Chapter Two - You've Got A Friend In Me

Isabel has been in London for three weeks now. After her possessions were delivered on the Thursday that Rashid promised, she was ready. Ready to start life she always said. She bagged herself a job at a Marketing company, made a membership card for the local gym, and even met a kind Lebanese woman who she somewhat considers a friend now. Yes, she was definitely ready.

Isabel hurries out of her apartment and arrives at the nearest ATM machine. She quietly waits for her turn and takes her purse out of her bag. Unzipping it half way, she inserts her index finger into the purse so that she can quickly open it when her turn comes. The man using the ATM machine in front of her is finally finished and Isabel takes her place in front of the machine. She has opened three different bank accounts last week and since then has been waiting for Rashid to send her the money she left with him while in the UAE.

“Come on, come on, yalla,” she whispers to herself when she notices the machine is processing her details slowly. The menu for the first card she tries out shows up and her finger presses on the cash button. She skims her eyes over the words and sees £40,000 written in big white writing. She sighs with relief and presses cancel to try out her second card. The message appears, showing her that she has another £20,000 in that card and another £20,000 in the last card. She places the last card into her bag and turns around to make her way to Bella Coffee House to meet her only friend here in London. As she walks away, her phone rings.

“Salaam, Marwa. Have you checked? I sent you all your money last night,” Rashid says, sounding like he has just been woken up.

“Yes, I just checked. What did I say, I am not Marwa. Please use my name correctly,” Isabel replies annoyed.

“Sorry, ya’ni it is hard to get out of that habit. Anyway uhm…” his voice trails off. Isabel hears the whispers of a woman’s voice in the background. Looks like Rashid brought someone home today.

“Oh Rashid, you will never change!” Isabel exclaims. She couldn’t help keep her laughter too. “Well I don’t want to keep you waiting. You get back to Miss Whoever.” Now, she really couldn’t keep her laughter in.

“Yes, okay. Good the money came in. Right, I’ll talk to you another time. Bye.” He hung up the phone abruptly and Isabel shakes her head, smiling as she puts her phone back into her bag. She and Rashid had known each other for 9 years now. She was a 14 year old and he was a little older. She was apparently his very first crush and he made sure she knew that. The fact that their friendship began on the basis of Rashid falling head over heels for her makes it all the more hilarious. Of course, he fell out of “love” as quickly as he fell in love and moved on to his next “prey” (as Isabel calls it). Their friendship had stayed and grew into a bond. A strong bond which entailed that they would somehow always be there for each other. Rashid has seen Isabel at her best but most definitely been there for her at her worst. She had Rashid to thank again. He has generously helped her with her move to London, made sure her belongings were delivered at her doorstep, and he safely reunited her with the money that she left with him. He was most certainly her Superhero. A warm sensation spreads through her body.

Arriving at her destination, she opens the door to the coffee shop forcefully and glances around to see if her friend has arrived. Isabel sees waving hands out of the corner of her eye and immediately turns around to see Dina waving at her eagerly. Isabel walks up to the barista serving and orders a mocha. With her mocha, she gently makes her way to Dina, with her free hand hoovering around the mug as if that can lower the risk of her spilling it.

“Isabel, hey, how are you!” Dina greets Isabel excitedly as she takes her seat near the window.

“Hey Dina. What’s up. Sorry for keeping you waiting, had to go past the cashpoint,” Isabel says casually while pushing her bag underneath the table. “Oh look, you are wearing the dress!”

Dina flashes a big grin as she moves her hands up and down her sides to present her outfit.

“Yes, I know,” she replies proudly. “Guess what! I have a date. A secret date. Well I shouldn’t say secret date because then one might think I have no clue who this person is –”

“No…in that case, that would imply that it is a blind date,” Isabel interrupts, chuckling.

“You know what I mean. Uff. Anyway, you can’t tell anyone I have a date. I am so tired of people expecting more so I would like to take my time with this man and see where things go, thank you very much. It is so tedious when people ask you all the time, how’s it going with X, Y, Z. No not this time, I am going on a secret date,” Dina affirms, then taking a long sip from her Frappuccino. “ Hmm, this is good,” she says in a rhythm, enjoying the taste.

Isabel nods sarcastically along. “Of course Dina, you go and do that! Put a stop to it!”

Dina throws her an equally sarcastic look and crosses her arms.

“Well, just so you know. It’s Marco,” Dina says, leaning back.

“Who’s that?”

