Monday

7:00 AM (his day off and her long working day):

She wake up on the ring of her daily alarm, with a sleepy eyes she led her hand to touch her mobile even before turning the alarm off. Her semi closed eyes turned wide when she saw his name with two missed calls an hour and half after she fell asleep. These missed calls were the blesses she started her day with, She took her morning shower, she figured out that she was so excited with her date that she slept the night before forgetting to prepare her work formal clothes as she usually does. She took a deep breath opening her wear draw, and with a bright smile, she picked a suit. Thirty minutes later, she was driving her car wearing a white skirt and jacket, blue shirt, 5-centimeter heels white shoes and a white suite case. She preferred not to put any makeup, only moisture creams to makes her face more refreshing at night when wears her makeup.


9:00 AM:

She is sitting behind on her laptop drinking the morning coffee at work, corresponding to her weekend’s emails. Her cheerful mood makes some of her colleges’ gossip that she might be promoting soon after her last successful campaign and that is why she is in a fresh looking. She always enjoyed over hearing these gossips and never commented on them.

10:00 AM:

She is leaving her desk going to the meeting room, holding her laptop in her left hand with a pen in a finger and carrying her mug half-full with coffee in her right hand. It is the weekly meeting that her manager assists her work as well as her team over the previous week and put short plans for the current week, measuring their progress. She used to dislike these meetings from her manager pressure and hard words, but today is different, she finds herself entering the meeting with a smile announcing the acceptance of any critic and blame could be direct to her or her team. She has that inner energy to absorb any negatives points converting them to positive ones.

After an hour and a half the meeting ends, she is going out of the meeting room as she entered it but this time her mug was empty and a busy agenda for the whole coming month, yet, she shared loud laughs with her manger and her team in her way out. They all commented on the brilliant ideas and her way in fixing things out which makes her so special. None of these compliments make any difference to her; she has her inner feeling and cause for being happy and flashy.

12:00 PM:

She takes her mobile and walks away from the workstation desk, until she reaches the meeting room, which was empty. She called him, she could hear her heart beat with each ring, but her heartbeats went back to its normal order when he did not answer and the call got cancelled by the operator. In her way back to her office her phone rings, it was him, in a rushing steps she return back to the meeting room, with a big smile, she answered the phone before entering the meeting room. His sleepy voice was so charming that she forgot for a moment that she is at work. He told her that he is still on for their date, and he is waiting for it, he asks her to make the date at 8:00 PM and to choose a place, as he trusts her taste. She was over whelmed with his words, causing her confusion to reply properly, she told him she will text him by the place the soon she makes the reservation. Her smile never left her face even after she hang up the phone, she blamed herself for telling him she will let him know by text message, she wanted to inform him by a call to hear his voice again and again.

She is writing him a text message “Café Blanc, ABC Mall, Ashrafieh, 8:00 PM, Table for two reserved”
After ten minutes passed like a day long, he replied “Excellent choice, I’ll be there in time, see you”. She kept reading his message many times, hearing his voice in her ears reading it.

2:30 PM:

Her mobile rings again, her mother is shopping, telling her that she brought her the blue-sky scarf she wanted; it seems like her lucky day. Things can’t be better she told herself that, her business meeting went well, she got a gift from her mum and she will meet him at night. Could it be a better day?

4:00 PM:

She is switching off her laptop, getting so excited, her day now begins she told herself. She has to leave quickly; she has a long and busy evening that she has to make herself ready for. She called Café Blanc again in her way to the hairdresser to re-confirm the two seats table reservation.

She arrived on time at her hairdresser who was surprised as it is the first time since years she asks him to cut her hair during the week. She always used to tell him that she is busy during the week days, and she hates to waste time during her business days but this was the not only thing that surprised him, changing completely her hair cut style and its color was the real shock for him. Her hairdresser kept looking at her a lot while is making her the new style, he felt that she is love, but decided not to ask.

6:00 PM:

She arrives home, leaving her shoes at the entrance of the apartment, finding a note from her mother says that she will spend the night at her brother’s house as he is stick and his wife will spend the night at her parents in Tripoli. She decided to call her brother later and rushed to her room, slide herself under the shower after taking all her clothes off and covering her hair with the shower cap so not to spoil her new haircut. She lays down on her bed trying to take a nap for half an hour before getting dressed, setting her alarm on 7:00 PM. It is a tradition she always follow, she calls it “the beauty nap”, let all her thoughts free and clears her mind; this affects her facial expressions and makes her face looks more fresh and clear.

