When Skies Are Exposed

Chapter 8

Salaam
I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Tawfiq was right. They were onto him alright. They slipped and he caught on. He didn't know who was behind it but someone wanted to know about his life the last ten years. He was lucky he had wiped his tracks. Nothing in the records showed he was ever anywhere near America. He had to protect Naima and Karim even if it meant putting his head on the line.

He was laying low for now. He was walking at the beach dressed in formal clothing. He had just come back from a meeting with the UK ambassador to the Emirates. The man wanted to make more deals with them but he didn't see how the deals would benefit the Emirates yet. The beach looked magnificent and it made him think how much Naima would die to see something like that. He missed Naima. Damn... It hurt like hell waking up in his large bedroom suite without her.

He wanted to go back so badly but he had gotten himself too involved with stuff and he couldn't risk going back now since people were after him. He had another interview tomorrow with the same news station that Yasmine worked at. His mother just couldn't see the point could she?

He smiled a little and continued walking.

"You little a-hole. Bloody hell!" Someone screamed behind him. It was Salma. His adopted sister. He grinned wildly and let out a laugh as she ran towards him.

She jumped on him and if it wasn't for his strong balance they would have both fallen down. She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back. Salma was a little baby that was dropped in front of the palace one day when Tawfiq was 6 years. He had found her and had literally begged his mother to take her in. She obliged but made sure she was never around home. After she was old enough, Ayisha sent her to a boarding school in London. Since then Tawfiq had lost contact with her. Since she wasn't around when he first left the country.

"I missed you so much." She said in a thick British accent.

She finally let him go and he couldn't stop smiling. Apart from Farhana and Salim, Salma was his next favorite sibling. He never talked about her though. The only thing his mother wanted him to do when she accepted the baby.

'You can't tell anyone about her, okay. I will look after her and say she's the daughter of my cousin but when she is old she has to go. If people find out about her they will say we brought mixed blood into the family.'
Ayisha warned.

That is how come, no one ever, ever talked about her. Only a few people knew about her. That was how much his mother put the situation under wraps. It was like she was never here. Like she never existed.

"You didn't call. Or text or even sent a bloody damn letter. I come back home to find you've been away for bloody ten years." Salma gave him a look. He scratched behind his neck.

"You sure say a lot of bloody. And yh... I've been away. Had to deal with some stuffs. But it's all in the past now. Tell me. What's been going on in your life?" Tawfiq questioned. She laughed when Tawfiq commented on her use of 'bloody'

He took a quick look at her. She was older now. More mature. She wasn't wearing a hijab though. Never did. Tawfiq wouldn't say she was a committed Muslim, but she had a good heart. He hoped she'd see the right path one day.

"Nothing fancy. Just the usual. I did finish Medical school a few months ago. So yhh... But we can't talk here. What do you say? Dinner, tonight?" Salma asked.

"It would be my pleasure." Tawfiq nodded at her and said it in a British accent to which she laughed.

"You could pass off as one of the English men. Your accent is just on point." Salma noted.