chapter 27

Its been three days since the fight between farida and fahad. Not a day passed that she would not regret her uncivil behavior that day.

Later that day, she visited her therapist to find solutions to her anger issues, especially when a romantic relationship is involved. She figured her new feeling of hatred for love and that the closest relationship she could have with a nan is friendship.

Her therapist had told her that day, that she could be reacting to something that happened in the past, maybe she had once found herself in a situation where she had to choose between loving and hating someone whom she did not want to love. He said that although the memories were gone, her perceptions on the matter still remained in her mind and that could help her regain some memories of it.

On the third day after, the Ali family went for their vacation in Florida.

Farida booked one of the luxurious hotels for her family, it was close to the beach. Her parents complained about the expensive suit they booked, saying that she could have just chosen the cheaper hotels to save her from spending too much, but farida thought that could never be compared to what her parents had done for her.

"One day mom and Dad, I'll get you two a house that is greater than this suit." She said to them.

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"what do you say brother, let's meet up here and have some fun." Sudais said to afaan over the phone.

"I don't know brother, I still have a lot of work here. To make things worst, zaynerb is back to haunt me down, she's following me everywhere." Afaan said.

"Then make an escape plan." Sudais said.

"How. She's too clever. I'll just stay." Afaan said.

"I don't know, but Maryam is here. You can make your next move for a happy life." Sudais said.

"How did you even know she's there? You didn't go to Florida for business did you?" Afaan asked in disbelief.

"Who told you that? I just decided to kill two births with one stone. My business, and my love life. You should do the same." Sudais said proudly. Clearly, sudais knew that Farida was going to Florida for a vacation and decided to get there before her, so that it would not look as if he was stalking her.

"Fine, I'll think about it." Afaan said.

"Think wisely." Sudais said and hung up. Soon, his doorbell rang. He threw his phone on the bed and walked out barefooted. There was no need to put on his shoes, the marble floor was very neat and shiny.

When he got to the living room, he took a remote control from a classic glass stool and pressed the only button on it. Immediately, the grey curtains started to roll up by themselves, revealing the outstanding beauty of a white sand beach with a breathtaking panoramic Atlantic ocean view.

Sudais took another remote control from another stool by the door and pressed it and the door started to slide open, welcoming the guest whom sudais had already seen through the glass walls and see through door.

"Finally martan. I thought you decided to quit your job." Sudais said sarcastically.

" Forgive me sir, I got lost while coming here. " Martan replied.

" Didn't you use the GPS? " Sudais asked, collecting his delivery from his PA.

"I didn't come in my car sir. I took a taxi, my car got damaged."

"You know you could have asked for another one martan. " Sudais said as he peeled off the package.

" Sorry sir."

" It's fine, you can go and rest in the next suite beside mine. It's for you. " Sudais said and martan's eyes widened.

" For me sir, thank you so much." Martan said, unable to believe that he could ever stay in such a lavish glass building suite.

"You can invite your family, I'll send you the money." Sudais added and martan continued to thank him until sudais said he was embarrassing him.

Sudais locked the door with the same remote control as soon as martan left and rolled the curtains down. He took his laptop from a table and went up to sit on his private balcony. He tore the envelope and saw another smaller envelope and a disc. He looked at the pictures and saw Samar(the guy that was in the picture with Farida) and his friends, he didn't know how those pictures made sense but he played the CD. It was the CCTV footage he asked for months ago. It was Farida at the University, sitting on a bench outside of the facilities with a book in her hand. Suddenly, Samar came from nowhere and sat very close to her. She stood up immediately and went away, then the video ended so he clicked next.

The next was a video of Samar following Farida in the school lobby, she turned around and scolded him, she left and he laughed and pulled out his phone but there was no audio.

In the next video, Farida was walking to her car when Samar came from behind her and wrapped his hands around her waist, then she turned around and threw a slap across his face.

Sudais recognized that event in the picture that Samar had given to him on that unfortunate day and banged a hand on the table furiously. Afaan was right, he had accused her of something she didn't do willingly, it was indeed a set up.

Sudais almost cried as he let out a scream that martan heard from his own apartment. He took the whole bundle of the pictures, went back into his room and threw them across, the pictures scattered and fell one by one as sudais sat on his bed with face in his hand.

His phone rang from beside him on the bed and the caller's ID revealed martan's name. Sudais picked the call after contemplating whether or not to pick it and kept quiet, he didn't want martan to hear his voice breaking.

"Sir are you okay, I heard your scream." Martan said worriedly.

" Yes, I'm fine." Sudais said but martan could hear that he was not okay.

"Sir, please open the door."

Sudais sighed and went to the living room, he took the remote control and pressed it, then he went back to his room without waiting for Martan. Martan got in and locked the door, he proceeded to his boss's room and saw all the scattered pictures, that reminded him of that day.

Martan began to pack the pictures as sudais stared outside through the window.

"Take my phone and call Afaan." Sudais said to martan and he did it immediately.

The phone rang twice without answer but was answered on the third one.

"Have you missed me already?" Afaan began, but frowned when he heard martan's voice.

"Assalamu'alayka Mr Afaan, Mr sudais wanted me to call." He said, walking closer to sudais and handed him the phone.

Sudais did not want to make the call by himself because he didn't want to listen to the jokes Afaan would make immediately he answers the call.

"Please come to Florida tomorrow." Sudais said, it almost sounded like he was begging, making Afaan's frown deeper.

"Okay, I'll be there." Afaan said without questioning, he knew that sudais wasn't okay.

"I'll be there too!" A high pitched voice sounded from Afaan's side and sudais could not help but roll his eyes.

"You should wait for him in London zaynerb, it's an important matter." Sudais said, trying to save Afaan from her clutches. She was objecting when Afaan ended the call, he didn't want to hear anymore of her rants.

"Do you need me to stay here sir?" Martan asked his sad boss.

" Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just go and invite your family already." Sudais said and tried to assure the young man that he was fine.

" I have called them sir, they'll be here in two days." Martan said.

"Thankfully for you, I booked that suite for a month. You are free from work for the next four weeks." Sudais said and smiled a bit and martan thanked him gratefully.

The question to ask sudais what really happened was on the tip of his tongue, but martan had learned to mind his business since sudais always got offended when he's asked a personal question. He shared his problems only with his brother.

Martan left and sudais decided to take a stroll around the area and visit the place where Farida was staying with her family.

He changed his baggy boxers to a three-quarter grey trousers and a red t-shirt, with a grey Adidas slippers.

He walked around with an earpiece in one of his ears and his hands in his pockets. The young ladies and teenagers around the beach side admired the fine, eye-catching specimen as he stood tall, proud, confident and his upper arm muscles looked like they were going to rip his shirt off.

But sudais didn't mind. Obviously, he was not even in the mood to smile back at them. When he successfully crossed the street to the other side of the resort, he neared his destination and paused when he spotted it. It was not as lavish as his own suit, but it was luxurious too. The walls are also see through, he saw them in the living room. They were sitting down and eating something, but she was not among them. He saw her parents, Maryam and two little kids. He waited for a while until he saw her approaching the group with a tray in her hands.

He watched them laugh happily and wished she was sharing that joy with him instead. But he knew that if it wasn't for his foolishness and lack of self control, they would have been enjoying the beautiful vacation together.

When he saw that it was time for  magrib(evening prayer), he turned away and left, but he noticed that Ali had been watching him all along.

"That man has been watching us for more than an hour. He just left without saying hi." Ali said to his family when he saw sudais go away. They all turned to the direction and made curious faces. But his back was all too familiar to the only person who has shared the most intimate relationship with him, Farida stared at his back and wondered where she had seen it before

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