Searching

Chapter 27

Searching
Katibah Elle
Chapter 27

Tahseen walked in to the house and flopped down on the couch, blowing away a strand of hair that escaped from her hijab.

She was absolutely exhausted.

Eric needed to attend a medical seminar the day after the mural viewing, thus leaving her to take over all his patients, and see to her own patients as well.

She also had Eric’s medical students follow her through out the day, to take notes of her work, and she promised to help them with their reports.

Both she and Sister Linda worked crazily, barely getting a chance to grab a bite.

On top of all of that, Zuhair made a stop by her office today at three pm, letting her know that he needed to meet his new client Mr Bilal Valli, who lives out of town.

Mr Bilal Valli called him in two weeks earlier than their arranged time.
Since this wasn’t just one client, but the entire family, Zuhair would be gone for the entire week, staying at the Valli’s hotel.

Tahseen knew of Valli’s , all thirteen brothers, with their children and even some grandchildren, all living on one massive plot.

Apparently Zuhair was acquainted with one of the brothers from high school, who had heard about his excellent book keeping skills, and invited both Zuhair and Tahseen over for the weekend.

Tahseen had initially agreed, had the trip been two weeks later.
Right now though, there was no way she could just leave work, not with Eric gone and the majority of responsibilities left to her.

Seeing all his bags packed made Tahseen’s heart lurch uncomfortably.
This was the first time, since their Nikah that they were going to be apart.
Their hug and kiss goodbye wasn’t enough to convey all their love, and as Zuhair walked away with a final wave, Tahseen felt tiny little tears escape her eyes.

She made a silent prayer for his safety, the dangerous ache inside of her beginning to grow.
That was all the time she had to feel sad, before being thrown back into the chaos at work.

Now that she was at home, with no Zuhair to cuddle up to, she felt so lonely.
There was no point in cooking for one person, so pulled out her phone and placed an order at The Señorita Café.

“Hi.. May I place an order please?
I’d like one of your savoury croissants, with the smoked pastrami and cream cheese and a large salted caramel milkshake please. Oh and please add a packet French fries. Just salted. Yes that will be all. It’s for Tahseen. Yup that’s the address. OK, perfect. Thank you.”

She didn’t move from where she lay, and just grabbed her files from her bag and flicked aimlessly through the medical reports of one of her patients.

Her brain refused to absorb any of the information in front of her, and instead her anxiety levels began to rise, one bar at a time.

Her thoughts were coming forth in waves, making her paranoid.
She was so sure Zuhair had been acting strange for the last few days.

The sweet man planned such a lovely dinner as her surprise for the mural success.
Her entire family came over as well as his parents, Eric and Linda.
He’d been attentive the entire evening, never leaving her side.

Yet every time she held him, she could have sworn she felt him stiffen, and not the good kind.
Very much like he didn’t want her to touch him, but he couldn’t say it.

That wasn’t the only strange thing, when he left today, he wouldn’t stop insisting that she go by her parents while he was away.
He had valid points, that her being alone wasn’t safe, but the intensity behind it unsettled her.

Tahseen had thought about going to her parents, she still wanted to decide, given with how busy she was at work , but Zuhair informed her that he already called her brother Abdullah to fetch her later.