[C]
It was surprising to him at first after he had woken up and found the pills he had kept there untouched, like, did he sleep without taking his pills? And not just for an hour or two before dawn, he slept for almost four to five hours today. He brushed the thought off, not wanting to remember the reason he was sure had helped him to sleep, and he got ready for work. They all arrived on time today and Yazeed called for a meeting, which took place in the conference room of their department.
Jalilah had this sulky look on her face which he was sure, if he could recall, wasn’t her usual look for the two days he had seen her. But he quickly took his eyes off her and the meeting continued. They weren’t done until it was time for prayer and Jalilah walked out of the conference room immediately. She didn’t know what she was exactly sulking her face for. Was it because she had seen him yesterday and he acted as if he didn’t know who she was? Or it was because of what Farha said, which she was sure he had heard her?
Nevertheless, she didn’t smile as she got to the mosque, having it in mind that she would try that restaurant Wafiyya had mentioned today. She had to try it and see. After she was done praying, she walked out of the mosque and aimed at the gate, which was hurdled by cars driving out of the company. She wished she had a car of her own too, she would have been driving back home to eat something for herself and she knew she would be back on time.
She hissed slowly and tried as much as she could to avoid being hit by a car until she got to the center of the gate, where she had to take another lane because that was where the restaurant was, and she got hit. At first, she thought it was all joke when she fell as she fell flat on the ground. But the excruciating pain that enveloped her leg was what welcomed her back into reality. She was hit, and it was no good even though it wasn’t that serious. She ducked her head on her knees and waited for whoever it was that hit her to come out of the car because she wasn’t sure if she could move normally.
They rushed out, or rather; one of them rushed out of the car and the other walked to where she was. When she looked up at them, it was Yazeed and Sulaiman, and from what she understood, Yazeed was the one driving even though it was Sulaiman’s car.
“Oh my god, we’re so sorry, Jalilah. Can you move to? So we take you to the hospital or a nearby pharmacy.” That was Sulaiman, speaking with all panic and he looked at her with his utmost regret. She flashed him a painful smile and looked at where Yazeed was just looking at her. What? This man didn’t know what was the right thing to do or what the hell was he claiming? He didn’t know he had hit her and it was expected of him to apologize to her? Even if she was no human, he had to look for at least her owner and apologize, right?
“Yes, I can manage.” She supported her shaking body with the car and stood up. “I’ll take my leave.” She spoke through gritted teeth. She wasn’t at all angry at Sulaiman, but she was, at Yazeed. Didn’t he know that a simple sorry could go a long way? What the hell was wrong with this guy?
When they watched as she was limping to the other way, moving away from them and she didn’t get to the car like Sulaiman suggested, “No, I think you should get into the car so we can take you to the hospital.” She heard Yazeed’s voice out of the blue and she had to turn to make sure he was speaking to her. Like, what did this mean? He couldn’t say sorry to her but he wanted her to get into the car so he could take her to the pharmacy to be treated?
She shook her head, “No, I’ll go there myself.”
“No, Jalilah, I think you should just enter so we could take you there. Your leg hurts, right? We’re so sorry please, but you have to enter.” Even though she was backing from them, she knew this kind of words could only be uttered by Sulaiman. Yes, she had known them to that extent in just two days.
She turned to look at them, she wanted to say no to them, but the moment her eyes fell into Yazeed and the look he flashed her while he said, “People are watching, I think you should get into the car.” For a moment, his eyes wandered to her hurting leg and she could swear his eyes were soft. As if he was afraid something delicate had been hurt or damaged. She was too because if she strained her ankle, she didn’t know what would happen to her ballet for days or even weeks, she had to wait until she was fully recovered.
She nodded her head at them and wordlessly walked into the back of the car and sat down. Jalilah could swear she felt his eyes all over her until she sat down and they walked back into the car as well. She had never felt uncomfortable like she did now. She hardly ever felt uncomfortable while she was around a certain number of people, but today, she was. Because she was aware of his eyes that were on her through the mirror. Even though he didn’t know she had noticed that, and the look he was flashing her was the kind that spoke a lot of things which she didn’t want to think of. He looked disturbed, and afraid that maybe something may happen to her.