"Tequila breath, you don't have to do this if you feel nervous" Dream rubbed her hand in comfort and Tequila took a deep breath. She has been going through a lot these days from Ali's death to failing her oral test. She's weak and tired of all the darkness finding her and she just wants to collapse and cry her pains away. The private jet conveying Ali's body back to Ikram would be ready in an hour and she's getting the cold feet already.
She would've decided not to go if she wouldn't feel guilty for the rest of her life. Ali had been there for her when nobody stood by her. After finding out she was pregnant from her wild night with the sheikh, Tequila was close to losing it. She didn't know what to do or who to call on. God sent her an angel in the form of Ali and since then he never left her side till death snatched her.
He was there through her pregnancy and he loved Uthman like his. She remembered the look of pure joy on his face when she granted him the permission to name her baby, he named Uthman after his cousin whom he admired so much and Ali never hesitated to spoil him silly.
Poor Uthman doesn't know that his favorite Uncle Ali is gone forever and he might never see him again. He thinks the visit to Ikram is for vacation and Uncle Ali would receive them at the airport. She couldn't bear to burst his bubble and tell him his uncle Ali is dead and would never come back again. It still felt like a dream to her too.
Her phone ringing on the make-up table brought her attention to the device and she picked it up as soon as she saw Nathan's name on the screen. Nathan was Ali's most trusted bodyguard and he was like a brother to him. The first time that Tequila had seen him cry was when he picked Ali's dead body from the street where the truck had crushed him lifeless when he wanted to go into the next toyshop to get something for Uthman who went to school for the first time without crying.
"Nathan, how are you?... Yeah we are ready... You already sent someone to pick us? Okay then... See you later" She ended the call before she stood up from her bed and pulled the box Dream had packed for her. She motioned for Uthman who came rushing towards them without noticing the sadness in the air. His attention was on the game he was playing on his tab. Tequila doesn't even see herself forgetting Ali in a jiffy because everything in this apartment reminded her of him.
Tequila descended the stairs with Dream pulling their luggage after her and Uthman walking slowly behind them, his attention still on the game he was playing. When they got outside, a black Mercedes Benz was waiting for them and the driver stepped out, bowing a little for Tequila who acknowledged his greeting with a nod. They got in and Dream kissed Tequila goodbye before she turned back to go back into the apartment. Tequila was quiet all through the ride to the airport and Uthman, as if he could sense his mother's silence, didn't throw any fit. By the time they were about to board the jet, Uthman was already fast asleep and Tequila had to carry him on her shoulder.
By the time the plane landed in Ikram, It was night time already but it didn't look like it all. The whole kingdom stood at the airport and they started a dirge as soon as the body was brought out. Tequila still found it hard to believe that Ali was an Arabian prince with a vast kingdom to inherit, when they met he was the most humble person Tequila had ever met.
The whole town held a candle and Nathan passed Tequila one before leading her towards the royal family. The sheikh wasn't anywhere in sight and Tequila curtseyed to greet the rest of the royal family. They all smiled widely at her and Tequila relaxed instantly. This wasn't what she was expecting, she expected them to be stuck up and proud because she's a western human and she didn't belong to any royal family. One of them volunteered to help carry the sleepy Uthman but she declined politely.
She walked slowly with them while the people carrying the body went in front, the royal family followed. The rest of the people held up their candles above their heads while they sang slowly. Tequila could see how everyone around her was holding their tears, Ali had been a good person. She knew him inside out and the fact that he was one of the humans she loved truly made her more sad. She couldn't hold her tears any longer and she let them fall freely. Someone took her candle from her and she held Uthman with both hands. She cried hard as memories of what she had with Ali attacked her.
When they got to the entrance of the royal graveyard, the crowd stopped and they raised their voices even louder. They walked inside and towards the end, Tequila noticed a freshly dug grave and she shook her head as the tears pooled her eyes. The body was brought down from the shoulders of the carriers and they lowered it on a stool. Tequila watched as they all walked one after the other towards the body and kissed his forehead while muttering things.
The sheikh went first and he bent his head in a deep bow before Ali's body. He kissed his forehead and he walked off with his personal guards trailing behind him. His mom went next and Tequila could see how she was barely hanging on to sanity. Ali loved his mom so much and he told Tequila how his mom couldn't wait to meet her and Uthman.
