Luci Guest Writer 
Youssef: Good morning Madame Amr!
Me: What did you just call me?
Youssef: You’ve heard it right hahaha
Me: I know, but why are you calling me that?
Youssef: Don’t play dumb missy, everyone knows. Honestly, I thought I’d be the first you’d tell though!
Me: Oh shit! We really wanted things to be on the down-low for a while before we go public with it. It’s hard enough starting a relationship, let alone with your boss and now the whole office knows? I’m not going to hear the end of this!
Youssef: Be ready for the ***** attack, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Me: Sahar?
Youssef: Actually, Sahar and Nathalie.
Me: Nathalie? Didn’t she already do enough harm? Why on earth would she even care?
Youssef: Well, that’s how we all knew.
Apparently they all got the news from Nathalie, who mentioned that one of Billy’s friends told him about it. What the **** went into their heads to tell Billy something like that? It’s seriously none of his business! I decided to start off with Dina, as she was the only one of the girls who I told about Amr and I being together.
Me: Hey!
Dina: Luciii, I was just about to call you. You won’t believe what happened!
Me: Ok wait a second. I need to know if you told anyone about Amr and I being together.
Dina: Ohhh! Yes I did, but I didn’t think you’d mind.
Me: I wouldn’t, but I really wanted to keep it between us for a while. Did you tell Billy?
Dina: Of course not, I’m not an idiot Luci. I only told Habiba, she promised she’ll keep the secret.
Me: Well, she didn’t, just like you didn’t either. I’ll call her and call you back. Ciao!
Next up was Habiba’s turn…
Habiba: Mabrukkk! I’m so happy for you. Amr seems like a pretty decent guy!
Me: Thanks love, but we were planning to keep things on the down-low for a while.
Habiba: Oops! I only told Mona, but asked her not to tell anyone!
Me: Oh, so it was Mona who told Billy?
Habiba: No clue, but I guess she knows better than that.
Me: I don’t think she does. Now the whole office knows. Let me give her a call and I’ll call you back. Bye!
I was sure it was Mona who told Billy, she always had a sweet spot for him, so maybe that’s why. She was next…
Me: Hey Mona!
Mona: Hi Luci, how are things with you?
Me: Great, but quick question. Did you tell Billy about Amr and I being together?
Mona: Yes I did.
Me: Why would you do that?
Mona: It’s not like I did it on purpose. We were talking and then he kept on mentioning how much he misses you and that he wished things were different and he ended up with you. He kept on talking lots of non-sense as if you were there just waiting on-hold for him, so I wanted to make a point that you’ve moved on with your life with an awesome guy. That’s all! Are you angry at me?
Me: At first I was, but since you put things that way, of course I’m not angry. Thanks babe for having my back.
Mona: Any time!
Now I know, so it was definitely Nathalie who spread the news and I’m sure she might have even twisted things to something like, I’m only with Amr because I want to get ahead of everyone else at work. As if I need that, I’m already a really hard-worker who does a lot around here.
I decided to tell Amr that almost everyone knows, but he reacted in a pretty cool way towards the news. That guy knows how to keep his calm for sure. Some of my team members were also really cool about it, spreading kind smiles here and there, maybe just to get on my good side, but others just gave me some really nasty looks and I knew they were talking about me behind my back. Fine, I don’t care, or maybe I do care a bit. I don’t want anything to be the cause of any complications between me and Amr.
A few hours later, we had a team meeting and I was supposed to walk them through a presentation for a new big client I’ll be handling. Who was there? Around seven people including Amr, Youssef, Sahar and Nathalie. Blakh on the last two! The whole time while I was presenting, it was like they were waiting for me to make the smallest mistake, just so they could point it out. Seriously kids, you need to grow up!
Sahar: Actually Luci, I need to stop you here.
Me: What?
Sahar: I don’t think that’s the right strategy for us to take with that specific client. I’m sure you know that by now, but it’s fine everyone makes mistakes.
