Chapter Thirty Three – Signal of Danger

“Yes…..you can’t imagine how much he loved her. After his mother passed away he usually shared his feelings with me….he told me how he met her in school. How he had liked her but never got to tell her about his feelings because he did not want to get her hurt by the ones who talked bad about him. He told me about how she moved to another country forever. And as he grew up, he would often tell me about how he would grow up and go find her once his business was successful. He’d tell me about how he would impress her father with his business and ask for her hand. He even began to build a small house in Cairo saying that one day he’d move there once he was with her. He spent hours growing taking care of a garden in that house saying that she liked flowers and greenery. He must love her a lot….” the father said, staring down sadly. Alaya’s eyes welled up without her knowing as she heard the father describing. Was all of this really true? Did Raphael never forget her? While all she did was try and go after every other man that she saw? Did she even deserve that kind of a love? Does Raphael deserve someone as reckless in love as her? Her eyes became more blurry with tears as she thought about it.

“But then he had to get married to that……” as Raphael’s father was going to say something angrily, both he and Alaya heard a voice.

“Baba…” it was none other than Raphael, standing at the opened door. Alaya’s heart stopped beating as she saw him, while knowing fully about his feelings for the first time. A tear came down rolling down her cheek as she understood the pain hidden in that fake poker face. Why? Just why hadn’t he told her before? Why hadn’t he come for her before? Little had she known.

“Son….where have you been for such a long time? Have been longing to see you. Where have you been?” Hamidh asked with tears in his eyes.

“I’m sorry Baba. Didn’t know where you were….some people changed your location on purpose.” Raphael said as he walked into the room.

“Those insolent brats! Son….I’ve been wanting to talk to you about just that. You don’t have to be a slave to them. Just give me up to them and free yourself from them. If they do anything to your business start a new one. My duas are with you. But don’t live like this. Don’t live a life of misery when you can choose to be happy. Divorce Laana and marry the girl you love. Find her out before its too late and you lose her!” Hamidh pleaded his son.

“Maybe it’s already too late and I’ve lost her.” Raphael said, looking at his father as he stopped near the bed across Alaya. Alaya gave him a sudden look with the shock she found herself in. She saw him letting out a sigh just as his father was going to say something more.

“Anyway I don’t mind living like this anymore….It’s the easy way out Baba. There is more to story that you don’t know. If there wasn’t anyone else’s life at stake, I would have done all that you have said.” Raphael said.

“Then tell me the part of the story I don’t know about…”

“Let’s not talk about that Baba….did you take your medicine?” Raphael said, opening a drawer on the side table.

“Raphael I’m not done talk…”

“Oh wait…one of them has run out. Better get going to get it.” Raphael said as he checked the medicine and got up with an empty card. Hamidh called out when his son began to walk out but neither did Raphael stop or look back. Hamidh sighed when Raphael went out of sight but Alaya could not bring herself to calm down. After what she has heard about Raphael just now, she was sure that there was no way he was going to be okay. She had to talk to him. Right here right now.

Alaya brought herself to her feet and rushed out of the room. As soon as she stepped out of the room, she saw him heading to the door.

“Raphael!” she called out and he paused his footsteps. But he did not look back.

“Are you still going to pretend like you don’t know me?” she asked. A moment of silence fell in between them. Just as Alaya thought he wouldn’t answer, she heard his voice.

“I wish I could….But I guess I can’t now that you know. There is no point in knowing what you heard today anyway. We both are married and have gone our separate ways. It’s best that we forget about the past and move on with life.”

“Well what if you don’t forget?” Alaya asked, not realizing that it was heart-wrenching for the one hearing it. That it was impossible for him to overcome the heartache that came back with those words. He wasn’t able to say a word for a few seconds. But then he turned towards Alaya with a fake laugh.

“Didn’t see that coming from you….was that why you were with a guy at a prom not too long ago?” Raphael asked, wanting to know what exactly she felt. The question took Alaya by surprise. Her eyes grew wide when she remembered the night she was with Max. And how she was miraculously rescued by a stranger.

“It was you…” Alaya said in a whisper. Raphael nodded, suppressing his emotions.

“I was crazy enough to come in between two lovers….I wondered later why I did so. You wouldn’t be there if you didn’t want to. I’m truly sorry for interrupting your romantic night.”

