Dareen

8# Lady

Song: Lady- Kenny Rogers.
Dareen
"Good morning." I smiled faintly joining the girls.
"How are you feeling, now?" Christina furrowed her brows.
"I'm good. I'm sorry for the way I acted the other day. Harry was being really annoying." I rolled my eyes.
"He cares for you, Dareen. Don't be stupid. You know that if you had a brother, he would do the same!"
"Whatever."
"Why did you leave the bar in the first place?" Rose asked.
"I was tired."
"I thought that you fainted at work?" Christina narrowed her eyes.
"I felt tired, and then I went to the bar with Rose then, I felt so sick, so I asked them to call Sir Elliot to help me."
"But why didn't you call-" Christina started, but I cut her off with a groan.
"Enough with the subject! Forget about it."
"Why are you mad?" Rose whispered.
"I don't want to talk about anything. Stop stressing me out." I glared at them before standing up.
"Dareen, can we please talk?" Ethan asked from behind me.
"Talk!" I yelled turning around.
"In private." He frowned taken aback by my behaviour.
"I won't go anywhere with you. Stay away from me and let me live my life!" I yelled as I felt myself shaking. I don't think that I was shaking out of fear, it was out of anger. At least that's what I want to know.
"I am sorry, I-"
"Sorry?" I laughed humorlessly. "Let me do something." I nodded to him, and he just closed his eyes with a sigh.
Raising my hand in the air, I slapped him across the face forcing it to fly to the side. "Hope that it marks your face as you marked my body." I whispered making sure that no one can listen except both of us.
"Hey, what's going on?" The security guard approached us.
"Nothing at all." I smiled picking up my books before walking away leaving him behind my back.
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"Good evening, sir." I smiled pushing my office door open.
"Dareen, how are you feeling, now?" He gave me a concerned look.
"I'm good." I nodded handing his a file.
"What's that?"
"It's the report I was supposed to write the other day."
"So good." He nodded.
"What do I have today?" I asked.
"We need to discuss this report before handing it to Sir Adam."
"Okay." I nodded.
"Let's sit in the meeting room?" He suggested and I nodded following him.
"First, I asked Georgianna to get me the reports of the sales since 2010 till now. Look at this graph." He handed me a paper. "Can you see the difference?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
"My plan is to make the profit 2.5% greater that last year. That won't happen except when we start selling out products in the middle east, Canada and Australia."
"That would be perfect, Elliot." My eyes widened. Elliot? I meant Sir.
"Yeah, can you calculate the profit?"
"Sure." I nodded pulling out my phone to find a small blue paper.
Dear Dareen,
I am sorry for putting the paper in your bag that way, but you gave me no chance to explain myself. You're mad and hurt, and I cannot blame you for what happened earlier. I deserved it. If that will help you to forgive you, I am ready to be slapped till tomorrow. Believe me, I am not as horrible as you think. I never touched a girl against her will, and I can ressure you that I wouldn't have really done anything. The alcohol just fucked with my brains that I didn't know what was going on.
All I'm asking for is your forgiveness. My phone number is on the back of the paper. If you do forgive me, please tell me so in a text at least.
Sincerely,
Ethan.
Rolling my eyes, I scrunched it in my fist before throwing it on the table as I took quick heavy breaths.
"What's wrong?" Elliot whispered.
"I'll use the toilet." I excused myself walking to the door.
"Is it something related to what happened the other day?"
"Yeah," I sighed openning the door.
"May I see it?" He hesitated, and I just nodded before walking out and towards the bathroom.
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"I see that you're smiling. I actually thought that you'd tear it." I raised a brow as I stepped back into the meeting room.
"I was going to do that anyway." He scrunched the note and threw it in front of him. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Yeah, I'm good." I smiled faintly.
"It's good that he's feeling bad for what he did."
"The word 'sorry' isn't going to help me. It's too late." I sighed.
"You're right." He nodded.
"Let's get back to our work. I was going to calculate the profit." I changed the subject pulling out my phone.
"Yeah, right." He cleared his throat.
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"May I leave, now?" I smiled closing the folder.
"Of course, thank you for helping me with this, and I am sorry for keeping you till now."
"It's no problem." I shrugged walking to my desk with him following.
"I'm going to drive you home." He announced putting on his blazer.
"You don't have to. I have my car, so it's not a problem." I shook my head.
"Dareen, it's too late, and I don't want to worry about you. Plus, I'm the one who made you stay till now, so the least I could do is to make sure that you reached your home safely."
"Okay." I smiled softly picking up my bag and jacket.
"Wear your jacket; it's cold outside." He ordered.
"Okay." I nodded placing my bag on the desk.
"Let me help you." He whispered helping me as I struggled to wear the sleeve.
"Thank you." I smiled nervously before picking up my bag and walking out of the door with him following.
"How's Uni.?" He asked as we got settled in the car.
"Good." I shrugged.
"If you need any help, tell me. I'm a very good teacher by the way." He smiled pulling out of the driveway.
"I'm sure of that." I giggled.
"I actually wanted to be a professor, but we don't always get what we want, right?"
"That's the ugly truth." I agreed.
"It's life. You have to fight for what you want, and I didn't really have the strength to fight because I have a brother to look after and it's not easy." "Sure. You're the big brother?"
"Yeah, you may say that I'm the father." He sighed switching lanes.
So, his father is dead or...?
I wanted to ask him, but I decided against it.
"We're here." He smiled.
"Let's drink coffee together." I suggested.
"I don't think so. It's too late, and I don't want people to start talking-"
"People will talk anyway, and I trust you with myself." I cut him off. "Please come." I repeated, and he sighed removing the key out of the ignition making me grin.

