Bidayatan Jadida (بداية جديدة) –

 New Beginnings Chapter 3

 

 

All humans…most humans… at least at some point in their lives, fall for the manufactured images of the cinema, fashion and music industries. They allow the industry to get into their head and plant the illusions that being in either of these particular industries is all fun and play and that you can become famous and/or rich overnight. That famous singers and actors as well, get to just wear expensive fancy clothes worth thousands of dollars while making millions of dollars just to sing and perform for the entertainment and joy of others. The public rarely or never sees the years of sacrifice that involve ridiculous amounts of training for years in their craft, heartbreak,    frustration and in some cases isolation- isolation from your family and friends and in some cases your groupmates- in the daily grind and pursuit in reaching a dream. There are sleepless nights that are fueled by bursts of musical genius inspiration and just as many panged sleepless nights riddled with anxiety when an artist releases their creation to the world for ruthless consumption; to be consumed by the audience in either pure joy or pure disdain. And oftentimes in the pursuit of that dream it can become very obvious that you may never reach the level of recognition that you are working towards and crave. At that stage, you begin to question if the sacrifices that have been taken at all levels of your life were worth it and is it still worth it? Or do you allow your dream to die, and you fade back into a normal life getting a 9 to 5 job with some type of health care benefits or become a coach or mentor to the next generation of dreamers behind you?

That had been the current situation for Yamina. Over six months ago she walked away from a “dream career” that of no fault of her own had become a nightmare. Yet here she was back almost where she started performing in dark crowded clubs, yet with a freer heart.

Yamina rolled over on to her back vaguely hearing the air mattress squeak that lay on the floor of her living room. The sunlight had ruthlessly managed to penetrate her dense gold-colored curtains and the sun was high up enough in the sky to hit her across her face. Squeezing her eyes closed her right hand covered her eyes in a week attempt to block the light. Just then her apple watch begins to vibrate. Her alarm to wake up her it was officially noon. Signing she cracked an eye open and pushed the button on her apple watch to shut her alarm off. Stretching her body, she felt the kinks in her muscle slowly stretch out. she pulled herself into a sitting position rolling her shoulders.

Yamina looked to her side and noticed that it was empty her brother Daniel already up. Getting up from the mattress he stumbled to her curtains and opened them up to allow more light in and the take in her expensive Paris View from her balcony. The view was stunning. There was nothing like Paris. Unlocking her sliding glass doors, she walked out onto the balcony and the sounds of Paris in the throes of the early afternoon greeted her ears. Breathing in the air she made her way to the rails and raised her arms and greeted the day. Thanking God for waking her up and letting her have another shot at life.

“The princessa is finally awake.” Daniel said sticking his head out the door to the balcony. “Here, I made some mint tea. By the way mselkḥīr”

            “Mselkḥīr”

            The mint “tea” that Daniel handed her in a small crystal tumbler glass was actually Moroccan Mint Tea Infused Gin, lemon juice and honey.

            “Isn’t it a little early for gin?”

            “It’s noon isn’t it?” Daniel came out onto the balcony with Yamina. “Besides, I needed it, dad was in rare form this morning after talking to Uncle Rafi on the phone.”

            “Oh please…what now?”

            “No telling, Dad didn’t say, and I wasn’t about to ask. But I’m sure it was about something stupid.”

Uncle Rafi was their father’s eldest brother and he was a tyrannical know it all who attempted to lord it over everyone in the family, fully invested in the patriarchal Arabic cultural system. Thankfully he still lived in Morocco with his belabored wife and five sons. Who were all jerks too.

            Yamina looked over her left shoulder back into the apartment. “Where is everyone?”

            “Jdda and mom went shopping at some place about thirty minutes ago and Jdd and dad went to see some old family friends in the Arabic quarters. I think dad said Bashar Banu Hilal. In any case they will be there probably all day.”

            “hmm… I hope they have fun. Why didn’t you go see Bashar? Wait didn’t you use to have a crush on his youngest daughter? What was her name…?”

            “Nezha. Yeah, well she is married with 2 daughters now. That ship sailed a long time ago. Anyway, I went to the Sunni Temple this morning and had my dawn prayers. Then came back and slept some more and I awoke in such a good mood I fixed you lunch princessa Sleepy Head.” Daniel ended that statement with flourish bow with hand gestures.”

            “Ah, thank you my loyal servant. I knew there was a reason I keep you around.” Yamina said over her shoulder as she walked back into the apartment.”

            “Yeah Yeah. just eat your breakfast”

 

****

Jasmine arrive at Yamina apartment a couple hours later much to Daniel’s joy. Let it be known that Daniel always enjoyed the company of beautiful women and Jasmine was no exception. Her silky ink black hair, full lips, cute small nose and vibrant light brown skin always seemed to pull him in. Her eyes held a mysterious glint to then and when she smiled it took his breath away. There was a 10 year difference between Daniel, Yamina  and Jasmine but Daniel never paid that no mind when he flirted with his sister’s friend.            

As for Jasmine, she enjoyed flirting with Daniel but she never entertained anything with him beyond that. He was her best friend’s brother after all and although he was as fine as any man had the right to be she just wasn’t into him like that.

“Hey beautiful.” Daniel greeted Jasmine as she entered the apartment giving her a quick hug and kiss on the left cheek.

“Hey Handsome. Mina told me the whole gang had arrived into town?” Are you coming to watch us perform?”

“There is nothing more I would rather do than watch you, but I here on business and I might not be able to make it.”

“Business doing what? You never said.” Yamina asked as she hugged her best friend.

