Fated?

<6>

Waking up from gentle kisses was something Aleeza always missed in the mornings, the soft warm lips of her mother which can kiss away all the sleep and pain she ever had, was the best wake up call she could've ever asked for. But today, it was a beautiful spring morning, the bright sun spilling through a small gap in the curtains causing a pleasant warm line of sun to spread accross the bed. Aleeza blinked her eyes awake a few times before her eyes met her surroundings. Her sleep vanished. Jumping out of the bed, she tidied it, as if it was untouched, then ran back to her room using the ladder and then bringing the ladder back in her room.

Still sore from all the beatings she received the day before, her head was killing her and she wouldn't be surprised if she had a concussion. She took two Panadol tablets to hopefully make the pounding in her head subside and nearly died when she saw her reflection. She had a bruise on her hairline, which was covered with a bandage. Her make up smeared and tear stains covered her cheeks, one cheek was swollen slightly. While she bathed and changed, she noticed a large bruise on her stomach.  Sighing tiredly as she ran a hand in her hair which looked absolutely like a  bird's nest. Finally, changing into some jeans and pairing it up with a random shirt she found in her wardrobe, she concluded that she lost the job. She made her way downstairs and out into the front lawn.

"Aleeza!!" Her neighbour, a 50 year old lady, Mrs. Ruwaish called. She turned around and walked to the gran-couple and gave them a smile.

" Dear, you went to the interview right, what happened? How did it go? Also was the C-" Mr. Ruwaish kept bombarding her with his questions.

"Yoosha! Stop asking so many questions at once. Oh honey, come sit here and drink this and tell me all about it, okay." Mrs. Ruwaish intervened. Aleeza smiled at the old couple as she sat down with them and took a sip from her cup.

"Granu, you said the CEO was your childhood friend, but he is quite young maybe a little bit older than me, I was expecting some grey or white hair bearded old man. I mean if he is your childhood friend, he must as old as--" She got cut off by a loud gasp from Granny.

Both Aleeza and Grannu turned towards Granny only to find her thin fingers covering her mouth and her eyes glazed with tears. When they followed her gaze which ended on Aleeza's left hand, they both gasped too.

The Emerald Ring.

Grannu held her hand up , he himself was now holding back tears of an unknown cause.

"D-dear who- who gave you th-this ring?"

"Uhm-I--Grannu uh-He forcefully did this. I mean Granny-believe me. I-I just told him all those cause I was very angry and anxious but-but he took it seriously a-and slipped the r-ring in my finger. I even forgot about it. Geez I should have removed it by now. I'll just throw it. Yeah I will. No, but it seems expensive. I'll just return it to him..yeah..that sounds better, huh-okay granny? Sounds good? But I cant go back, wait Grannu, he's your childhood friend, yeah? So you return it to--" Aleeza got shushed when Granny smacked her head.

" Oh lord! This girl speaks a lot. God forbid! How is Bennie going to handle her? He is already a guy if littlepatience!" Granny exclaimed0.

"Bennie? Who is Bennie?" Aleeza asked confused. "And why will he 'handle' me? What do you mean by that, Granny?"

"Oh dear, Bennie--he is..." She tried to come up with an explanation but then Aleeza's phone rang.
Never in her life was Mrs. Ruwaish this thankful of a phone call.

"Hello?" Aleeza answered the call.
"Is this Miss Aleeza Amaari speaking?" A lady spoke from the other side.
"Yes and who might you be?"
"I am speaking from The Rizwi Exports & Imports and you are suppose to report here at the office by 8:45 but its 9:15 already. Mr. Rizwi is very strict about punctuality. He immediately wants you to report to his office right now. Bye."