Sun & Moon: Chapter Seven

'Come beautiful.  I'll show you around' he whispered in her ear. Nodding her head, she carried her embroidered laptop bag with the front flap reading her name, in beautiful silky silver threading, and followed him. 'Okay, I'll show you a secret place where no one can disturb you' his deep voice made its way to her ear drum. Taking her by the hand, she walked behind him and followed him to the stairs. 'This is where all the goths meet up' he pointed out while rolling out his eyes to an area near the stairs. Sanaa imagined how the empty seats and tables would be occupied by black dressed girls with heavy black eyeliners and those pair of skinny jeans the men would adorn; those super popular skinnies back home. She shook her head on the thought of skinny jeans pressing tight against the nonexistent thighs of those men, and the obscene over the top hairdos. She shook her head again trying to shed off the thought and continued walking behind Bastiaan. With one step after the other, Sanaa took a glimpse of how fashionable his shoes were; mosaic cappuccino brown shoes with hints of black velvet fabric. The silence along with the gush of warm air from the heating made the atmosphere comfy and pleasant. The fragrant musky auburn wood stairs were glossy and polished. As Sanaa climbed the stairs, a sense of comfort came over her, not only because she made the perfect choice of wearing her suede flats but as the day progressed, it was turning out to be a lovely one as she predicted.  'I'll show you a place that's very secretive' he pulled her to him with an assuring smile as their solid shoe heels clucked against the hard wooden surface continuing their way to the top. Getting to the top, after several flights of stairs, the place was too quiet that it felt daunting and scary. A sudden panic overcame Sanaa as she tried to let go off his hand and run out the other way as fast as possible. Turning around and looking into her eyes, Bastiaan tried calming her down by saying those two precious words every single cartoon or romantic movie abused; ‘Trust me’. Sanaa tried to find the tranquility she once felt but only for her to become jumpy and scared even more. It seemed dark for a moment around her until the rays of light managed to peep in between to brighten the room. It suddenly seemed less intimidating than it was. She felt herself struggling with her inner self; she wanted to let loose and trust that nothing would happen but she couldn’t allow herself to go through those emotions again. As she stood frozen still, she noticed a bookshelf which was distinct from the others.  It seemed older than the rest; its oak dark wood chipped shelves, and the aged rustic color giving warmth that only an old person would give out. It seemed to talk to her, to tell her that it had stories to share and tales she would love to hear. There was something she couldn't describe, a chemistry, that pulled Sanaa towards the bookshelf. There was something secretive about it, and she felt compelled to find out what it was.

As the air around her became alluring, Sanaa made her move to the old bookshelf at the very back end of the room. The silence was overwhelming; she only could hear her breathing and the soles of her shoes tapping on the surface. Bastiaan remained still as he watched her discover what he wanted to show her all along. The way her hair bounced and rested on the small of her back got him to remember how beautiful her scent was and how her eyes made him feel lost. The corners of his mouth made its way into a smile; his eyes grew brighter, his smile lines and crow feet were evident and his teeth were as flashing as they always have been. He wanted to tell her the story behind the old bookshelf but decided not to after seeing her vanish from his sight; she was at the back of the standing oak wood.  Walking past it, she saw the books; the fiction books that not many people were interested in anymore, the philosophy books that weren’t appealing, and the unpopular novels which had a small audience to none. But that wasn't what got her consumed; it was the wall behind the bookshelf. It was the off white manila patchy wall which was in a serious need of a paint job. It was the wall which was interesting as it was. She noted how colorful it seemed to be when she grew closer; hints of black, blue, red, pink and so many other colors occupying the wall. She walked even closer to have a clear picture of what those colors were.  Taking a deep breath, she composed herself grasping her chunky jacket belt and started making out what those colors were. Frown lines started gathering on her forehead as she started to read; writings, doodles and scribbles of different colors, fonts and handwritings.

I love you

A loves T

You are the reason I breathe  <3

Ik Hou Van Jou

Mijn schatje is Dan

I had a dream and you were in it

 I wish I could tell you how I feel

I hate you for making me feel the way I do

RIP my love. You’ll always be in my heart forever

I LOVE YOUUUU

Those were some of the writings on the wall. She started reading and some were poems, some were simple reasons as to why they fell victim to those sensations and some were about heartbreak. Sanaa's heart sunk from pain, when she realized the grand magnificent wall was a confession wall; confessions of something she once had, something she once cherished and something she lost. They were confessions of love.

Black and white was filling the space, crowded flocks of people were surrounding the clear area in between the two buildings. The water flowing in beautiful shapes and forms from the fountain made the view even more spectacular. The beige contrasts of the building around along with the colorful peach tiles gave an added abstract to the afternoon's events. The sky was clear and the sun was bright, the light breeze gave solace to the ever growing crowd. White Dishdashas and black abbayas fluttered with the wind and the loud music gave the previous static silence life. Chattering could be heard in between musical pauses here and there. Green, red, metallic grey were some of the colors of the cars placed around. The shouts from the Taekwondo team filled the air while displaying their acrobatic talents. It was one of those rare moments when all walks of life came together to relish on the annual Marketing Group Open Day in Sultan Qaboos University. The marketing group always made it impressive no matter how big the previous year’s event was. It was the event of all events for the university’s students.

