Beneath Guarded Hearts - 53

Previously…

Asma

3bdulla: “Oh my God Asma, don’t you ever put me through that again!”

I turned around to face him again. I even raised my toes a bit to meet his gaze.

Me: “That’s nothing compared to what I have been through.”

I don’t know why, but I was suddenly angry. After all this time, that was all he was going to say to me?

Me: “Why are you here 3bdulla?”

_____________

3bdulla

Me: “Why? 3ndy ejaza w-”

Asma: “You rarely visited Dubai fe any of your holidays. You even missed last 3ID of all holidays, 3ID!”

Me: “But… I’m back…”

            I wanted to scream in anguish and laugh at how absurd this was. Why was she picking a fight? This wasn’t how I had imagined our night…

Asma: “I don’t need you anymore. I can take care of myself. I have been just fine so far, so I can’t see why I can’t continue w-”

            Her voice was breaking, her composure battling against her emotions.

Asma: “I just don’t need you anymore.”

            Like hell she didn’t.

Me: “Yes you do.”

Asma: “No I don’t.”

Me: “I’m here Asma… this is real, this is happening.”

Asma: “What’s ‘happening’ ya 3bdulla? Nothing’s changed.”

Me: “No?”

            She shook her head slowly, her expression turning unsure as she saw the playful smirk in my eyes.

Me: “Afaaa 3alaich… Well then, I’ll just have to show you.”

Asma: “Kaif ya3ni sho 8a9dek?”

            I gestured her to follow me. I felt her gaze behind me as I resisted the urge to look back. The lights were brighter up close… I murmured the lines I had went over a thousand times in my head, careful not to let my voice betray how nervous I was.

Me: “Once upon a time…”

           

            I pulled down the security bars as she sat down beside me, keeping her distance, still unsure of herself.

Me: “There was a beautiful princess who lived in an empty castle…”

            I felt motion from under me as the ride started.

Me: “She never understood what the rakish prince saw in her, and he never thought that she could turn out to be more than a mere infatuation…”

            The same slow, lazy movements of the first spin…

Me: “But one day when she was captured by a villain, he realized something; that he wanted no one to have her except himself. It was an odd feeling, but a very powerful one, one he was unfamiliar with. It put him though madness, trying to locate the lost princess, to bring her back into his possession…”

            The Ferris wheel stopped just as we reached the top. I could see everything from up here, and the feeling was just indescribable. I paused for a moment as I took it all in. I felt… at peace. Asma suddenly interrupted my moment, causing my surprised blink as her voice invaded the silence of our little bubble.

Asma: “But once he found the princess, it appeared that it was too late. She was scarred by his blind rejection, and the villain had taught her a thing or two in his attempts to manipulate her…”

            So, she wanted to play this game too? No way was I going to let her win…

Me: “So the prince took her back to the very place that was filled with their broken memories…”

            For some reason, I wanted so badly to win our silent battle, as if it would resolve everything, as if it would fix it all… I could only hope.

Asma: “She knew what he was trying to do, how he was attempting to put her in a situation that made her vulnerable to his wicked charms…”

Me: “But she couldn’t resist the truth in his voice, the desire the roared in his eyes as he looked at her…”

Asma: “She forced herself to gain some control, and turned to run away…”

Me: “But since she knew she could never outrun him, never hide in a place where he wouldn’t find her…”

Asma: “She decided to lie to him about her feelings, and said that the villain had changed her…”

            Is there a double meaning behind this?

Me: “At first he believed her, but then he saw the pain lurking at the surface of her eyes…”

Asma: “The pain that he knew he had caused her, the pain that couldn’t be fixed, couldn’t be rid of…”

            Was this how she felt?

Me: “So he smiled at her, the smile she had always loved, the kind of smile he rarely shared, the smile that made her innards go wild…”

            And I was doing just that.

Asma: “She hadn’t seen that smile in such a long time… She forgot how much she had missed him until that very moment…”

            She looked at me with a new gleam in her eyes, a new longing… She saw right through me, but she wouldn’t let herself believe what her eyes were telling her, like she didn’t trust herself or her feelings.

Me: “And then he pulled her to him, and whispered to her how much he loved her…”

            Her eyes started to vaguely water. She took a moment to think, and it appeared that she didn’t know what to say. Had I won? She broke my thoughts with a tight whisper.

Asma: “And then what happens?”

            I grinned widely, stretching a smile across my cheeks.

Me: “And then…”

            I reached into the pocket of my kandoora and took out a small box. Her eyes widened and I could tell what she was thinking; ‘It can’t be…’

Me: “Then…”

            I gave an exaggerated pause for the proper effect, and I could see her curiosity running mad. I smiled at her softly, and slowly opened the lid.

Me: “Then, he asks for her hand in marriage…”

            Her tears seemed to freeze as she stared at the huge diamonds on the ring I was holding. I had stunned her, took her by surprise. What was she thinking right now? How did she feel? I wanted to know so badly…

Me: “And she says…?”

            I looked at her with hopeful and somewhat confident eyes, but the fear of rejection was lingering around its corners. I waited for her to finish the ending to the story. To our story.

            I couldn’t think. This was what I only dared to hope for in my dreams. Now that it was truly happening, how would she answer? Would her family accept me as her husband? Would she accept me? That was the only thing that mattered, her acceptance. Her family, I could always persuade, I could always prove to them that I could take care of her, but Asma… Well, this was my last chance. Whatever she decides now will remain as her decision. She knows what she wants, but tends to find it difficult to balance it with what she needs. But she needs me, and I know that she wants me; I just know I’m not too late…

            She finally broke the agonized silence of the air between us.           

Asma: “She needs some time to think about it…”

            Well, I certainly hadn’t expected that. Wasn’t that line some sort of a bad sign or something when a woman used it?

Me: “I love you, Asma.”

            She surprised me when she admitted the same.

Asma: “I love you too, 3bady.”

            I froze as the wheel took us on our last spin. Hearing those words, coming from her, to me… I felt like I had just found a hidden treasure and that I was the luckiest man in the world. She was mine. No one else could have her. I wouldn’t allow it. I loved her. I always would. I could see that now, that there was no way escaping it… I smiled in relieved joy.

Me: “Our story isn’t over yet.”

To be continued…