How Love Happens - Chapter 7

 

Haifa sat in the dining room, which was an extension of their house, having breakfast with the rest of the family. She quietly ate without much appetite as other members chatted away happily. Two days had passed since her arrival, and Aseel had rarely texted. In retaliation, she had only kept her replies to a minimum.

She hadn't expected any grand gesture on his part, but she had hoped for maybe a slight interest. However, her plan had not only backfired, but it was an epic failure. Not only did Aseel not notice, but Haifa had missed him so much that she had barely come out of her room. Except for a few instances when her mother had dragged her out to more houses and to meet new people.

Her mother, unlike Haifa, seemed to be blossoming like a flower, laughing and always happy. Haifa both hated and loved how happy she was, while she had dwelled in her misery.

“My teacher said I was too talkative and sent me to the back of the class. She said I was not allowed to sit with my friends anymore.”
Afa, once again, was deep in conversation with a silent Haifa. The little one had imprinted on her like a baby duck, never leaving her side unless it was for school or sleeping for the last two days. Though she had started off like an annoying brat, Haifa had realized what a big source of information she was. The elder members of the family had gossiped and shared secrets with each other while she was present. No one really gave her much attention.

Haifa had gathered important information regarding many fights and disagreements between the families. Afa had soaked up all the information like a sponge. She was a walking, talking recorder with never-ending batteries. She had files stored for years, carefully labeled and filed.

The juiciest tales included Uncle Zuhair, the elder brother of her father, who had refused to provide any financial support to her mother after her Bappa passed away. He apparently refused to even talk to her mother up until recently. Uncle Zuhair had also been rumored to be suspicious of her mother having affairs in Male', which was the reason he suspected she didn’t want to return to Vavathi when her father passed away.

In the most recent news, Aunt Naseema’s husband, on her mother's side, heard rumors of her mother being in contact with the Khalid family and wasn't very happy about it. They had a few conversations with each other to make her mother stop being friendly with them.

"Haifa, why don't you join us in sweeping the area today?" Haifa's mother suggested as she finished her last sip of black tea. "We'll take care of the backyard." She nodded towards her sister-in-law Rugiyya and then turned to Haifa. "You and Saira can handle the front."

"Sure," Haifa agreed, though she wasn't entirely confident about it. She quickly got up, washed her plate and cup, and headed outside. While she was no stranger to household chores, she had never done anything outside the comfort of her home.

As Haifa reached the front area, she found it covered in sand and leaves. She furrowed her brow, wondering what kind of broom they used for this kind of work.

Saira appeared from behind her, holding an iloshi fathi. Haifa examined the two-foot-long, bound-up ekels, traditionally used as a broom. It had a thick handle and a flexible bottom, making it suitable for outdoor cleaning.

Unfortunately for Haifa, although she had knowledge of the equipment and had seen how others had used it, she had never cleaned with an iloshi fathi before.

"You do the road, I will do the front of the house," Saira was saying. "It will be easier there; here, there are too many leaves and debris from the trees," she explained.

"We clean the streets too?" Haifa asked in wonder.

"Well, yes. Everyone cleans their street every day," Saira replied.

"Oh," Haifa said as she slowly went outside the low wall surrounding the entire house. She looked both ways to make sure no one was around to witness her inevitable struggle. She started from the side of the wall, holding the iloshi fathi slanting, and made a sweeping motion. But with every stroke, more soil was swept than debris. Frustrated, she tried even harder strokes.

"Look, a city mouse wanting to be an islander," Haifa turned abruptly to find a girl standing in front of her with two girls on each side. Haifa was so engrossed in her task that she didn't even know where they had come from. The girl in front had perfect straight black hair, smooth skin, and flawless makeup.

Why does she look so familiar? Haifa wondered.

“I don’t think she attended the orientation,” the short girl on her right, with a black headcover, said with a smirk. The third one, with overly bright red lipstick, let out a high-pitched, short laugh.

What is this? The mean girls? Haifa thought.

“Go away, Lamya. Nothing to see here,” Saira walked out of the entrance towards Haifa, never even glancing at the Barbie set currently harassing her.

Saira stopped in front of Haifa and, with deliberate movements, spread her broom a little and gripped the handle. It took a minute for Haifa to realize Saira was showing her how to hold it correctly. She quickly mimicked her grip.

Saira bent and made the broom almost horizontal to the ground, sweeping lightly. Haifa did the same, feeling the joy when her sweep actually cleared the debris this time.

“You can't tell me… HEY,” Lamya cried out as Saira swept directly at her feet.

“STOP! My shoes, I am warning…”

Another sweep.

“STOP THAT RIGHT…”

Sweep, sweep, sweep.

Saira didn’t stop until the girls literally ran away.

“Don’t mind her, she’s one of those rich girls calling herself Amy, hoping to be an influencer. She has like 1k followers and believes she's a star,” she said as she calmly continued her task.

Haifa gaped at her, “You are savage!”

