Clueless Love

Emma hired three makeup artists, so no one has to wait for the other. Two hours later, we are completely transformed. I am wearing a silver-grey evening dress in tulle, with 3D salmon-colored leaves embroidered and an overskirt. I am also wearing a silver hajib, the jewelry Ismail gave me, and elegant high heeled strap lace sandals. Fatima is wearing a salmon-colored dress in lace with crystal embroideries and a pleated skirt. She is also wearing rose gold ankle strap heels, diamond love knot earrings and a salmon-colored hajib. Emma is wearing an off-the-shoulder nude dress in embroidered tulle, embellished with blue and nude patchwork lace embroideries and sequins. She is wearing champagne glitter ankle strap heels and white gold round diamond stud earrings.

“Hmmm, Umit, I like your jewelry. They are lovely.” Emma says smiling sheepishly.

“Thank you, Ismail gave them to me,” I smile.

“I know,” Emma smirks, “And I just want to say I support you guys.”

“Support us in what?” I ask chuckling somewhat bewildered.

“I would have said dating, but I know you don’t date. So, I will say I support you guys getting married,” Emma replies.

I start laughing, “Emma! What are you saying?”

“She is saying she gives her blessing to you and Ismail,” Fatima says smiling.

“What are you guys saying? There is no me and Ismail!” I blush at the fact they think Ismail and I can end up together. The thought never crossed my mind. But I won’t lie, the idea doesn’t feel bad. But regardless, I really don’t think Ismail and I can be called an ‘us.’

“Then why are you blushing so much, if you don’t like the idea of you and Ismail together,” Fatima points out.

“Uhmmm…” I don’t have anything to say to that. Because I don’t really know if I like the idea of us being together, but I don’t hate it.

“You don’t have to say anything, we understand. Now let’s go.” Fatima walks out of Emma’s room with Emma and me following her. We all get into an SUV and go to the venue.

We get to walk the red carpet to enter the Gala and we take some photos to mark the occasion, before entering.

Once we’re inside I look for the one person I have not seen all day. Someone who I admit I have missed. Wow what is happening to me? I’m shocked to realize I have missed him, just because I have not seen him today.

“Looking for me?” someone says from behind me startling me. I don’t need to turn around to know it’s Ismail. And yes, the person I have missed all day and was looking for.

“Aha! Ismail, you scared me,” I say, turning around to a smiling Ismail. But as he takes me in his face changes to one of surprise. He looks like he is in shock or something. Is something wrong with my dress? Why did he stop smiling? Is my makeup ruined? Why do I even care, I ask myself. Since when do I care what Ismail thinks of me? First, I am missing him, and now I worry about how he is looking at me. Ya Allah, what is happening to me?

“Ismail is something wrong?” I ask, but he does not answer straight away.

“No, nothing is wrong,” Ismail murmurs.

“Then why do you look like something is?” I don’t understand why he looked shocked when I turned around.

“Because you look gorgeous and I did not know the right words to describe your beauty tonight,” Ismail stammers.

“Thank you,” I say blushing furiously. I am confused by my reaction. It is not the first time Ismail has said sweet things to me, but it is the first time it has affected me like this.

“You are welcome,” Ismail rubs his hand around his neck like he is suddenly shy. Can Ismail ever be shy? What is going on tonight?

“You don’t look bad yourself,” I reply. But who am I kidding, he looks dashing in his double-breasted pinstripe suit, elegant tie, and a daring polka dot pocket kerchief. He has never looked so handsome.

“Thank you, let’s take our seats it’s about to start.” Ismail takes me by the elbow and leads me to our table.

We are an hour into the Gala speeches. I am so bored and sleepy because they are speaking French and I don’t understand a single thing. I’m lucky I can’t sleep in public, or I would have nodded off by now.

“Umit,” Ismail whispers. He is sitting opposite me.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Yes. I am not sleeping.”

“I know. I wanted to ask if you want to leave.”

“Gladly.” I pick up my clutch and walk out, not even thinking twice about it.

“I know you were bored, but I didn’t know it was this bad,” Ismail says chuckling while following me.

“You are the reason I am still awake, so you should know how bored I was,” I say arriving outside.

“I know, that’s why I am going to take you somewhere you will love,” Ismail collects his keys from the valet while he opens the door for me. Ismail rents a car or a driver and a car, everywhere we have been.

“Where are you taking me?” I ask getting into the car.

“You will see.”

“Alright, but if we are passing by the hotel can I stop and get my power bank? My phone is really low,” I say wondering where he is taking me but trusting him not to take me somewhere bad.

This night is full of revelations when I realize I trust Ismail. Not so long ago I would have expected him to do something just to annoy me. I am glad we are no longer at each other’s throats and are getting along so well. I guess we really have come a long way.

“Yeah, we could,” Ismail says and drives us to our hotel, where I take the elevator up to my room. I get to my room, but something isn’t right. My door is open. I can’t remember asking for room service, so it shouldn’t be open. I quietly step in and I hear a noise coming from my bedroom. I check for room service equipment, but there is none. Did someone sneak into my room? Am I being robbed? Do you get robbed in such a high-class hotel? I look around the living room for anything I can use to defend myself and grab the table lamp of the side table. I remove my shoes and quietly walk toward my bedroom, but it seems I was not quiet enough. Someone comes running out of the room and hits me hard on the head, causing me to fall backwards. I don’t see who the person is before he or she runs out of my room. I quickly get up and chase after, but I don’t see them anywhere. I look up both sides of the hallway, but I see no trace or which way they might have gone. I decide to call Ismail and tell him to come up quickly. When he gets here, I explain to him what happened. He quickly calls the hotel manager. The hotel manager comes up with two security men. He apologizes for what has happened. We check my bedroom and it’s obvious it was searched. Whoever came in here was looking for something, and I have not a single idea as what they are looking for. My clothes are thrown everywhere, the whole room is in disarray. It looks like they tried opening my laptop but were not able to hack my password. They did not steal anything. I am very confused as to what they were looking for. At first, I thought maybe it was money or my jewelry, but I checked and the safe has not been tampered with at all. Ismail and the manager asked me if I knew why someone would sneak into my room. I don’t know why. I am confused like they are, as to why someone would sneak in and steal nothing. Ya Allah! I pray we find out soon what or who is the cause of all this.

The hotel gave me another room for the night. Ismail was livid that someone sneaked into my room, and decided we change hotels tomorrow to be safe. I did not argue. I no longer felt comfortable here since my privacy was breached.

The hotel manager informed the police the next day, but they were not able to come up with anything. I decided to pray over it and let it rest. Maybe they were trying to steal something from me but were interrupted because I came back early. I will never know until the person is found to ask him or her why they came to my room that night. In Shaa Allah, all will be fine, and it won’t happen again.

On Monday of our last week in France, Emma and Austin had to leave. Emma had to fully resign from the company and start working at her family’s company. Austin also had to get back to work. We said our goodbyes before enjoying our last week of travel around France.

One of the things I loved about France was the food. There is this restaurant, La Bossue. Their Madeleine cakes and different kinds of cookies are scrumptious. Everything is homemade, giving their breakfast and brunch a wonderful taste. The Senanque Abbey in Provence was beautiful, and the seemingly endless stretch of lavender was one of the prettiest places to visit. The palace of Versailles was magnificent, the display of art, architecture, interior design, and landscaping were amazing to see. I had a wonderful time in France, enjoying the food, the beautiful streets and everything else we managed to see and do.