Although i was a bit worried about Eliyas .. I still didn't contact him, i believed that grandmother of mine would surely call if ever something happened or even if she had news to gossip about because that lady was more of a journalist than i ever was.
Trusting my grandmother's total incapability of keeping to her self, i threw all Eliyas's matter to the back of my head.
That is until something came up.. And the only one i thought of seeking help from was Eliyas.
i was working on a certain report about a foreign company when the name of one of the mentioned lawyers was awfully familiar.
The old 60 something famous lawyer had Algerian origins although he was a French citizen by nationality. He was so successful that his namely big company hired him for a scandalous trading case and they won it effortlessly.
What caught my attention though was not his phenomenon success record, but his picture, and his name.. I saw that man before, he was the man who my mother married after my father's death and she left me behind for.
I was in middle school at the time, in my last year in middle school to be precise, i walked inside my mother's room for a reason which i no longer remember and when i opened her closet i was surprised to find an empty space which had only two big heavy bags put inside.
I was so surprised that even when my mother walked inside the room i didn't hear her coming, it wasn't until she pushed me away from the closet and closed it in a hurry that i finally snapped out of my confusion and asked calmly:
_"Mama.. Are you going somewhere?"
She looked at me uneasily.. then admitted:
_" i'm going to remarry and leave the country"
You see, my mother was never a particularly good person nor a mature grown up. She acted selfish and snobby, and always caused problems whenever she went. Yet.. If i had to praise one thing about her then i must mention her looks, She was so beautiful like a doll, Back when she was younger she was considered like a goddess of beauty in our city, not only men but even women went speechless at the sight of her, I mostly inherited my father's beauty genes, which are not bad yet not as good as my mother's.
Anyways, when my father died in a car accident when i was ten, men already started to offer to marry her only few months past the funeral.
My grandmother had absolutely refused that.. I thought my mother did too, until she said while standing beside the closet:
_" i was with this man for three years now, we're finally going to marry"
_"what about me?" I asked logically in a cold tone.
Since i was not informed .. It meant that i was not included in her plans.
She looked at me as if i was a burden to her great plan and she said:
_"i'm going to start my life with him, i had wasted my years in this town and in this family, and i want to finally be happy.. Can you please do that for me Noursine? Please don't tell anyone until i leave, i'm leaving in two days anyways, i'll send you money when i go there and i will try to take you there when things are settled"
That was a total lie actually .. Just a bargain to shut me up, she had never thought about taking me along.. And i knew that even at that moment, that my mother was lying.. And was going to throw me out of her life.
What does a 14 years old girl know about the selfishness of people? The most selfish thing i mostly did at that age was to abandon my old shoes for the new ones.
And i was not going to start acting selfish and ruin her plans just because i wanted to keep her by my side or to punish her for abandoning me.
I didn't act dramatic, i refused to cry because of the woman who chose to leave me behind to start a new life no matter how devastated i was.
I looked at her coldly and i said:
_"who is he? How does he look like?"
I just wanted to see the man who my silly mother traded me for.
She was always silly anyways, all she cared about was her looks and never bothered to raise me up, but it still broke my little heart to realise that she truly didn't care about me.
She really left two days later without saying goodbye, it seemed that she wanted to get rid of me so bad.
And she never tried to contact me ever again..
Actually it has always been me living by my self and depending on my self so i didn't feel the need of having a family, i can't lie to you and say that i haven't thought about my mother in the last 10 so years, but in my memory she was always a distant woman who cared so little about me and so much about how she looked.
Yet when i saw the lawyer's name in the document my heart started stabbing me painfully and i just couldn't let go of that paper.
When my mother told me his name and showed me his picture she never mentioned where he lived or what was his work, at the age of 14 i didn't think such details were important so i didn't ask about them, only later when i grew up and wanted to find my mother i regretted not doing so, it was impossible for me to find them with the little means that i have.
Plus the only condition that my grandmother put to raise me up after my mother's departure was to never try to look for her again.
I never thought such coincidence will happen with me and i will find that man.
Seeing him i wanted to contact him by all means, i just wanted to know if my mother was alive and happy.
My life had turned pretty much miserable ever since she left me, maybe if she was around when i was 23 years old, she might have took my side and i would have refused Eliyas.
Speaking about the man i wanted to have a time machine to refuse, he was actually the first person who came up to my mind after i saw the lawyer.
I couldn't possibly contact the lawyer unless my powerful husband gave me a hand it the process.
So i decided to act shameless and ask him to help me, i didn't ask for much before.. Only for the divorce.
I left my office to go to the restroom.. i held my phone and just called him to ask for his help.
I couldn't reach him though after so many tries, i felt desperate and decided to just go to his office and talk to his secretary.
My emotions were on a rollercoaster at those moments, i was so affected after finding that lawyer that i lost the ability of thinking clearly, i tried to take deep breaths before walking up to his office when suddenly a long weird number was calling my phone, i just picked up with no second thoughts, and soon enough that familiar comforting voice of Eliyas came from the other side:
_"Noursine? Is everything ok? The secretary just informed me that you tried to call many times"
Hearing him.. I just bursted in tears.