7:00 PM:

She opened her eyes when the alarm rings; she was not asleep, she was relaxing. We with a body full of power she left the bed washed her face and started to get dressed. She discarded the classic dress with a smile telling herself that she will keep it for another lovely diner with him soon. Twenty minutes later, she was looking at herself in front of the mirror after putting her final makeup touches, walking out of the room wearing a new dark blue jeans with wide leather grey belt with simple metal pieces, a white shirt covered by simple black V-collar tight pullover and a black long high heels boot.

7:30 PM:

She is driving her car going to ABC mall where they suppose to meet at Café Blanc, when her mobile rings. With a big smile, she answered the phone, it is him and she found herself telling him that she reserved a table for two and will not be late to their date. Her smile dissolved letting the sadness finding its way to her lips joined together to make a big sad face when he told her that he got stuck with friends who came from abroad and he has to postpone their date till 9:00 PM. Deep inside her she began to feel insecure bout the whole thing. Yet, she found herself, covering all feelings and replying to him keeping the same fresh voice that she will be waiting for him at their table at 9:00PM. She nothing to do for the coming hour and half, she has no option, she will drive to the mall anyway. She called the café, postponing the reservation from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

8:00 PM:

She parked her car in the first parking level, She is now walking in the mall lonely, having no idea how she can spend a whole coming hour, she was praying for time to run when she found that bookstore in the same floor of the café, she let herself in. It was full of new collection of books, DVDs, and CDs; she started browsing the new collections. She started to get her mood back, after finding a couple of books in which she was searching for since a long time, she felt that luck is not giving her up this day. The smile begins to find its way back to her face.

Few minutes later….

Her mobile rings while was going to the casher of the bookstore, it was the last one she expected or wanted to speak to today. Her ex-date, the one whom she had a crush on and he rejected her in a very gentle way. It’s been almost a year since they met or even had call. She stared at the phone for a second, and then she decided to answer. She walked back deep inside the book shop away from the cashier and she answered in a very low voice. With a relatively loud voice she heard him salutes her asking about her health and mood. She was surprised, but she didn’t show it at all, she answered him that she is doing well, and when she asked him about his news, he told her that he broke up with is girlfriend and he is in a very bad mood. She wanted to end this phone call the soon she heard that, she did not want to hear any sad stories or to spoil her mood which she doing her best to keep it up. Therefore, she told him that she is in a bookshop in ABC mall and she has to hang off the phone and will call him later.

As a cold shower thrown over her head, she heard him says that he knows, and he is seeing her right now. With a speed, look though the books passing the glassy walls of the bookshop, she found him standing outside the bookstore wearing his formal suit with his lovely smile that she used to adore. With a simple and cute smile she waved for him. He entered the bookstore and with a big and warm hug she found herself saluting him. He had a long look at her face, telling her that he admires her new look. She was so angry of him at point, because all what she did cutting her hair shorter than she used to have and changing its color was his idea when they were dating but she kept insisting on not changing it at that time. Now, he is seeing her that after a whole year doing what he used to tell her to do, she is in her new style nothing but his all his advices implemented exactly as he said. She escaped from his compliments by acting mature accepting critics and advices from trusted people, telling him how she considers him as a nice friend, she told him that she has a date tonight but she is not sure if she is going to go or not as she feels not in the mood. They walked in the library browsing its shelves as they used to do when they were dating; he even stopped for a while in front of the DVD section talking about the movies they used to watch together.

After 15 minutes of whispering and remembering their dating days, which made a huge effort to act casual towards the whole coincidence, keeping her smile, they went to the cashier, she paid for the books she picked and he paid for a DVD.

They were stepping out of the bookstore, he asked her if she leaving for her date, she pretending to look in her watch to see the time although she was counting time by minutes deep inside herself, when she told him that she is free and she is waiting for his call. He offers her a coffee at Waterlemon café telling her that he still remembers she likes it. She found herself telling him not anymore and she’d rather go to Casper and Gambini’s for a fresh juice. Although they both know that both cafés have almost the same menu and the same owner, but he did not argue, he figured out that she does not want to go a place where they shared memories.

