A white top with cowl sleeves was tucked into her dull pink pleated maxi skirt that had a cute little belt.
The skirt emitted a glowing kind of effect because of the material it was made from.
Her moisturized face held a little makeup; mascara, kohl, and lip balm.
A silk pink veil that was wrapped into a hijab was secured over her low bun-tied hair.
Her small right wrist held a silver trace-patterned charm bracelet that had always been there since her sixteen birthday.
The bracelet was precious to her heart
because it was a gift from her older brother.
To finish the look, she decided to wear white sneakers and held her pink minimalist tote bag with the simple word 'Smile' imprinted on it.
She was sitting in the living room reading one of the books she had gotten from the bookstore the other day.
When you see a novel that seems, more interesting and intriguing than your current read, what do you do?
Go for it!
She kept on repeating the sentence "I hope we don't get there when the dinner has already ended because of someone!" loud enough for Salman to hear from his room.
This time she wasn't the one taking forever to get ready, so she had the right to complain.
"You just finished getting ready a few minutes ago." Salman finally exited his room with the scent of bhakoor musk following him with every step he took.
"Five minutes ago isn't few." Umaymah rolled her eyes and looked up at Salman.
He was clothed in a neatly ironed, dark brown thawb with an agal that sat firmly atop his white khaffiya.
A dark shade of sunglasses was covering his eyes.
He had a white airpod popped into one of his ears.
The designer watch on his right wrist obviously couldn't be ignored.
The slightly visible mustache above his upper lip had to be the highlight of his look.
His feet were inside a pair of simple loafers.
"Hmm..." Umaymah hummed as her eyes travelled down from Salman's head.
"Like what you see?" He smirked and did the cringe act of running his fingers under his chin.
Umaymah rolled her eyes while shaking her head at how cringe what he had just done was.
A little whistle was released from between Salman's lips before he said "You look breathtaking Ummi, MashaAllah!"
A little unnoticeable smile formed on her lips.
"We should get going already." She got up after taking her last sip from the mug of green tea.
Life is really simple.
A great book and a cup of green tea.
They both headed for the car and Salman drove to his parent's house.
His parents lived in a completely different city from them, so it took a couple of hours to get there.
Once Salman parked his car in the underground parking lot that held a different collection of cars, he emerged out of the car with Umaymah.
They passed through the evergreen garden at the back of the house that had a few tall trees and other green shrubs on their way from the parking lot.
There was a mini greenhouse house that held blooming and colourful flowers a couple of feet from them.
Only the yellow trumpet flower and tropical hibiscus could be noticed from that angle.
The sky was taking a deeper shade of black.
The moon and lights around the body of the house illuminated the compound a bit but not completely.
They stood right in front of the humongous metallic door.
Before Salman rang the bell, he grasped Umaymah's hand and took it in his.
She was his.
Umaymah was about to snap about how unexpectedly he took hold of her hand when the giant doors sled open and a fist of musk scent immediately hit them.
"Marhaban bikum! Welcome my children." Excitement filled Zeinab's voice as she spoke in Arabic.
A smile immediately formed on Umaymah's lip as she leaned into Zeinab's spread-out arms.
Zeinab smelt good.
Really good.
The smell of the musk that hugged tight to her hijab made Umaymah want to take a big sniff of her.
"How have you been?" she gave her daughter-in-law side pecks and moved aside for them to enter after hugging her son.
This was Umaymah's first time being at Salman's parents' house since she was a kid.
Everything looked different.
The traditionally designed Arab interior wasn't something to not take note of.
They made their way through the huge lobby that was heavily musk-scented before arriving at the living room which held a couple of elders situated on the blue suede couches that had a large number of assorted cushions with the colours, blue and white.
The couch was shaped as a 'U' with rather pointed corners, extending its end to the far end of the room.
Opened blue velvet drapes with white sheer inside, were draped down in front of the three wide-framed windows.
The colour highlights of the living room were blue and gold.
Intricately designed lanterns were placed between spaces that divided the windows and a couple of vacant spaces on the wall.
A matching golden drop chandelier hung down from the middle of the ceiling.
Tiny recessed lighting was arranged around the cathedral ceiling above their heads.
A soft dust gold carpet that held different geometric patterns was spread over the marble floor.
In the middle of the carpet sat a low black top coffee table with gold pleated legs which held a couple of luxurious-looking decorations.
The 85-inch tv in front of the elderly men was hanging on the arabesque wall panel.
There was a mounted plywood television stand right beneath.
A huge professionally looking framed calligraphy of 'Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim' on both sides of the living room was one of the things that caught Umaymah's attention.
Wow. MashaAllah!
She admired.
Zeinab announced the couple's presence to the elderly men that occupied the couches.
"Assalamualaikum." Umaymah greeted Salman's dad.
His beard was completely covered with strands of white hair.
"Kaifa haluki ibnati?" His dialect and accent seemed unique.
