nothing, just saying. I think you should consider asking her hand in marriage. Your obsession over her has lasted a long time. It's time to take some real action, don't you think?' 'Let's focus on your own wedding first.'