Please read the Author's Note at the end!

#Chapter Twenty Nine#

"Come on Samir, I don't have all day!" I yelled up the stairs. My voice echoed and bounced off the walls and in return, I was met with silence. I huffed. "Samir!" 

"Calm down woman, I'm coming. Just a minute," he yelled back down the stairs. 

"No yelling in this house please!" Lia, ironically, yelled back and I grumbled under my breath. Ahmad and Omar, the two guards who were escorting us today, sent me amused expressions and I rolled my eyes. Deciding to wait outside since I was a little impatient, I flung open the door and walked into the midday heat. This week had been unprecedented with temperatures rising above forty degrees...I was honestly surprised anyone even left their house. 

The guards followed me as I made my way down the brick steps and I paused beneath the shade as I awaited Samir. I glanced up as I heard the sound of footsteps approaching and to my disgust, none other than Isaac came into view. He was in a black, crisp and bland suit - just like his personality - and had his phone raised to his ear as he conversed with, most likely, a demon. 

I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion once our gazes met. I cocked an eyebrow and made sure to show him how much his presence was unwanted. In return, that usually smug smile formed on his face and as if trying to fire me up, his eyes raked their way from the top of my head, all along my body and back to my eyes. 

He was actually challenging me. 

And then, as if I was scum on the floor, he turned his head and continued on with his conversation before trailing up the steps and into my house. 

I balled my fists in anger and tried not to let his behaviour push me to do something I would regret. Like go after him and drown him in my fish tank. That would be very ideal...

"I don't like him," Omar said, his eyes still on the place where he had disappeared through the door. 

"Me neither," Ahmad agreed and I nodded my head solemnly. 

"I don't either boys, but unfortunately for us, baba does." 

They shared a glance and before any of us could say anything else, Samir finally decided to come out.

"Is your royal highness ready?" Ahmad teased and Omar snickered.

"Yeah, do you need some more time to groom your hair? Do your nails perhaps?" 

Samir punched them both in the arm, chuckling once they began mimicking him painting his nails and running a hand through his hair. I laughed along with them, rolling my eyes at their typical immaturity. I grabbed Samir's arm and directed him towards the car. 

"Why so eager Sameena?" Samir asked. 

"I want to check up on Salem!" 

"You checked up on him yesterday," he pointed out. 

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well sorry, for worrying about him. I'll know next time you're in hospital to not visit you."

"Don't twist my words. Plus, I'm fit and healthy alhamdulillah, I doubt I'll be in the hospital any time soon." 

"You will be if you keep talking," I mumbled under my breath. 

We all climbed into the car and not surprisingly, three other guards joined us as we made our way out the gates. If I thought two to three guards was suffocating before, this was just ridiculous. However, after the incident at the shopping centre, I couldn't help but feel like maybe we did need the extra security. 

After Salem had shoved me out of the way, the man took advantage of Salem's momentary distraction and smashed his gun against his head and managed a shot to his arm. The other two guards who were with us split: one had immediately called for backup and had taken both Mira and Sarah out of the danger zone, whilst the other was the one who had run after the attacker and caught him. 

Luckily for us, there was only one attacker. 

We arrived at the hospital and no time and I quickly traced the steps up to Salem's room. I was eager to see how he was doing and whether he would be discharged today, as he had already been housed here for three days. 

I knocked on his room door and once I heard a 'come in' I turned the doorknob and walked through, Samir, Ahmad and Omar on my heels. The other three guards remained outside. 

"Asalamu alaikum," I sang as I moved through the room and towards Mira and her mother. They were sitting by the side of his bed, Mira having drawn a chair close to him, whilst her mother sat a metre away knitting a scarf she had been working on for days. 

"Wa alaikum asalam," the three responded and I quickly hugged and kissed the ladies. I analysed Mira's face; in the last few days she had understandably not been well, worrying constantly over Salem despite the fact that doctors assured us all he would be fine in a week. She looked much better today however and there was much more colour to her face. Poor thing had not left his side since day one.

Salem winced as he struggled to sit up straight and I was quick to reprimand him. "Salem, we're not strangers! The doctor said not to move your head and arm too much!" 

"Sameena, I'm fine," he assured, pushing himself up further, to my horror. "I don't even know why I'm still in here. My head feels fine now, it's just my arm that hurts a little." 

"But-," I began when Samir interjected. 

"Stop pestering him Sameena, jeez. The guys a hulk, I'm even surprised he's feeling any pain right now."

Salem chuckled.

