Forever Yours 11

“Deema stay out of this, hatha bainy ou bainah”
I stood quietly shivering; I’ve never seen Ghaith angry it was something scary.
Thyab got up and raised his hands.
“Look I don’t want to fight you” He said.
“Then stay away from her!” Ghaith said and he dragged me out of the restaurant.

The drive back home was in total silence, I was scared and I couldn’t think of something to say to Ghaith that would make the situation better. His clenched hands on the steering wheel were the only sign of Ghaith’s built up anger.
When we got to the apartment, he sat me down on the couch and sat on the chair facing me.
“Deema adree inich you’re not a child ou insana thakeeya but what you did today was beyond stupid”
“Bas he is my cousin, the only family I have here. Ba3dain we were sitting in a restaurant having lunch, what’s wrong with that?”
“Ou aba afham shay intee laish you’re making me out to be the stranger here?”
“La ma kan qasdee”
“La you know you mean’t it, I’m not your family ou I don’t know what else. Shaklech you need to grow up Deema!” His voice was getting louder, and I couldn’t help it. I burst out into tears.
His phone rang, interrupting our conversation. He got up to answer his phone. He left the room but I couldn’t stop crying. I hated feeling stupid or irresponsible; I was always the one listening to people who did stupid reckless things, not the one who did them. Maybe I was trying to get a reaction out of Ghaith or trying to be rebellious or something, but I didn’t expect this from him.
Ghaith came back into the room looking angrier than before; he sat down and held his head.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, I had the urge to give him a hug, but that would have just made things worse. He looked so angry and tired at the same time.
“My parents are coming for a while, their plane arrives tomorrow morning”
“Ghaith I’m sorry about what happened today-“I started to apologize but my voice broke into a sob, “I didn’t mean to hurt you”

“Deema maybe you think I overreacted but I know guys like Thyab” He turned his face away from me, “ do you know I went crazy trying to track you down when I got a call from a friend who saw you with him he told me it looks like Thyab found a new 9aidah”
“Oh God why do you men have to think like that!” I said, my face burning “I didn’t mean to embarrass you in front of your friends but you know me better than that”
“Do I?” he asked sadly.

I started crying again and covered my face with my hands and tried to stop my tears, when I felt Ghaith wrap his arms around me. I froze, I didn’t know how to react, and I desperately wanted to hug him back but held myself back. It was over in the blink of an eye; Ghaith got up and left the apartment.