Dina leans forward towards Isabel and shakes her head slowly.

“Come on girl. I introduced you to him few days ago. He is the guy who co-owns the exquisite Italian Cuisine Restaurant not far from here,” Dina lectures.

Isabel rolls her eyes to the left as she does when she’s thinking. “Oh, him! You pointed to him from afar. It’s hardly introducing.”

Isabel had met Dina three weeks ago but if someone were to see them together, you’d think they’d known each other for years. Dina is a beauty. With luscious, shiny locks of golden-like hair, flawless smooth white skin and the most hazel inviting eyes you’ll ever see, Dina was stunning. And everyone else let her know. The men, of course, by appreciating her presence and the women either wowed by her or hissing all sorts from under their breath. Either way, Dina knows how to get everyone talking. And of course, Dina may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but she isn’t stupid either. And how she met Dina wasn’t any different. Sitting on a park bench on a Friday afternoon, Isabel was interrupted from her thoughts by a strange looking man waving at her. Not sure what to do, she tried to avoid the man’s gaze by staring off into the distance. The man approached her slowly and by this time she started to feel a bit frustrated and annoyed so she was prepared to “have a word” with him.

“Oi, creep! Look away. Appreciate women nearer your age.”

Isabel looked up to see a twenty-something year old blonde approaching confidently. She gave the man one ungrateful look and carried on walking off.

“Oh God, I thought he was staring at me!” The words left her mouth before she realised.

Dina turned around and grinned. She walked over to Isabel and sat down adjacent to her on the bench.

“You know, you’d think I would be used to it by now but I hate it. Oh well, what can a girl do.” She takes out a pocket mirror from her Louis Vuitton handbag and a pink NARS lip gloss. Applying a generous amount on her lips, she examines herself in her mirror and continues.

“Such a great weather today, isn’t? It is such a surprise honestly. You know with British weather, who’d think you’d find this sunshine in the middle of March. The lord has shown us mercy.” She holds her mirror and lip gloss out and points it to the sky.

“Are you always this friendly to strangers?” Isabel laughs, turning to Dina.

Dina’s eyes lit up and she lets out a snort.

“I am generally a nice person. My name’s Dina by the way. What’s yours? Let me guess…hmm you’re an Arab aren’t you? I sense a Mariam sitting next to me. Or maybe a Rania.”

“Close, Dina. Very close. I am indeed an Arab. It’s Isabel,” she corrects.

“Oh, Isabel. Nice to meet you Isabel! I wouldn’t have guessed that. What a un-Arabic name,” Dina wondered. “You’re parents fighting the stereotypes, eh.”

“Not quite. Maybe.”

“What are you, a Palestinian?” Dina asked curiously.

“No, an Emirati. Are you?” Isabel asks back.

“Nope, here before you sits a Lebanese. Born and bred until the age of 13. That’s of course when the family decided to move up north. Been here since.”

Isabel felt delighted by Dina’s friendly attitude and kind manners. It is not usual that she hears someone’s life story five minutes after meeting them.

“Well, it was nice to meet you Isabel. I quite like you. I should see you soon. You don’t find many nice people around here.” Dina got up and straightened her dress. She grabbed her phone out and looked over to Isabel. Understanding her intentions, Isabel hesitantly recited her phone number and vice versa and since that day, three weeks ago, let’s say they’ve slowly formed an unusual friendship.

*

“Oh damn it, Marco is making his way to my flat!” Dina lets out a little shriek and stood up without hesitation as she dials Marco’s number.

“Marco? What’s he doing? Why so early?” Isabel asks with confusion.

Dina doesn’t answer her but instead rounds her possessions from on and under the table, whilst balancing her phone between her shoulder and right ear.

“Hello. Hello! Ah, hey, I just got your text and uhm…you are making your way to my flat. You see, the problem is that I am not even there. Nowhere near there. In fact, I thought you were picking me up for another…hang on let me look at my watch…ah yes, another 3 hours.” At this point, it seems like Dina was mocking Marco’s decision and Isabel could sense agitation creeping on Dina.

“Yes, I know babe. It’s nice of you to come by 3 hours early.” Dina mouths to Isabel that she needs to head off and so gets up to run and leaves the café hastily. Isabel nods at Dina with understanding and finishes the last of her mocha. She’s not in the mood to get back to her flat nor does she want to stay here so she decides exploring the city won’t hurt anyone. Dina should be more than occupied with her date so this should give her plenty of time to have a nice walk in London without hearing Dina waffling on about Marco. Not that it bothered her much though. Alone time is always needed.