I immediately yelled crying:
_"Are you in your office Eliyas? I need to see you now.. If you're in the middle of a meeting i can wait, but please contact me once you finish"
You need to know something about me.. I'm really not the type to cry so often, well phobia blew up my strong facade but putting that aside i cried in front of that man maybe foursome of times or so.
I guess it was for this reason that his first reflex was to ask:
_"are you in pain? Are you hurt Noursine?"
_"No.. But something came up"
_"what happened?"
_"i can't talk on the phone .. I need to see you" i replied.
_"where are you now?" He asked firmly.
I took a deep breath.. And i answered:
_"in the company building"
_"ok, you go wait for me in the office .. It will take me a bit to come, so wait for me there"
_"hmm" i said a bit disappointed.
I thought that he will try to come as soon as he could if i called him like this, but as it turned out to be, his work was still much more important than i was.
_"Noursine?" He called my name after some time.
I looked at my reflexion in the mirror feeling unexplainably sad and i said:
_"i'll cut now, I'll go to your office and i'll be waiting for you to come"
then i hang up the phone.
I washed my face.. And while wiping it i checked my watch, i still had only half an hour left in my work shift for the day so i thought about joining my office again and then go wait for Eliyas in his office after that, his meetings usually take few hours to finish so there was no point in waisting much time.
I barely finished checking my watch when suddenly a woman in a suit dashed inside the restroom and asked addressing me:
_"Master lady, are you ok?"
I was so confused.. Yet i answered hesitantly:
_"i'm fine"
She then started to speak in some device that she held, soon after that, she went to check all the toilets and didn't stop until she was reassured that they were all empty.
Soon she finished doing that.. A group of muscular men walked in as well and surrounded me.
_"what's happening?" I spoke my mind.
I was so confused.
_" Master lady, is there anyone or anything threatening your safety at the moment?" one of the tall huge men asked.
I didn't understand what came up all at sudden, i started to feel very concerned.. I forgot all about my mother's matter and started to think that maybe something happened to the filladi family.
Usually when one member of the family is hurt the guards will act actively in this way and shield all the rest.
Then it suddenly occurred to me.. I was just in the phone with Eliyas, did i call in the wrong time and something happened to him because of me?
I felt like i was having a heart attack immediately after having that thought.
I looked at the bodyguards in terror and i said:
_"there's no threat around me.. What happened? Is Eliyas ok? Did something happen to him?"
_" No, we were only alarmed about you, The young master asked us to escort you safely to his office"
_" you mean nothing happened with anyone?" I asked dumbfounded.
_"No, Young master thought you were hurt instead and alarmed us." the lady said.
And i swear underneath a thousand layer of seriousness on her face there was a chuckle.
Feeling both relieved and annoyed, i followed them out of the restroom.
I was shocked to find many other men standing in a line along the corridor and opening a path for me in the middle.
What the hell!
I literally had finished talking with Eliyas just 5 minutes ago! When did they all come!
More importantly.. Why was i treated as if a dozen snipers were targeting me?!
I was taken to the elevator, and after that i was led the office. Surprisingly there was not a single worker along the way although i'm sure the building would be pretty much stuffed with people around that time.
When i finally reached the office, the lady in suit of earlier asked:
_" Master lady, do you need to see a psychologist?"
_"No.. I'll just wait for Eliyas here" i said.
Feeling awkward about the whole situation.
I mean, why did things suddenly escalate this far.
I waited in the office for so long.. The waiting was intermitted with the guards visits to check on me and to bring me food to eat.
I kept thinking what kind of meeting would take such a long time anyways, after a long time of doing nothing and waiting aimlessly i lost even the interest in my mother's case.
At some point i forgot even that i was waiting for Eliyas, i simply lied on the sofa that i was sitting on for so long and i slept.
There isn't a better pastime than sleeping in the world for me.
I slept for only god knows how much, it should be about three hours or so because i woke up to a dim room.
The first thing i felt after waking up was complete disappointment.. That man still didn't come yet.
I sat properly .. Tried to find my shoes to put them on and go back home in anger when a voice suddenly came from behind me:
_"did you wake up?"
I turned to look behind me.. And i found that shadowed silhouette standing by the window,
Hearing that familiar deep voice i felt relieved.
_"when did you come? Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked hiding a smile.
He walked towards his desk, switched on some bulb which omitted dimly light suitable for reading and then he answered while looking at me:
_"about two hours ago.. I didn't want to wake you up"
I fixed my messy hair a bit .. And then i stood up and walked towards his office to meet him.
He kept observing me silently while i shrunk the distance between us. when i finally stood in front of him i noticed that he was somehow nervous.
I mean he was breathing uneasily, gulping too much .. And started avoiding looking at me directly.
It's really rare to see Eliyas acting in such a way, so i didn't want him to see that i noticed that, out of respect for his pride.
I took a deep breath.. And i said:
_" i apologize for calling you all at sudden and interrupting your important meeting"
_" i was not in a meeting then" he soon corrected me.
I felt like my heart broke hearing that.. So he only kept me waiting for no reason.
_" i see" i said in a disappointed tone.
I already lost all the will to ask him to help me, i had waited for him for so long only to find out he just wasted my time for nothing.
I had started to think how i can contact that French company and beg them to give me the lawyers info when Eliyas added:
_" i was in a business trip out of the country, i couldn't come earlier.. I flied as soon as you called"
_"what! You were not in the country!!" I shouted.