Plushness

That surprise visit was the end of Faisal's vote of admiration towards Lama. And hence thoughts of what that could have meant faded.

Meanwhile, Hamad decided to go to London early with his friends. He called Lama upon arrival to tell her he is staying at the Berkely, and that he would be picking her up from the airport. She could hear his friends in the background, and yes there were female voices too.

She was uncomfortable with the call, inspite of his sweet gesture of offering a pick up from Heathrow, and it was not the female voices in the background. Perhaps she was being possesive and the thought of his friends being in London meant there is less time for her. She told her self not to be childish and quickly abandoned this thought.

On the night before she flew, she called him and there was no mention of the pick up. Figures. He was tipsy. Still this did not dampen her enthusiasm, and whats been done is done. She's still going to London 2 days before her duty resumes.

In London, she called to tell him she had arrived and he asked her where would she feel comfortable dining (it was prime Kuwaiti time in London, ant they didn't want to risk bumping into anyone from back home). She couldn't think of any places that would be 'safe', so they decided to play it by ear.

He came to the Sanderson to pick her up, and she did not recognize him. He was shorter than she recalled, and much less attractive than her memory served her. He also had a weird walk, as if he had muscles that would disallow him from properly moving, except he had none. He was wearing a T-shirt that looked like the Burger King uniform. And he was in awe.

It took all her might to see beyond the outside. To remember the nice things about this man: he is intelligent, he's honest, he's open minded, he's he's nice.

The night turned out nicely, they went to dinner at Jack's and spent the rest of the night at Candy's (a lesbian bar). He could not stop admiring her, and she could say nothing in return. But his looks did not matter much by now. She was seeing Hamad, the man she has connected with, bitched to, and confided in.