SEVEN

 She stood there bathed in the soft golden hue of the limelight, she was dressed in a long red gown, the smooth fabric glistened ever so slightly as it absorbed the lights causing her to look almost ethereal. My gaze raked over her form slowly, from her shoes to her dress; how it fitted her perfectly, how the snug sleeves trailed down her hands, her face; the delicate features, from her wide almond shaped eyes to the soft curve of her nose, to her lips; small but full. And the golden veil wrapped loosely around her hair, she was…..beautiful.

She was beautiful but I could see feel the nervousness oozing off her from where I stood, I could see the uncertainty in her eyes as she begun descending the stairs slowly, the quiet sounds of her heels clacking against the tiled steps were all that could be heard as the hall had hushed completely. I recalled what Aunt Atina had said and I began making my way towards the staircase.

 ‘Do you think her dress is a Versace?’.

‘Look at those shoes….’.

‘She’s even more beautiful in person’.

 ‘Is that Hayfa?’.

I blocked out the annoying murmurs and focused on getting to the stairs before she got to the bottom , and once I got there I stood waiting for her feeling like I had been reduced to a chaperone. Her gaze flickered to mine and I watched her eyes widen with what seemed to be shock and anxiety, now, I could have smiled to ease her tension but at the moment I couldn’t bring myself to pull on even the faintest of smiles. Her gaze remained fixed on mine and I kept staring at her expressionlessly.

 And when she finally got to where I was standing, I offered her my hand and she slid her smaller one into mine, it felt soft and delicate….and clammy, I felt it tremble in mine, and now that she was very close, I could see that she was actually trembling, it was almost as though she wasn’t comfortable with me holding her hand, I contemplated letting her hand go but thought against it, it would no doubt arouse speculations.

 I stared down at her face; her make-up was light and almost nonexistent. She looked panicked, as though the was the most terrifying thing a person could go through….or perhaps it was the most terrifying thing she had been through, if you could even call this terrifying.

The lights came back on and the room filled with all too fake applauses as we turned around and begun making our way to the podium.

 ~~

 Hayfa

He stood there staring at me as I made my way down the steps, I couldn’t stop staring at him, my thoughts were all over the place like was he here? Yes! He was, and he was looking at me. There were more than a thoughts stirring around in my head and I couldn’t seem to focus on a single one. My heart was pounding so hard against my chest I felt almost faint, I was so nervous I found it hard to breathe.

 When I got to the bottom of the steps he offered me his hand, and for a short moment, a very short moment, I didn’t know what to do, I was to….shocked to think straight. But then it clicked and slid my hand into his praying he wouldn’t notice that my hand was clammy and trembling. I stared up at his face, hos calm and controlled expression should have calmed me but it didn’t, not in the slightest way. I felt like I would have a heart attack.

 I had seen his pictures, I had seen him countless times on TV and I knew what he looked like, but standing right in front of him, I realized it was just now I was truly seeing him clearly, I was actually looking at him; his dark eyes, his aristocratic nose, his lips which was the lightest shade of pink. He was good looking, his fitting black tuxedo contrasted sharply against the his pale skin, I could feel the powerful aura radiating off him to the point that it was intimidating, I could almost smell the confidence reeking off him.

 My body trembling so bad that I began to worry I’d fall, or even pass out. I could feel all those eyes on me, they made my skin crawl uncomfortably. Heavens, I was truly feeling faint now. The lights came back on and I heard clapping, it all seemed so distant to me. We walked to the podium and he lead me up the steps carefully, and once I was standing at the top staring down I everyone I sort of shut down all over again, stood there not having the slightest idea what to do.

 He probably noticed because he let go of my hand slowly and stepped closer to the mic obviously intending to address the gathering; something I was expected to do.

 “Good evening ladies and gentlemen”. He started. He spoke smoothly, eloquently. “I welcome you to the graduation celebration of Miss Hayfa Abdulrahman Kassem”.

