FOUR

" You know what?" He continued, "I'll give you a raise starting from next month, double the amount you earn, I'll speak to my umi to raise the others maids salaries as well." "Thank you, very much young Master," She replied with innocence in her eyes, " but I am already content with the amount you pay me." "Chati!" He replied feigning more annoyance, this time with a smile on his face. "Just accept it because you've worked really hard this month." "Thank you, sir, she retorted with gratefulness in her voice then took a slight bow and left. Ali then later narrated Chati's ordeal and harsh previous life to Yasmin. Ali was about sixteen years old when Chati  was brought in to work. The girl was fifteen at the time, that was about four years ago. Ali's mother had been too reluctant to higher her, but her father had taken a liking to the fifteenth-year old's cleverness and intelligence, so he employed her as a personal maid for his son who was suffering from depression at that youthful age. His father saw something in the young girl that could re- kindle the fiery persona that had been over-shadowed by sadness in his son. Chati had been found on the streets by one of his father' drivers looking for work and he brought her to the villa. Apparently poor Chati had been sold by her Thai parents and trafficked multiple times, but the girl was cheerful when she arrived. It didn't take much time for Ali to take a liking to Chati as well, he found her personality charming and since then, they had been best friends sharing their deepest secrets. His mother at one point thought they had fallen in love and she started to become afraid and thought the poor girl had cast a black magic spell on her son. Ali wasnt ashamed to talk about his mother in that contemptuous manner, the man clearly hated her, Yasmin could imagine  what she was like after he recounted everything that happened after Chati came. Yasmin felt sorry for him. Yasmin was quite impressed by Ali's gentle and caring nature. During those three hours of lunch she had never felt so welcome and so much at home. She was quick to open up and they chatted like they had been long-time friends. He was inquiring more and more about her and her home. Ali seemed to be perplexed by the ordinary common life like it's something only to be seen in the movies. Yasmin obviously figured the boy had never known poverty. He'd been spoiled rotten, getting expensive cars and luxuries from a very young age. He'd been to almost sixty countries by the time he turned nineteen. He had collected souvenirs from all the countries he had visited and took the pleasure in showing them all to her. Yasmin looked at each of them as the young man explained how he had attained them with an expression of excitement on his face. One was a watch, the other an old wooden box, one a pendant, one a dollar bill and so on. He explained how these ordinary things had deep sentimental value to him. How they were both linked to kind souls he had encountered on his journey around the world. Yasmin thought this man was perfect for her. Yasmin a free spirit, wasn't just looking for an ordinary man, she didnt want an average personality in the crowd, now that she'd blossomed into a woman, she wanted a soulmate and if she didnt meet one, she' wanted to stay celibate. But at that very moment, Ali seemed like the perfect definition of what she was looking for in a man. Of course, she felt a little embarrassed of how she was feeling because of their difference in social status. She didnt seem to care about that though but she knew she lived in a society and culture were majority were small minded enough to care about unimportant things like that. Soon it was past noon and Ali's parents arrived, one thing led to another and Jasmine was invited to spend the night after Ali told the she was homeless, far away from her hometown with no money. Yasmin could not refuse the offer after Ali had personally asked her to stay after hearing of her ordeal and Ali had been so kind to her. She was given a spare bedroom to sleep in. The villa was so large she thought she would get lost trying to find her way around. That night he chatted with her on the large balcony , but their chatter turned into a slumber party when they were joined by Chati, then now wearing pyjamas and one of the maids who was African, a twenty one year old  Chadian to be specific whom he had employed recently as his other personal maid. They brought a lot of drinking soda and junk food. Everyone was having a blast. They listened to western music on a stereo. They watched movies on Ali's laptop. The moon was out but at least that night, the skies were clear so they lay watching the stars talking about life, telling each other about their extraordinary encounters and ordeals they had faced in their young lives. They found Jasmine's story quite sad. Then soon Yasmin would be heart broken when she saw the chemistry between him and Chati. They we're only four hours into their tiny slumber party when she saw Chati lay next to Ali then she rested in with her head and arm relaxed on his chest in a romantic way. Of course they were in love, how could she have been so blind, the small gestures Ali made when she brought their lunch, the way he smiled and looked at her, it was obvious! A torn apart Yasmin quickly got up holding her dress and ran to the guest bedroom she'd been assigned to. What was this feeling? She frowned as she tried to get rid of the jealousy that was clouding her heart and the confusing racing thoughts that were now crowding in her mind. She felt really ashamed of her jealousy .... Of a stranger in love with another stranger. After all they had just all formally met. Ali then knocked on her door peeking in only when she had told her to come in. " Yasmin are you ok?"  He asked with a worried look on his face, innocent to the little love gesture his dearest friend had presented earlier on. "Yes." She replied.  "I'm just a little tired that's all."" Are you sure you are ok coz you left..."  "Yes, I’m fine." She snapped at him then she regretted it a moment after as another wave of embarrassment struck her.   "Ok then!" Ali smiled. "Goodnight and have some rest, ok?" She smiled at him. But what startled her the most was when she heard Ali chuckle in a displeasured voice as he left her room. Clearly, he was aware of everything, her envy, her heavy heart fell deeper to the bottom of the bottomless pit of shame, and embarrassment, she did not have a pleasant night after all ruminating on the night's events but that was her... always over thinking. Next morning, she was about to leave when Ali's father offered her a job as a maid in their villa, He promised her good pay and she couldn't refuse the offer. Jasmine had been employed as young Master Amir Al masi's personal servant because the young man had simply desired it, if it was not for that, she would have been in the streets again because the sight of her mingling with the Almasi sons simply disgusted Ali's mother. Ali's brother was a year and a half younger than him. The next evening when Ali came back from work, he stared at her with a grin, surprised to see her in a maids uniform. She smiled back at him. "Let me help you with that young Master. She said as she motioned her hands towards his black leather case. "It's ok Yasi, I can carry it my self habibti."She blushed at Ali’s gentle gestures, her cheeks turning a red colour at the thought of him calling her habibti. Although Ali was happy that Yasmin would stick around, he didn't like the fact she was Amir's personal maid. Yasmin was a happy woman. Although she had given up on her dreams, working for the Almasi family gave her hope that one day her dreams were going to be revived  because from the moment she left the hospital, she  believed God had `         given her a chance to  a new life, a new destiny, because  every single day of her life in the city, she dreaded going back home were her father would marry  her off to some older man, and all her dreams would be crushed and  burned to ashes and hidden at the bottom of a sea of unhappiness as she imagined her-self lamenting  about the life she could have had and fate would take her to the grave; like many of her female  ancestors who perished with  unexecuted dreams and accomplishments, laying  deep in the desert sands buried along with their forgotten dreams. The autumn leaves shed from her bleak life preparing her for a new season. A season of ecstasy… a season of hope.