“DJ Assar wants me to lay some lyrics down for a new artist he is working with. A guy by the name Jai. Some French Arabic singer he has signed to his independent label.”

“Ah, we meet Jai a couple of weeks back – he’s a dope guy. Barely 18. He a cutie pie too.” Jasmine made her way to kitchen to see if Yasmin, Yamina’s grandmother had made any Arabic food. Upon opening the fridge, she struck gold.

“Well I hope he is not THAT cute.”

Yamina laughed at her brother’s face in response to Jasmine’s observation of Jai’s looks.  “No cuter the you my dear brother.”

            Daniel just arched an eyebrow in mock annoyance, “I gotta go. I try and see the two of you tonight.” Grabbing his bag, he looked deep into Jasmine eyes, “And I will definitely see you later.” Smiling he left, Jasmine just smiled with a smirk on her lips as she finger waved him goodbye. he was out.

            “Ugh…gross…why don’t the two of you make out – preferably not in my presence – and be done with it.”

            “Mina, you brother is Gorgeous with a capital G – but he is not for me.”

            “Hey, my brother is a man’s man.”

            “I know but can’t handle all this.” Jasmine says pointing to herself.

            “Yeah that true.”

            “Beside he is a serious kind of guy – like he would want a serious relationship and I am a “ them and leave them” kind of gal.”

            It was true Jasmine Merlohe was an independent “I don’t need a man”woman. She had decided long ago that love was overrated, messy, and unnecessary. Yamina had a feeling that that stance had a lot to do with how her mother and father’s short-lived relationship had exploded and the line she walked between darkness and light. Yamina didn’t push because he understood but she also felt,

            ‘You just haven’t met the right man.”

            “If you say so. Are you ready? We need these next five hours to get ready for our show?”

            “Born ready. Let’s go!”

 

****

Later that night…

 

Namjoon was nervous as he dressed for Jazz and Yamina’s concert. He couldn’t understand why he felt this way. He didn’t know her and wasn’t 100% sure that he would even have a chance to meet her. However, something about this night felt – magical. Namjoon could not think of another word to describe what this night was beginning to feel like.

            Namjoon was dressed simply but it looked anything by simple on his gorgeous frame. Dressed in black slacks and a black button-down long sleeve shirt his slightly tanned skin glowed even more against the black fabric. He had artfully gelled his hair in a way that flattered his facial bones to perfection. In both of his ear lobes were simple metal studs. He had even had the make-up artist subtly smoke out his eyes. The completed look was stunning, there would be no woman impervious to Namjoon’s aura.

            The connecting door to his room opened and in walked Jungkook with Taehyung behind him. Jungkook was no less stunning. Dressed in a blue suit with a white shirt, Jungkook’s angelic face was open and smiling as he and Tae joked around as they entered Namjoon and Yoongi’s room. At 21 years old Jungkook had grown into a stunning young man and he was no less magnetic then his older brothers.

            Yoongi was lying on his bed scrolling through his phone not at all interested in watching his best friend Namjoon get ready to go out. Yoongi was all for staying in tonight and resting as sleeping was one of his hobbies. But more than likely he would be working on music.

            “Wow man! You look awesome. What happened to going to the show incognito?” Taehyung asked.

            Taehyung and Jungkook were sharing rooms, whereas Jin and Jimin were together in a room. While in Paris, Hoseok got to have a room to himself. At the next stop they would switch roommates and Namjoon would have a room to himself.  They had the touring down to an art form at this point.

            “Who says we still aren’t” Namjoon said just to be contrary.

            Tae scoffed. He knew better. “At least there will be no way that Yamina doesn’t notice you.” TaeTae sang teasingly. Namjoon just popped in him back of his head.

            Despite the fact Namjoon had never talked about it with anyone. All the other members of BTS knew of Namjoon’s infatuation/crush on the Arabic Spanish Rapper Yamina Banu Sulaym. How his eyes lit up when he saw pictures of her and how for months, he had her mix tape on constant rotation with whatever other artists he was into at the moment– but she was the most consistent artist on his playlist. And even when he had made that famous comment that he didn’t know of any celebrity that was  his ideal girl, he had been lying because he did have one, a chocolate goddess who was a master lyricist with a drive so strong some would say was on par with Namjoon’s and Yoongi’s level of dedication to the craft. Namjoon had been playing it smart as he had not wanted to subject Yamina to the more obsessed side of the BTS fandom. He shuddered to think about it. But tonight, all that didn’t matter because he was actually going to see her perform live.

            A knock on Namjoon and Yoongi’s door echoed through the room. As Jungkook was the closet to the door, he was the one who went to open it. At the door stood Rob, a Korean American, who is one of BTS’s lead security personnel. Rob emigrated to South Korea at 26 and upon arrival due to unlikely circumstances happen to fall into the career of personal security and after 5 years of working for a Korean corporate security firm had recently been hired by Big Hit entertainment as part of BTS’s permanent security team. Rob was tall and muscular and ultra-intimidating, behind him stood a female of what looked to be Vietnamese descent that was also part of BTS’s security detail. Despite her small stature she was no one to play with. Her name is Laura.

            “Kookie? Joon? Are you ready? Hoseok should be exiting his room in a minute.” Rob said.

            “Here I am Rob-nim,” Hoseok said as he came up behind Laura accompanied by another member of the security team. (Big Hit had booked the entire floor they were on at the Regina and both Regina’s hotel security and Big Hit’s security team had it sealed tight.)

            “Well, let’s go and get you to the club”

            “Have fun, guys?” Tae and Yoongi said as the guys left the room.

 

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