I sent Samir a glare and moved to make myself comfortable on one of the chairs. He followed my footsteps and sat down on the chair next to me. 

After asking about how Salem was feeling and whether he knew when he'd be discharged, the conversation settled on the topic of Samir's arrival and how long he'd be staying. However, throughout the discussion I couldn't help but note how there was something odd between Salem and Mira. I was picking up on something, but I just couldn't put my finger on it...

They kept on exchanging cutesy looks with each other - well, more Mira than Salem - and Mira was fidgeting in her seat quite a lot. I observed their behaviour carefully and I was so focused on finding out what was up, that I didn't realise Tariq had walked through the door.

"I see the party has started without me," he joked as he strolled into the room. 

"Never," Mira announced and he chuckled lightly. 

He proceeded to pick up a tablet that was attached to Salem's bed, a device that was used to monitor the patients well-being throughout their stay here. I remember Tariq telling me about how useful it was, as whatever the monitors and wires picked up, even if it was the slightest increase in heart rate, the data got stored into the tablet. 

One second his eyes were focused on the tablet, then the next, they were glancing at me over the top of it. He smiled cheekily at me and I couldn't help but smile back, not caring that everyone in the room probably saw our cheesy exchange. I couldn't help but sigh at the handsomeness that was Tariq. He wasn't dressed in anything special, just his scrubs and doctors coat as usual, but it still managed to stir desire within me, a thought that brought a blush to my cheeks.

"Are you his doctor?" Samir asked, breaking me from my dangerous thoughts. 

Tariq ripped his eyes away from me and looked at Samir. "No," he said, shaking his head. "I'm not the one overseeing him but I still like to come in here whenever I get the chance to check up on him." 

Samir gave off an impressed look. "Lucky you Salem. Top notch treatment." 

Salem simply smiled. "He has been kind." 

"I think you're fine to leave today Salem, but unfortunately, I'm not authorised to discharge you. If you want, I can speak to Dr. Kenny?" 

Salem nodded his head. "Please do. I want to get out of here." 

We all laughed.

"He's just not used to being immobile for so long," Mira stated, looking at him fondly. 

"I'll see what I can do then." His fingers were flying over the tablet and after a few seconds, he returned it to it's original spot. 

Mira cleared her throat, not so subtly, and we all turned to her expectantly. She shared another quick look with Salem and he nodded, as if urging her to go on. A bright smile lit her face. "Since we're all gathered here in this one room, we might as well tell you," Mira began, her eyes shifting between all of us. "Well, I mean, we're not all here, and it's not the most suitable of places to reveal such-," 

"Mira," Salem said softly, sending her a pointed look. Humour swam in his eyes. 

"Oh right...sorry. I was babbling." She gave us a sheepish grin and by now, a large, stupid grin made it's way onto my face as I think I knew what she was about to tell us all. "Salem and I...we decided that we want to get married. In two weeks!" she squealed. 

"Oh my God," I shrieked. We launched ourselves into each other's arms, forgetting the slight issue of Salem's bed between us. We toppled over on top of him, still hugging awkwardly and it was only when Samir pulled me back did I realise we had probably crushed his legs. 

"Oops, sorry." 

He smiled and patted his legs. "You're like a flea Sameena. I assure, I felt nothing." 

I clapped my hands and bounced around to Mira, giving her a second, proper hug. "I'm so happy for you guys! Ahh, I'm so excited!" I exclaimed, jumping slightly on my feet. 

"Mabrouk bro," Samir said happily, getting up to hug him. Tariq and the guards followed suit and I took the advantage to pull Mira aside. 

"Two weeks?!" I exclaimed. 

She nodded. "Two weeks!" 

"You think we can get everything done in two weeks?"

She bit her lip. "Yeah I think so. You know we'd just have a small dinner, the only thing I'd really need to work on is my wedding dress." 

I squealed again. "You're going to make it yourself right?" 

"Of course! I've had it sketched and ready since I was fifteen years old!" 

I smiled again and shook my head in disbelief. "You...married? I can't believe it." I paused. "Salem married! That's even more shocking!" 

She laughed softly. "It's not that shocking to me anymore Sameena. I wish you saw the soft side of him I see every day." A delicate sigh escaped her lips and she turned back slightly to stare at him. "You know, when he got injured that day...I felt like everything had ended then and there for me. SubhanAllah, it was like my whole being crumbled at the thought that he was hurt and that he could possibly die. It scared me." She looked back into my eyes and I wasn't surprised to see the unshed tears. "So I told him that I wanted to hurry things along because I couldn't stand the thought that something like that might happen again without us being as lucky." 

