Chapter 9

Hi there lovely readers, I just wanted to thank you all for your great support wallah if it wasn't for you, I don't know who I'd be writing for. This chapter is going to be held in Qatar and so will my next few be to, enjoy x

“Please fasten your seatbelts as we are about to land in Doha’s international airport.”

After an extremely short plane ride we’ve finally reached our destination, I was scared and excited at the same time. I’m the type that loves meeting new people and going to a new place but I don’t know how my family back here are like, I just hope they’re fun Inshallah... I laid back there and watched the plane fly down and since it was dark, all I could see were flashing lights and a path. I thought of what my friends would be doing back in Kuwait right now, and M7mad of course… It wasn’t that easy saying bye to them, adri ena its just a short while bs we’re the type of friends y3ni we always get so gloomed up lma one of us travels aw shay… 

“7amdillah 3al salamah 7abibty, yalaah get up” I heard mama's whisper from the seat next to me since I was too sr7ana with the view from the window.

Here we go…

We grabbed our bags and headed towards the luggage to get our stuff and mama had lots of bags since she wasn’t coming back, ugh, I can’t believe how she’s holding up with this, y3ny 9ij ena her and baba have drifted away these days bs they’ve always loved each other, I always saw it in their eyes! Now, all I see is sadness and tears in her eyes which she tries hiding away all the time… The huge doors slid open and we were in some sort of path exiting where all the people waiting for their arrivals could see us, a worker helped us push our bags and I saw a shila of ladies coming towards us all in 3abayas… One was in n8ab and had an old voice, I was guessing she’s my grandma? “Salam 3alaikom 7abibty Noor, kbarty mashallah!” I heard her say in a tone that kept cracking and it just sounded like an old lady would sound.

“Mama hay your grandma, salmy 3alaiha”. I did as Mama ordered and I kissed the old woman’s forehead then got greeted with so many other ladies who seemed really nice. I did feel a bit out of place with my skinny jeans and A&F shirt; let’s just hope the rest of the house is a bit more like me.

Minutes passed as we were on our way to my grandmas, I kept staring outside the window reading signs and looking at restaurants and people in their cars, I almost looked like a lost kid being abandoned in the middle of New York City, but what really caught my attention is how almost everyone was in thobe and 3abayas like from what I could see, I mean I’ve heard that that’s what most people wear here bs is it everyone? You see, I’ve NEVER worn a 3abaya before except for this one time when I was going to a party and 3aziz was dropping me and since my dress was too short w 9'ayig, I had to cover up, other than that I never did, I find us way too young for that… Don't get me wrong, its part of our tradition w kl shay bs y3ny I don't want to ever have to be forced to wear shaila or 3abaya unless I'm absolutely convinced with it lna I know many people who take it as a joke and just cover up sometimes and other times la, y3ny thats not how religion is meant to be, I don't miss any of my prayers and I really don't like people discussing these kind of things with me. After all, mu kl kash5a mu mtrbya w mu kl mtstra btrou7 eljana :). 

The driver claimed that we have finally arrived and came down to open the doors for us, I looked around for a blue sign so I could know where we were, “Al Dafna” well, and I guess that was the name of the man6i8a? Seemed pretty nice. I grabbed my bag and headed inside, fingers crossed.

The first thing that caught my attention was a girl sitting on a side on her blackberry just texting away not even noticing we have entered the house, she seemed to be in her 160’s of height y3ni not too tall or short, she was not so tanned w had a really skinny body, y3ni mbayin ena she’s one of those wanna-be Victoria’s secret models who starves herself.

“7abibty Juju, e7na w9lna” said one of my aunts with a cheerful tone, was she Juju’s mum? She did look a bit like her. Juju quietly looked up to us with her shiny brown eyes that suddenly reminded me of M7mad’s and gave me an almost half smile then zoned back into her blackberry, wee shfeeha hay?

I then heard footsteps running down on the stairs, they were a bunch of kids yjee about over 6 of them w mashallah each one was cuter than the other 7abaybi! They ran in and gave me a hug and I was even called “5alty Noor” by most of them, then came down a tall, huge figure (not fat, just huge) running down with them too trying to catch his breathe, he ran up to Juju and gave her a kiss on her cheek then came towards us w salam. I introduced myself to him and turns out he’s my cousin! Wld i5t umy and while Juju was bnt 5aly A7med. She seemed to be lost in her own world, did she dislike me wla shnu? As all these thoughts were going through my head, some short, tiny but gorgeous legs popped up from behind me “Noor! T’thkrainy?” was a high-pitched voice in my ear. I honestly had no idea who she was, she was really short y3ny around 158 cm mthl Kim Kardashian’s height, wai3, and she had really light brown hair ely shway almost blonde and she was dressed in a tight tube skirt up till her knees with a flowy top tucked in, she had an amazing body tbh mashallah, perfect curves. “Mmm” my face turned red of embarrassment because I totally had no idea who it was. “Omg yal 5abla nseiteni?” Ana Sara Al-flany bnt 5altich Moza!”. The name sounded really familiar bs elface maysa3id. “Akeed you didn’t recognize me cause of the way I look now, I mean 10 years ago I was disgusting and chubby and ugly, of course you won’t remember me.” She then pulled out a picture of us as kids and oh my god, it all came back to me! It was Sara, sara ma3’eirha!

