Chapter ten: Christina

Christina:

When Christina woke up, she was feeling very tired and her head was aching terribly,since her big challenge with Hassan and arguing , she was always waking up every morning with this head ache and tiredness , her nerves were alert , her sleeping became a rarity , her total balance and life were not in order , her aunty was too much worried, this girl is her only remaining treasure of her family,she was the reason that makes her still loving life after her aging and boring , they talked , but the girl was always keeping silent or creating ridiculous reasons , she at last decided to refuge to the church , may be the bishop could guide her or help with solutions. The aunty came into the church reception s hall, she met three priests sitting and chatting , she looked at their elder and said : would you please tel me where may I find father Emanuel , the man stood up welcoming her presence and he asked her to follow, they reached a closed door, the priest knocked and a deep voice told him to come in , they both entered into a big office where the bishop was sitting revising some papers in front of him , upon seeing the lady , the bishop stood up and welcomed her with open arms, the priest saluted and left , the bishop asked the lady to take a seat and he rang a bell , a small boy appeared, the bishop asked the lady wether she prefer to share with him a nice fresh juice, but she thanked him saying that she prefers a Turkish caffe . After exchanging words of greetings , the lady : I'm sorry to interrupt you from your business, but I have something very important , my daughter is suffering from something I don't know what, i took her to doctors ; they all said that she is ok physically and she has no apparent diseases, I suspect something related to a bad eyes or some bad spirits,I came to ask you to help me with any mean of prayers or icon that could help , the man looked up thinking then he called again with his ring , a secretary appeared , he asked her to call brother Massimo immediately, he smiled at the lady and said : Massimo is our best brother who knows how to deal with bad eyes, devils,bad spirits or whatever of these kind , the lady smiled and she started to watch around her , waiting the coming of the so called Massimo, she noticed how very luxurious was the bishop s office , it was rather a big hall very well furnished of all types of treasures, the desk the bishop was using , is a piece of art by itself that can't be found except in offices of kings and sultans, the paintings covering all over the wall mostly representing Jesus Christ alone or with apostles , other paintings were of the holy lady; the virgin, more paintings were of some saints ; like santo George; the living , riding a holy horse with a long arm in his hand , killing the devil dragon , she started to compare this luxury with the misery in the houses of poor Christians ; she was visiting for help , she was still in her dreams when the door banged and a young priest appeared in front of her eyes saluting with respect , the lady , for the first moment didn't recognize the man in front of her, she was still there with her imagination, when the voice of the bishop awakened her, introducing hot her the priest Massimo, when she looked with a smile at father Massimo , she noticed a golden chain that ends with an icon , decorating his neck, the icon was familiar to her, so she stood up suddenly and approached the man , stood in front of him , held the icon in her hand and looked intently at its designs , her face became white yellow, her hands and feet were shaking and trembling while she was holding that icon, she demanded with deep scaring voice the priest: from where did you get this medals? the bishop was surprised of the way she was talking,she was almost screaming , he asked her: anything wrong my lady ? but she didn't care about the asking bishop , she repeated her question this time , but with a scream : from any devil did you get this icon tel me now ? the priest afraid and yellow face : this is a gift from my brother in my birthday, the lady directed her voice to the bishop in a direct order : call right now the police ; this chain and the icon are of my late brother , he was wearing them the day of that horrible crime , the bishop stood on his feet trying to take control of the situation, he was bewildered and surprised; his face was yellow like death itself , he said in a faint hoarse voice: what are you saying, my lady ? But she didn't turn her eyes from the fainted priest who was about to collapse to the ground from his scare and fear , the lady said : this is a crime that had taken my dearest brother and his family do you understand ? The bishop trying to be in control said : remember my lady that you are in the presence of the patriarch s help and in the church of the glory Christ, you can't direct this horrible accuses to our priests easily , anger and madness appeared on the lady s face , she looked at the bishop mocking and warning then cried: will you shut up your dirty shit mouth , you thieves and sons of satan, do you think that I believe in your purity or your devotion to god or Jesus , I'm not a damn stupid like these sheep that you betray and cheat everyday , your nasty scents filled our noses for long time and your stories of molesting women and girls are stories we memorize everywhere , the bishop was silent to death , the screaming voices reached the priests and nuns , they gathered near the bishop s office to listen to what was going on , the bishop became sure that the coming shame will be worse if he didn't take immediate control , knowing for sure that this lady is very potent and dangerous to face or challenge , her family was of the most influential in the city, their connections are with the ruling and high authorities , immediate action should be taken or the story will reach the patriarch himself , he said in a low voice: are you serious my lady to let the Antichrist to come here into our church? The lady furious and mad : who are the antichrist in your opinion ? The Turks ! Don't you know that the Muslim believe in Christ and his mother more than what you do? While you make secret connections with the Greeks ; our enemies ! Or we may say the Serbs too , when they both are killing our sons and brothers now, I'm a Christian and an ottoman person , but I'm not a traitor or killer of my country s men , I advise you without any delay to call now the police or I'll consider you a partner in my brother and family s crime , I will go by myself to get a guarantee of arrest against you and your supposed partners ; I want you right now to give me this chain and the icon immediately, the two men were frozen like statues , the bishop pointed to the priest to take off the chain , the man did immediately and gave it to his superior , the bishop wrapped the chain into a rag of silk and gave it without a word to the lady , she took the chain and put it into her handbag then she looked at the bishop and said : I'll be back soon , keep this criminal in custody til I come back and she left .