Strolling around the area with the unusual heat of the Sun in March beating down her neck, Isabel’s phone beeps. It is a text message from Dina.

So sorry I left you there. He actually came to my flat. I wasn’t even ready. Tell you more later x.

Well, because it is Dina going on the date, somehow she’ll make the most out of it she thought. Isabel didn’t know why but ever since she came back to London few weeks ago, it was as if she couldn’t enjoy her “freedom” no matter how many times a day she tried to convince herself. She was certainly grateful that her plan worked out as she hoped and having more than enough money with her (thanks to Rashid), she should be feeling elated and looking forward to her promising future. She is after all in London. But why was she feeling empty? Why was she often kept awake at night by constant thoughts in her head? Thoughts of her father and her mother would always find their way into her head. What were they doing right now? Are they angry? Have they heard about her whereabouts? She often wondered how Fatima and Nawal were doing. As youngsters they were so close. Their enormous garden attached to their villa holds a lot of memories for Isabel. Some of her earliest memories go back to the time her and her younger sisters riding their bicycles all around their mansion on the cool summer days. For anyone observing their family, they would have sworn that this family was the happiest family in whole of Dubai. It has been a year or so since she has last seen her sisters and she couldn’t guess if she ever would.

A football suddenly strikes Isabel on her knee which brings her back to the present day. Ouch! Confused, she looks around to see who this football could belong to. From her peripheral view, she makes out a figure approaching her. Guessing it is probably the owner of the football, she turns around to look. Before her, she sees a tall, Mediterranean looking man approaching her. The man wore green shirt and light brown chinos. Isabel snorted. Surely he wasn’t playing football dressed like that. Someone else must have kicked the ball in her direction. The man got closer and closer until he was about 12 feet away and indicated with his feet to Isabel to kick the ball back to him. She scrunched her face in disbelief. He was definitely kidding. He must be. Noticing Isabel’s reluctance to cooperate, he again teases her to kick the ball to him. He is not going to give up is he? Isabel bends down and grabs the ball with both hands and tosses it to him with all her strength. The man of course catches the ball and Isabel is somewhat irritated that he had suggested to her to kick the ball. She couldn’t kick a ball covered in mud and grass with her recently purchased Chanel heels, for crying out loud. With a disgust expression, she wiped her hands together and looked at the jeans she was wearing. She was glad that no mud transferred from the ball to her clothes. She turns around to walk off when she suddenly hears running footsteps approach her. She watches the man jog nearer to her. He wasn’t holding the football anymore but Isabel glances past him to see a young child playing with it instead. She looks over to the man who is near enough to have a conversation with him and her face scrunches again, this time with confusion.

“Hi, sorry, that wasn’t very gentlemanly of me. I should have picked up the ball myself.” The man grins at Isabel exposing his blinding white teeth. Isabel also notices the colour of his eyes, shining hazel eyes. And his tanned skin and the way his dark chocolate shoulder-length hair just flawlessly falls on his shoulders. Isabel can’t help but stare at this stranger.

“Oh, it’s okay,” Isabel manages to let out.

The man looks behind him, following Isabel’s gaze and when he sees what she is looking at, he turns around and laughs.

“Don’t worry, that’s my nephew.”

“I wasn’t worried,” Isabel responds indifferently. Why is this man engaging in meaningless chatter with her? She doesn’t even know his name yet.

“Oh, how very rude of me. My name is Sergio.” He lifts his hand towards Isabel, waiting for a shake as if he could read her thoughts. Isabel gently takes his handshake and then quickly wriggles her way out of his firm shake. Sergio raises his eyebrow. Isabel understands the hint and lets him know her name too.

“Well, I am Isabel.” What is up with her since she came to London? She befriended Dina in a flash from their unexpected meeting and now here she is, awkwardly talking to a “stranger” (even if she knows his name now) who hit her with a ball and then expected her to kick it to him.

“Isabel,” he repeats. “Beautiful name. My grandmother was called Isabel. Well to be exact Isabella but details details. What is a beautiful girl like yourself doing all alone here on this Saturday day? Trouble in paradise?”

Understanding what he meant, Isabel quickly responded: “Oh no, there is no one.” She was shocked to hear what came out of her mouth. Okay, so she may not be in a relationship right now but Mr Sergio here doesn’t have to know.

“Unbelievable, would have never guessed,” he responds in disbelief.

