7It was thanks to Khawla, Grandmother’s favourite, that I was accepted into the Tarouf household, albeit under duress. My sister told Grandmother that she insisted I be allowed to visit.
‘It would just be a visit, Grandmother, please,’ she said. ‘And afterwards you can decide.’
Grandmother gave in to Khawla’s entreaties. ‘I don’t know why, but I’ve been pressing Grandmother to let you visit our house,’ Khawla told me at our first meeting. ‘Maybe it was curiosity, or maybe because I was happy to have a new brother suddenly appear in my life.’
Ghassan and I had been in the sitting room in his flat when the phone rang. Ghassan had picked it up, and after a short conversation put it down again. ‘You’re lucky,’ he said. ‘You have a brave sister.’
* * *
Everything happens for a reason,
