DECE-P-TION

DXI

Sultana's point of view.

I look at myself in the mirror, seeing whether everything looks good. He's married, what does it matter? I put down my mirror and put it back in my bag before pushing the button for the trunk. I step out of the car, seeing Rashad loaded their luggages in his car's trunk.

I wave at him as he smiles. I walk to the trunk to take out my luggage. I try to carry it but it stumbles when I see Rashad's hands, taking it from me. I look up at him. "Thank you."

"You know you can't carry it so why try?" I scoff, shutting the trunk. He laughs, enjoying it. "Continue enjoying this Rashad, we'll see who'll be saving your ass."

I walk to his car with my hand bag in my hands. I hear a door shut as I turn to look to see his wife walking down the stairs. "Good day." I say to her and she smiles weakly. "Good day, you must be sultana." She shakes my hand as I notice the white dress she's wearing with a small pink floral pattern my the edges. Her bag matched her bag and shoes that were white and pink open shoes.

"Yes and you're Alya. It's nice to finally meet you." I smile, shaking her hand. "The pleasure is mine. It's nice to know you'll be going with us."

Us?

"Yeah, work." That's all I say, of all things. She nods, taking a deep breath. "We better get moving before the storm catches up to us." She walks to the car and to my surprise, she enters the back seat.

I furrow my brows in confusion. I mean, it can't be that bad, right? I stay in my position for a while, unsure whether I should go to the passenger's or not. Rashad steps out of the car. "Come on, you're in the passenger's seat."

It is that bad.

I walk to the car and get in. I fasten my seatbelt as I turn to look at Falah and he smiles at me. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." I reply. He nods, driving off.

***********

Hours turned to minutes, minutes turned to seconds because every second seems precious. He laughed, teased and judged. His wife didn't interfere at all, all she was doing was call and work on her laptop.

The feelings that I thought has started to vanished grew more. Spending time with him makes me feel like spending time with him forever. As mine.

"Where did you go?" He snaps me out of my thoughts. I loo at him chuckling. "Zoned out." I confess. "I thought I told you to reduce zoning out, it's not healthy for you."

I sigh. "It's not as easy as you think. It just happens, when you're in your head thinking about thousands of things in a second and the minute you're snapped back into reality, it disperses."

"I agree it's not as easy but I believe it's curable. I don't want you getting hurt over you zoning out." He says as I shift my eyes to the mirror but Alya's still engrossed on her laptop.

"I know and I'll work on it more." I smile, flattered by his affection. "Good, could you please hand me those fries? I'm starving." I bring out the fries we bought in a fast food joint.

He tries to take it from me with his eyes on the road. I chuckle, taking a piece and feeding him. He didn't hesitate and never bothered to turn to look at Alya. Alya is still on her laptop. If a person is to see us now, they'll think I'm the wife and she's the secretary.

That's right, I'm still just a secretary.

"Where did sultana go again?" Falah glances at me for a second before shifting his eyes back on the road. "Sorry, I'm still working on it." I feed him another piece, waiting for him to finish eating.

"You're not hungry?"

"Not at all."

"Alya, aren't you hungry?"

"No, never mind me." She says without raising her head up. "Okay." He chews on another. "Why don't you wait to eat when you get there?" He smiles, shaking his head. "Who's going to let me eat? Seyi? Never till maybe when I'm going to sleep."

"No way."

"That's Seyi, you and the bridesmaids, what do you have planned?" I throw a piece in my mouth thinking about it. "I hope i don't lose you in your head again." I laugh, nudging him a bit.

"We have rehearsals, dinner, games, spa day, tryouts, a little this and that. You know how we women are." I shrug giving him a piece. "How?"

"Spontaneous." He laughs at the word I uttered. "What?" I furrow my brows, seeing him laugh loudly. "You're anything but spontaneous." I pull away from him, taking the fries away. "Okay, okay, okay. You're spontaneous." He admits making me laugh.

"You see, the truth prevails." I feed him another piece. "Not with blackmail."

"The truth is the truth." I shrug when I turn to the the gate of the hotel. "It's been four hours already?" I ask shocked. "Yes, it seems like you enjoyed the trip."

"It's nice." I say, getting my things in order. I glance back at Alya who has all her things in order then look back at Falah. He turns off the car and looks at me. "All set?" I nod, getting out of the car.

A group of people welcomed us, giving us flowers and drinks. The woman that seems to be in charge was wearing a shirt with the logo of the hotel. "Welcome to our hotel. We hope to make your stay memorable and enjoyable especially for married couples like yourselves...". I look at Falah who is standing beside me.

Alya wasn't there, she went ahead I gues. "Falah, Alya isn't here." He nods. "She doesn't like waiting."

The woman ushers us into the hotel to the receptionist. "Good day, madam and sir."

"Good day." We chorus as i look up at Falah, smiling. "We made a reservation under Falah Nadeem and Sultana Kabeer."

"Yes, your wife collected one of the keys to your room, here's another and miss sultana, yours as well." The woman hand me my room and Falah's. "Thank you."

We walk to the elevator as reality dawns on me. He's going back to the same room to his wife even after she ignored him the whole drive here but she gets him while I get to sleep alone. Life. She doesn't care that she has him while I'm here thinking about him.

"Are you with me?" I see myself in the elevator already. "Yeah." I smile forcefully. "Toda-".

"I want us to date." I blurt out, cutting him off. "What do you mean?" I turn to look at him, raising my head. "Let's just have fun, it doesn't have to be a relationship. Friends with benefits."

"I'm not going to stay as I hold you back from getting your life together."

"You're not, I'll still be looking for one but having fun with you on the side. We know Alya doesn't care and I miss you."

"We're not going to do that, sultana." Hw declines making me feel embarrassed. "Why?"

"I don't like the idea." I nod, turning to face the elevator door. "Sorry, I thought we were on the same page." I close my eyes, begging the elevator to open as fast as possible so I can leave.

"Hey."I feel his hand holding my arm. I turn around to look at him, tears in my eyes. Immediately he sees my eyes, he pulls me in for a hug. He wraps his arms around me as my head rests on his hard body. "That's so embarrassing." I mutter, wiping the tears off my face.

"No, it's not. You're making me debate whether to
pick my morals or selfish wants." I sniffle. "What are the stats then?"

"Not looking so good, more like 55/45. My morals are giving in." I chuckle, pulling away from him. "I don't what to say but....". I turn to look at the doors the swished open. "I need to go get ready. You should too. We need zulaika to be on our side."

"That's the goal." We walk out of the elevator and down the hall to our rooms. Our rooms opposite each other. "See you later then." I wave off, entering my room. "Sure." He responds opening his door.

I shut my door, leaning on it. I need to get my groove and start excessively socializing.

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