Modest Kisses

Chapter Seven.

At first I thought I had to feign happiness, till I got used to pretending and it eventually would start to feel genuine. But as time passed, I realized the few times Nana or Ahmid made me laugh, I laughed whole heartedly and genuinely. They happened to be at every corner and ever turn I took, they were doing everything possible to avoid me begin alone.

Ahmid stayed at home most of the time with the excuse of 'nothing that needed his attention was happening lately', but on times I'd woken early, I'd see his stressed silhouette in his office over the phone or sorting through paperwork, and I didn't have to be smart to know he hadn't slept. And not so surprisingly, Nana had been staying with us for the past two weeks, she said her daughter had gone back to Japan and she was alone. And I obviously believed because it definitely had nothing to do with Ahmid and winning me back.

I had come to know quite a handful about Ahmid, first that he was a workaholic, and realizing that made me feel all mushy on the inside, considering he sacrificed working during the day time to spend time with me. He tied his neck tie in a really awkward way, he was a sucker for boxing, he didn't care too much about football, he doesn't have a favorite color or favorite food, he hates pranks of any kind he hated seeing them done on people and he most definitely doesn't like it done on him. He takes turmeric with practically everything. He hardly gets emotional, only a few things disturbed his calm demeanor, he was very ticklish. And that he met Yousef in his first year at university and they've been inseparable since then.

My room was a mess, I couldn't even see a space on the bed or the floor. My clothes were everywhere but the closet. All I needed was for nana to walk in, and she would scold me like the 19 year old I was not even thinking that I was married. And as if hearing my thought my door opened revealing a very tired looking Nana, with a flour coated apron tied expertly around her.

"Oh my God, what war happened here?" she screeched, and I winced . And before I knew it, she bent down and was already picking up the clothes on the floor and dumping them on an already formed heap on my bed.

"Why is your whole wardrobe on the floor?" she asked without pausing

"Classes start next Monday, I don't know what to wear, I don't even think I have what to wear" I answered, as I bent down to help her help me.

"But aren't these clothes?, just choose something from among these" she replied as she threw a veil on the heap.

"Everything here is too womanly, and married looking. Definitely not suitable for university especially when I am not even twenty" I groaned.

"Then go and tell Ahmid" she said putting the last of the clothes on the heap. Yeah, she was right. But I didn't want to start asking Ahmid for things, I saw it too early. Considering he was already doing a lot for me. I felt like I was overusing privileges. It wasn't like I didn't have clothes, I just didn't like them. With that thought in mind, I replied.

"True, I could just tell him I wanted to start working, I definitely need my own source of income, I mean, I don't need to wait around for Ahmid" I said as I walked to the door and quitting the room, not giving Nana the opportunity to convince me or say anything in reply.

He wasn't in his room, and he wasn't in the sitting room either, that left one last option. His office. The door was ajar, but I still knocked anyway, and waited for his reply.

"Come in" he said, as I slightly pushed the door open. He was sitting on the chair behind the huge mahogany vintage office table, he looked stressed and tired, nevertheless handsome, he was wearing a black body hug T shirt but I couldn't see what he wore as bottoms. His hair was disheveled and pointed at every direction, but in some way, it made him look handsome in an exhausted way, if that even makes sense. I had his whole attention, as I walked in and sat on the seat opposite him, folding my legs and making myself very comfortable.