4

Eira and her best friend Mary were laid on Eira’s bed watching dating shows on her laptop, her best friend had just arrived from Cuba from a business trip. Eira had missed her dearly for she had been gone for six months, she brought her loads of souvenirs from the work trip. Mary and Eira had been best friends for about six years, Mary met Eira during one of her trips to Turkey. They met in a restaurant and hit it off immediately, they had so much in common which drew them even closer.

Mary sympathized with Eira’s home situation, being kicked out by her own family and treated as an outcast for being a lesbian. It was simply harsh, but it didn’t seem as though Eira viewed them in the wrong. ‘I understand it’s hard for them to accept me, I didn’t even wasn’t that. I just wanted them to know and possibly be comfortable, and not think that I would suddenly “infect” the rest of the women and young girls in the family. That was what stunned me, but I forgave them, they are my family after all.’ She said once when Mary asked her.

Mary disagreed, she thought they didn’t need her forgiveness and ought to be the ones to ask for forgiveness. Nevertheless, the two women moved to London that same day they met and lived in the same house for years. Mary was pansexual, it made Eira completely feel welcomed and loved, especially when Mary made her attend a pride parade once. It was the most beautiful thing Eira had ever seen, she was the only Muslim in the parade or so she thought.

Until she met Bushra Abbas, a non-binary Muslim who waved the rainbow flag with so much enthusiasm and glee. The three became friends afterward, with Bushra taking vacations and joining the two in London. They worked in the fashion industry, which mostly explained the exceptional designs they came up with. They even invited Eira and Mary to one of their winters reveals in London, it was an amazing experience for both women. Now, Bushra was engaged to a beautiful Pakistan woman named Fatima Baqri, an accountant. The four had an amazing friendship, one that some of Mary’s workers envied.

Eira started surrogacy as a means of sustaining herself, despite Mary offering her a stable job with a good salary. She declined and wanted to find a way to fend for herself. She wasn’t allowed to study, women in her family were frowned upon when they possessed knowledge far more than men. It was not the Country’s laws but rather a family tradition. Her aunt had defied the tradition and run away with her lover who offered her free will and the chance to study. She didn’t pass up the opportunity and was also considered an outcast.

She had been a surrogate for four years and to three lovely families who were incapable of carrying their own children, however, her settlement was not enough. She still needed a lot more as she was trying to raise tuition fees to study online since she wasn’t educated. She wanted to find a tutor online who could teach her the basics of everything she found interesting and maybe so she could finally join a college and pursue a career of her choice.

Bushra came up with the surrogate app idea, it was a chilly evening, snow-covered most streets of London. They were in a coffee shop, Rosslyn Coffee London Wall, hoping to rid some of the cold they felt. Eira was in her thoughts thinking of ways she could earn more money when Bushra suddenly squealed startling the rest of the group, Fatima almost fell from her stool. They chuckled seeing Fatima’s incident and the scowl on her face. ‘I’m sorry baby but you look adorable.’ They chuckled pinching their fiancée’s cheeks.’

‘What happened Busho?’ Mary asked.

‘Well since our lovely Eira wants to forever carry children for strangers, I found the perfect app for it.’ Eira scoffed giving them a pointed look.

‘What app?’ Fatima asked placing her chin on Bushra’s shoulder.

‘It’s called a Surrogate App, you just fill in your bio with your surrogacy history and they help you find a client. Sort of like a dating app, the only difference is that you wait for them to message you first inquiring about it. Then you set up a meeting, and well the rest goes from there.’ Bushra explained. And, so began the fascination for the app. She was able to create an account and fill in the most important details, and even added a few pictures of herself. It had been months since she created the account, yet no one messaged her. She was growing frustrated daily.

Elodie and Allegra had been scrolling through the app for almost an hour and none of the women suited any of Elodie’s list. Allegra was getting tired and hungry, she walked out of the room and downstairs to order pizza for herself. Elodie sighed and rested her back against her office chair, she was in her home office. She didn’t go to the office as she wanted to find the perfect surrogate and be done with Micah’s bullshit for some time.

She grabbed her phone and kept scrolling rejecting every one she saw until she came to a stop on one particular page. “Eira Faez.” She spoke out loud. She quickly opened her bio and read through a smile on her face. The first profile seemed promising and appealed to her. Elodie found herself staring at the woman’s pictures in awe of her beauty, ‘She looks like an Arabic princess’ Elodie thought to herself.

Her skin was a dark brown that complimented every inch of her, in some of the pictures she wore a headscarf while in others she didn’t. Elodie quickly pressed on a link that took her to her I*******m page, and she gasped. The woman’s beauty was beyond, anything Elodie had ever seen not once did she wear revealing clothes, not even when she took baby bump pictures. She looked ethereal and Elodie was instantly smitten.

She sighed heavily and rubbed her face, she went back to the app and looked into more information the woman had provided including how long she had been a surrogate and even reviews from families she had worked for. She was impressed. Allegra walked in munching on a slice of pizza, while she held the open box in front of her arms. She quickly took notice of Elodie’s face and walked towards her placing the box on the desk.

Her glance went to her phone and she noticed the page Elodie was on, “Holy shit!” Allegra exclaimed grabbing the phone for herself, she skimmed through the profile quickly, her eyes wide open. “She’s a fucking goddess.”

“Careful, Aqsa might get jealous.” Elodie chuckled.

“Oh, please you know how much I love that woman. But, shit, this is just stunning. She is stunning, you have to pick her.” Allegra said her finger hovering over the match button.

“Okay.” Elodie sighed heavily, she wanted to meet the woman, see the beauty herself and even learn about her.

“There, all ready done. Now, we just have to arrange a meeting with her, and you my dear can go through everything with her.” Allegra said smiling. She was excited about her best friend. Elodie sighed and contacted her assistant to arrange everything including the documents they would need.

Eira’s phone chimed with a notification, she grabbed it groaning thinking it was a reminder notification. Her eyes popped wide open, and she quickly sat back and unlocked her phone. “What is it?” Mary asked sitting up.

Eira opened the app and sure enough, she had received a match, “I just received a match, Mary. After all these months.” Mary squealed hugging her, she went back to the profile but noticed it was masked, with no identity whatsoever causing her to frown. Mary noticed and grabbed the phone herself.

“This doesn’t seem shady, look they already sent you a meeting place and time. It must be one of those rich people who don’t want to be followed.” Mary said showing Eira indeed they had set a meeting location. A smile made its way to her lips. Finally, she had something to look forward to.