Chapter 9: El amor en los tiempos del cólera

The next day bilkoleya, I was telling '3azl about what had happened last night with Jara7. The conversation we had, and the second message that he sent me.
'3azl: 7ala bawglch shay
7ala: gwlay
'3azl: tara there is something new in our tone of voice.
7ala: shlon ye3ni?
'3azl: ye3ni when you talk about him, 9otech yit'3ayer. You smile while you talk, and you have this GLOW.
7ala: hehehe .. glow?!
'3azl: ee, madri shlon afahmch. You just seem really happy.
A while later, Ya3goub approached us.
Ya3goub: ha, 7ala is in a good mood this morning? Shisalfa?
7ala: hehehe.. shfeekm? I'm in a normal mood.
Ya3goub: haaaaa? Rithaitay 3alaih? Tsama7taaaw?
7ala: ee kinda. Inshallaaa..
Ya3goub: why are you blushing 7ala?!
7ala: I'm not blushing!
'3azl: imbela you are.. hehehe. omG that's soo cute.
They continued teasing me until dawam was over. I drove back home in a really good mood. I sang along with majeed's "tint'thr kilmat a7bk": 5alena nefham ba3athna gabl ma nehwa nethee3 maba3ad bard ilsheta ela nasmat ilrabee3.
At home, I ate lunch with my family with a very open appetite.
Dad: ha 7alati.. mu makla shay bilkoleya?! Shklch wayed yu3ana
7ala: hehheeh ee baba makalait shaaay, and you know how much I love's mama's cooking.
A while later we were done. I had a shower, changed, prayed then I switched on my laptop and went on FB. Jara7 wasn’t online. 7asafaaa. Ambaaaay shfeeeni?! Just message him for God's sake! 5ala9 mu killa FB! Madri, asti7i I message him. He'll think I'm mental. One moment I'm fighting with him for messaging me and the next moment I message him… imbela I should message him! Should i…?
"plop"
Jara7: hi 7ala (thank God he went online! That saved a lot of awkwardness!!)
7ala: hii Jara7
Jara7: lail7eench mit'thayga minni?
7ala: la I'm not. W I completely understand your point. And I agree now.
Jara7: il7emdilla :D
7ala: and I want to apologise as well. For being a nightmare.
Jara7: latgwleen chithi. You're not a nightmare. You're a dream come true
7ala: that’s so sweet 
Jara7: 5ala9 rithaytay 3alay?!
7ala: ee akeeeed!
Jara7: ye3ni mulazm a36eech ilhadeya illi ta3abt 3alaiha! 6wl ill lail mu nayem so that I get it for you!
7ala: allaaa hadeya! I love gifts.. 5ala9 3ayal, we're still in a fight!
Jara7: ee okkk.. ye3ni I shouldn’t be talking to you?
7ala: ofcorse you shouldn’t be talking to me. Ana still za3lana 3alaik!
Jara7: 5ala9 3ayal. I'm going to log out now. And like I said, I'm sorry, plz sam7ini!!
7ala: never!
Jara7: never say never ;p
Faj2a he was offline.. hmmm okkk? Is he still playing along? Will he go online again now? Should I text him? La I’ll wait for a while. My phone rang. It was a message from Jara7.
"I'm going to the gifts store to get your present rapped now ;)"
Awww.. he really did get me a gift. How sweet. I called '3azl and told her. We continued chatting for a while, then she reminded me to get dressed to return to the koleya to study. '3azl galatli amerha, so I did. An hour later we were both at the koleya studying. Ya3goub was at the library studying too. I smiled to him, indicating that everything was fine with me, and he winked back at me. By 8pm, we decided to take a break. We needed food.
'3azl: mishtahya Lorenzo..chocolate cheesecake.
7ala: eee perfect.. me too. Yala lets go.
Ya3goub saw us leaving the library, so he did too.
Ya3goub: wain ray7een?
Yala: binrw7 shamiya mall, to get a cake mn lorenzo.
Ya3goub: inzain b sayarat minw bitrw7wn?
7ala: We're going b my car. '3azl mu yaya b sayarat'ha. Ana marait'ha. Should we get you anything?
Ya3goub: ha? La2 mabi shay. Inzain, mu chinna tawinnas 3al 3asha?
'3azl: its not 3asha,, bes chthi.. chocolate break heheh... Ya3goub shfeek? Why are you acting weird
Ya3goub: la I'm not acting weird. Nooo werdnesss at aaaaallll!
7ala: ammm okkkk? Hehehe whatever you say.. yalla byeee!
Ya3goub: lat6awloon!
7ala: inshalla babaaaa!
Wi9alna ilshameya, w lorenzo to order. The Lebanese guy asked: "for here or take away 9abaya?"
'3azl: take away. (we were planning to eat bl koleya)
We were heading back to the koleya along the 2nd ring road. Before stopping at the traffic light, I noticed that '3azl started fidgeting. She wouldn’t stop biting her nails and playing with her hair. I stared at her until she noticed.
'3azl: shraych you stop looking at me and keep your eyes on the road.
7ala: shfeech?
Faj2a ga9erat 3ala the loud sound of rashed's song “Bala 7ob”. Instantly staw3abt what she was thinking. She wanted to take a look at his house the way she usually did. By his, I mean her ex, Majed. It's been about a year since they broke up but unfortunately she never got over it. How could she get over it? It was soo serious. Their relationship lasted almost 3 years, and his whole family knew about her. I don’t blame her. I slowed down the car, and signalled to the right, w dashait il8adsiya. She looked at me, and gave me the "thanks-for-reading-my-mind" face. She lead me through the streets, as I didn't actually know the exact way. Finally we reached his house. She stared out of the window. She was staring at his new m'3ayima car. She tried to hide it, but I noticed that she was wiping away tears! She was still in touch with his best friend. Not only because he was such a funny and respectful guy, but also because she wanted to be updated with what was going on in Majed's life. That’s how she knew he got his new car recently.