That very day a committee of clergymen headed by a reverend were on the gate of the lady s house , with them was the bishop and the priest , the maids led the men into the big hall where the lady receives her big guests, the lady Maria and her niece were waiting there sitting on their chairs , the reverend started to talk about the lady s family and their history , their permanent contributions and help to the church and the poor community of Christians , he mentioned the big sorrow and anger that the patriarch and his surroundings were having after the ugly crime that affected her family, promising that the church under the patriarch guide will make even the impossible to reach the actual criminals , he just asked her to give them three days to uncover the whole story , lady Mary looked at the reverend with a serious and mocking look, she was knowledgeable with the tricks that the church uses always to cover its men, the dirty and nasty stories of the clergy and the priests or nuns , are very well known to everyone, but always the criminals remain untouchable, Christina who was sitting beside her aunty was too aware of these dirty tales and stories , many poor women came to their house telling her aunty about the atrocity and elusive means the men of the church were using to make the poor widows and girls surrender to their lust and desires , she was feeling sorry that these dirty types represented Jesus and his pure virgin mother , she was repeating into herself: purity can't be represented by rascals and virginity can't be represented by adulterous, she remembered her sweetheart hassan when they were discussing and conversing about islam and Christianity , when the voice of her aunty awakened her , the lady was angry and furious , she refused under any means to wait more than a direct charge, she told the reverend: tel his highness , the patriarch that I give the church only three hours or the case will reach the high door and the sultan too , Christina talked for the first time and said : in three days the criminals will reach America , their crime will be covered and they will find a poor to pay their crime . The reverend looked with a worried look at the two ladies and said: please give us until the midnight of today promising that all the truth will be on your desk , , the aunty responded with a mocking smile: not one hour more than that , or I'll make a direct charge against the whole church and the patriarch in person , the men all raised up from their seats and they all left the house silently . Before midnight comes , a group of policemen were on the gate of the lady Maria knocking on her door , the first higher inspector of Istanbul department was the leader of the committee, the maid led the policemen to the waiting room when the lady came down with her niece in her company , the high inspector saluted the two ladies with big respect, they all took their seats, coffee was served to all , the inspector colonel Hamid as he introduced himself , informed the two ladies that the whole band of criminals were arrested by the police department , waiting for detections and inspections to be completed tomorrow or mostly within two days . The next day in front of the head department of the police of Istanbul , a big gathering of people were gathered outside the building , the crime was for long time a deep secret and a mystery that occupied the public and the authorities for a long time , even after more than twelve years of the crime , the horrible crime was still present in their memory, the police searched a lot of suspected houses and monasteries, churches were not excluded from inspection with a direct order and permission from the patriarch in person, no cover was left for any clergyman including the patriarch himself if needed , the crime was not a simple crime or theft , it was a crime related to the national security , the father Massimo, a priest in his thirty seventh old , confessed the name of all his partners , pretending that he was only sharing in watching and following the moves of the victims to inform the killer about them , the committee that took part in the crime was a large number of men , including politicians, killers, clergymen, the ottoman police used harsh methods in pressures over the criminals til the whole truth was uncovered. The victims: Christina s father . The father was an artist and a merchant , specialist in the old arts of Roman, Byzantine , Greek and Ottoman, his main interests were , paintings , statues, and gold or jewels art crafts , he had a wide relationships in the Ottoman Empire, Balkan , Germany, France, Spain and Portugal , Italy , Russia , he was a permanent traveler to museums,old castles, old cities , art galleries and new discovers sites to make inspections or to evaluate pieces of art , his relationship was so strong with ruling parties and politicians in so many countries, a routine attendant of parties and saloons where secrets were exchanged usually, having various relationships with ladies of diverse nationalities, women for him were very precious source for secrets , his large knowledge of secrets and calamities created for him a large number of enemies whose shames and scandals , were part of his secrets that he sometimes use as a tool to make big bargains and huge profits, one of his mistresses murmured in his ears that a committee of Turkish clergymen was having secret connections and relationships with Greek and Serbian authorities to uncover national and military secrets of the Ottomans , the traitors were a group of politicians and clergymen in the Istanbul church, the man was a merchant looking for profits by any means , but he was a fanatic loyal to his country, his patriarch and his sultan , the conspiracy was targeting the patriarch of Istanbul too for the sake of the patriarchy of Athens , the news was astonishing to his ears, he decided to talk directly to the high authorities in the Istanbul church to avoid the spreading of the scandals that may hurt the church and the Christians in his country, but unfortunately, he met the wrong persons to confess his fears , the traitors were alarmed that their conspiracy was to be uncovered and the news may reach the high authorities including the patriarch, the committee held a secret assembly and decided to eliminate the poor man before news reach the authorities, they called after a band of killers offering huge amounts of money as a payment for the crime , the team that was concerned with planning, was composed of politicians and clergymen of high degree , the executioners of the crime were very known expert criminals , the planners made a false notice about a new discovery of artistic handcrafts and statues in Greece that need an expert evaluation of the new treasure , notes were sent to the poor man to come urgently to the site of the treasure near Athena , the man decided to travel with his family, his wife and his daughter to achieve his job then to give them a nice trip with him , the small girl, Christina was ill those days and suffering of a fever , so the man was obliged to leave her in Istanbul with her aunty and travel with his wife only , some of his men were following him in that trip, one of these men sold his master , selling information to the killers about his master s movement, he was promised to get a share of the theft pretending that it is only a theft operation and no killing would take part , the group of travelers were stopped in an isolated part in the road, the poor man and his wife were killed immediately and the traitor maid convinced the other two maids to run away , otherwise , they all will be accused of the horrific crime the crime was supposed to look like a crime for theft to divert the attention away from any other suspect , the committee of inspectors and detectives was composed oh very high levels of