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i couldnt sleep all night. all i did was cry and think of ways to tell barrak, and i came up with one.

the next morning around 11, barrak called me and told me he was outside and to take his phone out to him. so i did. i went out in fahood's black abercrombie training pants and a gray tee-shirt. my eyes were puffy and red, so it showed i had been crying, and my lips were chapped and puffy. basically, i looked like shit. i looked like i was mourning the death of a loved one.

i walked outside and the smile on his face automatically was wiped away. he looked frightened. okay gelna i look bad, but really? that bad? (that was my pathetic attempt to make a joke by the way haha)

he leaned over the passenger seat and opened the door of his range so i could get in, and i did. he didnt say a word, he just drove off and handed me my iced caramel machiatto. i put it back in the cup holder and handed him his phone. my hands were shaking.

"shfeech noora 7abeebty?" he seemed concerned.

"barrak. i want to ask you once and i want complete honesty" i said while trying not to cry. the trying part didnt really work. i bursted into tears.

he parked the car at this abandoned looking parking lot for a 7okoma school and stared at me. he reached for my hand but i moved it away.

"barrak, menu rou7y?" and i cried even more. the look on his face was like he was heartbroken. but, so was i. who was this rou7y?

"ok i lied. rou7y is my ex girlfriend. she was a rebound after dalya passed away and since then, she never left me alone. she didnt understand that we broke up. but wala, i cant get rid of her. khalas 7abeebty, i will change my number ok?" and he reached for my hand a kissed it.

i believed him. it seemed logical. he never gave me a reason to doubt him. we drove around for an hour or two and by then it was 1 pm and we were both hungry. so we went to the mcdonalds drive through and got lunch. i told him to drop me off because i still had some studying to do before school the next day.

he dropped me home and asked me if he could come pick me up tomorrow and drop me to school. cute right? i agreed and went upstairs to study. wow, i was almost graduating. there was 2 months left of school, and then it would be off to boston. i forgot to mention that i got accepted there!

i havent told barrak yet that i was going to university in boston and i didnt know how he would react. so i decided to tell him that night after i finished studying.

around 9 PM, barrak called me.

"finished studying?"

"yeah i just finished, um, barrak, i need to talk to you about something" i didnt know how he would react, i just assumed we would do long distance or since he was going to propose, he would come with me and do his masters.

"ok?" he seemed scared, like he expected bad news or something

"i got accepted into the university i wanted to go to in boston" i said it with the biggest smile on my face.

"no" he was cold and serious.

"what do you mean no?" i was confused. that didnt even make sense.

"no, you are not going to boston. i am going to get engaged to you and we are staying in kuwait. you can go to KU, you got accepted there, and you can go to GUST or AUK or ACK. take your pick. but no, you are not going to boston" he was mad.

"but i really want to go. ive wanted to go there since i was a kid. my parents both graduated from there and"

he cut me off. "intai ma tifhimen? i said no"

"fine" he crushed my dreams. but atleast he would be mine, so boston was nothing when compared to being with my baby.

the next morning, he picked me up and we headed to starbucks. he didnt let me go down to get the drinks, so i waited in his car. he came back 10 minutes later with my panini and caramel machiatto. while we were driving to school, we started talking.

"Noora, today im going to buy a new number" he was happy and so was i

"Good, thank you 7abeeby" i kissed his cheek, we had reached school and i got out of the car.

Typical school day, i hung out with 7amoud and some random girls, but the whole time i was messaging barrak. around 12 pm, i get a message from a random number. it was SUCH A NICE NUMBER. it was xyxxxxx. the message was written in arabic and said : Hala bil Katkoota, mumken net3araf?

i laughed so hard, but i didnt reply. after school, barrak picked me up and i told him about the weird number while laughing so hard i was about to pee in my pants.

"Call the number" he told me

"Okay, but you talk! im putting it on speaker because i want to hear what kind of loser would write that!"

it was ringing and nobody was picking up until like the 7th ring, barrak pulls up his phone and picks up. i assumed he had a call or something. at the same time, the weird loser freak person picked up.

"BARRAK TALK TALK TALK!" i loudly whispered. he motioned for me to talk myself so i did.

"Alo meno?"

"Hala 7abeebty" it was barrak

i shut the phone and gave him the death stare. "NOT COOL" and he cracked up laughing.

he dropped me home and i went upstairs to take a nap.

i woke up with a message from him saying: 7abeebty, im going to london for 10 days. i wont have my phone. im sorry. i will explain later.

WHAT? ;/ 10 days without him? what was happening? i was so confused. i called his phone and it was off.