Luci Guest Writer 
Faisal met my parents and has officially proposed. I wasn’t very comfortable, as I could sense awkwardness in the air, but you know these gatherings are usually always weird. They’re super formal and your parents want to give off their serious “don’t you dare mess with my daughter” face. But all in all, it did go well. Faisal was very upfront about everything and told them how much he values me, which made me really happy. He’s the kind of guy who knows exactly what he’s talking about. Once that was over, the gang went out to celebrate; Dina, Mona, Habiba and Rafik.
Habiba: Guys you have no idea how excited I am for you. I can’t believe my matchmaking skills paid off that well. A match made in heaven!
Me: Really? Do you think you can get away with such cliche lines?
Habiba: Hahaha you have to admit it, I’m right.
Faisal: Well, we didn’t hit it off that well at the beginning. Remember Luci?
Me: True, but we were frenemies!
Dina was silent most of the time, forcing a smile every now and then, but it was obvious that she was extremely down. I felt really bad for her and didn’t think it was appropriate to celebrate while she was going through such a hard time, but then again she was the one who insisted we had to go out for such a special occasion, she also said she needed some positive vibes.
Faisal pulled me to the side and asked what was wrong with her, I hesitated at first to share with him anything, but after he insisted I thought he was the kind who would understand and it did make sense to share with him, he might be even able to help out in a way or another.
Faisal: She’s WHAT? I thought she was a bit more respectable than that. Always heard the weirdest things about that girl, but I didn’t think she’d steep that low.
I looked at him and couldn’t believe what he just said. I completely ignored it though because I didn’t want to cause a scene for Dina’s sake and decided to give him a piece of my mind later on. But when we were in the car together, I couldn’t even get myself to speak to him and instead gave him a cold shoulder.
Faisal: What’s wrong Luci? Aren’t you excited? Are you getting cold feet?
Me: I’m fine.
Faisal: No you’re not. You’ve been acting weird for the past hour or so. What happened?
Me: Seriously, you can’t tell on your own? I thought you’re smarter than that!
Faisal: There’s no need to be mean, just tell me please. You know I don’t want to make you mad, so if it’s anything I did, I’d love to fix it.
Me: Ok. Fair enough. I couldn’t believe your reaction towards what Dina is currently going through.
Faisal: How else should I react? You shouldn’t be around that girl to begin with!
Me: Oh really? She’s my best friend and everyone makes mistakes, it doesn’t make her a bad person. You do know that everyone sins differently, who are you to judge her? I’m sure you did so much worse, but of course because you’re a guy we’ll cut you a slack, but then again she’s a girl, she’s automatically a *****, isn’t she? I can’t believe you’re thinking that way!
We kept on arguing all the way, and I felt disgusted. Once I made it back home, I decided to ignore his calls for the next day. I needed to calm down a bit, because that’s not the kind of guy I’d want to spend the rest of my life with. Double standards are the absolute worst!
I kept myself busy the next two days with my parents who I haven’t seen for a while and told Faisal that I needed some space, because the way he dealt with things wasn’t cool. I would have never judged him or any of his friends that way. He texted me back apologizing and telling me he understands and he’s there whenever I want to speak. I thought to myself he should have insisted a bit more to make things right instead of agreeing to give me space, but I guess I was wrong, which didn’t make me feel bad about going MIA.
Two days later, I wake up on a call from Dina telling me she needs to see me urgently and that she’s coming over now. Half an hour later, she walks into my room with a big smile on her face.
Me: Someone’s in a good mood, huh?
Dina: Yup. I had a very interesting talk with Faisal the other day.
Me: Really? What happened?
Dina: So he calls me up one day after we went out to celebrate telling me that you told him about me being pregnant. At first I get furious at you, but then he explains you did it out of goodwill. He tells me how judgmental he was about it and how he now feels extremely bad about saying what he said. He also mentioned that your friends are now his friends and he shouldn’t be an *** about it.
Me: Oh wow! And then?
Dina: He tells me that back when he was in his twenties, he went through something similar, but he freaked out at first and wasn’t going to be there for the girl, but then it was a false alarm. But he compared it with how Ziad is trying to fix things. Do you know that Ziad is calling me on a daily basis to make sure I’m okay?
Me: That’s a good thing. People make mistakes, and it’s fine regardless of how big they are, but he seems like a guy who takes responsibility.
Dina: Yes, he is! Now back to Faisal. He encouraged me to speak to Ziad properly and decide together what we have to do about it. He was very logical and convincing about it. So I decided, why the hell not, what do I have to lose? I met up with Ziad and we spoke things over for two hours and he’s going to come speak to my dad tomorrow. And of course I had to speak with my dad first, which I did yesterday.
Me: Oh God, you didn’t!
Dina: He was very angry at first, but then started blaming himself and the situation that my mother took off with everything happening to me. I kept on re-assuring him that it’s only my fault and that this is finally my wake-up call to get closer to God and stop doing things which will lead me to lose myself in the process. After a while he became much calmer and agreed to meet Ziad.
Me: I’m very happy to hear that Dina. Please take good care of yourself moving forward.
Dina: Wait, there’s more! So tomorrow like I said Ziad and my dad are meeting up and I’m also going to see a doctor. Faisal booked an appointment for me at one of the best clinics, belongs to his friend.
Even though things didn’t go as planned with Dina, but I was glad to see that she was trying to make the best out of it and trying to make amends. Faisal on the other hand, I was extremely impressed with and how he tried to make things right. I called him immediately after Dina left.
Me: You know you’re awesome, right?
Faisal: Yeah?
Me: Yes! I was really mad at you at first, but the fact that you were so supportive with my best-friend and instead of just apologizing for what you said, you decided to help her out, that does say a lot about you as a person. We all make mistakes and sometimes judge people in mean ways, without trying to think for a second it could be us, but when you rethink the situation and change where you stand, that for me puts you in a whole new level. Thank you, I love you!
That day I went to sleep feeling relieved and getting my reassurance that I made the right decision with being in a relationship with a man like Faisal. You’d want someone who will always do right by you, right?
My phone beeps and I look at it excited to see what Faisal sent me, but instead I find Amr’s name on the message saying: “I heard the good news. Mabruk! I miss you, you have no idea. Let me know if you can meet up while you’re still in Cairo?”