experts , the crime discovery attracted the attention of the highest authorities , the crime became a national crime not only a simple theft and crime , all of of involved personalities in the crime were arrested except two persons were absent outside Istanbul , they run away when news reached their ears , the head master of the killers was killed by his men who accused him of corporations with the authorities to handle the whole band , a paid killer killed him in front the gate of the police department when he was arrested and the killer was shot killed directly by the police after a short exchange of fires . The church removed her hands from any person under suspect ir connection with that horrible crime , the patriarch made an announcement of his direct support of any severe punishment the authorities find suitable to the traitors . The next day of the final judgements on the criminals , Christina woke up light and happy not as usual , she rushed to her her bathroom to take a fresh shower then she entered the kitchen to order the head maid to prepare her a nice breakfast that she decided to take in the villa s garden , telling her to call after her aunty to join her there to take their delicious breakfast together . Waiting for her aunty to come , Christina was enjoying that fresh morning with the music of birds on the trees , her thought went far to Hassa , where is he he now ? What is he doing? Was he thinking about her as she is doing now ? suddenly the doorbell rang and Christina decided to open the gate herself crying to the maid : I'll open the gate just you prepare the table , she opened the gate and a big surprise frozen her immediately, in front of her was the face of Hassan and an old man standing there on their gate , Hassan on his part too was looking like a dreamer , he didn't believe his eyes , his Christina, in blood and flesh was standing in front of him , the old man who was in Hassan s company , was his uncle the admiral , the man came in the early morning to his brother s house asking Hassan in a military voice to prepare himself to accompany him to a private visit , saying that he is now an old man who needs always a company to be beside him pretending that he doesn't like to take maids or servants with him in very private and personal visits preferring his nephew to be his company , the old man responded to a pleading from Hassan s mother to interfere because as she said , her son became very strange and nervous after his break with Christina, when she mentioned the girl identity, the admiral was surprised and he told the mother that the family of the girl are very close friends of him the aunty was a schoolmate and an ex love story in his life , but some accidents separated the two loving birds . The mother of Hassan didn't have any idea about the previous relationship of her brother in law with Christina s family and she was surprised when he told her if that when she was telling him about the story of Hassan and Christina and he too was surprised when he knew the identity of the sweetheart of his nephew , so he decided to interfere immediately and that was too a chance for him to see his ex too . The two love birds were still frozen looking at each other, the admiral was looking at them both amazed then he said : ti seems to me that you know each other very well ! This is a very lovely surprise ! Then he looked at Christina and said : you must be Christina, the daughter of my late friend Makarios ? , would you please call your aunty Maria and tel her that admiral Ihsan Hassan Iglo is waiting for her, Christina awaken from her surprised welcomed their visitors to the garden and she hurried to her aunty to inform her about her guest , before she leaves , she looked at Hassan with a look full of love and nostalgia, these looks didn't miss the admiral alert eyes, he looked

at his nephew who was now full red face, it looks of joy were apparent on his face, the admiral looked at Hassan and said: you little fox , you know very well this girl without telling me about her! Hassan agitated: she is a family friend , she knows my sister Fawzya and mum , the admiral: what about you? Hassan: I know her too , but, Hassan said : how do you know them uncle? The old man said: a long story , you'll hear about it soon . When the lady Maria heard the name of her visitors, she changed again her clothes, she put a silky robe , white and rose color, and she hurried to the garden to receive her guest , when she saw the admiral , she opened her arms and hugged the admiral the way a lover hugs his sweetheart saying : Ihsan , a long time passes and we didn't meet , the admiral : you know honey , politics and other affairs had taken me from you my love , the face of lady Maria became rosy when she heard the old man calls her"my love" , that made Hassan and Christina both laugh , Christina: it seems that you both know each other very close ! Lady Maria without any hesitation replied: yes it is very true , Ihsan was the first love in my life , he was my best friend and schoolmate and he is still the same , The admiral: sure and you are too the same for me , the darling of my life , shock and surprise were on the faces of Hassan and Christina, Hassan looked smiling at Christina and he winked her and said: it seems to me my uncle that you are a closet full of secrets , the old man smiled and said : it is a long and beautiful story , you may tel one day to your children, winking the two young in front of him , me and Maria are grown up and lives in the same area , studying in the same school , we were like two love birds , never separated from each other , but something happened unexpectedly to us , we were separated suddenly without any notice , Maria suddenly traveled to Paris , Maria , that trip was too a surprise for me that daddy prepared , the whole issue was done within only one night , my father came home in that evening telling me : tomorrow you'll be leaving to Paris , I was speechless and surprised, he didn't give even a chance to send a note , he took my in the early morning to the train station , where our languages were all already already stationed and we left soon like in a nightmare , my father on the road started to tel me his non logical reasons that didn't convince me, saying that he planned that before , but he forgot to tel me about it , he registered me in a boarding school in Paris where he had an office for his business, he said that the Parisian schools are much better than of those ottoman s and so on , every time I remember those days my heart beats of sorrow for our unexpected separation. Christina was listening intently to her aunty s story , tears started to gather in her eyes , her aunty saw the gathering tears and she rushed to hug her niece tenderly saying : i m not telling you this story to disturb you honey, , Christina: you are right , but your story is very touching , the aunty took a deep breath saying : yes it was a tragedy for me in that time , I was spending my entire free time in the beautiful French prairies , among the flowers and birds , on hills and valleys, taking to flowers and sky in the day and to stars in the night til I got introduced to your uncle Rene , he became my only and best friend in that foreign country , I lived long life in France , but I never felt home except in Istanbul , this city is my home and it will be my grave s land too , Christina: please aunty don't mention that , the old lady went on : we got married , me and Rene , but we could not make children , never we asked whose mistake s was , we accepted our fate as it is , Christina: but you did returned to Istanbul , did you forget each other;you and Mr Ihsan ? The admiral : off course not , after her absence, I joined the marines and I spent my days in the sea , in battles and confrontations with our rivals and enemies til I met too with my