She bent over the body and she placed her head on his chest. She shook him slightly as if waiting for a miracle to happen and he would come back to life. She left quietly after his sister pulled her away towards the direction the sheikh had gone. Tequila watched with interest as everyone came to pay their homage to the dead heir, some more emotional than the rest. All in all, Tequila knew they all loved Ali, well who wouldn't?.
"My lady, let me take the boy. It's going to be your turn soon" someone whispered and she handed him over after shooting her a grateful smile. She watched the person beside her go and she came back almost immediately. She concluded that maybe they weren't on good terms but that didn't justify not even saying a proper goodbye.
Tequila walked towards the body and that was when reality finally hit her. She was never going to see nor hear from Ali again. He wouldn't be in her apartment shouting at the top of his voice while pretending to be a popular rockstar nor would she tease him about his horrible voice for someone who loved music. He wasn't going to tickle her again whenever she wasn't paying enough attention to him or do horrible make-up on her face because he felt like she's too beautiful to be seen by anyone. He wouldn't wiggle his butt in front of her bathroom mirror anymore nor would he play hide and seek with Uthman again.
She knelt beside his body and she marveled at how he still managed to look so nice even in death. She now believes his word that he was never going to be caught unfresh even in death. She kissed his forehead first before she cleared her voice to tell him her long goodbye message.
"Ali, you probably can't hear me now or you can hear me and I can't hear your reply. I can't believe our friendship is ending here with you being wrapped in white and me trying to hold on to the last thread of sanity left. Ali, I love you so much and I'm glad we are friends till death decided to cut short our friendship. No one's ever going to take away the memories of whatever we had and I'm not going to let anyone call Uthman anything else. I badly wish the tears will stop and I'm trying to imagine you're in a better place now. My mom says whenever good people die, they go straight to heaven where they deserve. Ali, the world doesn't deserve you and I hope I convince myself enough. I hope when Uthman grows up, he won't ever forget the kind of father figure you were to him. Thank you for all you did for me and Uthman, thank you for every time you made us your point of duty. Thank you for being patient with me even when I said I didn't want to make commitments with you. I wish I knew, maybe we would have solid memories to reflect back on. The ones we have, I promise to cherish them forever. It's hard to say goodbye to your best friend and I hope you don't make new friends in heaven who will replace me. Don't forget to get all the girls too as you said you would. I love you Ali, I fucking love you. I wish I said it when you wanted to hear them but now it's of no use since you can't even reply or flash your dimples at me in approval. Ali just open your eyes and tell me goodbye. As your best friend of over two years, I deserve more than just a mere text announcing your death. Stand up and tell me it's going to be alright now. Fucking stand up" She was screaming at this point and they dragged her back as she clutched to Ali's body in tears. Everyone started crying again and they pulled Tequila towards the medical tent.
After a lot of efforts of trying to hold her down, Tequila was sedated under the sheikh's orders and she was taken back to the palace while the burial rites went on.
Tequila opened her eyes in a strange room and she looked around. Uthman was nowhere in sight and the whole room looked like it was made for an arabian princess. Memories of the night before started to come to her and she shook her head. She threw the duvet off her body and she was shocked to find two young ladies standing there."Good morning my lady, the sheikh asked us to help you get ready and bring you down for breakfast. I'm Aishah and this is my sister, Aliyah" the tall one said and Tequila smiled at them. She stood up to stretch her muscles and she looked outside the window. She was marveled at the beautiful sight, Ali always said his hometown was beautiful but she had no idea it was this beautiful."My lady, shall we prepare your bath now and what scent would you like us to add? Lavender, strawberry, baqarat or do you have any special ones you like?" Aliyah asked and Tequila shook her head. She didn't want t
Tequila paced the whole length of her room in anger and she doesn't know what to do anymore. Now her phone is missing and she doesn't even have any means of reaching anyone outside this place.Since her almost successful attempt to escape secretly failed, she has been locked in here for almost three day now. They bring Uthman at night and take him before she wakes up because he won't sleep without her. Her mind wandered to Aliyah and Aishah and she knew they would probably be serving a stricter punishment right now since they helped her get away from the palace.She had no idea how the Sheikh knew they were at the airport waiting for the next flight that's going to the US. She couldn't forget how her heart dropped in hopelessness as she saw the very livid Sheikh approaching them. If he were a cartoon character, smoke would've been coming out of his ears.She half expected him to shout at her or worse hi
Tequila dressed up in preparation to go and see the sheikh and she made sure to put on the finest silk available. She was going to visit the sheikh in his chambers for convincing purposes and she had to look her best. Her chambermaids stood at her beck and call while she took her time to get ready, after she was satisfied with herself she left the room.She made her way into the Sheikh’s quarters at exactly 7pm and she lied to his guards that he was expecting her. She was led into his room to wait for him and she looked around the huge suite. It was befitting for a king like him. She looked around the whole place and she took notice of how the sheikh liked white and gold. Almost everything inside the room had a touch of white and gold. Tequila didn’t know when she fell asleep while waiting for the sheikh.
