A Love Hidden Behind jealous
It was a pleasant and bright morning. Ramish and Richer slowly walked side by side toward the car parked outside the hotel, where the manager was already waiting for them.
When the manager saw Ramish and Richer approaching together in the golden morning light, he immediately smiled and welcomed them.
"Good morning, Richer sir. Good morning, Ramish sir!"
They replied to him one after the other.
"Good morning!"
The manager's eyes remained on Ramish's face for a few moments. Then, without thinking, he exclaimed,
"Sir, you look incredibly handsome today. May I take a picture with you?"
A smile spread across Ramish's lips.
"Yes, of course. Why not?"
The manager immediately took out his mobile phone and handed it to Richer.
"Sir, please! Would you take a picture of us?"
Richer took the phone and looked at the two of them.
The manager tried to stand very close to Ramish, as if he wanted to appear more prominently beside him in the picture.
Richer's eyebrows immediately drew together.
"You two, stand a little farther apart."
There was a slight sternness in his voice, but Ramish noticed the expression that appeared on his face.
He realized that Richer did not like the manager standing so close to him.
A mischievous smile appeared on Ramish's lips.
Looking at the manager, he asked with complete innocence,
"May I put my hand on your shoulder?"
For a moment, the manager stared at Ramish in surprise, as though he could hardly believe that Ramish had actually asked him such a question.
"Do you really want to put your hand on my shoulder, sir?"
Ramish silently nodded.
Happiness spread across the manager's face.
"Yes, sir. Of course!"
Ramish placed his hand on the manager's shoulder and turned toward Richer as they posed for the picture.
There was unmistakable mischief in his eyes.
"Richer, take the picture now. Maybe it will look better this way."
Richer looked at the two of them through the camera.
There was no obvious expression on his face, but the irritation hidden in his eyes did not escape Ramish.
He took the picture and handed the phone back to the manager.
"Here you go."
The manager happily took his phone.
Richer looked at Ramish and said,
"Ramish, you should sit in the front of the car. You'll probably enjoy it there too."
As he said this, he walked toward the car, opened the door, and got inside.
Then he closed the door with slightly more force than necessary.
Ramish looked at him and smiled.
The manager leaned toward Ramish and said quietly,
"Sir, I think Richer sir didn't like the way you took that picture with me."
Ramish tried to suppress his laughter.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of it."
Then, glancing toward the car, he asked,
"So, how long until we leave?"
"Sir, just ten minutes."
The manager had barely finished speaking when the car window rolled down.
Richer looked at them from inside and said in a slightly raised voice,
"If you two have finished your conversation, we can begin our journey."
The manager immediately straightened up.
"Yes, sir. Of course!"
Smiling, Ramish tried to open the back door of the car so that he could sit beside Richer. But before he could get inside, Richer locked the door from within.
Ramish's hand stopped on the door.
Richer looked at him through the window and said,
"You sit in the front."
Ramish placed his hand against the car door and smiled faintly.
"Richer, you look even more beautiful when you're angry."
Richer immediately replied,
"I also know how to use my hands and feet when I'm angry."
"If you did not believe that Try it, then. And afterward, tell me whether this anger looks beautiful or frightening."
Richer glared at him.
Ramish placed a hand over his chest and said,
"It's these very little gestures of yours that make me crazy about you."
For a moment, a strange expression appeared in Richer's eyes. He looked at Ramish more deeply, then made his voice serious.
"Do whatever you want, but you're sitting in the front today."
Ramish was about to respond when the manager stepped in to explain.
"Sir, we have another driver with us today."
Richer looked at him.
The manager continued,
"We won't be driving the car ourselves today because not everyone is allowed to drive in the desert area. Driving there requires special skills. That's why an experienced driver will be driving today, and I'll sit in the front with him."
He paused for a moment, then added with a smile,
"In that case, Ramish sir will have to sit in the back with you."
Ramish immediately looked at Richer.
A triumphant smile appeared on his lips.
He moved toward the car door again, but Richer already locked it from the inside.
Looking at the manager, Richer said,
"It isn't absolutely necessary. You can sit in the back with me. Ramish can sit in the front."
Ramish's smile faded slightly.
Looking into Richer's eyes, he asked softly,
"Are you really comfortable with me sitting in the front?"
Richer looked away.
"Yes, I am."
But Ramish's gaze remained fixed on his face.
His eyes seemed to say silently:
You want me to sit beside you, so why are you treating me like this?
To avoid Ramish's gaze, Richer turned his face in the opposite direction.
At that very moment, a man approached them. He was the professional desert driver.
The manager shook his hand and briefly introduced him. When the driver's eyes fell on Ramish, he stopped.
"Are you an actor?"
Then, with a cheerful smile, the driver said,
"You're really handsome. May I take a picture with you?"
Ramish laughed.
"I'm not an actor."
Then he pointed toward the car.
"The real actor is sitting over there."
The driver looked toward Richer and then back at Ramish.
"Oh, I'm sorry! You look like an actor too."
Ramish smiled.
"It's the effect of being around him. I've started looking like an actor as well."
The driver burst into laughter.
"Then may I take a picture with you?"
"Of course."
Ramish took a picture with him.
After the picture was taken, he turned toward Richer once again.
"Now will you let me sit beside you?"
Richer replied coldly,
"There's no need. Go and take pictures with everyone else."
Ramish said with a laugh,
"If you want, the two of us can take a picture together too."
Richer immediately rolled up his window.
"No, thank you very much!"
Ramish looked at him. There was still a smile on his face, but Richer's coldness had caused a slight ache inside his heart.
The manager said gently,
"Ramish sir, please you should sit in the front for now. When Richer sir's anger has cooled down, you can come and sit in the back."
Ramish smiled faintly.
"Alright."
He opened the front door of the car and sat down.
A short while later, the driver took his seat.
The car slowly departed from the hotel and began moving toward the desert, passing through the area around Etihad Towers.
The morning sunlight was scattered across the roads. The tall buildings in the distance gradually began to disappear behind them, while the noise of the city gave way to open roads and a vast horizon.
The driver began a conversation with Ramish.
"Where are you from, sir? And what do you do?"
Ramish began answering him politely.
Soon, a conversation developed between the two of them.
But Richer, sitting in the back seat, remained silent.
He kept looking at Ramish through the rear-view mirror.
Sometimes Ramish turned his attention toward the driver. At other times, he laughed and responded to something the driver said. There was a faint smile on his face, but an unfamiliar restlessness was gradually spreading inside Richer.
He could not understand what was troubling him.
Was it the way Ramish was laughing and talking with someone else?
Or was it the thought that, for a few moments, Ramish's attention had shifted away from him toward another person?
Richer clenched his hands together.
Then, suddenly, he looked toward the manager and said,
"I don't want any noise in the car."
Ramish turned around and looked at Richer.
His gaze settled on Richer's face.
Richer appeared calm on the surface, but there was a restlessness in his eyes that he could not hide.
Ramish fell silent.
He understood that something was happening inside Richer's heart.
But he did not know whether that feeling was love, jealousy, or the shadow of a fear that Richer was still hiding even from himself.
The car continued moving farther away from the city.
Yet despite the beauty of the morning, several storms were rising inside their hearts.
There was hope in Ramish's heart, intertwined with his love.
And inside Richer's heart...
There were countless questions, endless confusion, and an unfamiliar jealousy that he was still afraid to call love.
And so, their journey toward the desert began.
A journey in which the car was moving forward...
But their hearts were still struggling to cross the distance that existed between them.