Within the Sins

٧ The Attainment

همتهم بتشيل جبال.

Yazid calls Aseel and Sandra many times, but neither answer. He simply wants to let them know his graduation ceremony is today and that he would love for them to attend the ceremony. Besides his immediate family, only his grandfather, Selena, and his uncle live in Amman. The rest reside in a small town near Al-Husun. He calls all three of them and stresses to arrive on time. Being Arabs, they are late to everything, so he tells them that it starts an hour and a half earlier than it actually does.

Yazid clears his throat. "I think I look decent for once in my life." He looks down his body. Nader and Majed helped him dress formally for the occasion. They picked out a fit dress up shirt along with a dark gray tie, and a silver tie pin. They matched it with a black belt and fit black suit pants. "I love the shirt, but what color is it?"

Majed chuckles. "Dark gray, or maybe dark purple. . .or perhaps navy blue? Or maybe all three mixed into one? I don't even know."

"That's exactly my point." Yazid grins. "But it's nice. It's dark but not so dark that it takes away from the tie."

"Here, put these on," Nader says, handing Yazid a pair of black loafers. "They'll match well with everything else."

Nader and Majed wait for Yazid to put them on. They glance at each other for a second with curled lips.

Yazid releases a loud breath and looks back in the mirror. "Okay, I'm all set."

"Let's fix your hair a little," Majed points out.

"I already did."

"Well, you're horrible at it." He places a hand on his shoulder and leads him to the bathroom. "You need more wax so it can stay in place."

"I don't want to look like a grease ball." Yazid watches him take out a small bottle from the cabinet.

"You won't," he says as he starts to apply the wax on his hair. "This is a really good brand. I promise." After several touches, Majed nods. "There you go, now you don't look messy."

"I like messy hair. Matches my thoughts." Yazid winks as he walks out of the bathroom.

"Can't look messy on your big day ya rajul."

"Wow!" Nader exclaims while looking Yazid's tall frame up and down. "You actually look tamed. And you're maintaining your stubble nicely for once. Guess cavemen really can become civilized."

"Shut up and let's go. I can't risk being late." He grabs his gown and cap off the couch and heads out.

Majed locks the apartment door before joining his friends in the car. They drive to the location in silence, except Yazid notices Nader glancing at Majed from the rear-view mirror a few times.

During the ceremony, Yazid searches for his family and friends among the crowd of people while standing next to his classmates. His eyes land on Sadeen and Sandra, who are sitting next to Selena's husband. Selena is next to her husband alongside her father and his grandfather. They are all waving at him. He waves back, but he could not bring himself to smile—his father is not with them.

Did he really mean what he said a few months back? Is he really going to pretend like Yazid no longer exists? . . .But why? He is his father—the man responsible for his very existence, the man who taught him how to stand up straight with his shoulders back, the man who showed him how to fight the snakes that constantly attacked his thoughts. Hell, if it were not for his father, he would have never continued education after secondary school and would have been worse off than he is now.