أرنوب ودبدوب

EDIT: please check diver's post here

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"The key thing to remember is to always be passive. You never ever raise an eyebrow or ask a question. You don't go into detail either. You just sit there, and take in what she says. That's the key thing to remember," Badir instructed. He sounded serious, too serious in fact, as if he really knew what he was talking about.
Nayif shook his head faintly, "why? What happens if I do comment on what she has to say?" he asked. Badir looked to his left side rear view mirror and leaned in before changing lanes; as he sprung back he turned to his passenger. "Let's just put it this way, every girl who reaches a certain age and finds herself single happens to think that she needs to reimpose herself on the world. You just have the messed up luck of happening to be there when that self-reassurance is unloaded."

Nayif was not impressed, he lowered the volume of the music in the background. "You're basically telling me that any girl who tells me about guys who propose to her is lying? No one proposes in fact?".
Badir pulled out a cigarette from a pack and pushed the gear to neutral as they coasted to a stoplight, "no not really. But let's put it this way, we're at a stoplight right now, and in a second a car will come to your right. In that car will be one attractive young lady. You and I will take a peek, and she will catch us taking that peek. If she's the type, then she thinks that our little peek gives her the right to go talk to her girlfriends all about the two guys who wouldn't let her be in peace. Would she be lying, would she be dramaticizing, I don't know. I don't care. What I do know is that she can, would, and girls have done it. The question is why. And the answer is to feel special, wanted. Pretty enough to be sought after. That sort of bullshit," he mumbled the last words as he flicked the lighter to liven his cigarette.
Nayif looked to his right, "how does that relate to a girl being proposed to? What's your point?".

Badir rolled the car off the street, "my point is, when a girl gets proposed to then that's okay. It's natural. But when she comes to you and tells you all about it, she's gonna make a big fuss out of it. She will tell you that she didn't like the guy, and then she'll tell you that her aunts went crazy when they heard who he was. She may tell you that her youngest aunt called her and nagged her into accepting to see him again, if not the first time. The feeling not ready thing is a whole different issue. Not the point. Anyway. She'll want to make you believe that she is someone who is wanted by some guy who is himself wanted by many women. This is where you shut up, be quiet and be passive. Let her comfort herself. I'm not saying she'd be lying, maybe that guy really did propose, but she doesn't tell you because she confides in you; she tells you because she wants to feel sought after."
Nayif was tossing his mobile between his hands. Badir continued, "the thing you have to come to terms with is that all girls, to some degree, believe that they are queens of a kingdom that exists in their heads. If not that, then they want to feel as queens of some kingdom that exists somewhere. If that kingdom happens to be your ear, then she'll tell you all about her majesty's potential chances to getting hitched. Most of the time, she'll want to make you feel that you're talking to someone special. That's her way of showing you."
"What? Show me what?" Nayif asked.

"Showing you that she's special. By storytelling all about the guys who want her, and all the guys that she doesn't want. Reasons will vary, of course, but that doesn't change anything. The key thing to remember is to be passive."
Nayif let down his mobile, and started looking out the window, and back into the car to the radio.
"You can't really blame them, you know. They're programmed to it. Majority of them will even think that they are pressured to thinking about it They see their friends, cousins getting married. They go to weddings, they buy dresses. They keep up with what mothers and sisters say. With time, it gets old. And the girl knows it, only she'll never tell you that it gets old. Actually, she'll just come along and tell you that she's bored of all the hassle about urging her to get married. She'd be as if whining to you of her being fed up, of sorts."
Nayif nodded, "that is true. It did happen."

Badir scrubbed his cigarette off the ashtray, " yeah, it's the same idea. It's not about whether guys have followed her on the street; and it's not about decent gents proposing to her; nor is it about being invited to a lot of weddings and spending money on dresses. It's all about wanting to impose herself on the world, and she does that by telling you guys all about it. She will try hard to make it seem natural, and like an everyday occurance. These twenty three year olds are all about that. She will go that extra mile to make it seem that she doesn't care. All the while, the key thing to remember is to be passive."

They took a turn into Kaifan, slowing down for a speed bump. Nayif was silent, "you never had a girl tell you she'd like to get married? Make it seem like a wish?"
Badir shrugged, "sure. But it's not the norm. The overwhelming masses want you to think that they are the ones who repel the idea of marriage because they don't need it. Sure, some girls believe in that, and you gotta respect them for it. But in most cases, it's all make-believe."
Nayif shook his head, "I'm still not convinced that's why she told me."