7.

what is wrong with this guy? shyabee? im not hie sister, cousin, girlfriend, mother. im nothing to him, menu uhwa 3ashan he tells me to go change? we3. anyways how does he always know where i am? thats so scary.

i didnt want to tell maryoom or rawan about him just yet. so i didnt mention anything. but for some reason, i wanted to go home and change. madree lesh, and i still question myself about why i listened to a stranger, but i did. so we got our food to go and headed back to mariam's house.

i didnt reply to his message, because i know he was watching me leave and head into a house. he was scary like that. so we spent the day at mariam's pool and then each of us went home and slept. i didnt talk to barrak that night, even though he called a lot and even messaged me a lot. but i decided to show him who wears the pants between the two of us.

so weeks went by with barrak acting exactly the same, always knowing where i was, who i was with, what i was wearing, and everything. then suddenly, my birthday was coming up, and i hadnt mentioned to him that it was my birthday, so i assumed he wouldnt know.

a week before my birthday, barrak started asking me all these weird questions, like whats your favorite car? favorite car color? favorite material for the car seats? favorite music? favorite thing to have dangling from the mirror in a car? favorite key chain? and even favorite car smell. of course i answered telling him my favorite car was a red range sport, with light beige leather, favorite music was english of course, favorite dangling thing was a crystal, favorite keychain was one that i had seen in LV and that i didnt have a favorite car smell, i just loved my brother's lacoste cologne.

so finally, my birthday came and i was turning 18. Baba, of course, had his ways, and i had my license the morning of my birthday, but my car was yet to come, he said we would go look for it next week when he was back from the shaleh, but gave me his black classic range rover to drive until then. maryoom and rawan had taken me to lunch in chocolate bar in avenues and we headed back to my house. i hadnt heard from barrak the whole day, and i didnt bother calling or messaging.

we decided to go to my house and chill there for a while until around 6 so we could go out. so we got to my house at 5, and i opened the door to a surprise party done by my lovely best friends. every girl i knew was there. and everything was pink and white, just like i like it. i loved those girls! there was pizza too, which was my favorite, and everything was perfect. maryoom made me change into this stunning short black dress that was tight in all the right places and quite short.

around like 9, i get a text from barrak saying: open your house door.

akeed he knew it was just us girls in the house, or he wouldnt have even stepped foot near my house. so i was curious to know what was up and i opened to door to find an LV box on the floor. that was so weird, he didnt even know it was my birthday!

i picked it up and opened it to find the key chain i wanted, but, there was a car key attached to it. i automatically called barrak.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH! but um, theres a key?" i obviously sounded confused

he started giggling. what a surprise right? "e 7abeebti, theres a key, go outside" and with that, he shut the phone.

i went outside in my party dress, not caring that everyone passing by could see me in my dress. and i saw it. i started screaming. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! SHENU HATHA?! NO WAY NO WAY!!!!

i called barrak, but he didnt pick up. i took the key and crossed my fingers and unlocked the car doors. no way. it was the red range, exactly how i wanted it. with 18 english cd's, im guessing because i turned 18, a bottle of my brother's lacoste cologne, and the crystal dangling from the mirror. inside the car was bright pink balloons, each one said happy 18 noora!

i started crying. i was so happy. no way. how was i going to explain this to my father?

just when i started tearing, barrak called me

"7abeebti dont cry, im sorry, i thought you would be happy" he sounded disappointed.

"you idiot! these are happy tears! thank you so much! i cant believe you did this! oh my god thank you barraky!" i spoke so fast.

"barrakich? ana barrakich? amoot? tabeene amoot?" he was happy too, 7ayate! "happy birthday 7abeebty, now go inside, and im going to leave a note on your car 3ashan it will explain everything to your father"

i still didnt know how he looked or anything. but i did as i was told and headed inside. i couldnt hide him anymore, i had to tell maryoom and rawan.

when all the guests left, it was around 1 am, and maryoom and rawan were sleeping over. so i told them everything.

"I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU! BACHER WERE GOING TO GIZ IN YOUR CAR!" maryoom, 7abeebti, shes so cute, she never judged me.

"Nooro, you have to think about this before you jump in too far, but either way, im here for you, and im happy if you are happy" rawan didnt seem too happy though about me falling for a complete stranger.

yes, i said it, i have fallen for barrak al x. while i was day dreaming about him, maryoom started jumping up and down like a kangaroo. "NOORO NOORO! GO CHECK THE NOTE!"

oh right, i forgot about that! so we ran outside and there was a note. it read: Happy birthday Noora, el 3umer kela enshala, i hope im not out of line by giving you a car on your birthday, but im someone from school, and i've liked you for the past 5 years, actually, i think i might just love you.

LOVE? love me? LOVE ME?