JANNAH

9: PERFECTLY FLAWED

Jannah tried to shut off the noise in the school cafeteria as she put the finishing touches on her project. Five minutes later she breathed a sigh of contentment, sinking back into her plastic chair.

"Hey jann."

The voice startled her and Jannah let out a yell before she could stop herself, the ruler in her hand flew away but Sheikh caught it right before it touched the floor.

"Got it, unscathed!" Sheikh smiled, waving the ruler in the air.

Jannah glared at him, "Were you planning on giving me a heart attack?"

"To this boss lady? Trust me, I'd butcher myself before i do that."

Jannah shook her head with a smile, "What are you doing here?"

Sheikh took the opposite seat and sank back, his hands tucked into his black slacks pockets, he had the first two buttons of his white button down shirt unfastened. "The case. And after our meeting, my friend offered to treat me lunch. What are you doing here?"

"Hey! You can't ask me that question, this whole school is my territory." Jannah gave him the duh face, "Anyway, i ate lunch and decided to finish up my project."

"Don't you ever have a companion?... Oh I forgot a boss lady doesn't need one."

"Stop it!" Jannah pointed a warning finger at him and laughed, "For the second time, its merely a coincidence. You just tend to magically appear whenever I'm alone."

Smiling, Sheikh looked down to the wide paper on the table between them, it was a perfect floor-plan of a two story house, he scrutinized it for a moment. "I want this." He said, without thinking twice.

"What?"

"This is absolutely stunning Jann, i want it. I want to buy it, name your price."

Jannah looked at him like he lost it, she let out a laugh but when she sobered and saw the seriousness of his face, her brows lifted up so high, "What? Are you crazy? This is a project."

Sheikh pushed his rimless glasses up the bridge of his nose delicately, "I know its a project. I have been looking for a plan for a two story house and my architect isn't developing anything artful and i swear this is the best i have seen so far, you made it just for me."

Jannah shook her head frantically, "Please..."

"When is the project due?"

"Next month."

"How long did it take you?"

"Three weeks precisely and you need to stop the wild thoughts running in your head right now."

Sheikh kept his reflective amber eyes on her as he thought for a moment, "I mean it, I'm going to buy this project. It's perfect."

"Don't you have somewhere to be? Perhaps a client to attend to?"

"Don't worry, until i get what i want, I'm not moving an inch."

Jannah flung her head back and let out a weary sigh, what the heck was wrong with this man?

"Okay you can have it." She sighed and quickly added, "Free of charge."

"Don't even think about it, just look at this, you put in so much time and creativity into this work and I'm not about to take it away without giving credit where credit's due."

"Take it as a gift from me to you for the sake of Allah."

"Thank you." Sheikh said, but from the look on his face Jannah was sure he didn't defer to her decision. Like he just let it slide for now. But whatever twisted plan he had in that head of his, she would never accept money from him.