Saira winked at her, “Thank you, that’s the nicest thing you have ever said to me.” She placed her hand on her heart mockingly. They both burst out laughing.

“I was actually hoping to talk to you,” Saira said, wiping tears from her eyes. “Since you spent the last two days holed up in your room, I suppose you have sulked enough. Aunt Naseema told me to find you a job before you came, and I did. My boss wants to know if you still want it or not.”

Haifa bit her lips with guilt, “I wasn’t really looking for one. Mamma did that without asking me.”

“It's fine. I just wanted to know. I found a vacant position at my work, so now they have asked to get an update,” Saira said nonchalantly.

Haifa cocked her head for a second; maybe this was the perfect opportunity to start work and distract herself. Besides, if things go as planned, she would need some seed money to start her life again back in Male’.

“How about we go today? Do they want an interview?” she asked.

“Yes, I will call them and give them a heads up,” Saira said brightly. “Prepare your CV, and I will arrange a time.”

“OK,” Haifa said, giving her a half-smile.

***

Saira was true to her word and arranged the interview for her before noon. Haifa found out she worked at a small privately owned media company called Island Media as an administrative staff. They were hiring staff to work in archiving and other odd jobs.

Haifa walked into the small building with Saira. She introduced her to the manager and a few other staff before Haifa was taken into a conference room. The place was clean and organized, and the staff were quite friendly. When they began the interview, Saira quietly left, giving her a thumbs up.

The pay was small, but she only had to work four hours. Haifa accepted the job, and she was set to start the next day. She gave a smile as she shook hands with the manager and stepped out of the small room.

“So?” Saira asked as soon as she came out.

“I start tomorrow,” Haifa said, trying not to feel too excited. However, this was the first time she had actually been to an interview, and to be selected had its own satisfaction.

“I knew they would take you!” Saira exclaimed. “Tomorrow I will show you around the works. Do you want me to take you back?” she asked.

Haifa shook her head. Saira had already done so much for her that she didn’t want to ask her to walk her home too. “It's ok, I will see you later?”

“Ok,” Saira smiled affectionately.

Haifa walked down the street back to her house, deep in thought. She was starting to feel adjusted to the island, and it was not good. The longer she stayed, the more comfortable she would get, and she would end up like Saira, working for a mediocre company on a mediocre island.

She needed to focus. She needed to start the first part of her plan. Haifa walked into her house feeling hyped about what she was about to do. It made her nervous, and the feeling of doing something wrong gnawed at her.

“Ifa, Muneez is here to check your phone,” her mother said when she entered.

Her mother sat in their living room with a burly man about her age. He turned toward her and offered a warm smile. “Zishan said you dropped your phone.”

“Yes,” Haifa quickly handed him her phone. With the mention of his name, her heart did a little skip which she chose to ignore.

“I didn’t know you did house calls, Muneez,” Nasreena asked in a teasing tone.

Muneez gave a small laugh, his big fingers handling her phone surprisingly gently. “Not normally. But Zishan requested it, I couldn't say no,” he replied, carefully checking it over. “Oh, the phone is fine. It's your tempered glass that has a crack. It's a good thing you have one in place.”

Who is this Zishan? Why couldn’t Muneez say no to his request? Was he a politician or a mafia boss?

Haifa breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s great.”

Of course, how could she forget? The day she bought her precious she had lovingly covered it with a matching gold cover and tempered glass so it would be protected as much as she could.

She was so distressed that night and meeting with Zishan totally threw her off.

“I will check if I have the right size when I go back to the shop. If not, I will arrange to bring one from Male’.” He smiled as he gave her phone back to her. “I will let you know soon. It will be good as new once I change the glass.”

Muneez left after a few minutes, and her mother turned to her, “Ifa, you didn’t tell me you met Zishan,” she asked gently.

“He was at the welcome party; I met everyone, remember?” She said in a dismissive tone as she turned to leave.

“Wait, you didn’t tell me how the interview went,” she asked quickly, “Did you get the job?”

“Yes, Mamma, I got the job,” Haifa said, her anger beginning to boil up, “I met everyone and I got the job. Isn’t that what you wanted? To start a life in a place I hate and to work in a job I have no interest in?” Her eyes began to tear up. She quickly turned and ran up the stairs to her room.

Flopping down on her bed she cried for a long time. Haifa knew her anger was misplaced. True, she still blamed her mother for bringing her to Vavathi, but at the moment her emotions were in turmoil because of Aseel.

Haifa didn’t know what to do. She wasn't good at playing games; she just wanted love. Aseel was everything she had ever wanted, and he was hers. But every day, it felt like he was slipping away. The distance was making it so hard, that sometimes she wondered if he would find someone else.

She wanted to trust him, but the fact remained that he had cheated on her before. What would stop him now? For two days, she had stalked his every social media profile, looked through his friends, and scrutinized everyone who liked his posts. She was going mad.

Haifa didn’t know how long she cried before falling into a fitful sleep, where she dreamt of Aseel marrying the girl he had previously cheated on her with.

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Have a wonderful day!