Why had he treated me like that? He didn't have to hurt me. I—hadn't meant to hurt him.

Anger and humiliation burnt through me as I fabricated a pleasant expression on my face. Khalid swallowed, uneasy with the situation, but offered me a gentle smile, trying to reassure me. Even Amina seemed to have toned her expression down into an almost agreeable level.

Like that change alone wasn't supposed to make me feel worse.

"This looks amazing," she said, giving me a side hug, her pretty face open and unassuming.

"That's a lot coming from her, she hasn't been able to eat anything since she found out about our fourth arrival," Khalid added, his gaze joyous.

"Congratulations!" I cried out, hugging her back, my mouth splitting into a wide smile. Amina smiled back, her face luminous. Bless that child, he'd sucked the poison out from his mother.

"I'm so happy!" Zaynab declared, moving to give her brother a hug. "Just like all the other times before." A light laugh rippled around the room.

Khalid turned to me, his gaze filled with mischief, only a sibling could have. Warmth bloomed in my chest. "Now, it's your turn! I want to see Ali's children soon," I gaped at Khalid's words, trying to keep my tears at bay.

With the current situation, the only hope he had of seeing Ali's children was in his dreams.

Ali patted his brother's back, rolled his eyes but avoided my gaze and refrained from commenting on his remark.

"What are we celebrating?" A rude, heavily elitist voice interrupted, the new arrival striding into the chamber "Aren't you going to welcome me, dear cousin?"

I stared at him, trying to come to terms with his presence. If I'd thought I'd been struggling with my emotions earlier, Mehmet might as well have sauntered in, gathered all my feelings, stuffed them in a barrel, and then had them blown up with explosives.

"Who...?"

"I did! I let Hamza know that we were being joined by a special guest," Everyone turned to look at Zaynab with varying degrees of shock on their faces.

"But this was a family affair," I forced out through gritted teeth, hazarding a glance at Ali. He looked stiff and maybe slightly murderous?

Zaynab shot an annoyed look my way and I glared back. Don't look at me, look at your bother.

"He's soon to be a member of this family. Baba insisted that I make him feel welcome," Ah, another game. How could I forget?

Khalid coughed and gestured to the food. "Shall we eat? This looks too delicious to resist," Everyone nodded, shuffling to find a place.

I moved to grab the remaining spoons, as everyone sat at their place, only to see Zaynab being nudged by Amina, who was pushing her to sit in front of Ali. For propriety's sake, I guess? But that created a new problem.

I would be facing Mehmet.

The universe wasn't going to let me catch a break today.

"Could you pass the sauce?" Amina asked as I sat down. I nodded, grabbing the bowl, only to have that snatched by Mehmet, his fingers grazing mine.

The sound of a spoon being vehemently smacked against the wooden table almost made me jump. I felt Ali's heavy stare from across the table, his control seemingly extremely close to snapping.

Mehmet smirked and passed the bowl to Amina. She smiled her thanks, ill at ease. Mehmet was crossing some very visible lines now.

I glanced at Ali, admonishing his rash behavior. His eyes blazed and he glared back. Well, now we were getting somewhere.

"How're your projects coming along Zaynab?" Zaynab looked at me, her gaze questioning. 'The embroidery' I mouthed. She gasped at the realization. What had I married into?

This whole family was prone to theatrics.

"Lovely, we're stitching clothes for the newly arrived refugees," Khalid's eyes flicked towards me grateful for the shift in the atmosphere and I gave him a comforting smile.

"The Turkish refugees?" Mehmet asked, his eyes filled with curiosity. Hope sparked within me. Zaynab was beautiful, charming, and extremely smart. She would make an excellent queen. If Mehmet did marry her, he'd have someone to cherish and love. Someone who was more than his equal.

Amina caught my eye and shared an appreciative glance. Good to see we were on the same page.

"Yes, they've recently been shifted to the traveling lodges outside the city..."

"Because we wouldn't want the great city of Cairo to be hosting such filth?"

Zaynab flattered, "Uh, what?"

"What are you saying Mehmet?" I scolded, hating the brief flash of hurt on her face. He shrugged, his gaze hard.

