Accepting You

Chapter Fourteen

Yusuf normally never paid attention to what Dawood said.

His friend was built like a rag doll. Dawood had a pure heart and a sloppy mouth. Good intentions, but poor deliveries. 

Yusuf bathed whatever his friend said in buckets of salt before he even considered taking it in.

However, it had been two weeks since Yusuf had confessed to Asiya. Yusuf had counted each day that had passed like a prisoner drawing lines on a wall.

Enough time had passed for Yusuf's hope to split and crack and for Dawood's statements to drip through the gaps and, like acid, melt Yusuf's hope down.

His hope was still there, but it was in pieces.

It was like the soggy crumbs of cereal floating around in a bowl of abandoned milk. 

It no longer had the power to create vivid, sweet dreams Yusuf had previously fallen asleep to or to evoke more than a weak nudge in his chest whenever his phone blinked with an unexpected notification.

Yusuf didn't want to give up, but time was also hacking away at his hope. It was smothering his dreams, cruelly popping them like they were bubbles and pushing him into reality. 

One where Dawood had been right. Where Yusuf didn't even get a chance with the girl. One where the girl wanted nothing to do with him.

Maybe Asiya had taken his number and said all those things, not to hold onto him but to subtly get rid of him.

If that was true, Yusuf wasn't angry with Asiya. She had done nothing wrong. He had been the one in the wrong.

What was I thinking? Putting her on the spot like that?

When Asiya spoke to Yusuf that day, she sounded flustered. Like his speech had caused all the air in her lungs to flee. Yusuf had put it down to her being happily surprised, like when someone received an unexpected gift.

But after two weeks of no contact, Yusuf was second-guessing everything.

Asiya may have been scared. She may have been holding her breath because she was reluctant.

Who was he to have decided that she had been happy? How well did he know Asiya to determine that her smile had been genuine and not forced? That the tremors in her voice weren't due to nerves but because she had been nervous around him?

Yusuf didn't want to think about that day and all the assumptions he had made, so he worked excessively so he wouldn't have to.

Before he had seen her, some of Yusuf's memories of Asiya had started fading under the pressing facts of contracts and cases. If he added more work to his pile, he was sure they would fade again.

"How much longer do you think you'll be, Yusuf?" Matthew asked from the desk opposite him.

Matthew stood up and licked his lips before spreading them into a grin. "I've been trying to compete with you, but mate, you're not showing any signs of stopping."

Yusuf lifted his neck and looked around the room. 

Over a dozen busy-looking employees were still scattered across the floor, even though the sun had clocked out of its shift hours ago.

The employment law department was always busy, and anyone who behaved less than that could be accused of not working hard enough. There was always something to do.

Trainee progress was also monitored. No one in the lower ranks wanted to be seen leaving early. Or worse, first.

"I lost track of time," Yusuf said as he rubbed his eyes.