ishq lost & found

17; Pest

Saad sat in his home office, the soft hum of his computer and the rustling of papers the only sounds breaking the silence. He had been working all morning, only having seen Ranya at the breakfast table for the third time in a row. It seemed everyday that she grew quieter and quieter, but he wasn't going to press her into changing that. The more separate their lives, the easier this whole thing would be on his conscience.

Somehow though, today, his thoughts of Ranya seemed to decline. It was a stark difference from the past couple of days. But the case he was working on was also a tough one, having more than the usual amount of paralegals on it, sending his tons of research this morning. He was deeply engrossed in this case, a complex corporate merger that demanded his full attention. 

His concentration was abruptly broken by his phone ringing. He looked over at the vibrating nuiscance, shaking his head at the distraction before he flipped it over to see who was calling. It was a number he did recognize, but just couldn't attach a name to. Putting a pause on the reviewing, his picked up. 

"Hello?" He greeted, wondering if it was one of his friends. 

"Hi!" a feminine voice chirped on the other side, her high pitched voice catching Saad off guard. "Is this Saad? Saad Aslam?" 

"Yes. Who am I speaking to?" He asked, already growing tired of what seemed like a waste of time. 

"It's Zara! I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw who I was helping, so I just had to call! How are you!" she squeaked, her voice increasing in pitch as she spoke. 

Saad furrowed his brows, trying to recall who this girl was and why she seemed to know him. But he couldn't be bothered to waste any time on this, promptly ignoring her previous statement, "It's nice to hear from you." He lied, "But I'm kind of busy right now-"

"Well that's what this is about!" she interrupted, something that often irritated Saad. "I'm one of the paralegals for your recent case, I was actually working on some stuff right now and I was wondering if you could meet me so we could discuss it?" She asked, her voice a little hard to discern as Saad continued to try to place a face to this name and annoying voice. 

Running a hand through his hair, placing her on speaker phone, "Let me check my schedule and see if I can make it." He replied, opening up his calendar to take a look. Although somewhat reluctant, having a bit of time to spare, his curiosity regarding this mystery woman intrigued him, so he agreed. 

Ranya sat in her room, bored out of her mind. She could not wait to go back to her classroom, but there was only so much she could prep for them and only so many emails she could read or send. Closing her laptop after staring at her screen for some time, trying to decide what to do, she texted Dua, asking her to hang out. 

In the middle of the day??? - Dua 

It's 2pm, I know you're not busy. Pls.- Ranya

Ok bc I miss you 😘 - Dua 

Grinning at her phone, Ranya decided to get ready, unaware of what Saad was doing, sure he was locked away in his office. But, upon descending the stairs, she saw him grabbing a jacket and his keys. 

"You're going somewhere?" she asked, stepping down the last few steps as she grabbed her own set of keys. 

Giving her a brief glance as he put his jacket on, he replied, "Yeah." 

Biting her tongue to keep herself from responding with a similar sass, she just nodded, heading out as he held the door open for her. Of course he was going out for work, she wondered why she even bothered giving him the satisfaction of her curiosity. 

Saad wasn't sure why he agreed to meet up with this girl 10 minutes into the drive, his eyes glancing towards the time every few seconds as he calculated just how much he could have done in this time frame had he not agreed. Arriving at the cafe she had texted him, he walked in, the strong whiff of espresso hitting him in the face. 

She picked a nice spot, with brown furniture and emerald walls, some hints of gold here and there, he looked around for a moment, spotting a woman sitting just in front of one of the large windows. She had been peering around, finally noticing him as well, she smiled, gesturing him over.

 Once he sat down, she beamed, "Saad! How are you! It's been so long!" 

He nodded, his face the complete opposite, "I've been busy with work. And you?" 

"I'm great!" she replied, taking a sip of her coffee as she continued to smile at him, somehow not sensing his lack of interest. 

"What did you want to discuss regarding the case?" he asked, glad he brought his laptop as maybe this could be a good use of time. 

"We can talk about that later! Why don't you order something too?" She suggested, closing up her own laptop just as Saad pulled his out. 

Quickly irritated, he shook his head. "I'm good, thanks." he replied, typing in his password as he figured he might as well do something while she tries to pry information out of him. He just wanted to see if he knew her, and he did. She was not a friend, but somewhat of a pest, having latched on to him during their first few years of college til he got accepted into a law school and got rid of her for good. Or so he thought. 

"Are you sure? It's so late, have you eaten?" She asked, her voice sweet and laced with concern. A concern Saad did not care for. 

"No. I'll be eating dinner with my wife after this." he answered, staring at his laptop screen as he tried to drown out her annoying voice. 

That sweet loving smile she had been wearing all day dropped. When she heard he was going to be working at the same location as her, she knew their paths were bound to collide once again, the excitement she had felt in the pit of her stomach for days vanished, turning into anger and jealousy. 

"Your wife? You're married?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as she asked, a trick she had been taught in order to win the affections of men. She tried keeping her breathing in control when Saad nodded, lifting up his hand to show the plain band decorating his ring finger. 

"You never told me you were married..." she trailed off, her lips flat as she decided to try to distract herself by focusing on work instead of who his wife may be, opening up her laptop again. 

"Well, we're not friends. I'm not here to discuss anything besides work related matters with you." Saad answered in a cold and bored tone, he was beginning to get fed up by her persistent pestering and lack of attention to detail which was crucial for this case. 

"Well, we should be friends! Come on, let's take a break and continue after eating a bit?" she asked once again, switching back to her annoying and whiny voice, ignoring the obviously angered look Saad sent her way. 

Clenching his jaw, he closed his eyes for a moment as if to reset before giving her a small, tight lipped, feigned smile, finally giving in since it meant that she may let him work. 

Completely unbeknownst to Saad, his sister and his wife had been in the area, browsing about and window shopping. It was a calm, but somewhat chilly day, as so the two decide it was the perfect weather to take a walk, but they quickly found themselves craving something warm. 

"Is that Saad bhai?" Dua asked, walking side by side with Dua as they strolled on the other side of the road. Somehow, his sisters sharp eye caught a glimpse of him, recognizing him instantly through the window. 

Ranya, thoroughly confused at the mention of her husband, looked in the same direction only for her heart to drop. She didn't actually expect to see Saad. And definitely not with some women. Hundreds of questions ran through her brain, her head spinning in anger. Is this what he was going to do throughout the marriage and behind her back? Swallowing both the hurt and anguish she felt, she avoided looking Dua in the eyes. 

"It doesn't matter, this marriage isn't real.

-

I hope this didn't suck 😭