Under That Niqab

11. Trust?

It was the day of the meeting with 'The Shehna's', and they had it all prepared. In sooth, he wasn't nervous at all because he had lot of experiences and this was not more than a piece of cake for him, because of the confidence he had gained since he was in his college. 

There was continuous rumble of papers and discussion being heard all over the cabin, the documents were being scanned and rechecked, basically, there was a chaos in his cabin. as he was going through one of the files he suddenly felt his head spin and the need to get a coffee and step out of the place took over.

He walked out pushing the door towards the pantry, having three hours of sleep due to prior-meeting preps wasn't a good idea at all.

He rested his back on the wall opposite to the counter of the pantry and waited for the coffee machine to generate a cup for her when he saw Haya entering the place taking all of his attention right away. He glanced up at her and she nodded at his presence, from what it seemed to him, she hesitated to enter the room but shrugged her shoulders and entered anyhow, it was so subtle, almost unnoticeable. 

She walked towards the refrigerator, grabbing her water bottle moved towards the counter to rest her back. He turned away from her towards the coffee machine whose whirling sounds have been died producing a fresh cup of coffee for him to soothe his soul.

"How have you been, Sir?" He heard her say.

"Me?" He turned whilst grabbing onto the coffee mug and turned to face her taking the cue that she might have finished drinking water.

"Yeah", She wandered her eyes around the area and then looked at him to show that there was no one except both of them there.

"I'm good, why do you ask?" He posed a question as he brought the cup near his lips to take a sip the coffee travelled from his tongue to his throat from there to every part of his body, God! it felt so relaxing.

She nodded. "You look stressed" she was looking into his weary eyes, and he immediately felt a little self conscious, Am I looking that bad?

"Did you sleep at all?" Another question was thrown at him 

"Um...no", His guilt laden eyes searched her furrowed brows, "I mean I did..three hours or so"

"As I expected" She opened the fridge keeping the bottle back she turned, "You should go home rest for a while, have your breakfast and come. There is still plenty of time for the meeting no need to worry. I am very sure you did not have your breakfast too.."

"Where is the lie?" Zaki popped his head from the door.

Shavez sighed at the two as they were teaming up against him, "Its not the first time and you guys know I can't leave everything and go at this crucial moment!" He explained.

"Ah, as stubborn as a mule. In fact, you look like a mule with that chestnut-colored suit you're sporting," Zaki teased, giving Shavez a friendly pat on the back. To his dismay, he found Shavez glaring at him with gritted teeth, causing his smile to vanish. "I mean, perhaps you should head upstairs; it's much quieter there. Rest for a while at least, or I get the feeling you won't be in a good mood," Zaki suggested, sidestepping to avoid any potential outburst still earned a smack at his shoulder.

"I'll fetch you some breakfast. Wait upstairs," Haya said as she walked towards the exit. Zaki observed her departure and then turned his attention to Shavez, arching an eyebrow with a teasing, lopsided smile.

"Seems like.."

"I don't wanna hear any of your crap Zaki," Shavez rolled his eyes tired of him already, raising a finger before making my way out of the pantry.