The friend request was approved after they finished trying on dresses.
When Zane received the notification that the request had been approved, Yanis was getting her makeup done.
Zane glanced over at Yanis and stood up, walking over to her. He leaned down and said hello. "Yanis, I'm going to make a phone call."
"Okay."
After saying goodbye to Yanis, Zane turned around and walked out of the dressing room.
Once he left, he immediately made a phone call.
The call connected quickly and Ahmed answered on the other end. "Mr. Lawrence?"
"Mr. Hajjar should know why I'm calling you," said Zane.
"I'm not sure what you mean," replied Ahmed with a laugh.
"This morning Mr. Hajjar asked Yanis to help him buy things for a school event under false pretenses. Then he asked her to try on a ring under the guise of buying it for his friend as a gift. Does Mr. Hajjar not know that Yanis is married or did he deliberately do this?"
There was silence from Ahmed's end after Zane spoke his piece.
"I hope Mr. Hajjar doesn't cross any lines here," continued Zane sternly."Yanis is mine now. If you have any inappropriate thoughts about her, I suggest you get rid of them before things get embarrassing for both of us. There's nothing good in it for you."
"Are you threatening me?" asked Ahmed incredulously.
"It's not really a threat. I just want Mr. Hajjar to consider the consequences before acting impulsively," replied Zane calmly before hanging up without giving Ahmed another chance to speak.
Meanwhile, Ahmed tried hard but failed miserably in suppressing his anger. He grabbed hold of his glass tightly, and took several big gulps, hoping that would calm him down. But when even that didn't work out, the glass ended up shattering into pieces as it hit against something hard nearby. The woman who was cooking in the kitchen heard all this commotion, but pretended she hadn't. She kept stirring whatever she had been cooking until footsteps could be heard approaching from behind. The fire under her pan went off, and someone pulled her away roughly.
"Ahmed! What are you doing?!" she exclaimed.
"Shut up!" snapped Ahmed harshly at her face."Can't you look like an actual woman once in your life? You're always so unkempt, don't tell me it doesn't disgust people."
The woman's face turned pale at Ahmed's words, "I... I was just cooking and haven't had the chance to..."
"That's enough! Ahmed interrupts her again, then rudely ripped off her clothes, taking all his frustration out on the woman.
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
Yanis and Zane arrived at the entrance of The University of Armstrong.
Zane parked the car and walked over to help Yanis out, saying "Take it slow."
This is the first time in so many years that Yanis has attended such a formal and public event since being with Zane.
Although Yanis has experienced a lot, at this moment he still feels a bit nervous.
After getting off the car, Yanis tightly grabbed Zane's arm and whispered, "Zane, do you think I'm a bit too formal and exaggerated in this outfit?"
Zane lifted his hand and half-embraced the person in his arms, "They all dress like this too. You're just too nervous."
Yanis looked around and said, "But I still feel like I'm dressed a bit too flashy."
"Never mind that," Bonnie interrupted. "Does Zane know about this?"
Yanis turned to look at Zane standing nearby and said softly, "He probably doesn't know. Ahmed and I went shopping for this when he wasn't around."
Bonnie asked, "A lot of people probably saw the social media post about this. How are you going to explain it? And not just other people, but how are you going to explain it to Zane?"
Yanis pursed her lips and replied, "I'll talk to him later and explain everything."
Bonnie gave her a knowing look and said sarcastically, "Are you trying to give him a heads up or something?"
"It's really not that big of a deal," Yanis defended herself. "I just don't understand why Ahmed posted about it on social media."
"If you want answers," Bonnie suggested with raised eyebrows, pointing towards Ahmed who was walking over with another woman.
Yanis frowned slightly as she watched them approach before saying hesitantly, "Let me go talk to him first... maybe he didn't mean anything by it."
"What do you mean 'didn't mean anything by it'?" Bonnie scoffed in disbelief. "That woman is probably his girlfriend! Even if they were buying gifts together she could have helped him instead of dragging you into this mess."
Yanis didn't respond but simply said quietly," Let's go inside first."
Bonnie whispered back," You should tell Zane first so there won't be any awkwardness later."
"Okay," Yanis agreed before adding," You guys go ahead without us; we'll join in soon enough."
"Alright then," Bonnie nodded understandingly before heading inside with Ivan while Yanis stayed behind waiting for the right moment to speak with Ahmed privately about what had happened earlier that day.
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