I had to meet a lot of people..
When all the guests were escorted to the large garden to have a refreshing walk I thought that was about what we'll actually do there, much to my annoyance though, the moment we stepped a foot inside the garden people started coming from everywhere in turns, so In the end I didn't get to enjoy the walk since I had to talk to them all instead, I knew half of them already from my previous jobs, as for the rest I had to quickly remember their names and status, occasionally, I had to remember the names of their children and the families related to them, although there wasn't much guests compared to the party my mother in-law recently organized, but still the number of people that suddenly had to find a place inside my memory was beyond the limit I could handle.
I was tasked to remember a lot of people too when I first started working after graduation, I objectively think that it wasn't even necessary for me to know the backgrounds of various people unless I was assigned to write an article related to them, but then my direct manager at the time was so severe in this aspect, I had no left option.
Those were hard times now that I remember them, not only I had to struggle to find a convenient apartment to rent and buy all the furniture for it with the little income I had, my job itself was so difficult, since I was only hired as a sort of assistant to my direct manager, my working hours and the locations I had to visit depended on the swings of his mood.
While meeting my mother in-law's acquaintances I chanced upon one or two among them who, in the times when I was not Mrs Filladi, made me wait for long hours outside their offices to have meetings with them, only to be told later when the sky turns dark that they refuse to see me, It felt bitter to see them coming with their own feet just to have a talk with my husband and I although, except for my marriage, nothing else had a major change in me, I'm still the same woman they once refused to see.
By the time I finally had the chance to meet Marwa properly I must have looked really tired, since the first thing she said to me after generously thanking me for saving her was:
_"Mrs Filladi, You should sit and rest! Your health isn't fully restored yet, No one in this room knows how unwell you are more than me, because I was there beside you yesterday!"
_" She's right, you should rest." Eliyas commented while standing beside me.
He gestured for a certain bodyguard to come, then he privately spoke with him after which the bodyguard quickly left his initial position and dashed inside the villa instead.
While I was observing the bodyguard leaving, Akrem who was silently accompanying us when we met a lot of people suddenly spoke addressing Marwa attracting my attention towards them again:
_"Miss Kaidi, I hope you received from Mr Wahrani already, I contacted your company yesterday and I rescheduled our meeting still I haven't received from you yet whether the new time and place are convenient for you, I apologize for keeping you waiting yesterday."
_" I was invited to come here by Filladi co Mr Houdil, so my coming here is for work I assume, If we finish the discussions today then I don't think an ulterior meeting would be necessary." Marwa replied to my surprise.
I mean, I didn't expect such honest and direct rejection from such a bubbly person like Marwa, Akrem sure angered her the last time they met.
Akrem looked very surprised as well and didn't find any words to say, that is until Eliyas suddenly commented:
_" It was I who personally invited you to come here Miss Kaidi, certainly not for work purposes but you can take this chance to make beneficial acquaintances if you wish to, I apologize for my selfishness but I wanted to meet the person my wife risked her life to save, she must have really liked you otherwise she wouldn't act this selfless, that's the least I know about her."
I gave Eliyas a displeased glare then corrected him:
_" It's wrong to say I risked my life because I already knew the car was about to stop, don't make her feel unnecessarily guilty!"
_" I like Mrs Filladi too, so much!" Marwa suddenly confessed with shining eyes, she took a breath then continued while her eyes were glued on me:
_" and I feel very indebted to her as well, I don't know how I'll ever pay back for what she did yesterday."
Sensing her true honesty, I could only say:
_" then pray for me to have a healthy child of my own."
Because prayers coming from an honest heart are the most valuable, the most likely to be responded.
My demand threw them all into deep silence though, by them all I mean Marwa, Akrem and most importantly.. Eliyas.
This silence wasn't cut until the bodyguard who went inside the villa earlier came back towards Eliyas and spoke with him, as they were doing that, Marwa said to me:
_" I'll make sure to pray for you all the time! And before I forget mentioning this, I met Mr Ghemmari earlier, he wanted to know the whereabouts of the accident yesterday, I wasn't sure whether I should talk openly about what happened without asking for your opinion first, so I refused to answer his question despite being informed he's Miss Filladi's fiancé and not a stranger from the family."