"Oh Mira," I said, pulling her in for a hug. "You shouldn't think like that." 

"I can't help it," she said with a small sniffle. "I don't care for doing the fatiha or having any engagement parties, I just want to be with him already. Is that selfish?" 

I shook my head. "Not at all habibti." I grasped her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "So Salem doesn't mind getting married so soon too?" 

Mira scoffed. "He wanted to have the wedding within a week, I was lucky I even got two." 

My eyebrows shot up at that, although I shouldn't have been too surprised. Love and affection certainly changed people. 

With that thought, my eyes strayed to Tariq on their own accord. He was joking around with my brother and Salem, a twinkle in his eye as he shoved and pushed them playfully. I wondered on when I would gain enough courage to finally sit down and tell him that we should do our own nikah and get hitched already. The rope that always pulled me back was still there, but I realised, that its strength was lessening the more and more I knew Tariq.

And I began to wonder whether I was holding back pointlessly.

####

Once we arrived home, Samir and I freshened up and prayed maghreb before assembling into the living room with the rest of my family. 

After changing into comfy sweatpants, a jumper, a two-piece pull on scarf and flats, I bounded down the stairs and headed to the kitchen first to grab a packet of chips. I swiped the packet of BBQ flavoured chips from our stash and pulled it open as I walked into the living room. My family were all already seated, watching the latest news on the T.V. 

Which just so happened to be about the attack. 

Ziad picked up the remote and switched the channel to a documentary and I sent him a grateful look, before glancing at baba. He had Abir on his lap and he was bouncing her on one knee, every few seconds tickling her sides. As I walked past him, he ignored my presence and continued to play with his granddaughter. 

I sighed dramatically as I took a seat next to Samir and he raised his brows in question. It seemed that I had upset baba more than I ever had before. He wouldn't even look at me when we were in the same room and if he needed to tell me something, he would get someone else to direct the message to me. Even though I was still firm on my beliefs that baba was hiding something from us and nothing was as crystal clear as he made it out to be, I never intended to hurt baba.  

I had even tried to apologise to him a few times, but the moment was never perfect and I knew I would fumble on my words. 

I sighed again. 

And like with many instances in my life, I wished that mama were here so that she could make everything better. But the reality is that she wasn't and I was a twenty-two year old adult who needed to learn how to correct her mistakes. 

I felt a poke in my shoulder. "Gimme." I offered Samir some chips and he grabbed a whole fistful of them, before shoving the whole lot in his mouth. 

"Ew," I grimaced. 

He stifled a laugh as he chewed on the chips. "I knew that would annoy you." 

"Then why'd you do it?" 

"To annoy you." 

I rolled my eyes and trained them back onto the T.V. Ziad and Sarah looked like they were having some deep discussion, so I didn't bother annoying them. 

After a few minutes of silence, I remembered that there had been a question I wanted to ask Samir all day. I shifted positions so that I was facing him and I scooted in closer. 

"What do you want?" he asked without looking down at me. 

I made sure my voice was low. "You never told me about your decision." 

He frowned at me. "What decision?" 

"You know...the one about the job offer." 

"Oh that." His frown deepened. "I declined." 

I recoiled. "Really?!" 

He nodded his head and leaned back against the arm of the couch. "Yeah. I guess your words really hit home cause I couldn't bring myself to accept without remembering what you said."

Instant guilt. "Samir...I didn't want you to decline just because of me," I said quietly. 

"No I know. Don't feel like you're at fault for this because it was entirely my decision. I thought long and hard and well...I came to the conclusion that I've been away from you guys for too long. I really do miss you all." He smiled down at me, his brown eyes warm and homey. 

"We missed you too Samir." 

####

A/N

Salam guys, hope you all enjoyed that chapter.

I noticed on the last chapter that some of you mentioned the chapters were a little short and I did want to apologise for that. Unfortunately for me, I'm in the peak of my university semester and things are full on. I have about 8 assessments I still need to do and on top of that, I had to do an extra TAFE course for my new job.

The chapters are shorter because I usually begin writing at 11pm-12am, after I've done study and I usually don't finish until 2 in the morning (like now) and I find that I can't keep my eyes open much longer. Then, I either have uni or work at 9am the next morning, so sleep is a luxury. I have been trying to write as much as I can though, hopefully you guys all understand!

Also, I have a request. If there are any CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms you guys have to offer, go ahead and write it in the comments below. Is there anything I can improve on? Anything that's not quite meeting your expectations? Do let me know and jazakAllah khair in advance.

Stay awesome amigos.