“Raphael!” Alaya screamed with tears in her eyes. It was difficult for Raphael to just stand and watch when he saw her falling apart. But he needed to. Not just because of all the lives that would be at stake if he got back together with her. But also because he needed to do anything he could to make her come back to her senses.

“You shouldn’t be the one crying here. Because the last time I checked I was the one abandoned at the station. I was the one who stood at that exact spot for more than an hour like an idiot hoping you reached your destination safely. And I did everything I could to make sure I have an amazing future with you. I was hoping I would have a practicing muslim wife and together we would grow in our faith. I had dreams of having a family with you with righteous children who would be the coolness of our eyes. But then fast forward a few years and I see that same exact girl at a prom of all places, dancing with stranger to some obscene music. How am I supposed to feel about that?!” Raphael’s voice rose with his last words and Alaya’s heart trembled. At first she defended her own self. She told herself that if he truly loved her, he should accept her as she is instead of bringing a religious tradition in between them. But regardless of any religion, which decent man would want to see the girl he loved with a strange man? None!

As Alaya was about to say something through her unstoppable tears, Raphael spoke.

“If you are going to say that you would not have done so if I had been with you, I would not be able to trust you. Because someone higher than me had always been watching you. Allah has always been watching you. And if you had the tiniest bit of conscience, you would have been able stop yourself from such things. But I guess you didn’t. And perhaps that’s why you are trying to talk to me about the past behind your husband’s back and that just makes me sick!” Raphael said, mercilessly with the kind of anger that Alaya had never seen on his face. He turned his back to her, leaving her numb and frozen on her spot.

Raphael’s POV

Raphael’s heart pounded as he walked out of the house. He felt his limbs shaking as he walked towards the car he’d parked on the other side of the street. He swore to himself that he wouldn’t break down. Though he kept seeing her face covered with sadness. And he didn’t. At least for half of the trip. He was about to lose himself just as he reached the pharmacy. When he parked the car nearby, he saw a sight that he found hard to believe. He crossed his eyebrows when he saw Laana and Layaan walking on the street with their hands intertwined. What was he seeing? Was this a dream he was dreaming?

Raphael asked himself as they went out of his sight. With a sick feeling building up within him, he got out of the car and looked in the direction where they went. But he lost them since it was a crowded street market place. Yet he didn’t give up and began to walk, eyeing for them. He knew a ton of secrets about Layaan. But he never knew he was involved with Laana.

Laana is the daughter of one of the shareholders in his company. He had first met her on the day he’d gone to New York to propose to Alaya but heard that she was engaged to Layaan. When he went back to Boston, he attended a shareholders’ meeting and saw Laana outside with his father by the end of the meeting. They merely had an eye contact and the next day, her father called him and said that Laana wanted to marry him. He had refused the offer outright giving the explanation that he would only want to marry a practicing muslimah. Then followed the days in which Laana came to meet him to his office along with her father, promising that she would make any changes that Raphael wanted. Hearing those words over and over, and knowing that he cant have the girl he loved anyway and also not wanting to ruin the relationship with his only long-lasting shareholder, Raphael agreed to the marriage. And the marriage did turn out to be worse than he thought.

But what he was seeing today was outrageous. He’d never imagined his wife having an affair with another man. And this ‘another man’ happened to be the husband of the girl he’d left behind. The man whose revenge he is still suffering from. What in the world does he want? The moment that thought crossed his mind was the moment he saw the couple entering one of the stores. Raphael followed behind them and got into the store. He saw them stopping near a jewelry display. His jaw tightened when he saw Layaan taking a necklace and putting it around Laana’s neck as they both stood in front of a mirror.

“It looks nice on me doesn’t it?” Laana asked.

“Can’t be any prettier darling!” Layaan said, putting his arms around her waist. Laana laughed lightly.

“Too bad your wife isn’t going to have such a gift from you.”

“Huh! Don’t ruin my mood talking about her!”

“I thought this was your honeymoon phase and you wouldn’t be able to go away from her. I thought you wanted her to fall in love with you. What’s on your mind, Layaan?” Laana turned towards him and asked.

“Something worse, that will destroy them both once and for all.” Layaan said with his teeth gritted and Raphael’s eyes grew wide, as he sensed a signal of danger.