After the truth

~5~

"Imran I've done something grave!"
Imran stared at his best friend with confusion written on his face. He tried to comfort him but he wouldn't stop weeping.
"What have you done?"
"I'm sorry, I...."

Imran shot out of his duvet like hot oil was poured all over him. He was drenched in his own sweat and tears. A groan escaped his lips at the realization that he had been crying straight out of his dream. He rubbed his palms over his face, frustration building up in him. When will it stop? The dream was a recurring one that haunted him years after it had happened. He wasn't even the perpetrator, yet he was suffering.

He checked his phone for the time and decided to hit the gym before going off to work. He owned a chain of restaurants and headed the one in Missouri, placing his most trusted people in the ones outside the country.

Imran changed into his shorts and top. He grabbed his boxing gloves and exited his apartment, locking it behind him before sauntering to the elevator. After many interruptions on his journey to the gym, he finally arrived and decided to have a run on the thread mill before destroying the punching bag.

Few minutes later with enough sweat to clean any surface,Imran put on his boxing gloves and walked towards the punching bag. It was a bit early and no one was in the gym. He was glad for that.

He began throwing punches at the bag, at first slowly. It increased to hard punches that took his breath away. He was angry at everything. Even his best friend. How did Aaron  get away with everything he had done to Marwa?

"Aargh." Imran groaned throwing a ninety degree kick to the bag which sent him to the floor.

"Aaaaaaargh!" He screamed out in anger, punching the floor repeatedly before falling on his back. If unlucky had best friends, Imran believed he would be number one.

Marwa was his first best friend before he knew Aaron. She was a distant cousin from his father's family but they were closer like siblings, although Imran liked her more than a sibling. They grew up together along with his siblings and her siblings and they did things together. Eventually in middle school, they had to be separated and reduce their communication.

Tears rolled down the side of imran's face as he looked up at the white ceiling. He felt betrayed by Aaron and all the anger that he suppressed all those years resurfaced. Whispering words of istigfar, Imran decided that he had enough of exercising and hating, so he headed back home to prepare for work.

******************
Marwa was loving her work and her team members. When she arrived, her team director, Mr Suleiman Chang had shown her around the work place, introducing her to important people she might need help with getting things done.

Her favourite place was the large room for dinning. It had a buffet table, ice cream machine for special days like Mr Suleiman had informed her, coffee machine and a lot of interesting things. Her office seconded that. She had a personal cubicle, where she could see the surrounding buildings and when she stepped out of her cubicle, a large table stood firmly with chairs surrounding it and tablets fixed to every person's table space.

Being an addition to the interior design team, she was the tenth and final member on the team which made her a lot grateful. Currently, they were working with a very influential tycoon that owned multiple hotel chains. Their assignment was to create a welcoming and homey atmosphere for the new hotel that the architecture and environmental team had worked on. Based on each design creation, three out of the ten members are going to be picked to work with other departments on the completion of the hotel.

Marwa was given a Mac book with applications created by the company to help various departments with their work. A simulation of the hotel was already sent to her and she was asked to begin work on it when she felt like but a submission date was given. She was so grateful for the immediate opportunity to participate and she promised to do better.