I don't know whether Eliyas noticed Akrem's feelings towards his sister or not, he didn't talk to me about it and I didn't ask, so I really have no idea.
You see, my husband is incomparably people smart when it comes to business, he would read those commerce devils faces like if they are an open book and pave his way across that deceitful world of theirs with ease, well, I guess he is so trained on this hard task of detecting mischief that he simply ended up failing miserably in seeing clearer, purer and dumbly obvious feelings like love.
I thought about this when we were all having breakfast in early September morning, the tension in the air was suffocating, Akrem was secretly looking at Ines, Ines was secretly looking at Akrem, Nana was secretly -actually pretty obviously- looking at me and stuffing my plate with food so as, according to her self made medical knowledge, I gain weight and become much healthier, which will magically solve all my conceiving problems, So yes, she was keeping an eye on me to make sure I wasn't sneakily emptying my plate's contents in Eliyas's like I always did in the past.
Despite all the tension there, my cold husband was still enjoying his breakfast with a peaceful mood, he even discussed work with Akrem.
That is until he suddenly informed us:
_" we'll be having a guest at lunch today."
_"who?" I asked bluntly.
Because I was genuinely surprised he would invite anyone to the villa, back when my in-laws were living with us the place was sure almost never out of guests who I naturally rarely spoke with, but ever since they left no guest was allowed inside.
Eliyas smiled, then mysteriously answered:
_"You'll meet him later."
As you know, I'm definitely not the kind of woman who would nag and torture her husband until she hears what she wants from him, although I was dying of curiosity, and Nana was literally digging wholes on my face with her stares signaling for me to ask him more until he tells us the identity of his guest, I still refrained from doing that.
I simply assumed he was just some important business partner, since I was already introduced to the society, maybe Eliyas wanted me to meet him personally.
After we finished having breakfast, Ines accompanied me to my room to help me pick a suitable dress and apply makeup for the occasion since she was much better experienced with this kind of stuff.
And yes ladies and gentlemen, Ines who has been my enemy for as long as my memory started to function surprisingly started acting much more friendly with me after Akrem's accident, maybe because my mother in-law was not in the picture anymore so she finally realized my character wasn't as hideous as she always thought, anyways, whatever her reason was, she was just treating me differently.
After she finished "preparing" me, we headed to her room next where she unsurprisingly spent twice the time I took to prepare her self as well, In the past she always wore classic large clothes and had a really long hair, she looked cute and elegant, but when accompanied with Lydia who was much more extravagant she somehow was always overshadowed.
Ever since she cut her hair short and started wearing a drastically different clothing style, the cute elegant lady turned into a femme fatale.
I'm not going to lie to you and say I looked prettier, or that my beauty was so splendid that the mirrors shattered from the charm of my reflection in them, this is obviously a lie, I certainly looked humbly beautiful, but not even close to be compared with Ines.
That woman is .. Just forget it, god bless her that's it.
Well, I felt quite unneeded in her room after a long time of watching her doing her makeup, so I decided to head to the kitchen and check on the preparations instead, when I was on my way to there I happened to notice Eliyas walking inside the villa from outside, a tall man in a suit was walking beside him.
So I changed my direction and headed towards them instead to greet the guest and see who he was.
But the closer I got, the more I felt that man looked familiar.
When finally that man's face became clear to my eyes, I couldn't help but exclaim loudly:
_"Mr Ghemmari! What are you doing here!!"
Yes, this mysterious guest was Mr Ghemmari Nadir after all, The lawyer, My mother's nephew.
If I remember anything with precision then it is that my husband hated Nadir to the extremes and even beyond that, Mr Nadir , god bless him, not only chose to stand against Eliyas and informed me that my in-laws were probably involved in my father's death, he even dared to look at my husband right in the face and say:
_" you haven't publicly acknowledged your marriage with Noursine, you're not her cousin, then you are a mare stranger to her."