Me: Come again?
Nathalie: I think what my colleague Sahar means is that we shouldn’t be approaching things just the same old way. This client is a pretty exciting brand and we can afford to go much more creative than what you’re suggesting for them.
Amr: I agree with Sahar and Nathalie.
Me: You do?
Amr: Yeah, they’re right about what they said. Let’s go for a more creative approach Luci.
I didn’t want to point out that none of them knew what they’re actually talking about, as I’m the one who met the client and took the brief from them. They said a big no to nontraditional strategies, they wanted to play it safe at first to test the market, but I just kept my mouth shut, I wasn’t planning on embarrassing Amr, just like he did to me. I just waited until the meeting was over and went back to my office. Everyone else left, except for Youssef.
A few minutes later, Youssef came over and started blabbering a bit here and there and then he told me: “By the way, I know you were right and that’s the strategy the client wanted. I made sure to tell Amr that as well.”
Me: Thanks Youssef, I appreciate that. You know I was silly enough to think that him being my boss won’t cause any problems, but even though I bust my ass at work, and he does know that, he still chose to believe two girls who don’t have that much experience.
Youssef: Honestly, I think he just did that to show everyone who’s the boss around here. He may seem like the kind of guy who doesn’t care about what others say, but I don’t think he is. He does care and that’s exactly what made him do that.
I thought about what Youssef told me for a while and he’s actually right. I decided to just let it slide, I don’t want to be the kind of girl who gets upset about each and everything. I hate drama queens! Yes, I know you’re thinking I over-react at times, but let’s just say, I’d like to stop being a drama queen. Fair enough?
Amr only made it into my office by the end of the day. He kept on looking at me while talking just see whether I was mad at him or not, but I kind of gave him a tiny pokerface.
Amr: So?
Me: So what?
Amr: Are you done with work?
Me: Yes, almost. Sending one last email.
Amr: And are you angry at me?
Me: At first I was, but then I thought about it and life’s too short for that man.
Amr: Hahaha if you’re calling me man, then you’re definitely still angry.
Me: Just a small bit, especially that I was right and you knew I know better than to come up with a strategy the client wouldn’t approve.
Amr: I know and I’m really sorry about that. I thought, maybe if I gave you a hard time, the rest of the team will stop doing that.
Me: That’s a brilliant theory hahaha
Amr: I’m not always as wise as I look. I make tons of mistakes, plus we’re still figuring out how to deal with us being in a relationship and at work together. Step by step, okay?
Me: I agree. So what does a girl have to do to get her “I’m sorry kiss”?
That just cracked him up and a few seconds later, everything was great between us again. My phone rings and it’s Dina. All of a sudden I remember that she wanted to talk to me about something and I had mentioned I’d call her back, but didn’t.
Me: Dinaaaa, I’m so sorry I didn’t call you back, it was a crazy day.
Dina: No worries love, is all okay?
Me: Yeah, will tell you about it later. Now you tell me, what’s up?
Dina: Remember Hussein?
Me: The jerk who broke your heart? Of course I do!
Dina: So I find out that he’s been talking really badly about me for a while now, not even sure why, things have been over for a decade now.
Me: You don’t know why? That’s because he’s an ***!
Dina: No, that I know, but I mean I was wondering why the hell he remembered me again to actually start talking badly about me. I decided to send him a message and give him a piece of my mind. I have to admit it was a pretty ugly piece too, but he totally earned it.
Me: And then?
Dina: He calls me up from a number I don’t know and keeps on apologizing, but I keep on throwing mean words at him. You know how I feel about him! At the end, he asks to meet up with me. I tell him no. He asks to call me back, I tell him no. Lastly, he confesses something that truly shocked me. Are you ready for it?
I have a very interesting story to share with you ladies next week and I’m sure a lot of you will relate to it. Meanwhile, I suggest you read one of my previous posts "Listen Closely When Destiny Speaks" to know how things ended between Dina and Hussein.
