HIS (YOU series #1)

12

Amira

I stepped back to admire the snack tray I had made for Akram. It had salted pretzels, almonds, crackers, cheese, strawberries, skittles, sliced carrots and celery, toasted baguette slices and various dips.

I smiled before picking it up and gesturing for Karima to follow me with the jar of Chapman.

Reaching the door to his study, I set the tray down on the bench nearby then, gave the door a light knock on the door, and then picked up the tray once again. I heard the faint sound of his voice from behind the large mahogany door and assumed he asked me to come in.

Karima helped me push the door open, and I gingerly walked in, quickly placing the tray on the edge of his desk. I collected the jar from Karima, and she left.

Akram hadn't looked up from his MacBook screen even once. I stood, jar in one hand and the other in my waist. I cleared my throat to announce my presence, he only raised an eyebrow, and I scoffed.

"Akram" I yelled.

Rather calmly, he raised his head to meet my stern gaze, I continued to glare, but his eyes only travelled around my body. I don't blame him because I only had a knee-length armless body con dress, and my hair was loose and straight.

I noticed as his breathing became ragged, and I smirked, "Are you done checking me out?" I ask, and he smiles.

"I was imagining what was underneath," he says coyly, and I scrunch up my nose.

"You're so shameless," I say, sitting on the Couch opposite his desk. He brushes me off and then rises to dive into the snack tray.

As he scanned the tray, I watched his features contort into disgust or excitement. After picking at everything, he raises his head to smile at me, then picks up the tray and sets it on the coffee table in front of the couch.

He comes round and plops down next to me with a loud thud. I cringe slightly at the sound.

"Ewe," he says, pointing to the carrots and celery.

"Akram, you need your veggies to grow big and strong so that you can protect our baby and me", I tell him. His head whips down to my stomach as I end my statement.

After a few seconds, he whipped his head back up and stared at me with hopeful eyes, "I'm joking," I quickly blurt out to avoid getting his hopes up or hurting his feelings.

He sank back into the chair, and I could have sworn a tear almost escaped his eyes. I quickly grabbed onto him in fear of him leaving, "I'm sorry", I continued to repeat.

He stared at me blankly for some seconds. My heart was beating like it was about to escape my chest, he continued to stare, and I closed my eyes to hold my tears in. I inwardly cringed as I felt a warm traitor make its way down my chin, it was so quiet I was sure I would hear the soft sound of it landing on the floor, but it never did.

He wiped it away, he wiped it away with his thumb, then pressed his palm to my cheek quickly. My hand latched onto him as if it depended on him for dear life.

I felt him pull me onto his lap and buried my head into his chest. He rested his head against mine and softly rubbed my arm.

This was the most unnecessary joke I've ever made.

We didn't speak a word for a while, then Akram started to feed me various things from the snack tray, and we began to gist.

I shook my head when Akram tried to feed me a piece of celery, "you need your veggies to grow big and strong", he mocked, and I burst out laughing at his horrible attempt to sound like me.