It's Too Late To Love Me Back

Chapter 20

_" Rima, I'm really sorry.. I didn't know this would happen, now please stay until you calm down a bit at least, I can't let you leave while you're this unwell." Younes finally says after listening to every word I had to say.

He blocked my attempt to leave, and had me seated down on a sofachair while he sat on the opposite side and kept looking at the ground pensively, if he did so much as to lift his head he would have noticed how I glared at him resentfully, but he didn't.. he just looked at the ground and looked like there was a thousand thoughts fighting in his head.

I would have left if I could, believe me, the only reason I didn't leave was because he stood like a mountain and blocked the door, with a face that said: " if you succeed to push me off your way then I'll follow you out and block you again, and if you still somehow succeed to push me off again I'll block you a third time, you're not leaving until I think you're good to go."

Obviously, I had no energy to fight such persistence.

So I'm just sitting on the sofachair, glaring.. waiting for my tears to stop.. and they soon did.

He suddenly stands up, heads back to his desk, and asks for a glass of water and a pack of ice to be brought to the office through the inner line.

Then he lifts his gaze while standing behide his desk, and finally looked at me, for a considerable length of time, he just silently looked me with a mysterious emotion and kept the reason he did that for to himself.

There were a lot of instances where Younes did this before, I remember often shamelessly asking him:

_" Why do you keep looking at me so much? am I so pretty?"

He would laugh while shaking his head, and answer:

_" You are indeed pretty, but that's not why I'm looking at you."

_" Then why?"

_" Just because." 

Nonetheless, the way he was doing it today was somehow different, there was no hapiness or playfulness in his gaze, he's not smiling at the smallest provocation, nor is he curiously observing my little habits and mimicking them to tease me, there was no left life in the gaze that is watching me silently now, and again, I'm confident if I boldly ask him:

_" Why are you looking at me? are you feeling guilty that much?"

He would answer:

_" While I'm feeling guilty, that's not the reason I'm looking at you, it's .. just because."

While I'm dwelling these thoughts, the secretary who helped me inside earlier, comes in holding a tray that had a glass of water and an ice bag on it, she throws a quick confused gaze at the book that was still thrown on the ground.. then continues her way, while she gingerly puts the tray on the little table in front of me she asks whether I wanted anything else, I shook my head.

When she left, I turned to look at Younes again, only to find him holding his phone trying to call someone, when the call was picked..  I was surprised to realize the receiver was the last person I expected Younes Merabat to be calling in this lifetime: it was Marwan.

Younes said:

_" Rima is here in my office now, she's a little unwell, could you come take her home?"

_" Why did you call Marwan? also, I'm driving myself out of here.. I don't need anyone to look after me." I say the moment he cuts the call, my curiosity beat me.