Sanaa along with her friends were around enjoying the atmosphere, taking in the delight of having the attention of a few men. Sanaa was definite that those flirting were looking at her  strikingly pretty elegant friends and not on her. She always envied their sense of style; beautifully curled lashes, striking defined lined eyes, rosy cheeks and an effortless hint of bronzer along with sheer gloss. Their outfits and abbayas were top notch and absolutely chic to perfection. And the heels were the ones she always wished she could have only for her mother to put her down and buy her those plastic cheap sandals from Muttrah souq. She hated how she looked and how she stood out like the ugly duckling from the rest of her friends. It made her wonder what really made her part of this glam group when she literally stood out as different. With her short abbaya showing her longer than usual cheap torn jeans at the bottom, she clasped her backpack and fixed her headscarf which she never knew how to wear along with the 1 Rial sunglasses she got as a bargain from the local shop next door to their house. She still felt incomplete and ungraceful, so she opted to do something she always did to diminish those thoughts of being shabby; finishing off her look by wearing her confident smile, the one feature that never let her down. Moving around the crowd, they headed to the cars exhibition which involved different famous brand names. Sanaa along with some of them headed to the Mistubishi brand just to look around since it was the least crowded. ‘Let’s finish this area first then head to Mercedes’ they all seemed to agree that it was the wise decision to do at that point.

Walking to the Mistubishi stand which had a few spectators, the girls opened the door to one of  the cars and made themselves comfortable inside. ‘Ya Allah what car is this? ’ Sanaa bluntly said. ‘Shu? It’s a car’ her friend replied back. ‘Can we just go? It’s an awful car and I can’t stand it’ Sanaa voiced her opinion loudly. It was the same exact car, her family owned and she hated how the air conditioner never cools in this dessert heat. She hated how the color would just chip with a simple scratch. Most of all, she hated all the fights that happened between her parents because of the car. ‘I’m leaving’ she said as she tried to open the door.

‘Laish kel hatha?’ a white dishdasha started approaching her.  Sanaa in surprise turned around to look at her friends shocked. They motioned to leave the car but Sanaa got stopped with questions. ‘Why don’t you like the car? It didn’t do anything to you’ he stood in between her and her escape from the vehicle, which did nothing but rejuvenate those memories of the car in her head. ‘Bes. I don’t like it’ she replied back uninterested. ‘7aram 3alaish there should be a reason’ he said opening the door for her. ‘NO. I just don’t like its air conditioning’ she paused as she noted how frustrated, annoyed and loud her voice raised while getting out of the car. ‘It never cools’ she said lowering her voice politely as she stood in front of him. A huge shadow was blocking the bright sun from hitting her eyes; she noticed how she seemed like a dwarf compared to him. He was of average height but Sanaa was 4 feet 9 inches making most average height men seem like giants in her eyes.  Sanaa felt the heat flushing her cheeks; she never understood why she suddenly felt shy. Was it his towering frame over her or was it the Eastern accent of Sur that rolled out from his tongue when he said ‘Mashallah’ in admiration of her beautiful rounded eyes as her loose sunglasses dropped before she was able to catch them. Looking away, she bent quickly to pick them up before he was able to do the gentleman gesture of picking them up for her.  

With a quick maneuver, her sunglasses remained back intact blocking out her eyes again. Sanaa managed this time around to catch a glimpse of the almond shaped eyes of his and the long striking nose. He had chubby cheeks which looked adorable on his round shaped face and his smile, even though small, was sweetening to the air of her lungs. She smiled back and abruptly walked away urging her friends to leave. ‘Wait’ he screamed out as they started making their way to the Mercedes stall. ‘Do you girls drive?’ he asked as they turned around to face him.

‘Yes I do’

 ‘Yeah I drive’

 ‘Aiwa akeed’

‘Duhhhh of course’

One by one they all replied back with affirmative answers. But when it came to Sanaa she became mute with only a nod as a reply to the question. She officially lied in university campus for the first time. ‘Really? You drive?’ her friends looked at her surprisingly.  She didn’t have any other alternative, when all she wanted was to seem cool and acceptable. She silently kept blaming her parents who always postponed getting her the learner's permit by telling her the usual response ‘Inshallah’. 

‘Great, you can fill in these forms for the raffle draw and as well an opportunity for you to enjoy a test drive tomorrow’ he started giving out the raffle coupons. ‘Here are some pens, you can fill them now’ he said. They started filling in the coupons which asked for their name, phone number and email address.  A few minutes later and Sanaa and her friends went ahead enjoying the rest of their day with blissful music and an even serene poetry night.