late wife Nazek who knew how to heal my hearts injuries with her love and tender , she gave a son who gave me too his sons, it unfortunately, he died in the field if honors, defending his nation ,aunty Maria: we met again later , in so many social occasions , I was following always his news throughout mutual friends, and he was too , the admiral looked at Maria and said: we forgot our customs talking about ourself , he pointed to Hassan and said : Anna Maria I had forgotten to introduce to you my niece, the officer in the marines , Hassan , Hassan: I'm not yet an officer uncle, the admiral laughing : three or four month won't make a difference honey , the aunty greeted Hassan and looked at her niece saying: my self tells me that you and this nice looking gentleman know each other , Christina smiling: Hassan is the brother of fawzya and the son of lady zahraa your friend , the aunty smiling : really , how is your mum, we didn't meet for a long time , your mum told me about having young sons , but I didn't imagine that they are so nice and gentle as I see now besides I didn't know that you are the niece of my darling Ihsan, it never came to my mind that your father was Ihsan s brother and never thought about it or asked because simply I didn't know anything about Ihsan family,she looked at Hassan smiling and added: but is seems that there is something special between you two , ami mistaken or what? Hassan for a second felt worried that their relationship will come under lights and may lead to a catastrophic consequences,but Christina looked into his eyes like saying: ok , it is time , let everything becomes openly clear, no more secrets , the old words man was surprised looking at her niece and Hassan, one by one , but her looks were of worry not of anger , they both kept silent and at last the old woman exploded screaming: Christina, my darling , you are hiding from your loving aunty? ! I'm very afraid honey that you too come through what we suffered, I don't want you , my most precious thing in my world, to pass or feel my pain in the same way, Christina remained silent again while her looks were burning looking at Hassan and her face red like a mature red melon, Hassan was entirely embarrassed and agitated with feelings of guilt and fear , he gathered what was left of his courage and said: actually, we are having a story for a long time ago , but we are now separated, the old man smiled for his nephew courage and honesty , but the old woman face was full of anger ; she addressed her niece : how do you hide that Christina, me , your trusting aunty , your only person who cares about you in this wicked world, why Christina? why honey? , the old gentleman spoke with a smile: calm down Maria , wait honey and let's check the core of their story then he added: ok young guys , we told the details of our story , it is time now to tell us yours too , Hassan looked at Christina as asking her to help, he was feeling deep embarrassment because he had hidden his affairs away from his uncle who consider him as a close son and friend in the same time, but for his surprise, he found her looking at him with a wide smile like saying: no use to hide ourselves anymore, all became clear now, the things came to our favor now through two close persons who suffered the same story that we have , aunty maria was still looking with surprise and wonder at them all , she said to the admiral with some annoying: Ihsan, you know that story before although that you know who is Christina for me ?! The old man laughed and said: not for longtime honey , just yesterday and not before, he addressed his nephew and said: ok our hero, let's start from the first beginning, with all boring details , Hassan being composed and returning his self confidence, started to tel them how they came to meet and to get along , starting from their first accidental meeting in the drugstore til their last arguing and conflicts regarding their faith and religion, the old aunty with an artificial voice screamed at him: you want to kidnap my niece from her church to your mosque ?! Hassan didn't understand that the old woman was joking and he felt embarrassed til Christina laughed and clarified: my aunty is joking with your nerves and that is clear from her face, but sometimes you don't read well faces and you don't see what is clear , like criticizing him, he smiled and looked at Christina as saying : I'm sorry then he looked at the aunty and said: what do you think about it, aunty? The old woman was happy that Hassan was calling her"aunty", she pretending again a false anger adding: it is not easy as you think my boy, you can't kidnap my only treasure the way your uncle was planning to kidnap me, the old man laughed saying : your father failed my plans, who is going now to betray may nephew and fail his ? The aunty smiling : nobody will , on my body , she added: these bastards deprived my girl from her mother and her father , who thinks anymore that I care about kidnapping their sheep to your mosque ?! They all laughed if her remark. The admiral added: to be fair honey , the traitors who conspired against your family , conspired too against the Ottoman s church in the same time , the aunty with a big anger: all these bastards are alike, they filtrate the news to protect their colleagues from justice and punishment, didn't you hear what our lord Jesus says : from their fruits , you know them, they are all fruits of the devil , but punishment of the great god won't leave them free , Christina: we discussed for long time that issue regarding our lord Jesus , Hassan is too much attached to Jesus Christ and his holy mother , but according to the Koran point of view, I am personally convinced that Jesus is not more than a human being and a great prophet, but converting to the Islamic faith was a problem for me , the aunty: off course honey, we lived for hundreds of years among our brothers ; the Muslims, and we all know how much they live our lord Jesus , Christina: my big fear was you especially, I was afraid that could become mad with me if I tried to convert or change faith , the aunty smiling: honey , your present faith is not too far from that all Muslims embracing, Christina: that is true , but I was afraid because if you, you are my everything in this life and I can't ever support your anger and confrontation with me , the old woman raised up from her seat and hugged her niece saying: not anymore honey , I'm not your only everything in this life , now you have this wonderful gentleman on your side too , he will fill your life of joy as his uncle was filling one day my life too , the admiral smiling: not only one day honey , I will ever fill your life with joy and happiness, they all laughed a lot , the aunty smiling: what is important for me now that you two find your love again and never lose what me and Ihsan lost one day , to stay together , she looked at her niece and said: to be a Christian or to convert to Islam is not anymore of my concern honey and not the concern of anybody else in this world , I'll stand by you to the last breathing in my life even if I have to make a war with the church and all my society , but I want you and this nice gentleman to do one thing for my sake, both Christina and Hassan cried in the same time : what is that?, she said smiling: to get married as soon as possible and to live here with me in my villa because I can't live anymore away from you . Hassan: but we didn't reach yet a compromise , me and Christina ! The admiral interfered: what do you mean young man , are you trying to put the stones on your road ?! It is enough that this wonderful lovely girl confessing her deep belief in Jesus as a human being and confessing her deep love too towards our prophet, she said in her own lips that her respect to the Islamic faith is great , that all is not enough for you , if she