Tequila sat in the dark room and she had no energy whatsoever left to stand up to switch on the light or maybe the darkness enthralled her. She wanted the floor to open up and maybe swallow her because the sheikh has been blatantly ignoring her or the fact that she felt extremely worthless for letting him sleep with her again. She hasn’t reached out to Dream and told her sister about the raging madness going on here and hoped she had been right about Ali being related to her baby daddy. This whole madness that was going on was pissing her off and making her more confused. Someone knocked on her door gently and she sat up straight even in the darkness, she wasn't expecting anyone and the sheik rarely knocked. Maybe his guards would announce his presence but they rarely did that anymore and she wondered who it could be. She refused to say a word and the knock came again, this time a little louder than the last one. She heard shuffling of feet and she was waiting for the pers
Tequila sat on the bed staring outside of the window, her thoughts all over the place. To someone just coming inside the room, it might have looked like Tequila was enjoying the scenery but it was far from it, she was raging. She was staring out and trying to get all her thoughts in one place, she wasn’t going to let any of their shenanigans get to her. She brought herself to this crappy place to be honest. If only her instincts hadn’t been crowded by grief. Having sex with him was one of the best thing she did in her life and the money he gave her afterwards made her feel grateful, she was able to enroll in med school and she paid for Dream’s treatment. He was the sole reason her sister was back on her feet and the money provided support for them till Ali came. She let a sob escape her mouth as she remembered her dead best friend. Ali was her super hero and she could go on for days why she loved him. He was favorite person and he knew just the way to make things right. I
Three days later. Aliyah and her sister Alisha, hurried down the passage like their life depended on it. "Why didn't you wake me up?" Alisha said to her sister, in a voice so low like they were afraid the walls could hear them. "I did...If you didn't sleep so much, we would be there already." Aliyah slowed down as they arrived at Tequila's door. "Just pray she doesn't report us to the Sheikh for being so late. I'm not going to lose my job because of you." Alisha ignored her sister, rolling her eyes, she reached forward to knock on the door. Tequila was around awake, and a bit alarmed by the sudden knock as she hadn't been expecting anyone and she didn't think the Sheikh would come to see her so early. She was putting on the Sheikh's shirt, the same one he had dressed her in the night she went to his room, since he never asked for it, she didn't return it. But she wasn't naked underneath the shirt, due to the cold
"Will you wipe that look off your face, Habibtha? It doesn't look good on you. Take a seat and let's discuss what's bothering you." Tequila watched him for a while. He looked prepared for anything he had to say like he was so sure there was nothing she could throw his way that would stir him off. Tequila hated that, the aura of confidence was something she wished she possessed right now. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it back, thinking of the right words to say. The Sheikh was as smart as he was arrogant. "Tequila? If you didn't hear me the first time I asked what was bothering you. Also, why don't you take a seat? It's better than standing." She placed her hands on her hips, when he saw this movement, he rolled his eyes, but she ignores him. "What's bothering me, you say? Don't worry, I don't want to sit down, I'll rather stand than sit beside you." He chuckled. "Fine, if you want to stand and stress your pretty
Amir's eyes were on the lady laying down beside him. She was supposed to be gone hours again, but for reasons only known to her, she was still on his bed, 'sleeping' peacefully. Amir knew she wasn't sleeping, she was breathing way too fast, and her eyeballs were moving around like crazy, also before he had woken up he was sure he had heard her muttering to herself and the minute she knew he was awake, she stilled. He didn't know what she had planned to do yet, some women stayed behind to try and get his attention and see if the sex was worthy enough to make him want to see them again, others, like this one as he suspected tried to steal from him and always failed. He sighed and moved away from the bed, wearing his garment he walked over to the table, where an ashtray sat and took a cigarette, but on second thought he decided it was best not to smoke first thing after waking up. He walked over to the curtain and pushed on a little button close to her cu