Is he honestly extending their conversation? Isabel convinced herself that the reason she’s still here is because he is somewhat handsome. Okay, maybe very handsome.

Realising her silence, Sergio looked at his watched and chuckled quietly.

“Well, I do have to bring my buddy there home or else his mother will go ballistic.”

“I don’t want to keep you waiting,” she smiles, hoping that she doesn’t look like she is trying to get rid of him.

“Yeah, well, I might see you around…Isabel.” He stares into her eyes and for a moment, Isabel could swear he could see right into her mind.  Those hazel eyes were indeed beautiful.

“One of these days you might,” she plays along, also looking into his eyes. She can’t help flirting back. Before her stands one of the best-looking men she has ever laid eyes on and her attempt to engage in little conversation has dissolved.

Sergio gave her a soft smile and whistles to his nephew as he turns around to signal that his time playing football is up. She observes how gentle Sergio treats his nephew and how his positivity is so appealing. What is this man? She wondered. He’s something else. Isabel never ever flirts with a man within 2 minutes of meeting him. How can this Sergio have this effect on her?

Sergio turns around, holding the little hands of his nephew and waves with his free hand to Isabel. Not wanting to look too eager, she nods back to him with a slight hint of smile. Receiving her smile, he then winks at her and lets out a massive grin. Goodness, he really is pushing it, isn’t he?

Isabel crosses her arms and raises her right eyebrow to him, trying to look serious. That mustn’t have translated well with him because he smiles even more. Finally he’s interrupted by his nephew who is tugging his arm and diverts his attention to him.

Isabel catches herself still staring at Sergio long after he turned around and she looks away hastily, blushing at the same time. Developing feelings for this man is certainly not something she had planned when she boarded that plane. Pushing their “strange encounter to one side, she turns to walk away. That was enough for one day. Besides, Dina will definitely be calling her tonight to discuss her date so that’s something to look forward to.

That evening, still waiting for a call/text from Dina, Isabel lounged around her apartment, attempted to make some Spaghetti Bolognese which turned out half decent considering she wasn’t much of a cook and watched mind-numbing TV. She finally decides to grab her laptop and places it on her lap while muting the television. Opening Internet Explorer, she types the web address of Facebook and logs in. She glances over her news feed, not interested what her 20 friends on Facebook were up to. She closed down her old account before she left Abu Dhabi (she had been living in Abu Dhabi for a year and a half before coming to London, after she decided to leave Dubai). When she came to London, she opened a fresh new account in which she added only those people she had met in London and Rashid who is in Abu Dhabi.

She sees Dina’s recent status update stating, had an awesome day with @marcoderossi. Isabel liked the status and immediately, her Facebook chat window opens up. It’s Dina.

“Dude, this guy is amazing,” Dina begins

“Great! How was it?”

“I forgot I was annoyed at him. He took me to Royal Garden Hotel. Yes I know, amazing right?”

“Seriously, that’s amazing for first date.”

“And he’s so sweet, gentle, funny may I add.”

“Glad you enjoyed it. Well, is there going to be a second one.”

“Second date you mean. Well, we have planned a little something next week.”

“Ooh, I sense a relationship starting.”

“Don’t you dare jinx it!”

Isabel snorts. It is obvious these two will end up together. Hopefully anyway. Dina could do with having an “official” man.

“I have to get going. I have to finish of the little cards for Church tomorrow. It’s going to take forever,” Dina continues.

Dina’s mother, who lives 20 minutes away from her, makes sure Dina is on top of with her work for their Church. She now has a “job” as Dina likes to describe it, working alongside her Orthodox Church, helping the youth.

“Alright, have fun all night,” Isabel responds.

Dina appears offline and Isabel opens up her messages and clicks on the latest conversation between her and Rashid. She copies a link to a web site that Rashid had sent her and pastes in on a new tab. She taps her freshly painted pink nails on her laptop as she waits for the connection to be made. A webpage opens, having the words Search People UK displayed.

“Shukran Rashid,” she whispers softly.

Then she types the name.

She takes a sip of her green tea as she reads Searching.

The results are displayed and she puts her green tea on the coffee table as she scans the screen with her eyes. Three names come up. One of the three names catches her attention.

Rafael N. Gomez.

Her eyes shoot across the page to see the location of this person. Essex.

Isabel closes her laptop abruptly, her eyes widening. It has to be. This has to be him. It can’t be anyone else.

“Rafael,” she says quietly.