You see, this is why I love this girl!! Even though she appears to be very kind and simple, she's still very thoughtful and careful with people, such treats would surely help her survive if not to advance better in her life and work.
I suppose Akrem who met her more often than I did sure knows this side of her, when she finished speaking he was looking at her with his eyes full of admiration, but then admiration and love are indeed much different, whenever Ines was around and even when she acted like the dumbest creature on planet earth, his eyes still doted her like if she was the sun and moon of his life.
I didn't want Marwa to burden her head with an unnecessary matter so I said:
_" I really appreciate your thoughtfulness Marwa, but feel free to talk in whichever way you like about that subject, after all, it was just an accident."
_" Let's go Inside Noursine, shall we?" Eliyas suggested the moment I finished speaking with Marwa.
Before I even had the chance to reply, he circled my shoulders with his arm and as he started pushing me to walk inside the villa he addressed the couple we left behind saying:
_" Excuse us.."
I didn't ask him first where we were heading assuming that we were just going to meet a bunch of other people, but when we took the stairs and finally entered an empty room with only a large bed and sofa inside, I felt the need to ask:
_" Why are we here?"
Still, my question was totally ignored because Eliyas was ordering the guards not to let anyone disturb us as I was asking it.
Once he finished talking with the team, he locked the door then headed towards the window, and as he leaned on the frame he turned to look at me with a calm expression and said:
_" You go rest a bit, although I had a prior Idea my mother was going to invite a couple of people to tag along, I didn't expect to see this much of them, you must be exhausted.. I apologize."
Looking at him, only one silly idea kept circling inside my head, it's that my husband really loves to stand by the window!
I mean, he really does now that I recall a bunch of unrelated events, somehow his favorite spot to stand at however was the situation is always at the window, especially when his mind is occupied with something, it felt cozy to notice this little detail of him which he probably isn't aware of.
I slowly walked towards the large bed and lied down on one side, then smiled as I turned to look at him, and whispered mischievously while patting the spot beside me :
_" then you come here and lie beside me."
He reluctantly made his way towards me, then the first thing he did once he lied down was to leave a large gap between us and lock both my wrists with his hands to block them from moving.
As I was seeing his desperate efforts to stop anything naughty from happening I felt so amused that I started laughing loudly and yelled:
_" what are you thinking! I plainly wanted you to lie down and rest! You dirty minded man, we're in someone else's house!"
He hesitantly let go of my hand, after which I immediately sealed the little gap between us and I wrapped my arms around his torso squeezing him in a tight hug, still I did my best not to squeeze my face on his chest too and wipe all the make up on it.
He sighed as he hugged me back to, then whispered:
_" I knew I shouldn't trust you."
_" I just want a hug though." I replied with a mumbled voice as I kissed his chest lightly not to dirty it with my lipstick.
After a while, I asked him:
_" Are you ok though? you seem a bit unwell."
He cupped my face to make me look at him, then he replied with warm eyes:
_" I'm good, really, you were worried?"
As he was replying, the door was suddenly knocked, remembering that Eliyas already asked to not be disturbed I assumed the matter must be urgent.
So I decided to ignore his question, and more importantly I suggested:
_" You probably should open the door."
He nodded, then he put on his shoes which he previously took off and headed towards the door, as I was following suit he already opened the door and received Akrem who was standing right behind it, apparently they were expecting some guest and he only arrived at that time, once Eliyas was informed about this he didn't suggest that I accompany him to meet this guest like I did with all the others, instead he said to me:
_"Noursine, You can either stay here or go back down, you do what you find more convenient, I'll be absent for a while."
_" then I'll go back down, we'll meet later then."
He soon disappeared from my sight with Akrem, as for me, the first thing I did once I went down was to look for Marwa to have her company, because I didn't want to be left alone or to see any of the other guests, I just don't belong among them.
As I expected, Marwa was standing alone and looking like she was about to die of boredom, once our eyes met we both felt like is we found an oasis in the middle of a dry desert! It was that epic of a moment!
We chatted a lot as we walked across the garden and ate what the Midocali's were serving, and every time some of the guests I met at the party tried to strike a conversation with me my replies were shorter and more direct every time, so much that when a certain woman lastly said:
_"you should let us see you more Mrs Filadi, Mrs bla bla will hold a blabla event at blabla.."
I simply waited for her to finish talking with an expressionless face, and once she did that I simply nodded then left.
