Born in the City of El Beida, Libya, and educated at the University of Tripoli, Asma Esmail came to Ontario, Canada, at the age of forty four to make a fresh start. Her marriage to a certain tall, handsome Libyan Muslim gentleman named Yassin Al-Taib didn't work out, and she decided to relocate. The United States of America appealed to her, but Asma opted for Canada instead because she wanted a quieter environment. In the City of Nepean, Ontario, Asma found everything she could have hoped for, and more...
After studying business at the University of Ottawa, Asma Esmail decided to start her own enterprise. She didn't feel like working for other people, especially since she'd seen the way some white Canadians treated their Muslim employees. It wasn't easy convincing the account manager at the local branch of BMO to loan her the fifteen thousand she needed to start her restaurant, but she managed to do just that. Thusly, Asma started her own restaurant, and hired a couple of young men to help her out with cooking and making deliveries, and just like that, her business got off the ground.
Standing six feet tall, with long curly black hair, hauntingly beautiful brown eyes and medium brown skin, Asma Esmail could be considered beautiful by almost anyone's standards. Still, there was a stigma about divorcees in the Muslim community of Ontario, so Asma found herself a bit lonely. The local Muslim men were polite and friendly to her, but didn't seek anything serious. And why should they, when there were so many attractive, younger Muslim women around?
A chance meeting with a certain Afro-Caribbean gentleman proved to be an injection of life into Asma Esmail's otherwise monotonous existence. Samuel Baxter, a big and tall, handsome young Jamaican guy working at the mini-mall near Asma's restaurant began to show up regularly during his lunch break, and thusly they got to know each other a bit. Samuel was studying business at Algonquin College, and had just discovered middle-eastern food. He soon found himself addicted to Asma's cooking...and her.
"You're becoming addicted to my goodies," Asma said flirtatiously to Samuel, one evening, shortly before closing time. The well-dressed young man looked at her and smiled. Gently, he nodded in agreement. Truth be told, he'd put on a pound or two since he started patronizing Asma's restaurant on a regular basis. He didn't just come for the food, either. Even though Samuel knew that as a non-Muslim, Muslim ladies like Asma were off-limits to him, he felt drawn to her...
"Ma'am, you can't blame me, you're a lovely lady and your cooking is to die for," Samuel replied, and Asma smiled and blushed. Clad in a flowery T-shirt, dark gray Hijab and blue jeans, Asma thought she looked okay but from the way Samuel looked at her, you would have thought she was a supermodel or something. Asma looked at him, and licked her lips. This brother was so different...
In the North African nation of Libya, there was a lot of animosity between the Arabized Berbers and the Sub-Saharan Africans. Asma Esmail grew up seeing a lot of Berbers mistreat people of African descent, and although it irked her, there was little she could do about it. In her younger days, Asma had a relationship with an African guy named Malik, and when her parents found out, they almost killed her. Malik went away, fearing for his life. Asma never saw him again, but over the years, she wondered about what might have been...
"You're so different and so confident, Samuel," Asma said softly, smiling faintly as she drew closer to Samuel. Something about this dark-skinned, virile young brother intrigued her. Samuel appeared to be feeling the same way, Asma could tell. The young Jamaican had been with a lot of beautiful women in his twenty five years but for some reason, Asma made him nervous. When she stopped a foot from him and gently laid her hand on his shoulder, Samuel smiled and looked at Asma, trying to act cool even though his heart was going pitter-patter...
"That's because I believe in going for what I want, always," Samuel replied, and, impulsively the young Jamaican took Asma's hand and brought it to his lips. Then he kissed her lovely hand. Asma blinked in surprise, and then smiled, touched by Samuel's sweet gesture. Where she comes from, men are too bogged down by tradition to do little things like that for women, and it's a damn shame. Asma's heart skipped a beat, and she looked at Samuel in a whole new way...