Chapter 16 XVI

While I am pulling away from the hug, I hear my name called—or rather screamed—from inside by none other than his Royal Highness, Ismail. I wonder why he had to tell everyone we live in the same house in such a manner. This man will never cease to amaze me. "Umit, Umit, where are you?" Ismail shouts from inside the house. "I am by the poolside!" I shout back. "Is that Ismail s voice I hear?" Fatima asks looking surprised and confused. "Yes, it s my voice you heard," Ismail says, walking toward us. "Why are you shouting my name?" I say standing up while guiding Ismail away from our table. "Because I did not know where you were," Ismail says. "Why didn t you call me?" "I did, but you did not pick up." "Oh sorry, I left my phone inside to charge." "It's fine, anyway I was looking for you because I can t seem to find ice cream anywhere and Aayan is screaming for it," Ismail says looking stressed. "That s because it s finished." "Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah), so you are telling me I have to go and get him ice cream now because there is NONE at home!" he says sounding very frustrated while putting emphasis on the 'none. "Pretty much," I say, feeling happy Aayan is stressing him out. "Alright, I will take the kids to go and get ice cream. And in-case Aazim and Waheeda get home before me, please let them know." "I will and please get some for me." "I will, Ma as-salama," he says, walking inside while I go back to the girls. "Please, can you explain to me what is going on? I know he took you home yesterday, but I don t understand what is going on now," Fatima says before I get a chance to sit back down. "We both live in the same house," I say taking a seat. "You guys live together?" Emma says very confused. "No, No. No, we don t. We both live here with his brother and my sister. They are married," I say. "Oh, that makes sense," Fatima nods. "Yeah, but why is he living with his brother? He owns his own company. I am pretty sure he can afford a house like this." Emma says wondering the same thing as I did when he moved in. "That I don t know the answer to," I answer. "Maybe he has a good reason. For him to agree to share a roof with Umit, it must be serious," Fatima chuckles. "Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" I say pushing her shoulder. "We all know what that means," Fatima replies laughing. "I don t have time for this. Just say what you want to say," I snicker while shaking my head. "Anyway, whose sweater are you wearing?" Fatima asks. "Oh, it s Ismail s sweater. I mistakenly..." I start to say, but Fatima does not allow me to finish. "No need to explain yourself. The next thing I will hear is you are married to Ismail. This is how it all starts," Fatima teases laughing at me. "Fatima!" I say in shock while laughing, pushing her shoulder. "What! It s true. Anything can happen," Fatima says grinning broadly. "I don t know what to do with you, but you know very well that Ismail and I can never be married," I say shaking my head. "Never say never, and you can t do anything to me because you love me," Fatima says, smiling. I don t say anything but shake my head at her. "You guys are really good friends," Emma states. "I guess we are, because she is like a sister from another mother," I say smiling crushing Fatima into a tight hug. "Yes, we are sisters, but that does not mean you can squeeze the life out of me," Fatima says freeing herself from my hug. "It serves you right. That s what you get for saying I will marry Ismail," I say smiling sheepishly. "I was only joking," Fatima says. "What s wrong?" I ask Emma, noticing she has a sad expression on her face. "I just wish I had what you guys have," Emma says. "I am sure you have a friend that is like a sibling to you," I reply. "I wish! You guys are the only friends I have," Emma says sadly. "No! That s not possible. You must have made other friends before you met us," Fatima says. "I wish, but that s not the case. You guys are really the only friends I have now." "Wow, but you are an amazing person, who wouldn t want to be friends with you." "Yes, anyone would be dumb not to be friends with you." I agree. "Thank you so much, but not everyone thinks like that. I did have friends before I met you guys, but it was a long time ago. I thought I had friends in high school, but I was wrong. I was popular and friends with everyone, and everyone loved me, or so I thought. I thought everyone liked me, until I realized they were only friends with me because I come from an old rich family. And the friends I had in college I am not in contact with them anymore," Emma says. "You come from a family of old money?" Fatima and I both ask shocked. Emma does not say anything but smiles and nods her head. "You don t behave like someone who is!" I say. "Yes, you don t act like one," Fatima says. "I know I don t. And the truth is, I stopped behaving like that after I found out that was the only reason I had friends. Now I make sure people want to be friends with me for me, and not because of my money," Emma says. "Ya Allah, such a pure soul. I m sorry you had to go through that," I say hugging Emma. "Yeah sorry. No one should ever have to go through that." Fatima says also giving Emma a hug. "Thank you, and I hope this does not change anything between us," Emma says. "No, it won t change anything," Fatima says. "Yeah, it won t, or maybe the only thing it will change is you will have to pay for our food when we go out now," I say teasing. "Yes, you have to now," Fatima laughs. "You can t be serious. I am not paying for anyone s meal," Emma says laughing with us. "Yeah, we know, we are just joking." I say smiling. "You better be." "You guys won t believe what happened to me yesterday." Fatima says after our laughter dies down. "What happened?" I ask. "So yesterday, I was walking to my car when I got approached by a lady. I don t know who she is, but she started warning me to stay away from Udar saying that he is hers. That if she ever sees me with him, she will kill me. I was so shocked and scared when she said that I did not know what to do. Then to my astonishment she said, 'even if you are married to him, he is still mine. And I was like, what is she talking about? After that, she just walked away like she was never there. I was so confused and surprised that I just walked to my car and went straight home," Fatima tells us. "Fatima, you need to tell the police. It might be something serious," Emma worries. "Yes, you should. And you also need to tell Udar," I agree. "I don t think we need to tell the police yet. It might have been an empty threat," Fatima says. "Okay but you have to tell Udar. He might know something about it," Emma asserts. "Yes, tell him. He might be able to explain why this woman would approach you," I say concerned. "Alright, I will tell him," Fatima agrees. "Good," Emma says.