ishq lost & found

34; Attention

There were a lot of new found obstacles appearing the way of Ranya's professional life, all tied to the change in those above her. With the new principal, she found herself extra stressed adapting to the changes he felt the need to implement. And having a stressful marriage wasn't helping one bit.

After her little outburst the other night, Ranya couldn't help but feel awfully embarrassed. After balling her eyes out in his arms, she tried to collect herself and reluctantly pulled herself away. Wiping her tears and letting out an awkward laugh, noticing she had drenched Saad's shirt entirely.

"I'm sorry..." she pointed at his chest, "I'll get you a clean one-" she stepped away, wanting to escape from the embarrassing moment and collect herself a little bit.

Smiling, Saad grabbed her wrist, "It's okay. Let's watch something." he suggested, spending the rest of their night, about an hour or so, seated together watching a movie.

Even with how supportive Saad was being, Ranya hoped her lesson planning would keep her busy and occupied so she wouldn't have to face him til the humiliation disappeared. Sunday went and gone, pretty similarly to the way the other days had been. Saad was still going to occupy himself with work, but he stayed at home in his office for most of the day. Ranya clung to the kitchen table, going over some lesson plans and marking whatever she could.

They barely interacted, stealing glances at one another when Saad finally stepped out for a break from his work, Ranya heating up the moment she'd realize he was looking at her. If this was them during their teenage years, Ranya would easily ask what was going through his mind. Was he judging her? Did he think she was crazy for how she acted the other day? But after what felt like her overreaction from the night before, she didn't want to worsen his impression any more than she already had.

"Are you busy?" Saad asked, grabbing an apple from the island before strolling over towards Ranya, who was anxiously seated at their table hoping she was doing a good job at hiding her unease.

"Kind of, what's up?" Ranya asked, as nonchalantly as possible. Putting her pen down, she watched as he took a seat across from her.

"Nothing. I just have a really long meeting coming up, so I wanted to let you know." Saad explained, glancing at her work, "What are you working on?"

"Lesson plans and marking. Listen- about yesterday, I'm really sorry, I don't expect you to be available 24/7. I was just really overwhelmed, so you don't have to let me know what you need to do." Ranya blurted out, hoping Saad didn't think less of her for her she was behaving the previous night.

Saad was anything but disappointed in her. If anything he was kind of disappointed in himself. The goal was never to make her upset, or to make her cry. The last thing he wanted to do was make her feel anything negative and he thought some space may help. Salman leaving obviously took a toll on her, it made sense the more he thought about it - that she wouldn't want to be by herself all the time. But with the extra work he took on, it would be a lot harder, plus he still wanted to maintain a respectful distance.

"Don't worry about it. I should've been there for you more than I was, but the next couple of weeks are going to be really busy for me, so if I'm not, it has nothing to do with you."

"You must be Ms. Khan." a deep voice interrupted Ranya mid thought, breaking her from the trance she had been in, thinking about herself and Saad. Confused, and not having known she'd have a guest, her immediate reaction was to furrow her brows at the unfamiliar man before her.

"I am... And you are...." she implored, staying leaned against her desk across the door where he stood. Taking her question as an invitation, he welcomed himself into her classroom, wearing a smile on his face that was almost creepy.