So how come the two of them ended up looking so friendly that even the block of ice called my husband was smiling for Nadir!!
_"Hello Noursine, We haven't met for quite a long time, how have you been?" Nadir soon greeted me.
I was so confused that I directly asked:
_"Why are you both together?"
This question was of course very logic, Eliyas smiled then explained to my surprise:
_"Mr Ghemmari have been working with Filladi for months now, he currently came to Algeria in a short visit, so I thought this was finally the suitable chance to introduce him."
_"excuse me Mr Ghemmari, I need to talk with my husband privately." I rudely interrupted.
_"No problem." Nadir replied, then he soon was led to the Guest's room by the butler.
I immediately held Eliyas's hand, and dragged him towards his bureau, after locking the door I immediately asked:
_"Is this a joke Eliyas?"
_"No" he simply replied.
I looked at him dumbfounded then reminded him:
_"You hate this man! and you made it very clear, you even threatened him!"
He stood properly in front of me, then asked:
_" Noursine, Do you think I would randomly hire people in my company?"
I shook my head, being certain that Filladi is indeed a red line for him, he wouldn't risk it no matter what were the circumstances, take me as an example of that, my very precious life is threatened just for the freaking filladi co to remain on top.
He then explained:
_" I investigated him diligently after our last encounter, of course I had different purposes in head, but while doing that I was very impressed by his expertise, by his honesty and righteousness, I came to realize too that he and I had one common enemy, my father, I offered him a post.. He accepted it and was very handy ever since."
_"Are you sure though? I know Nadir is quite fearless when it comes to doing what he believes right, but are you sure you can trust him?" I asked quite worried.
He cupped my face between his palms, then pecked my forehead and whispered:
_" I'm certain, this man even travelled across countries to come warn you from our family risking his safety although he barely knew you, I was very impressed with this as well."
_" If you think he's trustworthy, then I don't have a saying in this."
I said quite uncertainly.
Then I walked out and went to the kitchen like I initially planned.
While we were all eating on the lunch table, I discovered I wasn't the only person who felt uncomfortable with Nadir's strange closeness to Eliyas, Nana shared my same opinion, In fact, she expressed her total "discomfort" quite frankly.
She kept throwing comments like: " your uncle must be living a hard life, he made a girl with a mother live like an orphan after all. " .. " Is your uncle treating his wife well? he has to, she crossed borders and left her daughter for his sake" .. "Even cats are better mothers than some women nowadays."
When Nadir couldn't take her comments any longer, he suddenly said:
_" they are divorced."
And a long silence followed.
I was so surprised, so shaken from the inside, I somehow expected to receive any kind of news about her the moment i saw Nadir, I didn't expect this though.
I felt like if there was a stone stuck in my throat the moment I heard these words, It was suffocating but I continued swallowing my food pretending I was fine, and not caring at all.
The silence was speaking loads on the dining table though, only the sound of my spoon and fork were heard, since they all stopped eating and turned to look at me with concern.
_" I wasn't informed, when did this happen?" Eliyas finally spoke.
Nadir cleared his voice, and explained:
_" they had problems going on for a very long time, my uncle applied for a divorce months before our last meeting with Noursine, the procedures were finalized shortly afterwards."
No wonder her husband didn't show up back then, and I thought he was a brainless trying to act smart, it turned out he wasn't a part of the family anymore so he didn't need to come.
Why was that woman acting arrogant and said she made the right choice and lived happily if this wasn't the case?
_"I knew she was going to get divorced!" Nana commented with improper joy, then added:
_"Except for my poor son who wasted his short life fulfilling all her demands, who else would support her malicious character?"
_"Nana, please" Eliyas interrupted her.
I agree with Nana, that woman called my mother deserved every insult and every curse, Since she was already divorced, why didn't she come see me again?
I guess it wasn't only for the sake of another man or a better life that she left me behind.
she just really, really abandoned me.