Her Safe Haven

“I’m very sure it’s Ilham that’s putting this kind of thoughts into your head, Sulaiman. What are you thinking of? How could you even think that way?” He couldn't understand how Sulaiman could have these kinds of thoughts, like what the hell?

“She isn’t the one, okay, I'll confess. I was casually telling her what has been happening for the past weeks, and she shaped my mind. Why don’t you try it, Yazeed? Maybe something good will come out of it.” He wished he wasn’t driving right now and he was standing or sitting beside Sulaiman to see if he was in his senses as he spoke.

“What do you mean telling her casually? Sulaiman, you have a hidden motive, just say it out. And no, I'm not going to give anything a chance, like I can’t understand the reason you’re having this kind of thoughts. I'll excuse Ilham because she’s pregnant and her hormones aren’t acting normal, but you? Man! I'm driving.” He turned the steering and wished he could end the call on Sulaiman, but that was something he couldn't do to him out of all humans in the world.

“We’ll have a better conversation of this when you get to the company, drive safe brother.” Sulaiman teased, there was a hint of laughter on his tone which Yazeed wished he could smack off.

“Please don’t even try speaking to me about this, because I'll ignore your entire being. Bye.” And he ended the call, just in time he was driving into the company. He drove to the parking lot and there she was, having a phone call while she laughed heartily beside her car. Was she always on the phone? And who was she talking to this happily and early in the morning? He wondered.

He parked his car and walked out, not looking her way and when she saw him, she quickly ended the car and sprinted toward him. “Good morning, I was waiting for you.”

He turned to where she was walking beside him at the same pace and looked at her for a second before he looked away. It wasn't like he was noticing everything she did, but he had never seen her wore any kind of Hausa attire, it was all English wears and abayas, not that she didn’t look in her skirts and shirts with a veil wrapped around her head and also her abayas. But he was just curious about how she would look in either Ankara or lace. How her skin color...get a freaking hold of yourself, Yazeed!

“But do you realize just because you aren’t going to reply to me I won’t let you be? Don’t worry, I can always do the talking for us.” What was wrong with this girl for the sake of the almighty? It had been weeks now since she started being this clingy on him. Maybe she gave Sulaiman the wrong idea, not just Sulaiman but the whole company. Like she waited for him almost every day at the parking space so they could get to their office together.

Yes, that’s what he would call it now, their office. Because he couldn't remember the last time she stayed in her office for more than two to three hours, and no, he wasn’t complaining too. As much as he would never show or tell this to her, she wasn’t a bad company. Even though he hardly ever replied to the thousand questions she threw at him, a thousand conversations she started and ended herself, he was sometimes glad that she was in the office because, for the time they stayed together, it took his mind off a lot of things that were eating him up.

She hadn't mentioned it to him, but he had realized that she had a phobia for elevators and she couldn’t get on one alone without someone with her, so he decided to run away from her using what she hated. His only reason was because of the conversation they had with Sulaiman, he didn’t want to be growing the wrong idea on people’s mind. He turned left, away from the path that would lead them to the elevator.

“Where are you heading to? Do you have somewhere you need to go?” She asked and still walked beside him.

“I’m taking the staircases today, will you please mind not following me?” He didn’t look at her while he spoke, but he assumed she had a horrible expression on her face because she was damn lazy when it came to things like this. That he was sure of.

“Come on! Please!” She whined and stood on the track, “Why don’t we just go into the elevator, the 9th floor isn’t somewhere we can easily take the stairs for. And we’re going to be late if we do. Please?” She felt like he was doing this on purpose, to shoo her away from him, but there was no way she was giving him that chance.

He turned to look at her, and there was a hint of a smile on his face which he masked up expertly. “Do you have to take the elevator with me? Why do you always follow me? Go to the elevator and I'll take the stairs. And for being late, you have a boss, I don’t.”

She stared at him for some nanoseconds and when she saw that he was really into the staircase thing, she gave up and her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Fine, I'll take the stairs too.” He didn’t even wait for her answer when he began taking the stairs but he could feel her presence by his side and certainly, her burning gaze on the side of his face. He knew that she would be sulking for maybe an hour or two, reason known to her but today, he knew he was one of those reasons. He made her take the stairs to the 9th floor.

“But you know you can always let it out, right? No one will judge you.” She said out of the blue moon, and he wondered if she was on the phone or something. Because, what was she talking about?

He stayed mute, and she knew she had to speak again for him to reply to her, that’s if he wanted to. “Your smile, I know you did that on purpose. I mean, you did this on purpose and you wanted to smile so bad when I whined because, to you, it felt like mission accomplished. Right, boss?” He had to chew his inner cheek to avoid a chuckle or smile out of his lips. She had never called his name outwardly, but he had realized that whenever she wanted to be sarcastic with him, she called him boss. That was her way of showing that she was angry at him and can probably kill him if she got the chance to.

He shook his head because if he didn't give her a response, nothing could stop Jalilah from ranting his ears off until he would likely go deaf. “What does that mean that? Why can’t you smile in front of me? Do you ever fully smile?”

He ignored that, because to him it felt like she hit a nerve, and she did. Even though he knew she wasn’t doing that to hit a nerve. And he thought about it himself, ‘When was the last time he genuinely and fully smiled?’ It had been so long that he couldn’t even remember the last time he did that. But one thing was certain, ever since Jalilah came to this company and they began working together, there were times he wanted to laugh, times he wished he could chuckle and there were times he wanted to smile so widely that she would likely take a picture of him. But he restrained himself from doing that because it felt odd and weird and he just didn't want to do it.

“This is the worst punishment I've ever received in my life, we’re just on the 5th floor.” He was so deep in his thoughts that he had forgotten he was together with her until he spoke and he turned to look at her. From the looks of it, she was indeed tired, but he didn't know how he was enjoying this, was it because taking the stairs gave him more chance to think, to clear his head?

“You should've told me beforehand! I wouldn’t have worn these heels!” She whined loudly and sat down on one of the stairs, lifting her abaya a little that it revealed her feet carefully stacked in her heels, he quickly looked away.

For a moment, she looked up with a whiny expression and a pout on her lips, “Will you please wait for me to rest a bit then we can continue? This is exhausting me.” Slightly, Yazeed shook his head and the next thing she saw was his retreating back walking ahead.

She took off her heels and held them in her hands before she followed him, “I don’t even know what to say to you! Wait for me!” She half yelled and matched his pace. He turned to look at her and the first thing his eyes got in contact with was the heels she was now holding and he looked at her bare feet.

“What is this?” He asked, she followed his gaze and looked at him afterwards.

“I can’t walk in my heels, I can fall if I continue doing so.” She replied, fixing her eyes on the floor.