Clueless Love

After Ismail and I finish eating I go back to my room to shower and get ready to meet up with Fatima later in the day.

I take a bath and wear a yellow floral full-length gown. I tie my hair with a brown hajib which matches the flowers on my dress. I am also wearing black sandals.

A few hours later, I pray Dhuhr and meet up with Fatima downstairs for lunch in the hotel’s restaurant.

“As salamu Alaykum,” I greet hugging Fatima.

“Wa alaykumu salam,” Fatima says standing up to hug me.

“How are you doing?” I ask sitting down.

“I am good and you?” Fatima replies sitting back down.

“I am good too. You won’t believe what I found out after all these years,” I say.

“What did you find out?” “You know how I thought Ismail was the reason I got fired for all those years?” I say taking a sip of Fatima’s drink.

“Yes, and don’t touch my drink. Order your own,” she says removing her drink from my hand.

“He just told me he never got me fired. He even seemed shocked I was fired after our coffee incidents.” I tell her.

“So, you mean all these years I have been encouraging you to be mean to him, were for something he didn’t do? I actually feel bad,” Fatima says shocked.

“Yes, he is innocent, and I too feel bad.”

“But what made you believe him?”

“I heard the sincerity and surprise in his voice, and I knew he was not lying to me.”

“I know Ismail is not someone to lie, but did you apologise?”

“I did, and now there is no bad blood between us anymore,” I say smiling.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Babe there has been no bad blood between the two of you for months,” Fatima says smirking while shaking her head.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I smile thinking back to the past month and not recalling any fights between us, which is actually very good.

I order food for myself, and while eating Fatima says something that makes me almost choke on my food.

“Udar told me he loved me,” Fatima blurts out of the blue.

“What? How? When? I am confused!” I say.

“He told me this morning.”

“Explain.”

“So, this morning I realised I did not have a phone charger. I came to your room to ask for yours, but you were sleeping soundly like always, and didn’t hear me. I went to borrow Udar’s. And while he went into his bedroom to get his charger, I waited for him in his living room. While I was waiting, I saw some files on his table about me, and how he has four guys watching over me. My whole life, everything I do and all my whereabouts were in those files. I was like, what in Allah’s name is going on. I was wondering if he is stalking me or something because I did not understand why he had so much information on me. So, when he came out of his room, I asked him what was going on and you won’t believe what he told me. Would you believe that for all the years I have hated myself for still loving Udar, he was suffering too,” Fatima says tearing up a bit.

“I think we should continue this in our room,” I say getting up to go to Fatima’s room.

Once we take our seat in the living room, I realise my friend is in tears.

“Fatima why you are crying?”

“I just feel bad for disliking someone who has done nothing more than love me all these years,” Fatima says crying.

“I don’t understand what you are saying,” I say rubbing my hands up and down her back to try and calm her down.

“You know the reason why I called off our wedding,” Fatima says wiping her tears away from her eyes.

“Yes, I remember.”

“He knew, and he did it on purpose.”

“Why?” I say completely confused as to where this is going.

“That day when I came to his office, he was told to say those words to me. If he didn’t, she would have killed me.”

“Who is this she?” I’m feeling even more confused about what is going on. “Can you explain more?”

“Let me start from the beginning. A few months before Udar and I got married he started receiving weird messages, like ‘if he marries me, he will not like what will happen’. He said at first he did not take them seriously, until one came with a photo of what I was doing at that particular time, proving to him she was watching me. He called me to ask if I was doing what she had photographed, and I was. That’s when he realised that whoever was behind those messages was not joking. He got the police involved and had them investigate, but they were not coming up with any leads.

That day at his office she told him I was coming, and he had to either call off the wedding or he wouldn’t see me walk out of the building alive. He asked her how he’d know she is not lying. She told him that he should look out his window, and he would see a guy in a black hoodie waiting by my car to end my life. He looked, and there actually was a guy waiting by my car. That’s when Udar knew he just had to let me go to save my life, because he said he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if something happened to me. He was meant to say those words to my face, but because he loved me so much he couldn’t. He pretended to be on a call knowing I was listening by the door. He said that was the worst moment of his life. Umit, I don’t know what to do. He told me this morning and I tried not to over think it, but I can’t stop thinking of what would have happened if she was not in our lives. Maybe I could have had children by now,” Fatima cries.

“Ya Allah! Fatima don’t worry. In Shaa Allah, everything is going to be fine. But do you know who this woman is?” I say finally understanding everything and what Udar meant that day when he said, ‘there are two sides to a story.’ Now that I have heard and understood what really happened, it just clearly shows that Udar cares deeply for my friend.

“She was Udar’s secretary before, and her name is Liz. She is the same woman who approached me the other day. Once I gave a description of the lady who approached me, they were able to trace it back to her. I doubt we would have been able to put a face to her if she hadn’t approached me. And that’s why he got me a bodyguard and had others watch over me from afar, to make sure I was safe.”

“Oh, don’t worry. In Shaa Allah, everything will work out fine,” I say giving her a tissue to dry her tears.

“I pray so too. I also wish he told me earlier, maybe we would have been able to resolve it together. But he said he was too scared of losing me, and that’s why he didn’t tell me. I understand how he felt, but I wish he hadn’t left me in the dark for so many years,” Fatima says wiping her tears with the tissue I gave her.

“I know my love, but right now you need to rest,” I say walking her to her bedroom.

“I will take a shower, then sleep for a few hours,” Fatima says walking into the bathroom.

“You should, and I will be waiting here for you,” I say, sitting on her bed.

I feel very sad about the whole situation. I can’t imagine what Udar went through, hurting the one he loved to protect her. And how Fatima feels for disliking someone, who has done nothing more than protect her all these years. I pray things work out for them.

For the following two weeks Ismail, myself and the others meet different people every day convincing them why they should sign up for our app. Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah), we got most hotels and tour services to agree.

The last week spent in Greece was spent exploring the whole island. The beauty and the architecture of Cycladic whitewashed homes and thatched windmill domes was a wonderful sight to view, and the sunrise here is the most unforgettable. The ferry ride between Greek islands was a nice way to go island hopping. The whole time spent on the Greek islands was fabulous. I would love to come back at any time and explore the mainland of Greece.