Does Eliyas love his sister?
Well yes, of course, naturally.
Although I can't say for sure whether this man still has a spot in his heart for his parents, but he sure has a large space for his sister.
I guess when growing up they both shared the burden of being the children of neglecting and self absorbed parents, it comes by nature to rely on one another during such circumstances, I genuinely think that If I had a sister or a brother then I wouldn't have been so alone, at least there would have been someone who truly understood and supported me.
I'm not saying that I particularly admire their relationship, Eliyas obviously doesn't set the best example for being a good brother, but it's still good to see him showing concern from time to time about his only sister, even though his way of doing so is rather strange.
Well, After I was left alone in the dining hall after hearing Akrem's confession, which by the way is still a big surprise to me since I never expected him to straightforwardly tell me - the very anonymous person - about his feelings, I guess he just wanted to tell someone after all, just any one, and I happened to be that person.
Anyways, I looked at my half full plate and I decided that I had enough food already, then I left the hall wanting to go back to my room, on my way to the stairs I heard Eliyas's loud voice coming from Ines's room direction, so I figured out these two were certainly having a verbal fight.
I didn't even feel curious to see what was happening, in fact, I had no heart to do anything at all, so I just continued my way up stairs.
I soon got my self ready to sleep, usually I stay up until almost midnight, but it wasn't the case this day, it was barely 9:30 pm and I already closed my eyes to sleep, I left the lights on for Eliyas though.
Few minutes later, I still couldn't sleep, well thankfully I didn't anyways, since Eliyas suddenly opened the door, walked inside the room, then violently slammed it shut.
If I were asleep when this happened, then I would have been awakened with a very unpleasant way.
There I was acting considerate leaving the lights on for his highness, while him on the other hand bothering the comfort of an innocent person just because he's angry !
Still I didn't even complain nor I scalded him for almost ruining our room's door, being the said above: the considerate person, I just sat on the bed properly and gazed at him.
Eliyas of course didn't apologize, he immediately started to vent his anger saying:
_" How silly can a person be! Why would I choose any random man for my sister! I carefully watched him and tested him, he's suitable for her! speaking honestly with that head of hers I don't think she's even suitable for him ! It is already a fortune for her that he still wants to marry her!"
I looked at him carefully, then I frankly said:
_" Eliyas, I'm not saying your choice is wrong, but you should have informed her at least before he came, there was no reason for you to put them both in that awkward position."
_" If I did that, she would have refused to meet him in the first place." He calmly replied after taking a long breath.
He headed to the closet, and started to change his clothes, then added once he finished:
_" She's just afraid of the idea of marriage after Azziz, It doesn't matter who her groom will be, she'd still feel insecure no matter what, even though she agreed to my suggestion of finding her a good husband, that silly girl would still run away once I do, this is why I wanted her to face this reality unprepared, because if she was given the chance, she would have left the villa before the meeting happened."
He walked steadily towards my side on the bed, sat right beside me, then while looking intently at me he asked:
_"Do you still think I was wrong?"
This question honestly made my heart flatter, made birds chirp inside my stomach, made me smile uncontrollably, you choose whatever description that fits "feeling happy" better.
So yes, I was happy he took the initiative to explain his reasons for me in order to correct my opinion of him, there isn't actually a better compliment to a wife than her husband trying his best to look better in her eyes, it shows how much he still cares.
So I replied feeling totally satisfied:
_" I don't know Ines more than you do, Nor I want what's better for her more than you, If you chose this way then it has to be the right one, I was biased earlier, I now don't think your wrong way was actually wrong."
He nodded in satisfaction as well, then calmly went to take a shower.
Having such rare pleasant mood, I wanted to wait for him to get out of the bathroom to discuss some matters that require his "happy and tolerant" mood in order to be discussed, such as finding me a new job, because I hate to be jobless, and possibly going in a vacation somewhere alone, since he just came to solve his recent problem at work, namely the problem which threatened my safety, since everything was back to normal I wanted to finally spend my husband's great wealth travelling abroad before another danger occurs.
Although I had all these great things to discuss.. I ended up falling asleep before he finished taking a shower ruining all my plans!
However, It didn't feel like I slept for a long time when I was suddenly violently shaken awake.
