From last episode..
He continued to stare at her for a while longer then finally asked "Do you think your parents would approve of me if I proposed?"
It had taken her a few days for her to actually absorb his question then she did the first thing that came to mind. She called her married best friend to ask for advise.
She had always had a very deep relationship with Hala even though they'd met under the strangest circumstances. They had both been refugees in a strange country when they'd both escaped from Kuwait due to the invasion.
Their mothers met at a "Free Kuwait" gathering held in Dubai and they both insisted that the two girls should keep each other company. At first, Hala appeared to be nothing close to her type. She thought her a T.K. (a secret code she and her friends used as a term for girls that they couldn't connect with mentally). Hala's bob haircut, big lashes and full lips had given her the impression that she would be more into Louis Vuitton bags than about writing political poetry to expressive anger on the current circumstances. It was far from the truth! Hala turned out to be the most modest and caring friend that crossed her path and so began an amazing friendship that only became stronger everyday.
Life had not been easy for Hala. She came from a family that still lived in the old fashioned mentality of "who's who" in the world. They were what they called themselves "a9eeleen" a term translated into being "original" or "pure". Such families took pride in being originally from Saudi Arabia, Najd in particular. In her own mind she had translated it as being blue blood. If the common term of
WASP in the States was translated into Wealthy Anglo-Saxon Protestant then
WAMS stood for Wealthy A9eel Moslem Sunni and in both cases it meant that doors would open for them wherever they went. If you had blue blood you made it in the world because all blue bloods would stand with you. Marrying blue blood meant a step into the fancy world of high society. The money always stayed within the blue blood community and that was the way it had always been and how they expected it to remain.
When Hala had confided to her that she was in love with a Bedouin boy during those endless hours of waiting and watching CNN during the invasion, she was happy for her. Being in love under such circumstances gave the heart something else to concentrate on and eased some of the pain. Little did she know that her friend was playing a part in what was to lead to the worst experience in her life.
When the years past and they'd returned to Kuwait, Hala had called her one evening and told her that Mohammed, her Bedouin boyfriend had proposed. Although she was thrilled for her, she could tell that Hala sounded worried.
"What's the matter?" she asked her.
"My parents are refusing to see him because he's a Bedouin!" she replied breaking down into tears.
As she tried to comfort her, she had no idea that the worse was yet to come. It took a week for her to beg and plead with her parents but her eldest brothers wouldn't budge! It was too embarrassing for their blue blood to have a Bedouin brother-in-law. Actually, it was unthinkable!
Her mother whose words held importance within the household finally told them that her daughter's happiness was at stake so she asked the father to call them and let them know that they'd accepted.
Unfortunately, when it came to Bedouins, pride stood before anything else. Mohammed's father told them that they were insulted for having waited so long to give their reply and so they were no longer interested in the girl!
Mohammed told Hala that his father was a very stubborn man but that if they ran away and got married, soon everybody would accept it. Hala wouldn't have anything to do with it.
"I can't do that to my mother. Not after how hard she helped me. I'm sorry, it's over," she told him as she cried all her tears mourning his loss.
Hala's dismay to the failure of her love life became worse when her brothers told her that she'd embarrassed them as a family and that they were going to find her a suitable suitor whether she liked it or not. It took only a month when her brother told her that his best friend is "willing" to marry her. By then Hala had given up all hopes in life and so did what was expected of her, she agreed to marry him.
When Hala past by to give her the invitation to her wedding, she was shocked to see Hala all skin and bones. Her beautiful shiny hair was barely there and she practically looked like a ghost.
It was a wedding she hated remembering but had to be there to support Hala. She still couldn't believe that things like this still happened in this day and age. Coming from a completely different background, marrying someone you didn't want was unthinkable. It just didn't make any sense.
She remembered being dropped off at the Marriott hotel and rushing to the elevator so she could spend sometime with Hala in her room. These were the hardest moments as she held her hand to comfort her while she waited for the moment for her to go downstairs and enter the ball room full of guests who had no idea what she was feeling.
She whispered to her "Are you ok?"
Hala's soon-to-be sister-in-laws were running around frantically getting ready. She remembered how they had looked so scary and unfriendly especially one particular one. She was the kind that one would refer to as being the nisra meaning a hawk; a woman with claws that showed no mercy.
Hala didn't reply. She just looked at her with pain in her eyes and nodded in denial as though to comfort her.
The wedding was miserable. Though she attempted to dance to cheer Hala up, inside she just couldn't be happy for her. It was all so wrong! Little did she know that the worse was yet to come.
The wedding past as any other wedding and she waved goodbye to Hala as she watched her being escorted to her husband's car that would take them to his family house.
Little did Hala know that when they were driving down Highway 30 that they were being followed by Mohammed, her Bedouin boyfriend.
No sooner had she arrived and been taken upstairs by the sister-in-law did the door bell rang. A few minutes later she heard her new husband call for his sister. As she sat upstairs, looking at the stranger in the mirror, she wondered how her new life was going to be. Suddenly, her sister-in-law walked in with a evil grin on her face and said "My brother says intee 6alek!"
Mohammed had delivered a letter to her husband telling him that he had been her boyfriend and with the letter was a picture of her and Mohammed that they'd taken years ago in a restaurant in Kuwait.
The next six months, she was not aloud to speak to Hala. Whenever she called, they told her that she was either asleep or out. It was only when she'd bumped into her mother at a ladies tea party that she begged her to be able to speak to her.
When she finally did, Hala told her the story and how her brothers had locked her into her room which she was never allowed to leave. Food would be delivered to her room and she had no access to any telephones. Her mother had been nice enough to smuggle her the phone today so that she could speak to her.
They were very hard days for Hala and her heart went out to her everytime she spoke to her after that. All she could do was comfort Hala and tell her that everything has a way of working out and that she had to be patient.
When months and months had past and she continuously begged her brothers to at least give her the chance to graduate from college, they finally agreed. Her brothers would take her to college and bring her back everyday but the few hours she would attend class were always a blessing for her.
As she waited for Hala to pick up the phone on this current day, she was comforted by the thought that Hala was now happily married to an older married man. A man she had known throughout her life and that had always begged her to marry him before her ordeal.
She had always disapproved of such a marriage but slowly she would find comfort in his wisdom and support for all that had happened to her. His kind heart would finally win her and she agreed to marry him. Knowing fair well that her brothers would not approve she needed to come up with a plan. She finally took the decision one idol day and jumped out of the gate of her house into his car where they ran off to get married abroad.
Yes, life had not been easy for Hala but here she was settled down and finally content with the life of a married women with two kids to love and cherish.
"Tell me your news habeebti," said Hala when she finally picked up the phone.
"He proposed!" she said shyly to her best friend who had been waiting patiently with her for that moment to come.
"Mabrook habeebti! Allah yetamim 3ala 7'air! Did you ask your parents?" she asked worriedly.
She closed her eyes. She knew she was going to have to soon enough.
"Hala, I want to but I'm too scared."
To be continued...
