Chapter 46 – Wait, you want me to actually get on the camel?

Nef’s POV


When I landed in Egypt my grandmother was there waiting for me at the airport with my uncle Ali. My grandmother had flown in from Germany, where her and my grandfather had been living for work. Sasha arrived the following day. We were staying at a resort for the first couple of days to slowly introduce Sasha to Egyptian culture. We would then spend two days in the desert with family. There were still members of my family that didn’t live in the cities. They preferred to stay in small villages where life was simple. My grandparents had grown up in small villages in New Valley but they ended up going to school in the cities.

It’s actually pretty funny. My family’s success started with my great grandfather drilling a well for water and finding oil instead. He’d thought that it meant our family was cursed but it was the opposite. After selling the land for a sizable sum of money to my grandmother’s uncle, my grandfather was sent to University where he majored in finance and investment. My grandmother had been sent by her family to attend school and after my grandfather had successfully completed his degree their parents decided to marry them off. Together they built a strong investment firm in Egypt that soon became leaders in international investment. One of my grandfather’s larger clients was actually the oil company from my grandmother’s side of the family.

“Your grandparents’ marriage was arranged?” Sasha asked.

“Yes, by their parents.”

“What about your mom and dad?”

“No, that wasn’t arranged but their families knew each other so they were okay with it. Well more like they were really really happy with it.”

“What about you?”

“My grandparents tried to marry me off to someone they chose. I told them to go to hell. My parents thought it was hilarious.”

Yes, while I was in undergrad my grandparents had tried to get me to marry some guy that they chose. He worked/still does work for my grandfather. I promptly told them to go to hell and under no uncertain terms would I ever participate in an arranged marriage. I mean really. I grew up in the US and the only person that could/would decide who I would marry would be me. And since my mom agrees with me and my dad was out numbered I got to do what I wanted.

We were walking through the market in Cairo looking at the different vendors trying to find something for dinner. I’d been trying to get Sasha to try some of the different foods but he was a little hesitant. He’s a picky eater on the best of days so when he saw something that looked strange (which was pretty much everything) he didn’t want to go near it. We passed one vendor that was selling meat and rice.

“I try that,” he said pointing. “It look simple.”

He took a bite of it and said “not bad. What kind meat is it?”

“Camel…and that over there is goat.”

The look on his face was priceless. You should always ask what it is before you eat it. The vendor laughed at the silly foreign boy. Sasha eventually shrugged his shoulders and kept eating.

“It good…How I say thank you?”

“Shukran.”

He repeated the word to the vendor who smiled at him. We went to a coffee shop to sit and talk. Sasha had told me that it was time for us to have a conversation about what had happened a few weeks ago. We’d talked about it over the phone but there are certain conversations that need to happen in person. This was the second day of our trip and we’d put it off for as long as we could. We were having this conversation in a public place to lessen the chances that we would get distracted with each other. It had been a long few weeks and we needed that physical closeness.

”Okay Nef, for right now I just want you to listen,” he began. ”I understand what happened and why you reacted the way you did. I know that it has been less than easy dealing with my mother and her constant negativity and for that I apologize. I’ve never given you a reason to doubt me and our relationship. I apologize for not walking away from Nadiya after the first and second time she tried something. It was my fault for putting myself in the situation in the first place. ”

”Thank you for apologizing. I have to say that I’m sorry as well. I assumed the worst, even if the situation may have warranted it. I should have spoken to you directly that night.”

We were both wrong to some degree and this situation could have been avoided. I wanted to blame him but I couldn’t…at least not completely. He told me about the talk that he had with his parents and how his mother promised to back off.

”Have you always thought that I would cheat on you?” he asked me.

”No, I trust you. I guess that’s why I reacted the way that I did. It was like my trust was misplaced. I thought that I should have seen it coming…maybe that I did see it coming.”

”What do you mean?”

”The reason I was so hesitant to go out with you, as anything more than friends, was because I thought that you would be that stereotypical pro athlete. You know the kind that will screw anything that has a vagina and a pulse. But then that wasn’t the case. You’re sweet and kind and caring and loving and all the things that a girl could want. When you kept hanging out with Nadiya after she tried to get with you time and time again I thought that maybe you did want her. I thought that maybe there was something there.”

”Why didn’t you tell me?”

”I didn’t know how to say it without sounding like a jealous psycho,” I said truthfully. ”I was worried that you would think I was controlling.”

It’s hard talking about your insecurities. It’s really difficult but Sasha wouldn’t back down. He wouldn’t let me sweep it under the rug or forget about it. When we left the coffee shop we went back to our hotel to relax for the night. We were supposed to meet my grandmother, Uncle Ali, and his wife for dinner tomorrow.

Sasha was lying on the bed. He’d stripped down to his boxer briefs saying that it was still too hot. It had reached upward of 110 degrees outside, a normal Egyptian summer. He had yet to cool down from being outside even with it being after sundown. His skin was sweaty and sticky.

“How you stand it?” he asked. “I feel like I am boiling.”

I took a small basin and filled it with cool water. I used a soft cloth to wipe down his skin to help him to cool off faster. My grandmother had told me to be careful with him, to watch that he didn’t over heat too quickly. There are always people – mainly tourists and foreigners – that suffer from heat related illnesses. During this time of year the local hospitals were often flooded with people that were suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion. It didn't help that august was seeing a monster heatwave.

He released a contented sigh when I wiped the cloth across his chest and stomach.

“Have I told you I love you today?” he asked.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever, you only love me because I’m doing this for you.”