She used to come visit us in Kuwait all the time when we were kids and we used to be really close 7ta I thought she was the only cousin I had from my mom’s side at one point, mashallah she changed SOOOO much! She used to be chubby and ugly to be honest, knha oompa loompa, el7yn 9arat malikat jamal, I’m sure all the guy mayteen 3alaiha in this country, Kim Kardashian g6r.

Later on that day

“Bnaat, I’m craving pinkberry! Let’s go?”

She asked me and this other Juju chick that nodded her head as if she didn’t even care and I didn’t mind so I agreed. They all went to get dressed and it seemed to take over an hour now, mu k2na we’re just going to get pinkberry? I told my mum we we’re going out to grab ice cream and she said yes of course, she wasn’t the bossy and commanding type of mum, I had my total freedom and I liked that. Since we were going just to grab pinkberry, I wore a light pink 3la peach kind of blazer with a tank top under it and my printed skinny jeans and tied my hair in a messy bun with my Melissa flats that matched my outfit perfectly, something like this:

After almost an hour of waiting, I heard heels clicking against the stairs causing the sound to echo through the house, so I got up and saw Juju & Sara in 3abayas with extreme designs all over their shoulders and loubi heels and Berkin bags with full make up on, and when I say full, I actually mean A LOT, its the amount of make up I'd wear to a wedding. They both looked at me from up till down trying to hold in their comments and thoughts but of course, Juju went like “Umm, Noor? Mabtlbseen 3abaytich?”

“La, I don’t usually wear one back in Kuwait so no reason I should back here”

“Bra7tich, bs tra most classy people min 3wa2il wear 3abayas here so if you don’t, they’re probably going to think you’re not even g6rya.”

“Yeah, cause I’m not… Kuwaitiya w afti5ir.” Ugh, talk about shayfa rou7ha.

“Ee okay, elmhim yallah, emshaw ana bnady Ali yjee ysh3’l elsyara.”

After Juju was gone, I gave Sara a look and she comforted me by telling me Juju is over exaggerating and that I looked great, 9ij 3ndha mashakil hay Jawaher.

We arrived to a parking of some mall named Landmark and omg the parking was so za7ma! Shnu hay? It’s like the cars just stop and don’t move at all and the cars were all to be honest, gorgeous. El G55’a w el alwaan w el Ferraris, shnu hay? 7sait eni dasha car show mb parking x_x ! We got down at the door with a huge Carrefour sign next to it and found a huge line waiting by the tiny Pinkberry on the side next to a huge pharmacy and a coffee shop. We waited in line and I took a mango and chocolate swirl, my favorite! Mshaina around shway and they showed me the mall, I understood what Jawaher meant by 3abayas are the kash5a here, I didn't feel odd or anything bs ena y3ny I felt eyes gazing at me from each side, bs knt m7tshma, its not like I was walking around in a mini skirt aw shay ? :/ 

 

I noticed from far a tall somewhat tanned in a white ‘thob’ and mbayn 3aleh shway m39’il from under the thob. He wouldn’t stop staring our way and to be more specific, he wouldn’t stop staring at Sara and I noticed Juju and her whispering things and looking back at him w eldala3 nizal 3ala Sara. I asked what was going on, laykoun t3arfa?

Juju quickly replied not giving Sara a chance to even explain herself, “He’s Sara’s cousin, layrou7 tafkeerich”

I gave Sara a suspicious look, I knew her entire family y3ny and I don't recall one of her cousins this good looking?

Sara finally broke the awkward silence and admitted everything,

“He’s not really my cousin, esma Abdulrahman al-flany w we’ve been together for a year now.”

“Oh…”

“Bs I go with the idea that he’s my cousin 3shan la 7ad yfkr 3’ala6.”

“Y3ny and people believe?”

“Ee I refer to any guy I talk to as my second cousin or ena my mum knows his 3shan elnas may6l3oun klam 3any, y3ny eldoha 93’eera… Afterall, klna related somehow.”

I didn't understand the way this girl thinks bs I stayed quiet and we headed out to the car.

Sara’s phone rang and she quickly picked up in excitement. I couldn’t really hear the other person but you could tell it was a guy by the way Sara acted. I’m guessing it was the guy back from Landmark?

 “Aloo”

“Ee shftak 7yati, shftny? Hehe :$”

“Umm shnu?”

“Laysh ts2al?”

“La bnt 5altay, jat mn elkuwait…”

“Mhm, ee 3alay bs?”

“A7sn yallah bye."

W chan Sara's face yglb mn ":D" chee to ":|" then she looked up to me and 3a6atny hal smile ely on BBM that everyone hates ":)" 

She looked annoyed, and I didn’t dare ask her what was wrong bs I knew that it had something to do with me since she mentioned “bnt 5alty jay mn elKuwait” whatever. It was really za7ma and what seemed to be a 5 minute place far away from our grannies’ house became a half an hour of awkward silence car ride, no silence just an awkward conversation not including me between Juju & Sara, great.

I could hear some of what they were saying because it was sort of loud whispering and I was known for my amazing sense of hearing. I saw Juju show Sara a conversation on her phone between her & someone and I couldn’t help my shock while hearing her say “Omg, ma9adig you guys are together el7yn? Mabrook Juju wallah zayn, she seems cute w 5osh bint if she stole your heart LOL bs et2kdi M7mad la y3rf 3nkom.”

5osh bint? What did she mean? Laykoun… :/