‘3azl: That's his new car. I wish I had the chance to abareklaa…(she wiped another tear)
7ala: '3azl! Please just stop doing this to yourself. You have to let go. Im not acting like I know what you're going through. I have no idea what it’s like to end a very serious relationship. It must be very hard to get over it. BUT you're not making it any easier to yourself! Take this as an example. You have got to stop passing by his house. And stop talking to his best friend. Or, just stop asking him for updates about Majed's life. '3azl please. I hate seeing you like this. Ye3ni he hurt you so much when you were together. And now, even while you’re broken up, he's still hurting you!
Suddenly the door of his house opens! ‘3azl freaks out, her heart beats so fast, I think I could slightly hear it. The fact that she might see him again scares her to death. ‘3azl, still freaked out, slides down her seat and puts her face down.
7ala: don’t worry it's not him. It's an old lady.
She lifted her head and looked up to see who it was.
‘3azl: omah !! Dosay 7ala, dosay !!
7ala: inshalla inshalla! (I quickly turn the car, and drive away)
‘3azl was always in touch with his mother. Even after they broke . She was so sweet to '3azl, and was always on '3azl's side when they fought. But ‘3azl would always say that his mum deserves a BETTER son. ‘3azl grabs the ipod and changes the song to Majeed's “ma thanetee”. She fast forwarded it to the 2nd verse “ma thanetee hal 3omr ben3esha sewa ma neltgee o la 3ad yejma3na el hawa knt athenk enta lejroo7ee duwaa ” ..
The rest of the drive back was silent. Neither of us talked. We were both in a bad mood now. We didn’t want to eat anymore, we had lost our appetite. Laman we reached ilkoleya, I noticed ya3goub walking towards where I had parked.
Ya3goub: mita a5er marra 3abaitay sayartch banzeen?
7ala: mmmm madri. Mita a5er marra thakartni ( I teased)
Ya3goub: aha ye3ni almost a week. Akeed it needs to be refilled. Give me your car keys.
7ala: it’s ok, I'll go on my way home.
Ya3goub: la I'll go now, so matdgeen 3alay at night w tgwleenlee sayarti wagfa!
7ala: that happened only once!
Ya3goub: and let’s keep it that way. Once !
7ala: fine! Here (I threw my keys to him, and continued walking back to the campus building)
Inside, '3azl and I sat down on some sofas and tried to eat. But we couldn't. I had to continue talking to '3azl. That lady infront of Majed's house interrupted me earlier.
7ala: '3azl za3altay minni?
'3azl: lesh az3al minch?
7ala: because of what I told you in the car
'3azl: no you're right. I need to stop doing this to myself. I want to stop, but I can't. I loved him 7ala. I still do. I..
7ala: '3azl stop saying that! you don’t love him. You MISS him. 5ala9, you deserve so much better. He should have treated you better when you were together. I hate him walla! '3azl, look at me. He's not worthy to have you as his girlfriend. A9lan he's not worthy to have you in his life at all!! 5ala9, bacher, we go man hunting. We will find you someone! Someone that dreams of being with you! (I saw a slight smile)
'3azl: someone like Jara7?
7ala: heheheh ee someone like Jara7. You know, you're so good at changing the subject when we're talking about you and Majed (I teased)
'3azl: chiftay shlon. 5ala9, let's never mention him. Never. Today, I start off fresh.
7ala: ya intay yal fresh!
Radaina il library and continued studying. A few minutes later ya3goub came in. He gave me my car keys back, and went back to his seat. In a while, we were tired of all the studying, so we decided to head back home. Dashait ilsayara, garait du3a2 ilrukwb, ga6ait kutubi w my bag at the back seat, sha'3alt il sayara, put on my seat belt, (asked '3azl to put on her seat belt) and went off to drop '3azl home. We reached her house.
7ala: love you
'3azl: love you more. And thanks. Good night.
7ala: good night! Sweet dreams.
I headed back home. Finally wi9alt parking baitna, 6ila3t min ilsayara, then I opened the back door and got my books min il back seat. They were soo heavy that awal ma dashait dari, I threw them on my bed. I noticed an extra book. All my jam3a books had colorful covers (because of all the diagrams and photos), but this particular book was so dull. The only bright thing about it was that it was rapped with a red ribbon. omG, it was an early edition of "Love in the Time of Cholera"! It was the 1st edition! Even more valuable than the limited edition one that I had lost. This one was old, rusty, historic and in Spanish. The one I lost was a modern, clean, US edition. I loved this one so much more. I opened it and a card fell out. It said:
"This is to make up for 2 main tragedies in your life:
1- The previous lost book. This one is not the same, but I hope you like it more.
2- My message ;p
7ala, itha sama7tini, just message me w ray7yny. Please."
I couldn’t believe it. How did he know?! Shlon?! Ok, la ashta6 wayed, akeed he found out min ya3goub. But still, shloon dara ina this would be the perfect gift. And HOW did he get it?! Soo thoughtful. I ran to my phone and typed a message to Jara7:
"Shlon ma artha 3alaik?! Thanks A LOT!"
He replied instantly:
"tistahlain akthr"
I suddenly felt so optimistic. I feel like so many more better things are yet to come. I feel like, true happiness is on it's way. omG…omG… I have to say it.. I have to.. I think. I'm. In. LOVE!
I think..
I guess that's the "glow" that '3azl was talking about!