Clash Of Cultures

48. Why Are You Here? - Part 2

Noor

After we had sat down with our food, I remarked that Sara must have been so glad to have a place to stay in Chicago.

"She did, and so did my mom"

"Oh, so your mom stayed? I hope she wasn't too upset at the way I spoke to her"

After what his mom had said about him I had assumed that she had left, but it turned out that my impromptu speech had been a catalyst for a deep and meaningful conversation between mother and son. In fact when his dad came from Kentucky to pick up his mom, he had stayed a night as well.

"I don't know if I will ever forget what they did to me, but I realize that I have to forgive them, if I am ever going to heal myself", Salman admitted.

Then he continued, "Speaking of family, how did your family take it when you called off the wedding?"

"Well, my mom was understanding, but dad was...is...quite upset. Omar's father was his childhood best friend and I really messed up their relationship", I replied, wondering how my parents would react to my update on Salman. I had not thought our relationship would progress this fast, but now that it had, I would need to let my parents know when they got back from Indiana.

Salman gave me a sympathetic look, "I am sure he will come around. How did...uh...Omar take it?"

I sighed. Omar's friendship was a casualty in this whole ordeal. The only reason I regretted cancelling the wedding was that him and I will never be able to recover our relationship from the disaster that I had created.

When I explained that to Salman, he said. "Yeah, I guess friendships have been a collateral damage for both of us"

"Let me guess, you're talking about Samantha? I figured something was going on between you two", I still felt a twinge of jealousy, even though I knew whatever had happened was long over.

"Nothing significant ever happened between us, just a lot of flirting on my part, before you ever came in to the picture", he shook his head, "But I knew she was getting more serious and I should have put an end to it"

When I gave him a side eye, he laughed and said, "Look I am not proud of who I was before I met you"

Then after a pause, he said, "And there was Mark as well"

I had no idea Salman had a falling out with Mark. Apparently, Mark had made several risque comments about me and when he did it again at the ball, Salman almost physically assaulted him.

So he is ready to physically assault someone because they make indecent comments about me, but when someone is marrying me, he stays quiet?

"Salman, that brings me to my original question..."

"...why didn't I fight for you when you were getting married?", he said finishing my sentence.

When I nodded, he sighed and replied, "Because, Noor you chose him, and you chose him the day after we were thrown in to a life and death situation, which should have created an impenetrable bond between any two people who deeply cared about each other. I mean, I thought you cared about me, even if you didn't have feelings yet"

He ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Salman...you told me you didn't need me, that you never had. I had spent hours agonizing about you, because I did care, I always have. How do you think that made me feel? Especially since you had never mentioned anything about having feelings for me. I honestly thought you hated me..."