It isn't my intention to act rude towards these people, but seriously, all they talk about is party invitations and business deals, or worst, their wealth and properties! I'm not sure whether they discuss more important topics among them but towards me they only spoke about this! And I'm not the least interested to know any of it!
Once we walked pass this last lady I said to Marwa:
_" I know I'm leaving a really bad impression, but I can't force my self to blend in more than I already did."
_" But you're not leaving any bad impression at all Mrs Filladi, on the contrary, you're meeting there expectations exactly!" Marwa said with a serious face.
Seeing the complex expression on my face she quickly explained:
_" I don't know If you're already aware of this, But Mr Filladi is widely known as a cold businessman with little to no words at all, it is known as well that he adores you, most of the guests around you today came for the purpose of trying to approach you since getting close to Mr Filladi was already proven impossible, but much to their disappointment and expectations, Mr Filladi chose an even colder and calmer woman to be his wife, that's what they all were saying when you were absent!"
I laughed feeling amused hearing her interpretation, then said:
_" But I'm neither colder nor calm!"
_"That, only few people know of I guess."
_" You two are becoming very friendly." Someone suddenly interrupted us standing right behind us.
As Marwa and I turned around to see who that was, I wasn't so surprised to see Ines standing there holding a glass of juice and glaring at us, because I already recognized her from the sharpness of her voice.
_" I guess we are." I replied.
Ines's face was empty of warmth as she scanned us both, then she added:
_" I see that Miss kaidi really admires my entourage, first she seems like she can't live separated from my sister in-law, then she didn't miss the chance to talk with my fiancé as well, and lastly when she's separated from my dearest sister in-law, she spent all her time laughing with Filladi's VC and my brother's closest friend, I really don't get what your intentions are Miss Kaidi, are you after the men or the women in this family?"
_" Ines!" I yelled her name feeling very displeased.
That girl sure always said all sorts of things to me and I rarely objected, but then Marwa and I are two different people after all, although I usually don't mind the words directed to me because we're usually in a private place and I really don't care about whatever she's saying, but inside a garden full of important guests such accusations can ruin all Marwa's future.
Being the righteous person that I am, of course I had to object to such act of stupidity.
It seemed like my tone was higher than I meant for it to be, since all the guests suddenly stopped chatting and they focused their attention on us.
Not minding anything around her, Ines continued with determination:
_"Noursine, I thought you're smarter than to be smitten with just any random person."
I calmly said to her:
_" I suggest you leave such a discussion for a better place and time."
As I was speaking, Nadir appeared at Ines's side, and he immediately held her arm to bring her closer to him and whispered something in her ear, after which she strangely smiled as if nothing happened and said:
_" You don't have to be so sensitive about it Noursine, I'm only asking miss Kaidi a question, as a member of this family, I find myself obliged to act protective towards it, don't you agree Eliyas? You're always doing the same thing, aren't you?"
When she mentioned Eliyas while looking at the space behind me, I reflexively turned to look at that direction only to find him indeed coming from there, once he reached me, he naturally asked me since he had no idea what was going on:
_" Is everything ok?"
As I was about to answer him, Marwa suddenly whispered with a barely heard voice:
_" excuse me."
Then she immediately started to walk away.
Akrem followed her almost instantly, and as they both were walking out of the place I could hear him trying to talk with her.
When seeing that, I couldn't stop my self from turning to check Ines's reaction, I don't know whether my action was out of curiosity or concern, I only wanted to check on Ines at that moment, because only the previous day the same thing happened, except it was her who Akrem followed out.
Ines Filladi is sure a complicated person, out of the rational and calm filladis, she sure is exceptional.
Once the couple was out of her sight, it was like a wake up moment for her, she pushed Nadir's arm away and she ran after them slamming her reputation to the wall.
The only thing I felt thankful for is that my mother in-law was nowhere near sight, otherwise the filladi's reputation would have been tarnished more with her hilarious screams after her daughter.
Once I saw Ines running, there was of course no stopping me from following her!
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Author's note:
Hi everyone â¤
I hope you're enjoying the story so far.
As I was writing this chapter I was thinking that most of you are not very familiar with Algerian names, so I wanted to know if you're finding difficulties recalling the names of the characters.
I pray you'll enjoy the rest of the story ð