"It's just a little funny how they waged a war, displaced people, and are now expected to be praised just because they gave them a place to stay," he scoffed. "No offense."

The silence of the room was smothering, my heart beating so fast it felt ready to burst. I took a deep breath, offering a prayer to Allah, willing Him to help tip the scales in my favor.

"The Caliphate is paying for their stay."

"From what they stole? Yes, I'm sure the Caliphate loves doing things out of the goodness of their hearts."

I pursed my lips and then spoke again, my gaze honed on him. "Just like you've decided to wage a war out of the goodness of your heart?"

"What?"

I shifted on my knees, anger scorching my cheeks."Really Mehmet, since we're diving into politics, how's the war planning coming along?"

"Laila!" Zaynab whispered shocked. Mehmet gave me a small wicked smile.

"And this what I like about you cousin, you always question people," he raised his cup, smiling dangerously.

How was he so full of himself? So righteously indignant? "Answer the question."

"How about I tell you all a story from our childhood? Once, when we were kids, Laila saw an injured bird on a tree," I didn't dare look at Ali, my gaze focused on Mehmet and whatever venom he was about to spew.

"Everyone told her to let the bird be, to let it die a natural death. Her mother, Uncle Abdullah, my parents and I. We all told her that the bird was going to die."

I had no idea where this conversation was going to go, but I knew that my patience was running out.

"She didn't listen. Climbed up on the tree, grabbed the bird, but fell down and injured herself. Didn't you break a bone?" I didn't answer. "However she held on to the bird, she just would not let go. Even in her pain, she cared for the bird. She nourished it back to health. Despite our opposition and anger, she stood by her principles."

"That's very admirable Laila," Khalid said coolly, again trying and failing to dispel the tense atmosphere.

I almost rolled my eyes at his efforts.

"Very, however, we realized that Laila just doesn't know when to let go, even if it is injurious to her own health."

"You placed a bet on how long it'd take for the bird to die," I remarked and Mehmet smirked. "If anything, this is a lesson on how I won and you lost. Maybe you'd do well to remember that."

Laughter sparked in his eyes. "How well you know me."

"Of course, sisters know their brother's quite well, isn't that true Zaynab?" A beat passed and then Khalid let out a belly laugh, his beard twitching. Both Amina and Zaynab giggled, their laughter overshadowed by Khalid's. Even Ali let his lips pull up in a genuine smile.

A minute later, Mehmet joined in, his laugh rising above the rest, his face fixed in a charismatic mask. One could almost think that the fight was done, that I'd won, but I saw the promise of retribution and menace in those eyes.

I shivered. He wasn't going to let this insult go.

We managed to avoid any more pitfalls and soon the dinner party was headed to their rooms.

"You did a wonderful job, Laila," Amina said giving me a hug. I nodded, still a little shocked by her change in demeanor. "I'm looking forward to what your father plans tomorrow, it's a shame that you're here, after all, he'll need all the help he could get," and we were back the with snide remarks.

Mehmet stopped in front of me and just as he opened his mouth, Ali came to stand beside me. Mehmet paused and then bowed his head. "Thank you for the dinner cousin, it was extremely... satisfying."

"I'm sure it was," Ali answered, his hand coming to rest on my back. "Although, it seemed like you were a little burnt by the sauce." I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing out loud.

Mehmet's eyes narrowed but he left the room without another comment, his anger almost a palpable cloud over his head.

Ali turned to look at the remaining guest.

"I know I shouldn't have invited him without your permission," Zaynab started. He sighed, his arms crossed above his chest. "But Baba said that I was supposed to make him feel welcome and I thought a family dinner might be a nice way to do that since we're all the same age..."

I walked away. They could deal with each other however they pleased.

Ayesha and Haleema worked quickly and efficiently, taking away the messy plates and clearing away the food. I told them to take the morning off. We weren't supposed to travel to Baba's until after Asr prayers. They could afford to take half a day off.

Inhaling deeply, I tried to keep my emotions in check. It was time for round two.

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If you're nice, you might get another update very soon! 😉A very sexy, smoldering update 😅