The moment I finally sat inside our car, I took off my heels and put on comfortable flats I earlier asked the servants to leave in the car for me, then I looked at the guests standing outside our car who curiously followed us when we walked outside the dining hall, and the journalists who desperately tried to take pictures of us between the human wall formed by the bodyguards then I felt quite emotional.
I have been afraid of standing in front of these people as Eliyas's wife for years for nothing, the filladis are much more strong than I expected after all, even my humble background looked very sophisticated when Buelguassem Filladi described it.
Which isn't a surprise at all, since my father in-law and I grew in the same house, in the same town, we ate the food cooked by the same woman, and he still managed to build a whole empire in a very different world from ours, such man is more than capable of deceiving people with lies.
I don't know what was his purpose behind being this kind to me, I'll just accept it.
Eliyas was so amused when observing me, he even mischievously suggested:
_"Since we're dressed up, how about we go enjoy a dinner alone in a nice place, maybe walk outside too."
_"definitely not." I replied while shifting my gaze from the people outside the car towards him.
Then I added:
_"All we're going to do now is to quickly go back home and rest, this has been a very long day."
When the car was midway, I pensively looked at Eliyas then asked:
_" was my going to the party a mistake? I don't feel any different now that everyone knows me."
He shook his head, and replied:
_" It unexpectedly went well, and thanks to your presence, I didn't have to deal with unnecessary people as well."
When we were finally home, I felt relieved: my in-laws surprisingly didn't cause any drama, no girl threw her self on my husband like a certain someone from the past used to, I wasn't severely criticized, and we made it home safely. In fact, i was so satisfied that i decided it was a waste to just go sleep when we had such a rare good mood, So when we reached our room then we finished changing our clothes and washing up, i suggested sitting in the garden and enjoying the cool summer night together, which he accepted with a smile.
But a workaholic is a workaholic after all, the moment we sat on a bench in the garden, that unromantic creature called the poor butler then he asked him to bring his laptop which he miraculously forgot in the car!
I gazed at him for a very long time while he stupidly viewed a certain slideshow, when I was finally convinced that he will never realize how displeased I was in this lifetime, I simply pushed his laptop away from his lap then put my head there instead.
I lifted his palm and rested it on my head, then I said:
_" you don't have to work 24/7, you should invest time in your wife too."
He caressed my hair, and didn't reply.
We spent long time in the calm, intermittently chatted about unrelated subjects, until our calm was suddenly interrupted with the sound of cars approaching.
_" they are probably back." I commented, as I swiftly stood up and headed inside the villa to meet Nana, I wanted to chat with her about the happenings after we left.
When I walked outside the interior gate to see her, Nana wasn't in sight, only Ines and Akrem were there.
To my total surprise, they were having a dispute!
Ines was unexpectedly sitting in the front seat of Akrem's car, when the vehicle stopped quite violently, she immediately walked outside and slammed the door shut with much force that I feared the old antique vehicle might split.
She then walked around the car looking very angry until she stopped near Akrem's seat, she shouted:
_"who do you think you are! Who gave you permission to beat my boyfriend!!"
What!! Akrem beat that handsome man!
Akrem turned off the car, then he walked outside and violently shut the door too, the poor car sure endured tremendous struggle on the way to the villa as well.
Akrem didn't say a word back though, In fact, he even tried to ignore Ines and walk pass her, this apparently angered her loads more, she quickly strode towards him, and blocked his way shouting:
_" I'm talking to you! Do you even know whose son he is? Your hand should have been cut before it was raised on him!"
These words were unnecessarily humiliating, although I wanted to intervene and demand her to have some manners when talking to people regardless of their identity, but I didn't, it's better if I don't intervene.
The only contribution I did was to notice my husband approaching with my peripheral vision, I caught him right before he appeared in front of them and stopped him from doing that, because his presence in such situation will only make the poor Akrem feel even more embarrassed.
_" you stay here with me! Let them solve this alone!" I whispered to Eliyas who kept looking at me totally confused with all what was happening.
While I was talking to Eliyas, Ines yelled:
_" are you deaf? I'm talking to you!"
_" I'm not deaf Miss filladi, I can hear you clearly and I can understand your words." Akrem finally replied with a calm voice.
Ines then asked with a somewhat more calm temper:
_"Why did you beat him? Do you even realize the consequences of your actions?"
_" He was approaching you in a disrespectful way, you were my responsibility, I had to protect you."
She stepped even closer to him, then yelled:
_" My personal affairs are not your business! Who asked you to intervene! You only made the situation worse!"
I guess something about these words made Akrem's calm temper finally shatter, he forgot he was standing in front of the sister of his boss, and he loudly reprimanded her:
_"His ill intentions were clear all the time! I warned you! I clearly asked you to come in my car but you still stubbornly chose to go with him although you knew his intentions! If it was so humiliating to come with me you could have chosen many other options but you picked the worst one!"
He took a deep breath, then he crossed the little distance that separated them and yelled with an even louder voice:
_"Do you think your bodyguards are having fun following you around? They are working hard to protect you! Yet, you irresponsibly tricked them and sneaked inside a strange man's car, What if i didn't spot you by accident? What if I didn't follow you? What if I wasn't there when he stopped in the middle of no where!? Tell me! How were you going to deal with him!? When I reached you, you already gave up to him! Or excuse me, maybe I interrupted something you were willing to do!__"
He couldn't say any more words, because he was interrupted with a hard slap on his face.
Yes, Ines slapped him with all her might.