believes and witness that Mohammad is a messaged of Allah and Allah is the only creator and mighty in this world, what do you want more, are you trying to create some artificial problems to run away from your commitments ?! It is not necessary to tel the whole world of her faith, enough my son that you and she and we row as witnesses, know that , Hassan, but the children uncle? The admiral almost angry : what about the children my son, the children according to law ; follow their father faith , what is more do you want ? Or just you are a trouble maker ! Hassan looked at Christina who said: yes , I witness that Allah is unique and our master Mohammad is his prophet, the aunty raised up and said: me I'm a witness and the admiral too and she hugged her niece , the old man said: all what remains now , is to determine the date of your weeding, the house is ready ; me and my brother, we bought a lovely villa a long time ago for Hassan, the lady should take care of furnishing the way she liked and it is all settled now , the aunty retaliated with anger: my great lord Mr admiral , I agreed for everything that you and your nephew suggested and now you want to kidnap her from her niche too, the old man smiling : what do you think of kidnapping me instead of her, you give your girl to my son and my son give me to you, is not a good bargain , the two young started to laugh while aunty Maria remained frozen with surprise for minutes then she turned her face to the admiral and said with a soft voice: are you joking Ihsan , I can't support any more Jon's and surprises today , the admiral smiling : this idea has come to me right now , I'm alone and you are too , why don't we gather the two lonely hearts to make a couple , the aunty with a red face said: please Ihsan , no more jokes , the admiral knelt down on his knees and said : will you marry me my life princess with these two being our witnesses,Hassan and Christina were bewildered and surprised, Hassan started to clap his hands and whistle , while Christina started to cry with joy, the old aunty was frozen like a statue ; her lips willing to say something , but all swords were frozen too , her eyes brightening and fixed at the admiral face , Christina waves her hands in front t of her aunty face screaming/ aunty wake up , where are you , Hassan smiling while the lady led man was still waiting on his knees , she did not utter a word and Christina cried again : aunty , tears came down from the old woman s eyes moving on her checks, she at last said : this day and this moment, I was waiting for the whole of my life, my dreams of every night , Christina laughed and said : here your dreams come true , ok , now , will you agree to the man pleading , he is tired kneeling and waiting for your yes, the aunty put her two hands on the admirals face and said: sure for the rest of my life , honey , the admiral raised up and hugged his old sweetheart , he kissed the tears on her face and said : we'll have a double weeding , one for the young's and the other for the olds . Date for the weddings were Agreed on and they agreed to check with the adjoining house s owner , that was deserted for long rime , if it was for sale so Hassan. Oils buy to restore to be the house for the two young birds of love, the house was a lovely villa deserted after the death of its old owner , the plan was to restore and refurbish it then to remove the wall that divide the two villas to remain like a one . Hassan surprising decision to get married was a lovely surprise to the whole family and friends especially his close , Abdul and Jamil . Preparation for the happy day were hot , the weeding ceremony was to be held in the admiral big castle. The day came and the guests were filling the gardens and the lobbies , it was rather a festival more than a weeding day, the guest were more than three thousands , more than five hundreds of marines and officers of the army were present with their wives, sons and daughters , all in their military nice costumes , decorated with medals according their o their ranks and achievements, the medals were shining under the setting sun of that summer s evening , huge candela and lanterns were spread in the gardens and the lobbies , and a frantic rivalry was clear among the young men and women to show their beauty and elegance, it was a rare opportunity to be introduced to new faces and sweethearts. The seats reserved for the grooms were decorated with roses and flowers, empty waiting for their celebrated occupants to come , the family of the groom was supposed to go to the house of the bride to accompany her with her family to the location of the weeding , some others were preferring to bring the groom first with his family then they all wait to the bride to come with her family , the admiral with his niece had decided to choose the first option , since the parents of the bride were dead , a large band of musicians followed the caravan that headed to the brides villa , carts and chariots led by beautiful horses stood in front of the brides house and music started to play , the two grooms went inside the villa and came out with their brides on their elbows , when they reached the gates , both carried their brides on their strong hands among laughs and whistles of the present young's . The palace main garden was full of chairs , the inside lobbies were full of women while men took their places in the wide gardens , when the grooms appeared in the gates whistles and cries of joy filled the castle , the two grooms again carried their brides on their arms to their seats , Christina and her aunty were waving with joy and kisses to their guests , The legal ceremonies started , the imam who was supposed to make the marriage contracts , called the grooms and brides each by his name and the witnesses too , the first contract to be achieved was supposed to be for the admiral and his sweet Maria , but the old woman said : please start with my sweet Christina, adding: my pleasure ant be full until I see her married then come my turn after , the admiral agreed with a big smile , the admiral was given the honor to be the guardian of Hassan while Christina s guardian was one their family s elders , the ceremony started with the imam s lecture about the target of Islamic matrimony; focusing on the duties of the groom in front of his wife and the bride s obligations towards her husband , the two contracts were fulfilled among cries , whistles and congratulating, tables of foods, deserts , sweets of all types, fruits were laid and the whole guests took their parts , the arrangements made in the gardens separated the old generals and officers with the old guests from the young's , the young were given their private section , women and girls were inside the castles lobbies, young eyes were searching for the young girls wearing their best and last fashions , Abdul and Jamil took their seats not far from Hassan s , they were enjoying their time , chatting with Hassan's brothers and friends , but a dull eyes were gloomy with some sadness and worries , Hassan noticed very clear in his friend eyes , Hassan executed his bride and went straight to Abdul , who saw his best friend coming , Abdul and the rest raised from their seats to receive the young husband , Hassan greeted all with smiles and Higgs then asked Abdul to come with him , Hassan asking Abdul: what is worrying you today ? Abdul smiling : today is my best friend weeding why should I be worried ? Hassan: you know that I understand you very well , what is there ? Abdul : nothing really , but this ceremony reminded me with my family and my town , Hassan smiling: please , today I want you both , you and Jamil to be in your best just for my sake , Abdul : don't worry , we will entertain ourselves to the best . The atmosphere of the weeding was calm , laughters and some cries of entertainment rise