The moment I opened my eyes, I found Eliyas's somehow troubled face looking right at me.
_" What's wrong?" I whispered drowsily as I reflexively checked the watch by the bedside.
It was 2 am!
He better tell me that there was an earthquake or that the villa was robbed! otherwise I swear I'll stop acting considerate and I'll scald that man until morning!! Just look at him so persistently bothering my sleep for no reason!
_"Are you ok?" Eliyas asked to my surprise.
Of course I wasn't ok! I was literally just sleeping when his highness suddenly decided to shake all my internal organs!
_" Did something happen? Why did you wake me up?" I asked very displeased.
Already getting ready to start scalding him, because apparently there was no natural catastrophe happening, nor any robbery or whatsoever, it was a plain calm night.
He sighed then explained:
_" you were screaming, did you see a nightmare?"
My plans of lecturing him naturally vanished, I was so confused.
Was I really screaming?
I looked at him feeling very unsure then I replied:
_"No, I don't remember seeing any dream."
While I was speaking, he suddenly extended his hand towards me then landed his palm flat on my forehead:
_" you're feverish." he announced in a very, very serious tone.
At that moment, I thanked god for knowing what the term "fever" means, otherwise, hearing that tone, I would have surely assumed I had a life threatening condition!
My fever apparently wasn't so serious, since my muscles didn't ache nor I felt tired, being the phobic person that I am, I wouldn't have been so calm If that was the case. In fact, I even doubted his judgment and I said:
_" I don't think I'm feverish, maybe I'm just warm from being covered, what did I scream in my sleep?"
He quickly stood up, went to the closet to search for the thermometer, in matter of few seconds he was already in the process of measuring my temperature, As for the words I said, they were naturally not heard.
_"38°c.. you're feverish, are you having any other symptoms?" He said with a doctor's tone.
_"No." I replied very unsure.
I mean, How come I have a fever without even feeling it? Well, 38°c isn't so high of a temperature, it's just higher than the normal, but I usually have symptoms even at this point.
Eliyas looked at me pensively, took a deep breath, then ordered me:
_" come, let's cool you in the bathroom, I'll call a doctor."
_"No need for any of that! i'll just take medication and i'll be fine by morning." I objected, it was just a small fever anyways, i just wanted to go back to sleep! Even If I'd spend the rest of the night screaming, I just wanted to freaking sleep!!
However, once I finished speaking, I figured out that all what i said was just a waste of my energy and breaths, that man stared at me so intimidatingly that I immediately stood up and walked towards the bathroom like an obedient doll.
Apparently my dear husband, is more of Nana's blood than I ever was, that woman refuses to take medical treatment all the time, to her, no medical knowledge surpasses the benefits of natural herbs, honey, and olive oil. If she mixes these three together, she might as well cure the incurable. Well, Eliyas is following her steps too, he absolutely refused that I take any medication, saying that it will only upset my stomach especially that I didn't eat well.
He decided to use a more old fashioned technique : drenching me in water.
He made me sit in the bathtub, then he opened the water tap and started showering me with a warm water, just slightly cold.
_" Isn't it better and faster to use cold water?" I asked curious.
He kept just looking at me pensively and didn't even answer though, so whether the warm or cold water were better, that will need me to search later to find an answer.
What happened after that was.. Me being stared at for a very long time while being showered with water with my clothes on.
At some point i started shivering, I very doubt it was because of the fever actually, i bet it was because my temperature dropped even lower than the normal!
After a long time of us being silent, I finally said:
_" I'm fine Eliyas, It's just fever, I'm not even feeling anything."
I figured out his long pensive silence must have been due to his concern over my health, so I wanted to reassure him.
_" I've just remembered, you often had unexplainable fever too when you had your miscarriage." He suddenly spoke.
He closed the water tap, at this point it was already useless leaving it open since the bathtub had long been filled.
He seemed very unwell while looking at me, then he explained:
_" doctors were often afraid you had some complications due to the sepsis you had, all tests came negative though, and only one explanation was left, this fever was psychological and had nothing to do with any physical damage, it was added to the list of the other symptoms you already had. I'm not saying that the fever you have today is like those you had in the past, it is not my place to judge it so, we still have to see a doctor about it, but it's so similar__ "
_" are you thinking it's because of what I heard about my mother?" I interrupted him.
