Mistaken Perception

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It was official. Gabriel was losing his mind and he honestly didn't know if he cared anymore at this point. Here he was with a ton of paperwork on his desk, and he kept getting distracted by Aisha.  

Of all the things or people that should cause his mind to wander, he thought irritably. 

She wasn't even doing anything remotely interesting, and yet, he found his eyes straying towards her. With a frustrated sigh, Gabriel ran a hand through his hair, before deciding to rest his head a bit on his desk. Maybe, if he didn't see her, he wouldn't get distracted by her?

But that thought only seemed to last a few seconds, before thoughts of Aisha's smile or laughter began to circle his mind. 

He stopped the impulse to bang his head against the desk. His inability to focus in the office was something he had been dealing with for about a week and a half.  He didn't know when or how it had even started, but the more he talked with Aisha, joked with her, and treated her nicely, the more she began to consume his mind. 

"This is just fantastic," growled Gabriel in frustration. 

"What is?" asked Aisha curiously as she came into his office. She had in her hand some papers that needed his signature. Her black flats not making any noise of warning. 

Why couldn't she wear heels for once? He thought to himself. 

Gabriel sat up straight the minute he heard her voice. Desperately trying to fight back a wide smile. He wasn't just losing his mind he thought, he was going crazy.

 Because, Gabriel didn't smile. In fact, he had to force that particular facial expression on his face, and now, here he was fighting it. 

"Ya, big bro, share the fantastic news," said the breezy voice of Sebastian. Gabriel didn't have to fight the smile any longer, his face naturally taking on it's bored/annoyed expression.  

Maybe he should have his younger brother in his office so he can focus. 

"Do you need my signature?" he asked Aisha, deciding it was best to ignore Sebastian. 

"Ya, I need to fax these over to Yunus," she said, placing the papers on his desk.

He watched as her hands naturally tried to tidy up the messy papers on his desk. He had found out quite early on that she had a slight obsession with keeping things neat, not that he minded, he found her habit endearing and cute.

Gabriel froze. 

Cute? Where did that come from? What was happening to him? And that hadn't been his original thought about her "neatness" habit. In fact, making things messy was one of the ways he used to annoy her. 

"Gabriel? would you like another cup of coffee?" asked Aisha cautiously, her voice dripping with a bit of concern.

"Huh..no. Why?" he asked looking up to meet her eyes, which was a mistake because now he couldn't bring himself to look away. 

"You look a little out of it..." Aisha said gently as if unsure of how he would react.

"Ya...I think I need some fresh air," replied Gabriel, closing his eyes and rubbing his face. 

"Is that really what you need?" came the probing voice of Sebastian near his ear.

Gabriel opened his eyes to look at his younger brother. When had moved next to him?

"Is there something you need?" asked Gabriel with a frown, quickly signing the papers and then standing up to go. 

"Oh no, not me. But, our beautiful Aisha had a request for the both of us," smirked Sebastian putting emphasis on the word beautiful, as if sensing what was making his brother act abnormally.