"Alhamdullilah." Umaymah smiled and kept it short.
After the necessary pleasantries, Zeinab took Salman and Umaymah to the other living room where other family members and couples of their age were.
"I'll be heading to the kitchen now to make sure things are going as planned, feel at home, okay?" she smiled at Umaymah and left.
Their hands were still entwined.
"It seems she loves you way more than me, "Salman began."She was smiling only at you the entire time."
Umaymah immediately withdrew her hand to herself once she noticed their hands were still locked together.
"Salman!" the small but loud feminine voice called.
A lady dressed in a chocolate brown abaya with a matching veil ran in their direction.
A big smile was plastered on her heavy makeup face.
Umaymah immediately interlocked her hands back with Salman's once she noticed the lady.
"Bro, how have you been? Umaymah, Ya Illahi you look gorgeous!" She said in one breath.
A little frown formed on Umaymah's face as the lady in front of them opened her arms to hug Umaymah.
Who was she?
"Samirah, it's Samirah," Salman said immediately after he noticed the look on her face.
Samirah?
She couldn't even recognize her under all those layers of makeup.
"Oh- I'm sorry, I didn't..." She trailed off and pulled Samirah into a warm hug.
"It's okay, I'll have to take it off soon," Samirah spoke.
"You sure should. You look like a living nightmare with that on." Salman teased almost making a chuckle escape from Umaymah's mouth.
"You have a lot to catch up on."Samirah ignored her brother and snatched Umaymah's hand from Salman's before pulling her towards a small circle of female family.
Salman was left behind and had to find his buddies to also catch up with too.
The long feast table that held different local delicacies was filled with chatters here and there.
The elderly fathers and uncles talked and debated about the country's politics.
The elderly mothers and aunts couldn't keep shut about the newest dresses and pieces of accessories in vague or the way their jewelry business was yielding millions of dirhams.
Umaymah was situated between Samirah and Salman's cousin, Aliyah.
In front of her was Salman's other cousin, Sadeeq.
Salman was spotted on the chair opposite Samirah.
The air was a bit awkward for her as she didn't know anyone to discuss something with.
She wished she brought her book alongside to the table, but it would seem disrespectful, so she left it in her bag in Samirah's old room.
A tall man approached Samirah and bent over to whisper something into her ears.
"Umaymah," Samirah's voice brought her out of her trance.
"Na'am?" She answered softly.
"My husband Yusuf," she pointed to the man that was pulling out the vacant chair in front of Aliyah. "Yusuf, Salman's wife, Umaymah."
Umaymah gave a small smile.
But her smile became smaller.
She knew his face!
"Salam Umaymah." He smiled as he adjusted the turban over his wavy hair.
Why did he look so familiar?
She responded with another smile to cover up the fact that she was in deep thought trying to remember where she had seen him from.
"Oh, that reminds me," Samirah turned to Umaymah. "Did you get the dress I sent?" She took a bite from the samosa in her hand.
"Dress?" Umaymah asked back.
"White? Silk? A maxi dress?" Samirah tried reminding Umaymah of something she had no idea about.
"No, I didn't receive any dress with that description."
Samirah turned to Salman and their eyes met.
He immediately tore his gaze off hers.
"So you mean Salman didn't give you the dress?" Her eyes didn't leave Salman.
"Not at all." Umaymah's response came.
"I've got to use the restroom guys, excuse me." He rose from his chair.
"You're not excused!" Samirah's stares became intense.
"Do you want me to pee my pants?" He pushed in the chair.
"How about we have a little talk in my room before you go to the restroom," A threatening smile sat on her lips. "Come on Umaymah." She got up from her seat.
She walked to where Salman stood and took a hold of his ear till they arrived at her room with Umaymah trailing behind.
"Why didn't she get the dress?" Samirah folded her arms over her plump chest.
"What dress?" He arranged his agal.
"Do you want me to do it the hard way?" She threw her leg up and caught hold of her sandal in her hand.
Umaymah couldn't help but giggle lightly.
"Where is her dress, Salman?" She asked again.
"Where's your dress Ummi?" He asked Umaymah with a straight face.
This was hilarious.
"Oh, you think I'm joking right?" She raised the sandal in the air.
"Fine, I have the dress." He couldn't hold in any more laughter.
"Where?"
"At home?"
"Where at home?" She dropped the sandal and put her foot in it.
The scene was beginning to look like an inspector interviewing a criminal.
Salman sighed.
"In my room, in my wardrobe, in a box," he answered all at once. "Are you satisfied now Mrs investigator?"
"I'm not a detective for nothing," she spat at her little brother before turning to Umaymah.
"You'll get your dress once you get home okay? Try it on and text me what you think about it."Samirah smiled at Umaymah with her right palm on Umaymah's face.
Umaymah's eye caught hold of a figure that swiftly walked passed the half-opened door.
That face.
His side profile!
She remembered where she had seen it.
It was him!