THREE

HAIDAR’S POV

 Zarah laughed.

 “Oh Hussein, you have a problem”. She drawled.

         

 “Alright alright”. He said raising his hand in surrender. “Well Haidar, we’ll leave now”.

 I nodded.

 “Thanks for dropping by”. I said as I made my way around the table.

  “Yup”. Zarah replied.

  Not much was said as I saw them off, I left orders with my secretary telling her I wanted no one else in my office, not even my parents, especially not them, with that I returned to my seat.                                                                            

 Left to my solitude once more I turned on my laptop with the intention of getting to work, however, once it was connected to the Wi-Fi notifications began begun trooping in, I blinked as I caught sight of an article, it couldn’t be, I had to be mistaking, but of course I wasn’t.

‘KASSEM WEDDING PART TWO’

 More of its kind flowed in, and as much as I wanted to look away I couldn’t, I began scrolling.

 HAI-FA

 HAY-DAR

 Stupid articles like these were all over the place, if I had any humor left within me I would have at least cringed at the cheesiness, however I found it annoying.

‘MERGING THE ABDULRAHMAN AND THE ABDULKAREEM KASSEM’S COMPANIES THROUGH HAIDAR AND HAYFA’

 Was this all some sort of joke? Well if it was I wasn’t finding it amusing.

 My pictures were all over the place while hers weren’t more than a handful which seemed somewhat blurry. I clicked on one and tried zooming in but it was futile, I wouldn’t know if she looked like me through blurry pictures.

 One would expect me to have at least been familiar with her face, however, we had been kept strictly apart since childhood, I had been given a picture of her, in truth it was useless since only the side of her face was captured in the picture. To prove how worthless it was to me, I tossed it into the hearth and watched alongside my parents as it burnt to nothingness.

 It was sickening to think that I could walk passed her and not recognize her, and it was even more sickening that our parents thought whatever they had planned would work out.

 ~~

 HAYFA’S POV

 Dinner was usually very quiet, however, at the dining table this evening mother decided to start up a conversation. Taking a sip of wine from her glass she set it down and dabbed at her lips with a napkin before she said;

  “I’ve selected the perfect dress for your graduation, it’s red, you’ll love it”.

 I simply smiled and sipped some water.

 “The dress will be arriving tomorrow, it’ll look perfect on you”. She said.

 “Yeah, you’ll look like a princess”. Father added.

 “Thank you”. I murmured.

 I poked at my stake absentmindedly, my lack of interest in the conversation must have shown ‘cause mother went straight for the kill.

 “Haidar’s going to be there”. She said causing my head to jerk up at once.

 “What?”. I exclaimed.

 She took another sip from her glass, this time she took longer to wipe her lips. I knew she wanted to edge me.

 “Where are your manners ,child?”. Father reproached softly.

 “Sorry”. I said quietly. Though deep inside I was on the verge of losing my mind.

 Mother took her time before she replied.

 “Haidar is going to be at the party, we sent him an invite. You have to not only look your best but also be on your best behavior”. She said

My heart pounded against my chest erratically as I began to panic.

 “What? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? “. I said.

 A thousand thoughts whirled in my mind.  What would he be like? Would he be kind? Mean perhaps, would he be cold and distant like my father?

 “You don’t sound excited”. Mother said.

 With what willpower I had left I pulled on a smile.

 “I am”. I said dryly.

 “Well you’re not doing a good job showing it”. Father said.

 I cleared my throat quietly.

 “I’m sorry, I guess”. I murmured.

 We lapsed into silence again, all the while I was trying not to run out into the night screaming bloody murder.

 “Can the wedding be postponed?”.

 It took a moment before I realized that I had indeed said those words, I regretted it almost immediately.

 Mother set her fork down abruptly while father simply took a sip from his glass, always the composed and controlled one between them.

 “What did you say dear?”. Mother asked slowly.

 Her cold gaze met mine and I felt like fainting.

 I kept my mouth shut.

 “Didn’t you hear what I just said, honey?”. She asked again.

 I cleared my throat quietly. He wouldn’t hang me for this after all.

 “I said cant the wedding be postponed?”. I said meekly.

 “No. it can’t be postponed, I have planned and waited for this since Haidar was born”. She said. “And you want it postponed?”.

 I didn’t know what gave me the courage but I found myself saying;

 “Can’t we at least get to know each other?”

 “I said no!”. she snapped.

  I flinched at her sudden outburst and tears began clouding my vision, the plate of food I had been toying with became blurry as more tears welled up in my eyes.

 “I…I think I’m full”. I said as I pushed my seat back and stood up. “Goodnight”.

 With that I turned around and hurried away not wanting them to see me cry, not wanting them to know that they had won once more.