farewell - kavetham / haikaveh

02 | the special dish

alhaitham had just finished making dinner. for tonight, he decided to make sabz meat stew. it was a dish he mastered at, and he knew that kaveh liked it a lot as he'd often ask for more every time he made it. he actually got the recipe from a tavern at the city, but he added a secret ingredient to make it special.

as he was plating the dish, he was hoping that kaveh would appear to see what he was making. unfortunately, he didn't. usually the smell of the dish would make kaveh impatient and get a closer look at it to eat it even if it was still extremely hot, but this time he didn't, which made alhaitham even worried.

although alhaitham wouldn't admit it out loud, he cared for kaveh a lot. ever since they studied at the akademiya together, no matter the amount of times they've fought and argued, no matter the amount of times he'd call kaveh annoying, no matter the amount of time he tried to get rid of kaveh—that man was always in his mind and he wished he wasn't.

sometimes, alhaitham even felt guilty after starting a fight with him. he knew that kaveh was the emotional type of guy and was quite fragile, but sometimes he just couldn't hold his own emotions. at this point, he was quite surprised that kaveh didn't want to move out of his shared quarter.

probably because he has no other option, actually...

alhaitham sighed and placed the two plates of sabz meat stew on a tray. he then brought the tray with him to kaveh's door and knocked on the door gently.

"kaveh?" alhaitham called. "it's me, i made dinner for us to eat together."

no response.

"i made your favorite—sabz meat stew. want some?"

no response.

"...please? if you want to eat alone then i understand. i'll place the plate of food outside of your door, okay? just make sure y–"

the door suddenly opened and a curious kaveh peeked his head outside.

alhaitham studied his face for a while. it seemed like kaveh was crying as he could see his slightly wet cheeks and red eyes. kaveh noticed that alhaitham was looking at his face, so he quickly hid behind his door.

"hey..." alhaitham said quietly. "why are you hiding from me? don't do that. ah—here, please eat."

alhaitham nudged kaveh's hand so that he could take a plate of the dish he made. kaveh took it and held on to it tightly.

"want me to accompany you as you eat?" alhaitham asked, to which kaveh nodded at. he opened his door wider so that alhaitham could walk in.

kaveh's room was messy. alhaitham could see ink and paint all over the place. there were multiple brushes laying on the floor and many scrolls of paper ripped and thrown to the trashcan on the edge of his room.

alhaitham placed his plate on kaveh's messy desk as kaveh himself sat on the floor and ate his in silence. alhaitham inspected a piece of the many pieces of ripped paper and saw a writing that (from what he could see) said "...340,000 mora, what do you say?" from what alhaitham guessed, it was a deal that a client had made with kaveh, and it seemed that said client was the one that kaveh argued with that afternoon.

alhaitham threw the paper away to the trashcan. he picked up his plate of food and sat next to kaveh, who was still eating in silence.

alhaitham decided to not say anything and just eat beside kaveh. although he was really confused and worried, he knew that he should keep quiet and allow the distressed man himself explain when he's ready.

after a while, kaveh finished and placed his plate on the floor next to him. he watched as alhaitham continued eating his. he was hoping that he'd ask why on earth was his room a mess, but he realized that he was allowing him to take his time and tell him when he's feeling better.

kaveh looked away from alhaitham, "i'm sorry."