Always || Kavetham

Chapter 13

Kaveh was in the desert, sitting down beneath a tree for some shade next to his client while chewing on an apple. His client was talking to him about how the design could be improved in the nicest way anyone possibly could. Kaveh would usually be super offended when someone would criticize his creativity, but she was nice this time, so he let it slide. Actually, while they were discussing, Kaveh found her idea pretty interesting. That was another reason he let it slide.

The client turned to look at Kaveh and gave an awkward smile, "Could you please fix that part?" She said, followed by an awkward chuckle, knowing how Kaveh didn't take these things lightly.

Kaveh hesitantly nodded, only because her idea made sense, and she was a nice client. "Sure. I'll get to work right away." He stood up.

The client's awkward smile turned into a genuine one, "Great! I'll be heading off then. I'll see you in... three days?" She asked, trying to get the recollections of the days they had their meetings.

Kaveh nodded, and the woman walked off. He was quite relieved that he didn't have to come to the desert for another three days as their would be inspectors coming to see how the project was going so far and taking notes of what could be improved. The project was for public use after all. He walked back to the group of architects that he'd been assigned to work with that. He saw they were also talking to the client, probably reassuring her about the project. A few seconds later, the woman finally walked away.

Kaveh walked over to his group so that he could be seen by them. He sighed, knowing it would be a really, really long day. Kaveh then accidentally dropped the finished apple he was holding, and turned around to bend over and pick it up.

"Um.. Kaveh?" Kaveh heard one of his co-workers saying, then he turned around. An architect chuckled dryly, "You've got a lot of... scratches on your back."

Kaveh's eyes went wide and his face flushed, "Um—.... They're cat scratches! The cats at my house have just been a bit aggressive lately." He awkwardly laughed.

The co-worker folded his arms, "You said you didn't have any cats at your house." That was right. Kaveh wanted cats, but didn't have them because Alhaitham was allergic.

Then another voice laughed, "Seems you had quite a lot of fun last night, Kaveh."

The comments made Kaveh blush even more, and he looked down and started stammering, "Guys I—... Let's not talk about that and, you know, continue our work." Then they all did just that.

A few hours of minor improvements to the building, Kaveh was absolutely exhausted. He told his co-workers he was going to take a break and headed to sit under a shade. He grabbed a bottle of water and started drinking from it, letting out a loud sigh after.

Kaveh reached out for one of his designs he'd been working on for the past couple of days in his suitcase. He held it in his hand, and it seemed to be something of a square shape that had some buttons and a speaker. Kaveh pressed one of the buttons and started speaking into it, "I love you, Alhaitham." He stopped the recording and pressed another button. There, it played his recording. Finally, finally, he'd perfected his prototype. He was definitely going to give this one to Alhaitham-wait.. no. Why would he even say such a thing into the recorder and give it to Alhaitham? He stuffed his device back into the suitcase and threw his head back against the tree trunk. Kaveh closed his eyes, and fell asleep shortly after.

Kaveh woke up soon after-maybe thirty minutes-His eyes were squinting, trying to see what was happening. He suddenly realized he'd feel asleep on the job. Kaveh quickly got up and ran back to his co-workers, panting a bit. He looked up at them and smiled awkwardly.

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After another few hours, it was finally time to go back home. Kaveh was walking in Port Ormos after he got back from the desert, looking for anything to eat. Suddenly, he stopped, seeing that girl he met at the port the other day talking to Alhaitham. Alhaitham? Why would he be talking to someone like her?