Occhiolism (#2 in the Hajar Series) [ON HOLD]

five

chapter five - hallucinate

song of the chapter; worse - snoh aalegra

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FARAH INHALED THE warm smell of cheap coffee brewing over the machine as she wiped her hands on her waitress' apron, turning to stick an order to the cook's window. She huffed, tucking a loose, curly tendril that escaped her low bun behind her ear before turning around. What she didn't expect, however, was to almost bump into her coworker and nearly knock over the tray of food she was carrying.

"Sorry, Jen," she apologized, offering her a sheepish smile as she carefully moved around her. It was difficult to manoeuvre around behind the counters, there was barely enough space to allow two people to move at the same time. However, Farah did enjoy having something to do, and waitressing was something she was familiar with, so naturally, it was the first job she applied for.

Jen grinned back at her, "No worries, hun. Can you grab the coffee and go serve that gentleman over there?" She nodded to the man in the corner of the diner that had been discreetly watching Farah the entire time. Truth be told, Farah was kind of creeped out by his obnoxious staring, but every time she turned to him, he looked away. "Between me and you," Jen leaned a little closer and lowered her voice, "I think he's into you, he's been checking you out ever since he walked in."

Farah rolled her eyes, "Thanks, but no thanks," she was far from interested with the stranger, but Farah couldn't get mad at Jen for urging her to engage with him more than considered decent. She was keeping her title and relations with Israfil under wraps, she didn't want it to be outed that Israfil was her mate (she preferred the term romantically involved) because she knew that people would treat her differently. For now, she just wanted to live in familiar peace and bask in the happiness that she still had, even though the nightmares and hallucinations were back.

"Your loss," Jen shrugged, "He's fine as hell."

She wasn't necessarily wrong. To an onlooker, the stranger could be deemed as attractive with his light green eyes and messy black hair, but Farah wasn't engrossed with him like other men or women that looked at him. She was simply... unbothered? uneasy? Still though, to ignore his request for a refill on his coffee would be unprofessional. So she sucked it up, told herself to stop being so paranoid, grabbed the now finished jug and made her way over.

The mere few seconds that took Farah to refill his cup felt like hours and the air was clouded with awkwardness, the sound of retro pop music playing in the background accompanied with the chatter of others in the diner. She felt his eyes burning into her the entire time, and nervously, she sent him a shaky smile before turning and walking back to behind the counter where she finally breathed a sigh of relief.