Beyond Desire

38- You know what dates lead to, right?

Khalid stood unmoving, his focus fixed on me with the quiet certainty of someone who knew waiting would work. He didn't push or make any attempt to fill the silence, he simply remained still, waiting for my reply.

I, on the other hand, was doing everything except answering him.

My eyes drifted past his arm just in time to see Yusuf's car slip away, its taillights flashing once before it disappeared around the corner. The three vehicles he had arrived with remained where they were, lined up along the curb. Men in uniform leaned against the doors with crossed arms and casual posture in a way that wasn't casual at all. They weren't exactly staring at us but they were watching. Fully aware of everything unfolding around them.

Fantastic.

I scraped the edge of my toenail against the inside of my shoe, then glanced around as if the interlocked stones beneath us might suddenly part and reveal a convenient escape route. My throat tightened and without thinking, I lifted a finger to my mouth, chewing lightly while my thoughts tripped over one another.

What was I going to tell him?

When I looked up, he was still watching me calmly. His gaze dipped deliberately to the hand on my mouth, then returned to my face, with one brow lifted just a fraction.

I pulled my finger away immediately and wiped it against my shirt, heat creeping up my neck as I suddenly became hyperaware of every terrible decision my body had made in the last ten seconds.

What is wrong with me?

He gave me the time I hadn't asked for, standing there as though nothing else demanded his attention. The pause stretched long enough for my discomfort to settle in. It left me with the uneasy sense that I was the one being difficult for not answering and even the silence itself had veered the responsibility squarely onto me.

I shifted my weight from one leg to the other as my eyes wandered around, finding everything else but his face very fascinating to look at.

"Who's that?" he asked again.

I swallowed. "Him?" My voice came out thinner than I liked. I cleared my throat and risked a glance at his face before looking away again. "He just... dropped me off."

I gestured vaguely over my shoulder, as Yusuf's car might reappear on cue.

"I can see that," He nodded once, like he was indulging a very confused child. "Which is why I asked who he is."

"I was waiting for an Uber......he stopped and offered to help."

"A stranger?" The word came out slowly, he was testing whether I understood how ridiculous I sounded.

I nodded, folding my fingers together, then unfolding them again, nerves turning my hands into traitors.

He studied me quietly. There was no ounce of accusation in his gaze but with one raised brow, I could almost see the internal debate playing out behind his eyes, whether to let it go or press further.

He held my stare for a second longer, then looked away with a sigh.

"Do I need to give you a lecture about not getting into cars with people you don't know?"

I looked up fast, catching the faint pull at the corner of his mouth. Not quite a smile. More like he was deciding whether to indulge me or drag me by the hand into common sense.

"I can protect myself," I lifted my chin just enough to make a point of it.

"Yeah?" he was clearly calling my bluff without saying so. The moment our eyes locked, it hit me that his mind had gone to the same place mine had. The same memory and unspoken conclusion.