UNCONDITIONAL

V

That night Harleen and Noor arrived at Noor's house a couple hours early. It was only 8 PM so the machines and people were very actively still buzzing around the house. Noor saw her Bhuji (dad's sister), who was also Prem's Tayiji (dad's brother's wife) and their only living relative, seated on the sofa next to the fireplace and TV in the living room. She went over and greeted her with a smile before taking a seat at her feet and placing her head in her lap.

"My baby. I haven't seen you in four days." Her aunt caressed her head before bending down and placing a kiss on her cheek.

"I know. I've been having to leave early and come back late." Noor replied closing her eyes in relaxation.

Harleen watched in awe. She hadn't seen Noor smile or even look anywhere closed to relaxed so far.

"And who is this?" Noor's aunt asked gently as her eyes fell on Harleen.

"I'm Harleen. Mrs. Dhaliwal's new assistant. Well, her secondary assistant but you probably never get to see her anyway. By her, I mean her head assistant and since I'm the only one you will see, I'm probably the only one you think of as her assistant. And she's more of an office assistant, whereas I'm the personal assistant. So...you know what I mean." Harleen realized she had spoken more in that one line than anyone in that house had over the course of probably a week.

"That's a beautiful name, Harleen." Bhuji smiled at her warmly.

"Thank you! My mother named me. I was named..." Harleen began only to realize she was blabbering on again and no one really cares how she was named. "Sorry. I tend to talk more than I mean to at times."

"No! Please don't hold back. This house can do with more words from energetic people like yourself." Bhuji assured her. Harleen could tell this woman truly liked her.

"Did you take your medication?" Noor questioned looking up at her aunt.

"I did." Her aunt replied.

"It's late. You should probably sleep soon." Noor stated looking at the clock showing 8:30 PM.

"I know, just a bit longer. I haven't seen Prem from a few days either. He should be on his way home." Noor's aunt reasoned.

Noor would have loved to see him too, but going off of the morning scene, she knew he would highly dislike it if he saw her, so she bid her aunt good night and headed to her room for the night. Harleen also left to prepare for the next day but couldn't wait to be back in the morning.

The next few days went by according to Noor's regular monotonous routine. Meanwhile Harleen scrutinized every word, and every movement of Noor's down to the dot. The way Noor did business was flawless to say the least, she made no mistakes. She had the most knowledge, the most resources, the most influence, and therefore the highest rate of success. She knew what she wanted and exactly how to achieve it. Harleen was not wrong for idolizing her – the business side of her.