MARRED

CHAPTER ELEVEN - A GLIMPSE OF JEALOUSY

Amanah

"Assalaam'alaykum." Someone greeted from beside me as I await my order at the cafeteria.

"Wa'alaykumussalaam Wa RahmatuLlaah Wa barakatuh." I replied as the chef handed my dish of jollof rice and Mint leaf drink with lemon to me. "JazakumuLlaahu Khairan." I said courteously to him.

"Are you new here?" The stranger asked walking beside me towards my table. He also had his plate of pounded yam and bottled water in his hands.

"Pretty Much."

"Well, congratulations. Amjaad will love you In Shaa Allah."

Yeah. He really does. I thought about Amjaad, the Principal Managing Partner of Amjaad.

"I hope so." I replied casually as I took my seat at the women section, while he went to the men section.

I picked my new iPad and started going through the documents remembering Ahmad's words as I unwrapped his parcel. You are going to need to work from places where it will be impossible to work with papers and Laptops sometimes. Well, I see that now.

I took a sip of my mint leaf tea and as I read through the new file that was sent to me this morning. It was all I was allowed to do since I arrived Amjaad few weeks ago. It was tiring... boring actually. Read, write a recommendation and when I was lucky, draft a few patents.

I understood that they do not trust my abilities as a newbie, but it was non-the-less exasperating. When I had talked to Ahmad about it, he had just said with that annoying smirk of his

"Rules are Rules, baby. Not even I can break them."

Whatever, he had meant by that did not sit well with me. It's not like I was asking him to grant me a promotion or something. But I recall his response when I had told him exactly that.

"You might as well be. Look, you are lucky Dr. Rahina gave such a high recommendation about you, hence your three months-probation, instead of six. It's the only way we can fish out unserious staff."

Truly, I had been told by Hafsah, one of the seniors in my department that Six months was enough time to get a staff more informed about his decision. Amjaad gladly welcomes those who wished to quit during these periods. No need for the three-months Notice. No nothing. She had told me.

But it still did not help. I hated doing nothing. I felt really useless. I was one to learn faster on the job. Make my mistakes and fix them.

"You do not trust me?" I had asked Ahmad.

"This has nothing to do with me, Amma. Your supervisors will give the Partners feedback. I only endorse whatever the Partners agree upon."

"That's it!" I had snapped. "who made this 3-Months rule anyways? Ahmad, It's pure torture."

My words had only increased his smirk. "Now you know how I feel."

I could not believe that he would relate our walimah plans to this. He did not feel useless at least.

"A penny for your thoughts?" a feminine voice intruded my thoughts.

I looked up to find the lady I had last seen at my interview. "Ruqayyah right?" I almost exclaimed.

"Yes. And you are Amanah right?" she asked in turn.

We gave each other a hug. "You made it!' she said to me. "You have no idea how I have been thinking how foolish of me to not have gotten your contact that day."

"I understand. We had both been in a rush and the tension on that day had been immeasurable." I defended.

"Tell me about it." She said as she took her seat beside me. "You know I wasn't really sure if it was you. You look really different. More relaxed, and certainly more beautiful. I would like to hear the secret soon, In Shaa Allah" Said the most beautiful lady I had ever come across.