from time to time , some small accidents happened, like someone falling from his seat among laughters from the onlookers , some maid tricked and fallen with the plaits contents on some guests with loud cries of apologizing and laughter of the audience , some girls passing by intend to fall to attract attention to see who cares and run for rescue . Abdul returned to his seat and Jamil received him asking : what secrets you and Hassan hide from me ? Abdul smiling, nothing serious ، he just wanted to be sure that we don't need anything , jamil : yes, I urgently now have a need and an important one , Abdul: what is that ? Jamil : nothing more than a bride that sits right new beside me, loves me and jokes with me , Abdul smiling : yours is not far, I saw her before minutes passing by with some of hers , jamil with a red face: who is that ? What do you mean by " yours" ? Abdul: the sunset girl off course, the two friends were chatting while Hassan was watching them intently, Abdul and Hassan exchanged some winks and signs that Jamil didn't notice , Hassan rose up and came to his friends side signing to Abdul to come , Abdul to Jamil arm and said: the groom is have some surprise for us , Hassan let's have a walk in the gardens , they walked together with Hassan greeting the guests passing on their tables, when they reached a large table that contained a family , Hassan started to chat with some of the family young men when Jamil noticed Layla , the girl of the sunset there , sitting with her sisters and brothers , the girl noticed too their presence , their nice marines costumes giving them more attractions to her eyes , their eyes met and passionate looks were exchanged, Hassan moved to talk with on the girl s brothers dragging Jamil behind him , Jamil found himself face to face with his girl , the two young remained silent , only smiles were talking , one the the cousins noticed the exchange of looks and smiles , she came to Layla and murmured in her ears: who is that nice looking officer, Layla surprised: just a friend of the groom s friend I met once in their house , the cousin: and who cares s that other nice fellow behind him , targeting at Abdul , Layla: I don't know him , I saw him before , but I don't know him , Jamil was waiting his girl to look at him again , but she didn't , Hassan came and dragged Jamil hand again saying: come brother , we have other guests to see , Jamil didn't want to move , but he yielded to his friend dragging hand , Hassan murmured in his ears : I'll manage everything for you just have trust in your brother planning mind , Hassan sister fawzya was near , her brother murmured something in her ears , she left smiling saying : today your wishes are orders my brother. Fawzya didn't hesitate to put her plan on fire , she called her friends to make a tour in the garden to greet the guests, they did and when they approached her family large table she said in a voice that her brother Hassan could hear well that she is going with her friend to watch the pool of fish , Hassan winked his sister and when the girls moved, Hassan invited his two friends to watch that pool saying : it is a wonderful sight under the moonlight and the light of lanterns , the three friends moved there , the water pool was so large and lanterns were put over to make the onlookers see well the fish swimming inside , the girls were standing watching the swimming fish brightening under the light when they move around , it was really a wonderful sight , Hassan planed to make Jamil stand at the end of their line and his sister managed too to make Layla stood at the same side that the two ends meet with Jamil on one end and Layla on the other , the two lines stood on opposite sides of the water pool watching the magic looking fish into the water ,the water pool was looking like a huge aquarium, all covered with brightening mirrors on the walls and the basement , the huge lights hooked over the pool were sending blazing lights that reflect on the walls and send the reflection into the water, the swimming fish in their movement look like magic in the magical tales of children , fish of different colors and size; yellow, gold, silver, rainbow s colors, Hassan was leading his group line while his sister was leading the girl's,they were moving slowly around the till the two lines meet at the where Jamil and Layla are standing , when the two young met , Layla started her chat, without turning her face, like talking to the fish, the darkness was enough to hide the silhouette of the the persons, but clear enough to recognize each other from a near distance, she asked Jamil about the coming battles and wether they will take part in some , Jamil didn't want to worry his girl, so he was giving elusive answers like , I don't know, maybe , trying to keep his composure calm and smiling, he said: the first day we met , I felt that we have a lot of things to share , like if we knew each other from the beginning of this world, like two alike souls, Layla: me too, I felt the same thing with you , Jamil : do you think that we have a little chance to keep along together? and things could be serious , like engagement and marriage? the girl s face became all red, she thanked the darkness the hided her face, her heart was blowing and pumping like a vapor motor, she said : I things that nothing is impossible if good intentions exist, what is important is the first stop that should be taken , Jamil heart was sinking , he said: but you know that I'm alone in this country, no family , no parents, Layla : I think that you could manage with your friend Hassan , he knows well how to find a solution, in this moment one of Layla friends interfered , she was asking her about things related to their mutual plans , Layla murmuring Jamil : we'll talk later and left , the two groups continued their watching then they all returned to their places , two weeks passed after Hassan s wedding, Hassan informed Jamil that he arranged a first meeting with Layla s brothers as a first introduction. Abdul death: The war started to be more intensive and the three young friends were obliged to spend more of their time on boats in the sea . Abdul; the martyr : the battles in the land and in the sea , became a daily news, the Ottoman s navy was very old and out of dates, some of them were refurbished by the Germans , Germany sent some of its experts to help the Ottoman s army and marines to supply their ships and frigates with modern tools , the ottomans were depending heavily on the Germans help , in the sea and the land , on the other sides the French and the English were supplied with the most modern ships and frigates. The weather was cloudy and the sea was very furious with high waves striking the moving Turkish ships in the Avian sea , the Turkish old cruiser was moving through the high waves with difficulty, the sight among the angry waves , was very poor , the cruiser was supplied with some German canons , recently imported from Germany, there were too some huge mines to plant is the surrounding small islands waters , the three friends were all on that fleet; abdul, Jamil and Hassan , the Turkish fleet was composed of four cruisers and two frigates; they were a mix of German and ottoman s navies , a group of foreign navies appeared not more than two miles from the Turkish -German fleet , the whole fleet was put in an extreme alert , when the two fleet were very clear near to each other , the battle started , the other fleet was. Common French - English fleet coming from the Greek bases , the two fleet started their bombardment against each other , noises of canons and explosions filled the sea , the orders to the Turkish -German s was to target the main frigate of their enemies, but ships and cruisers were targeting the nearest piece apparent of their enemies , the Turks and their allies the Germans could Sink