_"You were unwell ever since, you didn't eat..and you were screaming in your sleep." He confirmed.
I really hate being this weak person who makes people worry unnecessarily and bother them, I mean, I didn't even know I developed a brand new "psychological" symptom, namely this fever thing, I've never even heard of anyone having fever just because he feels bad!! And there goes my body acting like a genius again!
You know what is the hardest thing about being psychologically ill, it's being incapable of controlling your body reactions, feeling like if your brain is split to two parts and the unlucky you is just in control of the weaker part which can do nothing at all.
And what is torturing through all of this, is that your close people has to witness this happening to you.
After Eliyas finished speaking I spent a long time thinking while being in the bathtub, once I came to a conclusion, I said to him:
_" I think I should treat this problem from its roots Eliyas, I mean I should confront my mother once and for all and I should just tell her that I will never forgive her and that she's dead to me, I think a part of me is still expecting her to come back, I'm hurt because I'm disappointed every time with what she, don't you think I should confront her?"
He didn't answer, it's really unusual to see the confident and decisive Eliyas so unsure and out of words, it is attributed to the particularity of my circumstances though.
Since this was the case, I just spoke my mind saying:
_" Then I'll see her with you, I should start taking therapy again I guess to prepare for that or something, I'm sorry for being this person, it's giving you hard time for nothing, you didn't even sleep properly because of me__"
He shook his head once I finished speaking, then while helping me stand up and change my wet clothes afterwards he said:
_" Why do you think I'm burdened? In fact, I knew about your condition long before and I always wanted to be by your side and take care of you, especially__" I immediately blocked his mouth and asked him to be silent.
Ladies and gentlemen, don't let your imagination go wild, I purely put my palm on his mouth to block it, it was because I heard a sound coming from out of the villa.
The sound of car engines.
Akrem's car engine to be precise was among them.
I had to silence Eliyas to make sure I wasn't hearing wrongly, then once I was certain I immediately asked the very surprised and confused Eliyas:
_"What time is it now?"
_" 3 am, 3 am something, what is it?"
_" I'm hearing cars moving, didn't you? Why would they leave the villa now? I didn't see you giving any orders."
Eliyas didn't even wait for one more second, he immediately left the bathroom.
Needless to say it, my husband sure trusts the sharpness of my ears to the extremes.
I fixed the bath robe and followed him out right away, once we walked inside the room, we realised that the door was being knocked.. Probably for a long time!
Eliyas stopped walking and turned to gaze at me, his face said: "how come you heard the car engines far, far away and you didn't hear the knocking right here on the door!!?"
All I can say in my defence, Is that ears .. are very subjective! my ears are so sharp that they ignore such easy tasks like hearing nearby and clear sounds!
Eliyas finally opened the room's door, although I didn't go see who was knocking at 3 am because wearing a bath robe wasn't so suitable, still my sharp subjective ears identified the voice of the butler once this visitor started talking:
_" I apologize for waking you up at this hour young master, I'm afraid the matter is urgent, the young lady master, Miss Filladi, left the villa few minutes ago without notifying her guards in a rather concerning way, the team is waiting for your orders in this matter, although I believe Mr Houdil had already went to search for the lady."
What is wrong with my sister in-law's head!? I'm serious!!
In the past, she made dramas with her mother almost on a daily basis, these dramas of course had me as the main villain.
Now that her mother is gone, the level of her drama evolved and it includes going out with top models, knocking people unconscious, slapping and even eloping!
Why do I feel like if she's finally living the teenage she never had the chance to live?
Eliyas, being the cold person that he is, didn't even have a change of expression, he nodded in understanding once the butler finished speaking then calmly said:
_" thank you, will you ask the team leader to wait for me in my office, I'll be there right away."
He closed the door, then ordered me:
_" Noursine, please go put on some worm clothes and come with me, we'll go find this silly woman."
_"you want me to accompany you?" I asked surprised.
He nodded, then explained:
_" I'm worried about you, I can't let you out of my sight, and I can't simply stay here while Ines is probably in danger as well, It's better if you come with me."
I agreed, well yes, what else can I do anyways? my sleep was long ruined so why not go find my sister in-law and see why she was so eager to leave that she couldn't possibly wait for the daylight to come first.