Chaos in the Canvas √

37 | date

"I'm not worried, he asked me about the dinner." Hemayal replied, voice low.

"Then, I guess it's nervousness behind your actions," Mehmal mused with a mischivious cough and a blush lingered on brown-haired woman's cheek. "This is the first time you're meeting him after that night, right?"

"Yeah." Hemayal mumbled, stopping just outside the doors while her family went inside, Mehmal stoppping with her.

"This is not the first time you're meeting him or his family. What's all this blush about?" Mehmal asked, wiggling her brows and Hemayal let out a laugh despite her tension.

"I'm not blushing." Hemayal replied, placing her palms against her cheek - a futile effort to hide.

"Sure you're not," Mehmal laughed, the mischief in her eyes and face too evident for the world to see. "Oh, Hami, love looks good on you." Mehmal's expressions suddenly turned solemn and a small, sad smile graced her lips as she looked at her cousin with adoration.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this happy." Mehmal said and Hemayal straightened, still smiling.

"I've never been this happy." Hemayal replied, the smile splitting her face.

"I hope he treats you well and I hope life doesn't away take this smile. Ever." Mehmal said, hugging her shortly before hurrying inside the door, a smiling Hemayal left behind.

Just as Hemayal too flexed her legs to cross the threshold, Mustafa came to stand in front of her, face all the shades of serious and grim. Hemayal took a step back, the words from their previous conversation coming to hit her back with full force, the pain that Ibrahim and time had numbed, surfacing.

"Can we talk?" He asked, urgently.

"Now?" Hemayal whispered, gazing from above his shoulder at the two families who had now occupied their seats by the table, too busy talking to each other to notice the two of them.

Ibrahim wasn't there.

"Please." Mustafa said and Hemayal found herself nodding her head as she took another step back and turned, walking a few feet away from the door.

"Hemayal, first of all, I'm sorry. Whatever I said to you, it was totally uncalled for." Mustafa began and Hemayal was taken off guard for a second.

She was not expecting that.

"No, I understood where it came from. It's okay." She replied, nodding her head in acknowledgment.

"It really isn't. The way I talked about your Dadu, how I threatened you - Ibrahim would kill me if he finds out." Mustafa said and Hemayal chuckled a little.

"I won't tell him if that's what you're trying to say." Hemayal said and this time, Mustafa chuckled - in good humour, she hoped.

"You can tell him if you want to. It isn't that. It's just...you're my brother's wife, I never should have talked to you the way I did, no matter how angry I was. And now that you two are finally going to be together, I don't want our relationship to start on the bad footing." Mustafa said and the smile began dancing on Hemayal's lips again.

"Mustafa, it really is okay. The person who shouted at me that night, he was just a concerned brother, scared for his family, angry at the person who did it. And I'm not going to hold it against you, not when I know your intentions weren't bad." Hemayal replied, realizing at that moment how far she'd come since Ibrahim had walked back into her life.

"I've always thought of you as Safaa and now that Abi and you have made up, all the more reason for-"

"Hemayal?"