Few minutes later….
They are now sitting in a hidden table in Casper and Gambini’s far from anyone’s site where she insists on that, explaining that she is not willing to meet anyone from her office colleges, who comes to this mall regularly in weekdays. She starts asking him about his work and how did life treat him in the past year, as if she triggered a water dam, he starts to tell her every single detail about his life and his ex-girlfriend, how they met, what attracted him to her, their weekends trip and every tiny details. She was moaning with her head most of the time as if she is interested in his story, the fact was she was willing he would stop, willing that her mobile would ring at any point of time.

She is pretending to be a good listener, while her mind is totally blocked waiting for the phone to ring, she barely hided that by placing the mobile on the chair, on her right leg under the table from which his view angle can’t see her checking on the network and the battery status every 2 minutes. He keeps telling her stories about how he suffers from being single again, counting her numerous times and acts he misses his ex-girlfriend, how he is regretting taking the decision of breaking up. She tried to change the subject many times but he was always returning to the same subject.

9:45 PM:

Her mobile rings, she couldn’t hide her happiness, she took the mobile from where she placed it on the chair and she took a 3 seconds look on the screen, keeping her smile while pressing a button turning it to the silent mood. Then she raised her head to look back to her ex-date guy, continuing her acting session, who stopped talking and asked her weather she will take it or not, her reply came negative. With a surprised eye, he enquired again if it’s her date that is on the phone, she told him yes but she won’t answer.

He was shocked from her attitude which is far from her nature, asking her for the reason, her reply came to increase his shock, she told him that the guy should respect his words, they were suppose to meet first at 8:00 PM and he postponed it to 9:00 AM, and he didn’t call her back as they agreed. So, calling now makes no sense, it is almost 10:00 PM and she is not willing to start an outing that late or even to listen to meaningless excuses.

Her attitude was very weird for him seeing a face he didn’t see before and even when her mobile rang again, she insisted on not answering, rejecting the call this time. Although, she told him that she’s looking only for serious guys, but he kept defending the other guy by listing possible excuses could happened for the guy, she finally found herself promising him that she will call the guy later giving him chance to clarify his situation.

Few minutes later….

She is going out of Casper and Gambini’s with her ex-date, with smiles and warm words, saluting him by a long hug complementing the nice evening she had. Before leaving he asked for a favor, with his charming smile which she always adore, he asked her again to call the guy and listen to him before taking any decision that might be wrong as there might be a good reason for not showing up, just to give him a chance. She found herself promising him again that she will.

She left him and walked through the mall’s halls, walking out of her way to the car, passing by café Blanc, looking at the table she reserved occupied with a younger couple, a tear of glimmer fell out of her eyes, she continued walking toward her car. The moment she entered the car she took a deep breath, and drove her car out of the mall.
Loads of depression invaded her while she driving back home, interpreting into eyes full of tears, running nose, and the sense of guilty. Blaming herself for all the preparations she did the past few days, she felt so cheap and despite for a person to love, seeing how she was looking at her mobile waiting for it to ring all day. She was desperate to see his name, so that she browsed her phone book just to see his name and number. “How silly she was?” she said to herself, She wanted to show him her new haircut, and her new style, she wanted to spend a lovely night talking with him, knowing him more, but he never showed up or even call.

Yes, he never call, it was not him who called her twice when she was in the café. It was her close friend Nadine, who knows the whole story, wanted to check how the date went. She usually cancel her calls when she is busy and call her back later, but this time she found herself using her friend to make a lie. She could not tell him that men are still rejecting her as he did a year ago. She could not afford being a loser in front of him; she preferred the blaming for being tough hearted more than to be pettiest by him.

With eyes full of tears, she opened the door of her apartment, closing it with her back, trying to end that day without even looking at it, taking a long breath again while resting her back on the door. She turns the lights on and walked into the reception, it is cold, nobody at home, so wired, where is her mother? Her eyes catch her mother’s note again, reminding her that she forgot even to check on her brother, she felt guilty and selfish. She picked up the phone quickly, racing time to call him before midnight, it is late she knows, but she could not imagine going to sleep with all these negatives.

Her brother’s voice came from the other side to remind her with warm feelings she misses since a long time, the feeling of being secure, and being responsible from someone, He gives her the relief she needed after a long day. She felt so happy when he told her he feels better only after hearing her voice; and it is very touchy to have her voice the last thing in his ears before he sleeps. She hangs the phone and her tears were gone, she felt that she still means something to someone in this life.


The end.