Besabriyan

15|FIFTEEN

She pursed her mouth in a thin line as she stood on his floor, her heart rummaging inside. She wasn't ready to meet him in the eye but she wasn't in the place to avoid him– not when it could lead to any more misunderstanding. Last night that she had to spend alone on the cold floor was nothing less than the flaring hell, thinking about him again and again. She thought of the ways he would have broken down and pulled himself together. She thought of the ways he would overcame the pain and bereavement. She thought of the ways how he would throw her out of his life and nothing killed her more than the mere idea of being abandoned and forgotten by him.

The subtle bead work in the embroidery of her dupatta chafed the inside of her thumb as she ran her fingers over it in discomfort. Nobody was looking at her yet it felt like everyone's eyes watched her tiniest movements. The social anxiety rushing back at her in such a force that she wouldn't be held back by him like every time he did now that she pushed him away.

After a few minutes of standing there like a mannequin, she was forcibly pushed aside as his colleagues poured out of the elevator- making their way to the conference hall only to be followed by the man she wished to get a glimpse of– his entire concentration was on the call as he walked past her leaving her in a sudden haze. Guilt and remorse creeping up her skin when he showed no signs of weakness like he had. Zaviyar Ali Dawar seemed perfectly fine for someone who was dumped by the woman he fell for. The facades he pulled very often didn't fail to amuse her.

"Miss Kamran?" Startled by the abrupt intrusion, her fist curled around her dupatta, turning over her shoulder to find one of the fellow interns with two folders in his hand. Her eyes taking a glance at Taimoor who now respectfully maintained a distance from her.

"Yes?" With her eyes still on the folder that had her name, she asked.

"We are to take a part in the meeting that is about to be held in-" He stopped, "Three minutes." He shook his head now that he was sure of the minutes to count on his fingers.

However, it didn't sit well with her because taking part in the meeting meant sharing the same space as him and she wasn't ready to face him yet. Not when the wounds were still fresh. Taking the folder from him, she scurried away from the place to gasp for air. When she was admitted into the company, she was appointed as a full time employee who would resume her job after the completion of her master's program and the internship was only for the training purpose but being involved in an important meeting such as this one, she knew she was going to screw it up.

The lunchroom caught her attention and her heart sank. It hadn't been twenty four hours since their last encounter in the lunchroom and now she lost him. The tip of her nose burned as tears threatened to spill out and she reminded herself to not cry in her work place. She was spiralling, her thoughts were spiralling and she didn't know how long would she last before the pressure in her heart exploded, pushing down on her knees.

"Maheen?" No one called her by her first name in the office other than him. Her eyes shut by itself in an attempt to stop the tears because this time the one who called her by her first name wasn't him but his assistant.

Maha slowly warmed up to her in the span of two weeks- gradually embracing her as a part of the company and training her for her future. It didn't escape her eyes- how her boss curled his fist, feeling her presence the second he stepped out of the elevator and how she stiffened at the sight of him. Maha wasn't unaware of the chemistry between the two of them, she simply waited for the right time to understand more of it.

Smiling apologetically at the young woman, Maha gave another folder to her. Aghast and uncertain, Maheen looked at it and then at Maha, thinking of the ways to back out from the meeting, "Can I not go to the meeting?"