two frigates of the opposite enemies pieces, some of other smaller boats were hurt badly too , one German frigate was badly shut and was about to sink , two cruisers were sunk and totally destroyed , the cruiser where the three friends were fighting, was shot with a direct anti ships tornado , the captain was trying to return Bach and flee to the nearest Turkish base , but the high waves made his trial an impossibility , the main engine was badly hurt , moving among these high waves with an engine almost not working , was impossible , water started to infiltrate into the sinking cruiser from the many holes cased by the enemy's bombs that the French frigate targeted against them , the captain made an immediate order to the whole crew and soldiers to leave immediately the ship , live boats were thrown into the water and the whole crew started to desert their sinking cruiser , Jamil and Hassan were together, they got a life boat with some of their comrades while Abdul was out of their sight , the started frantically on call his names , but their voices disappeared with the waves noises , they thought that he was taking another life boat with others , the life's boats started to move fast toward the rescue boats that came to help , the survivors all reached the rescue boats , tens of sailors and marines were laying on the boat s board , of of them injured from the explosions and bullets , all were soaked with the sea s water , Hassan and Jamil were desperately looking for Abdul among the surviving personalities, but for no use , the checked with everyone on board , but clear information was received, one of the marines said that he saw Abdul standing beside the cruiser captain who refused to desert his cruiser before securing that all his men were saved , the captain refused to leave his boat and the two of them , the captain and Abdul disappeared from sight after that , some of the persons were swimming into the high waves when they were thrown into the sea by the explosions and boats were trying to rescue them , the two friends were desperately wishing that Abdul. Oils be among these persons , when the surviving s reached the marine base , the officers started to call names to see who was saved and who was taken by the the waves , the atmosphere was very gloomy and cries of injured man are filling the hall , no news came about Abdul s existence or his body, Hassan and Jamil collapsed to the ground crying desperately, the soldiers and sailors were removed to hospitals and the safe persons were taken to their main base, orders were given to give three days free to the whole crew and marines , Hassan and Jamil were given one week free to recover from their shock, they talked with their superior for a free permission to share in the funeral ceremonies held for the martyrs and the lost , there were almost a fifty of martyrs , sailors and marines , some bodies were found and the majority were taken by the furious waves into the depth of the sea , coffins of martyrs were laid, most of them were empty , their owners were among the lost , Abdul included , on each coffin, name of the martyr was written , prayer for the presents and the absentee was held and all were buried in the military cemetery for martyrs , Hassan with the help of his uncle s relationships , could secure a permission to take Abdul personal coffin to his home town . Akkar: News and rumors were coming to the people in Syria about the escalating battles in the different fronts , mothers and fathers with families were wailing on their martyrs and lost sons , few of martyrs were brought home and the majority were buried in the battle fields or in remote cemeteries where they were killed , the families of the unfound soldiers were receiving only notes about their martyrs sons and men in the battles . Hassan prepared a small caravan to take the empty coffin of Abdul to his home town , Hassan and Jamil were given the grade as officers , they were supplied with a group of twenty five soldiers to accompany them in their trip to Abdul s town , they took a boat that landed them in tartus , the nearest ottoman port to akkar , from there they took the road among the mountains til the reached Akkar The old , the ex capital of Bani Saifa , the caravan reached the town with sunset , people gathered around the tired soldiers with wonder and suspicious look on their faces about the real reason about their sudden visit , but people saw the empty coffin , they understood that a new martyr was coming home , Hassan and leaders of the caravan asked about the leader of the town and the bid Agha ; Ahmed Melhem Al Saifa was called to receive the officers , they were ushered to the Agha main hall and when they were seated, the two friends introduced themselves to the Agha , they told him that they were appointed to bring the coffin of the martyr to his family , the Agha asked them about the martyr s name and Hassan presented to him Abdul marines identify card , when the Agha read his son s name in a loud voice to the presents , wails and cries started to rise in the main hall , few minutes the news was spread that the coffin was belonging to Abdul Gani , the Agha first born and son , the Agha was chocked, tears started to fall down from his tired face , but he was not crying , Hassan and Jamil were frozen from the noises and voices crying and wailing, many women gathered in the First Lady reception room and they were screaming and crying loudly , the Agha who kept his self composure , was angry and he rose up from his seat and directly he headed to the women lobby , he started to cry at the wailing women to stop their lousy cries and scream saying : today Allah with his mercy had given us a great gift with my martyr son , warning any wailing women to be fired immediately from from his house , Jamil and Hassan were surprised from the self composure the father showed , Jamil was crying , but hassan was more self composed, he started to talk in a good mastered arabic language about the martyrs and their high positions in paradise quoting verses from Koran and the profit s Hadfith , the big Agha was seated and listening carefully to hassan speech, repeating from time to time the same statements; Ina Lilah Wa ina Ilahi Rajeoun ; we are all belonging to Allah and we are all returning to him, when hassan finished his speech mentioning the name of the martyr Abdul Gani, he could not stop himself from crying , the whole presents were crying too , without wailing or screams afraid of the anger of the big man . When hassan and Jamil stopped their crying , the Agha addressed them asking: when the death happened and how , Jamil told hassan to be the speaker in their name , hassan narrated to the hurt man the whole story in the sea battle , telling the father that the body was not found and that the present coffin was just a symbol brought for the family , new tears started to fall from the old father , when the news reached the women inside that the body of Abdul was not found , a loud cry was heard from the women s lobby , Abdul mother wailed and made a scream of terror and she fainted down to the ground , the Agha hurried up to his wife telling the maids and some of their relatives to move her to her room , the hall was full with inquiring faces , the Main Street opposite to the Agha house was full of hundreds of people who came from all sides after the news were circulated , the Agha returned to his guest and among his tears , he started to chat with hassan about the tragedy and his son ; he asked hassan and Jamil about their personal relationship with his son, hassan told him that they were his closest friends and brothers , telling him about their life, trainings and lodging together , saying that were sorry to leave him go alone , wishing to join him soon on the road of martyrs , the two small death brothers of Abdul were