"Dareen?" I heard Harry calling out.
"Yes, that's me." I looked at him.
"Hello, Sir." He greeted Elliot.
"How are you, Harry?" Elliot grinned shaking his hand.
"Where's Christina?" I asked him.
"She's at home. Her parents returned from Belgium." He said.
"Good." I nodded awkwardly.
"Picky was barking, so I put a bit of food in her bowl."
"Tell me that you took her for a walk after that." My eyes widened.
"I did." He nodded.
"Thanks you." I smiled faintly. "We don't want to bother you. Excuse us." With that I opened the door and Picky ran to me.
"Picky!" I smiled hugging her.
"I didn't know that you had a dog." Elliot smiled as he closed the door behind him.
"She was sick, and stuck at the hospital, but I picked her up yesterday." I explained.
"Hey," He smiled patting her head as she started to sniff his feet and wag her tail. "I'm Elliot." He told her, and she barked at him.
"Nice to meet you, too." He chuckled patting her head again.
"Picky is very friendly." I smiled.
"I see." He nodded sitting on the stool in the kitchen.
"I'll make a ham and cheese sandwich, you like it, right?"
"You don't have to." He shook his head.
Rolling my eyes, I started making two sanwiches for us.
"Is something wrong with Harry?" He asked.
"We're fine. You know the problems between siblings, and he's like my brother." I said quietly.
"I'm sorry for asking."
"It's okay. He just pressured me after you left the other day, and he nearly yelled at me because he knew that something was wrong, but I refused to tell him."
"If you're this close, you should tell him."
"That's something very personal. I don't want anyone to know even if it's just Harry."
"That's your right, and I respect it." He nodded as I passed him the sandwich.
"Juice first or coffee?"
"Juice." He smiled, and I passed him a bottle.
"I don't like it when he acts like this. I know that he cares, but sometimes I just can't tell him what's going on." I sighed.
"Everything will be fine. Forget about it." He tried to comfort me.
"I'm trying." I shrugged.
"You've been living here for so long?"
"I was born is Lebanon, and I was called Dareen after my aunt who died in the war. When I turned 7, dad got killed as well, and my mother said that we must move, so we returned here. Mum, I and Picky turned to this house where we first met Harry." I blinked back tears looking up at him.
"And your mother..."
"She passed away two years ago, and I decided to move on and take a break, so I moved to Seattle and started working in the storage units, but then I felt sick. I needed people in my life that I love. I mean, I had friends, but I needed family. I know that I'm an orphan now, but at least I have Harry. He's a brother from another mother."
"Don't say that. You have Harry, Christina and you have me. I know that we had issues and the beginning, but God only knows how much I care about you now, Dareen." He whispered holding my hand in his.
"You have a heart of gold, Elliot. You don't have to be here and listen to my complains, but you're still here. I feel like we know each others for so long. I never trust anyone this quick, but you gave me a reason to."
"Enough with these words, and eat your sandwich. From now on we will be friends, and if you need anything just tell me."
"Thank you, Elliot." I smiled looking at him for a second before picking up my sandwich again.
There's something- a feeling inside- it's very strange and kinda intimidating. I feel as if Elliot became a part of my life. I trust him with myself. I respect him more than any other one, and I- I like him.
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