I guess this slap woke them both up, They silently looked at one another for long moments, before Akrem turned around, opened his car's seat again, then drove out of the villa in an insane speed.
Right after he left, Eliyas ordered the guards:
_"follow him and bring him back safely!"
Then he calmly looked at Ines and he said:
_"and you, follow me."
He steadily walked towards the guests hall not even minding to turn behind him and check if Ines indeed followed him like he ordered, of course he didn't have to do that because only a headless would dare to disobey him!
just looking at his back made me have goosebumps and it wasn't even me who he addressed! I didn't dare to meddle again.
Being the useless witness that I am, I just followed both the siblings slowly, trying to make my presence as unnoticeable as I could.
_" What happened with your boyfriend?" He asked as soon as he walked inside the hall and he dismissed the servants and guards.
Ines looked very frightened, she only moved her eyes between us both, then somehow she mastered her courage and replied:
_" It's my private life, I don't have to discuss it with you."
_" It's your choice, Either I hear what happened from you, or I'll have to trouble your dear boyfriend and make him describe what he did by himself."
_" Eliyas!" She shouted desperately.
He steadily approached her, inspected her face and neck, then lifted her forearms:
_"Did your boyfriend do this to you?"
I curiously stepped closer, only to notice she had bruises on all the spots Eliyas inspected.
For a moment, I truly thought Eliyas was only meddling in an uncomfortable way, because Ines is already a grown up who should know better what is right from what is wrong and take her own decisions in life. But when I saw the bruises, I realized Eliyas was just acting like a brother protecting his sister after all, whatever was that happened, it clearly wasn't with her consent.
_" Ines, why are you still defending him?" He asked this with a tone that made Ines's eyes tear.
She suddenly hugged him tightly, and finally spoke while crying:
_"Why do I always trust such men! Why do I always have to be tricked and embarrassed! All people laughed at my stupidness with Azziz! When I realized Iyad was using me too, I wanted to get rid of him by my self this time without involving any third party and embarrassing my self again, but that stupid Akrem disfigured him! Iyad's father is the general manager of L channels group, not only they will sue Akrem, they will expose our relationship to the whole media and fake all kinds of rumors! Even if we sue them for defamation, I will still be mocked by people all over again!"
_" You don't have to care about this matter, I will personally take care of it." Eliyas reassured her and frightened me.
Of course i should be frightened! he said he will "personally" take care of it! Freaking "personally"!
Whenever he takes things "personal", nothing good ever comes up!
Although this Iyad deserved whatever Eliyas was going to do with him because he's a brainless, I somehow felt sorry for him in advance.
Eliyas helped his sister sit down and waited patiently for her to calm, then he finally asked:
_" Did Akrem deserve that disrespectful treatment from you after saving you?"
_" I was unfair to him, I was feeling desperate, I will apologize to him and pay for any possible damage."
_" Can you mend his pride with money and an apology?" He asked.
But he didn't wait for her answer, he simply walked out of the guests hall leaving us behind, probably to start "personally" taking care of the matters.
_" Are you OK? Were you hurt?" I finally asked when we were left alone.
She shook her head and said:
_" I'm fine."
I nodded in understanding, then we both remained silent for a very, very, very long time.
At some point I wondered If Eliyas just forgot to mention that we could go back to our rooms, assuming he would definitely notice I was missing if he went to our room to sleep, I felt reassured he was still at least awake taking care of matters.
When I was struggling to keep my eyes open Ines suddenly asked me:
_"Do you think Akrem is safe? I saw Iyad punching him too in defence, he should be checked by a doctor don't you think?"
_"He should be OK, the bodyguards are with him, but how come they didn't intervene when the fight was on to protect him?"
_"they intervened of course, they pushed Akrem away from Iyad with great effort, if it wasn't for them, he would have been killed."
I looked at her quite confused, aren't the bodyguards supposed to protect Akrem? Why did it sound like if they were protecting Iyad instead?
Since this was the case, I curiously asked:
_" weren't they supposed to push Iyad away from Akrem instead?"
_" oh, they didn't have to, Iyad was already knocked unconscious by the time they arrived, Akrem kept beating him insanely though so they had to intervene to save a life, Iyad only succeeded to punch Akrem once, but it was a punch on the face, his nose was bleeding on the way to the villa, so I'm worried he might have had a concussion or something."
One punch!! Iyad is very muscular and tall man ladies and gentlemen, and he managed to punch the Akrem Houdil I know only once!!
I tried to imagine this impossible situation, maybe Akrem kept beating Iyad very fast so Iyad couldn't keep up with him, and all Iyad's punches failed to reach their target because Akrem professionally blocked them.
But in this scenario, wouldn't the protection team be just uselessly watching the fight for a long time? Or did it actually take them long before they reached the fight scene? If the latter was the case, then I should inform Eliyas that his team is quite unprofessional when taking actions in real life situations!
Since I didn't want to unfairly accuse the team, I found it necessary to ask Ines one more question, so I said:
_" what was the protection team doing before Iyad lost his consciousness? Were they just watching the fight? Or did they arrive late?"
She looked at me quite seriously then answered:
_" Of course not! They reached the fight within few seconds and they immediately tried to push Akrem away!"
She looked at my seriously very confused face then she explained:
_" Iyad was knocked unconscious after the first kick, Akrem unnecessarily kept punching his face afterwards, when the guards managed to push him away, Iyad was already disfigured."
After hearing these words, I felt curious about one single logical thing:
" If Ines witnessed such inhumanly massacre with her own eyes, how did she still had the freaking courage to slap that beast on the face!"