 He spoke with a confidence I could only dream of. I stared blankly at the crowd, almost spacing out, I wasn’t even listening anymore when he continued talking, I just stood there with a ghostly smile on my face til he suddenly stepped back and gestured for me to take his place. My eyes widened in horror but I forced my body to move, I stepped forward, cleared my throat quietly and then I spoke.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all on behalf of the entire Kassem family for being here to support us. I do hope you  have a pleasant time here, enjoy the rest of the evening”. I said, it was a miracle my voices the tremble, it was a miracle I didn’t stutter.

 A round of applause started and the music begun playing softly. I stepped back slowly and everyone returned to what they had been doing before I came in, some moved to the dance floor and others begun conversing softly. I knew all too well that I had to go down there and mingle. Mother said I have to thank the guest for being here, and I wouldn’t be alone while doing it…….

 We turned round and begun making our way to the steps which lead down the podium, He said nothing and neither did I, it was unnerving, so unnerving that my breaths kept faltering.

“Hayfa! Look at you!”. A cheery voice said the very second we got down.

 I turned to face the woman who had spoken, she was smiling brightly but I could see in her eyes that her enthusiasm was fake. Her gaze raked over my outfit quickly before  returning to mine. I offered her a small smile.

“Good evening”. I greeted quietly.

“Why, good evening dear”. She replied, the fake enthusiasm radiating off her was almost suffocating. “Haidar dear, you look great together”.

“Thank you”. He responded subtly.

“Bless you both!”.

I said nothing more and I was glad he did the rest of the talking, we went from group to group to interact with the guest and by the time it was over, I felt truly faint. I was glad when we finally got to the table my cousins were seated, and the very second we got to them; Sunaina clicked a photo of us while the others cheered.

“Oh, they look so good together”. She said breathily.

 “I Know right! Share the pic with us!”. Kam and Sam gushed at once.

I felt my cheeks heat up as I tried not to meet their bold gazes.

“Perfect, just perfect”. Zarah said. “What do you think Walid?”.

 He smiled, and on looking at him I realized that he bore quite the resemblance to him.

“Perfect”. He agreed.

  He gently pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit down and my cheeks flamed even more.

 “Thank you”. I said quietly as settled down.

“How chivalrous”. Hussein said smirking at him.

 He said nothing as he pulled out another seat and settled down beside me.

“Wow, look at this, they’re both suddenly quiet”. Hussein said as he leaned back into his seat.

“Yeah, like, minutes ago Haidar couldn’t keep his mouth shut”. Dayyan said, he raised his glass to his lips and took a small sip.

“Yeah? Cause I don’t remember saying more than just a few words to any of you. You all did the whole talking if I remember correctly”. He argued.

“You don’t”. Zarah countered at once.

 “For heaven’s sake guys, now’s not the time”. He said, he sounded exasperated.

 “Yeah yeah”. Hussein said rolling his eyes subtly. He turned to face me with his usual smile which was always heartwarming and reassuring. “Congratulation Hayfa, we’re proud of you”.

 The other nodded in agreement. I smiled.

“Thank you”. I replied quietly.

“And you look beautiful tonight, Aunt Atina did a good job picking out your dress”. Zarah said.

 I was about to say something when Aunt Sa’adiya walked up to us with an almost nonexistent smile on her face.

“Hayfa dear”. She said.

I smiled at her.

“Yes Aunt?”. I answered.

“Why don’t you and Haidar come with me for a bit? We’ve arranged somewhere private for you to talk”. She said.

I felt my face pale at once as my heart did a triple summersault. My mouth went dry and a massive lump formed in my throat,  I felt like I would have a heart attack. I nodded slowly nonetheless.

“But they just got here”. Sunaina grumbled quietly.

“They’ll be back before the night is over”. She said.

 Haidar said nothing, he stood up, offered me his hand which I took slowly, my palms were still clammy and I felt silly once again. He helped me up gently, it was almost as if he didn’t mind that my hand was clammy and disgusting.

“Come, it’s this way”. She said. She turned around and begun walking away.