feeling that something was wrong with their beloved brother , they understood something, but not the full truth , when their younger came to his weeping father asking: Agha , is Abdul now really dead and he will not come back to us? The Agha hugged the small child who was almost in his seven years old and said in a broken voice : Abdul now is there in paradise calling us to join him, the whole presents started to weep and to cry again, Hassan and Jamil understood that these two boys were a dull deaf brothers that he was telling them about , expressing his worries and nostalgia to hug them another times, the two boys approached Hasan and Jamil and they both hugged them with cries and tears . When nerves were calmed down , the two friends continued their story with Abdul during his staying in Istanbul , salonik and izmir, the Agha looked at them with tearing eyes and said: you are my sons now , Jamil pointed to Hassan: Hassan is a Turkish officer from an old family of generals and high officers , he told him that he is Syrian from Tripoli , Hassan told the Agha about his uncle the admiral who know the Agha and his late father , the Agha looked in surprise at Hassan and said : then your are the nephew of Ihsan Pasha ! , Hassan nodded with yes , the Agha said : you are now in your house , son , he called the head maid , telling her to prepare the to prepare the private room of Abdul to be their bedroom for that night , in that time the mother was already recovered , when she was told by the head maid about the Agha s orders , she was annoyed and she called after her husband to enquirer about his strange orders saying : this is Abdul private bedroom , to allow anybody to sleep in my son s room and bed?! The Agha smiled a faint smile and said: these two sons were like brother to our martyr, they shared with him everything, his loneliness, his food , his room, his laughs and cries , his bad times and good times , it is the less favor I may contribute to them , allowing them to stay in my son s room to give their brother the tone last good bye , they are now the guests of my son in his private room for the last time in their life , that night the two officers slept soundly in Abdul bedroom after long days of sleepless nights. The next morning before dawn , they heard the call for "Salah"; prayer, from the near mosque, they woke up to find two maids waiting for them to help and to guide them to the bathrooms and the near small fountain that was located inside the house yard , they purified and joined the Agha for praying in the mosque , after prayers, they sat again with the Agha telling him about his son and their mutual memories , Hassan told the Agha that he has seen Abdul the last night in his dream , he said : I saw him reciting the Koran then he came to me smiling with a bright face and he told me that he secured a seat in paradise , telling me to tell his friends and family that he is waiting for them all to come there , he added: he smiled to me saying: you took my place and my room tonight , but Allah gave me much better site and house; the paradise, the Agha cried silently and then hugged Hassan saying: thanks to Allah with this good news . The people filled every centimeters of the Agha house, the roads , the gardens around were all full of people coming from everywhere, the town , the neighboring villages, from Tripoli , Homs and any nearby place the news reached , men , women, children, old, they were all gathering there , women were given the most parts of the big house while men occupied only one hall with the streets and the backyards , the mother was sitting inside in her reception room on her side sat Abdul fiancé ; Fadila , the girl was silent with a face that looked like dead's , she was totally exhausted from crying and weeping, no more tears were left to cry anymore , her eyes were not around, they were fixed at nowhere , maybe there in that deep sea where the body of her sweetheart was left , the destroyed mother was trying her best to soothe the small heart of her son s sweetheart , they both were broken , but mothers heart are stronger to support in tragedies , grief and pains of mothers on their children can't be compared with any other pains or grief , but Allah had given mother a wonderful power to sustain and support . When the prayer of the midday s time came , hundreds and thousands from men made lines in the mosque and all the adjoining alleys or gardens , the Agha took the leadership to pray the absent prayer on his son Hassan and Jamil brought with them a marines suits given to them by the high military authorities to be put on his coffin, the suit was decorated with medals as a sign of his heroic action , after the prayer the Agha who was a fluent Speaker ; started to talk about martyrs and their holy sacrifice for the nation and the faith, their promised seats prepared for them in paradise stressing on the import of sacrifices to defend the nation against aggressors and enemies . The death of Abdul left Fadila in a total misery , she was moving like a spirit, sleepless most of her nights , nightmares didn't stop since the news exploded in her ears , her parents and family were helplessly trying to soothe or to help , but for no way , her mother was dying for her grief on her daughters , she didn't know what to do or how to behave with her daughter who stopped eating and sleeping til she was on the edge of death ,they mother refuged to Abdul s mother pleading for her help , Abdul s mother didn't hesitate , she told Fadila s mum to bring her to stay with her in the Agha house , Abdul s mother kept her eyes on her son s sweetheart , she was telling her about the profit s life and sufferings , his sons and daughters death one by one , his early orphanage and loneliness , no father, no mother,even his grandfather passed away , telling her about the prize prepared by Allah to the martyrs til the girl heart calmed down in the shoulders of her mother in law . Days were past and Abdul s mother fell sick with a great fever , Fadila was her daily and night nurse , Layla became stronger than before while Abdul s mother was fainting slowly day after day til she collapsed entirely , Fadila didn't move from the bed of her fainted mother in low , trying all medicines and herbs, cold water , washing the face of her sweetheart s mother , kissing her head , hands and feet , paying , crying for Allah mercy and pity , til the date came , when the mother felt that her hour came , she held the hands of Fadila telling her to bring her two small boys with Teri little brother child , the mother hugged them one by one telling them that she was going to paradise to join her son and their brother Abdul, the two boys cried loudly their dying mother and the small child follies them , they called after the Agha who hurried with a heavy heart , the mother was laying on Fadila lap , the Agha told Fadila to give him her place , he took his wife light body in his hands and he put her in his hug , crying like a child ; his cousin , his wife , the mother of his children and his life partner , the mother was loosing her senses for short times then she was coming back to reality , she told her husband that she is leaving her children as a custody in his hands and Fadila s hands too , telling him to take care of Fadila as his daughter , her last breath was : La Ilaha Ila Allah , Mohammad rasoul Allah and said then mother I'm coming and she died . Not more than three month , Fadila was seen for the last time leaving the town, nobody knew where she was going to , some said that she went to cure in a hospital , others said that she was married that went to live with some relatives in Egypt , other stories said that was married to a wealthy old Turkish man izmir in Turkish lands to be near her sweetheart s body that was left in the Mediterranean Sea . Wehbe's parents death: