Chapter 10

Helia walked downstairs into the kitchen and found his grandfather already at the table, drinking his morning coffee and reading today's newspaper. It has been a week since the whole accident in Saladin's office and his grandfather looked more miserable than Helia had ever seen him. Helia also understood Faragonda but he thought that she was taking too long in forgiving Saladin. At least Flora had forgiven him for yelling at her. Forgiveness he was not sure he deserved very much. He had been angry and he had taken it out on his sweet and kind Flora which he thought was unforgivable. But she had forgiven him and he vowed he would not take her for granted again.

"Good morning," said Helia as he reached inside the refrigerator for some milk and grabbed the cereal from the counter.

"Good morning, my boy," replied Saladin, as he looked up from his newspaper and watched his grandson pouring his breakfast into a bowl and digging in hungrily.

Before any of them could say anything more, Helia's cell phone rang. He looked at the caller's id and expected it to be Flora but instead saw the name 'grandma' on the display. He glanced at his grandfather, trying to catch his eyes.

"It's grandma," said Helia.

Saladin shook his head, "I'm not here."

Helia rolled his eyes and answered his phone. "Hello?"

"Helia, darling, good morning!"

"Good morning to you, too, grandma,"

"Is your grandfather there? He's not answering his phone."

His grandmother sounded very annoyed. Helia grinned and looked at Saladin, who was glaring at him over his newspaper.

"Nope, I haven't seen him, yet. " Replied Helia and saw his grandfather mouthing 'good boy' to him.

"Oh, you're probably lying but never mind. I actually wanted to talk to you."

Helia was rather surprised, "Oh? Whatever for?"

"I was thinking that I did not get to meet your girlfriend the last time we saw each other. So, I was thinking that maybe you would like to have lunch with me today and bring her with you. What do you say?"

Helia was not sure if he wanted Flora to meet his grandmother yet but they would have to meet sometime. Besides it was sweet of his grandmother to offer to meet her.

"Okay, if you are sure…" he answered, still a little uncertain.

"Great. I'll be waiting!"

They made arrangements for the time and place of their meeting and hung up. Helia put his phone back into his pocket and got back to finishing his breakfast.

"I get it she wants to meet Flora?" asked Saladin, folding his paper and putting it away.

"Yes, it's really sweet of her, isn't it?"

Saladin snorted and finished his coffee putting the cup into the sink and turning back to his grandson.

"Just be careful."

***

"Don't worry, Flora! Of course she will like you!" Helia told Flora for the hundredth time today.

They were walking hand in hand towards the place they were going to meet Helia's grandmother. They were running a little late for the meeting and Flora was already panicking. She was almost running and dragging Helia by the hand behind her. Helia on the other hand was grinning like a fool, thinking what had made them late in the first place.

"How can I not worry?! We are late and that is a very bad first impression!"

Helia looked hurt for a moment, "I did not hear you complain when we were having our make out session!"

"Oh, Helia, you know I always enjoy our make out sessions but…"

Whatever Flora was going to say Helia didn't know because they had come to the restaurant and walked inside. Helia looked around, spotting his grandmother on a nearby table and walked towards her, holding Flora's hand tightly. When they reached the table, his grandmother stood to greet them and they sat down. A waiter came by the table and took their order, quickly moving away. Everything was going great for now but Helia could not stop thinking about Saladin's warning.

***

Saladin stood at the front door of Faragonda's house and was trying to give himself courage to ring the doorbell. He had never thought of himself as a coward, having been involved in many battles with the evil, but he certainly was a coward now. Like any man he thought of his woman as his entire world. Now, he felt like his world was in danger. So, yes, he was a coward.

After what felt like hours, he finally gathered up what little courage he could muster and lifted his hand to ring the doorbell. He waited for a few moments and then the door opened and in front of him stood Faragonda.

Say something, he thought to himself. Say something sensible.

"Hi," he said, cursing himself and thinking his brain had finally decided to give up on him and go for a walk.

Faragonda looked at the man before her, who was now smiling like an idiot and looking at her with uncertainty in his eyes. As much as she wanted to make him suffer just a little bit more, she finally decided to take pity on him and moved aside so he could step inside.

Not waiting for a second invitation, he stepped inside and Faragonda closed the door behind him. She led him into the backyard and sat on one of the patio swings, motioning for him to sit on the other one opposite her. He sat down and looked at her. She looked even more beautiful then the last time he had seen her. Focus, Saladin, he said to himself, Focus. All the things he had wanted to say and had repeated in his mind numerous of times before he came suddenly vanished and all he could do was stare at her.

Faragonda watched him in expectation and he called up his courage again and broke the silence that had settled between them.

"Okay, what you saw a week ago was nothing, I swear! I was in shock and I was just going to push her away when you came and…"

He closed his eyes and shook his head. No, not a good start. He tired again.

"I love you, Faragonda. I never have nor would I ever even think of cheating on you. You mean too much to me. You are my world and the last week I have been going out of my mind thinking that I have lost you. I have waited so long to be with you and I feel like my heart will burst with love for you. You are the one and I am ready to do everything you want in order to forgive me…"

He trailed and watched her. She seemed to have lost the ability to speak and he could see the tears welling up in her blue eyes. Saladin stood up and kneeled before her, taking her hands in his and kissing them.

"I'll even kneel in front of you and ask you for forgiveness…"

He didn't finish because Faragonda had thrown herself in his arms, sobbing in his neck. He put his arms around her and held her tightly. It felt good to have her in his arms again. He could feel her start to kiss his neck. She moved in his arms and trailed kisses from his neck to his jaw and finally to his mouth. They stood, kneeling on the ground and exchanging passionate kisses. One of his hands held her tightly to him and the other had found its way into her hair. Her own hands were around his neck, holding his head to hers.

They broke apart in need of oxygen and put their foreheads together, breathing heavily. They stood like that, holding each other until Faragonda spoke silently,

"You know you didn't need to kneel in front of me. I was ready to forgive you the moment you said your heart will burst with love for me." She whispered, smiling widely.

Saladin laughed, "You naughty…"

***
The waiter came back a while later and brought their drinks and the plates with their meals. Helia watched his grandmother and Flora chat about all kinds of things and mostly about him and Flora's education. After some time Flora excused herself to go to the bathroom and Helia turned to his grandmother.

"So? What do you think?" he asked, smiling slightly.

"She's nice." Replied his grandmother simply. Helia did not like the tone she had said it with. He was having a bad feeling about this.

"But?" he asked, not really wanting to hear the answer. His grandmother took a sip from her drink calmly.

"But do you know who I ran into a couple weeks ago? Jasmine! Do you remember her? I think she will be perfect for you and she is single. When I told her about you she said she couldn't wait to see you again. I think you should come back with me and give Jasmine a chance."

"Yes, I remember her. I dated her. If you remember correctly I broke up with her."

His grandmother shook her head, not giving up," Yes, I still don't know why you did that. She is perfect for you."

Helia rolled his eyes. He was getting really annoyed and if his grandmother didn't stop he was afraid he was going to lose his temper.

"Because she was selfish and arrogant, always thinking of herself like she's above everyone. Now, Flora is the complete opposite of Jasmine. Flora is perfect for me."

"Helia, she's not for you. She is so simple…"

"Grandma, how can you say that?! You don't know her at all!" he almost yelled at his grandmother not believing what she was actually saying.

"Don't take that tone with me, young man. Now hear…"

But Helia did not let her finish, "No, you hear me out! I'm not a child anymore and you cannot tell me who I can date and who I cannot date!"

He didn't care that the people from the nearby tables were starting to look their way. He couldn't understand why his grandmother was acting like this. Was she having some midlife crises or has she always been like this and he had just been too blind to notice? He remembered his grandfather's warning and thought that maybe it was the second.

He hadn't noticed that Flora had returned from the bathroom and watched him, nervously behind his back.

"I choose Flora because of her kind nature and good heart and because she is the most beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes on! I love her! She's absolutely amazing and if you cannot see that then I'm truly sorry but I have nothing else to say to you!"

He stood up from his seat and turned, seeing Flora behind him, pure shock written on her pretty face. Helia leaned towards her and put his hands on both sides of her face and brought her to him, kissing her deeply. When they separated, Helia grinned and took her hand. Without looking back they exited the restaurant and started walking towards Helia and Saladin's house with Helia explaining to Flora what had just happened.

All the way there, Helia felt this incredible feeling of relief that he had stood up to his grandmother and thought that he couldn't be happier or luckier with the girl, whose hand he was holding tightly in his.

Although Flora was feeling a little sad that she had become the cause for an argument between grandmother and grandson, she thought that her heart was going to burst with happiness because of all the things she had heard Helia say about her. He was her hero and she loved him for that.

TBC…