Thorns and Berries

Chapter nine

Hameed
 
         
"What the heck!"
         
"You again?"
   
We both growled at each other simultaneously, springing to our feet the next second, shock transformed in each of our faces. It was obvious she was not as pleased to meet me again as I was.
       
"What in the world are you doing here wearing this..." Her eyes flicked all over my body, her face twisted up in dislike, greeting me with the same coldness I had on my expression too. "...ridiculous uniform."
     
I scoffed. I was already beginning to have enough of her. She was a sick woman who needed urgent psychiatric attention. Everything about her screamed so.
      
"How's that any of you business? The question here should be...why in the heavens were you running around in the mall like a thief?"
    
She blanched.
        
"Me? A thief?"
       
"You just confirmed the word yourself."
       
"Why would I want to steal anything from here?"
       
"Cos you don't have enough. You're just a needy desperate young lady." I answered, arms crossed over my chest, enjoying the pitying look on her face as I tried to contain the laughter already caught up in my throat.
       
"Thank you for the not-so-funny insult." She pushed her lips in annoyance. "Now, get out of my way."

She made to push her way past me but I caught her grips. My heart suddenly missed a skip as I did. She had one of the most undeniably sleek and feminine pair of hands I had touched and my body weakened as our skins met. I didn't understand the reason for this. I had never been overpowered by a woman like this before. Her expression hardened and I cleared my throat, letting go of her hand.
       
"I just want to let you know something, Ms Husna Tanimu." I peered directly into her eyes and that was when I took notice, for the first time, her deep bluish grey irises. I gulped, mesmerized and captured by it's magical and warm look. Grey. Unpredictable. Could hold tears, pain, love, sadness. You just may never know. Grey eyes that look as though searching into your soul, piercing through you in search of your weakness. Grey eyes that could bow you to its feet. I shook my head at my stupidity and wondered why I was admiring her features in the first place. I was certain that no matter how real those pair of eyes looked, they were fake. Fake irises.
       
"Giving advice and corrections aren't measured by how you can embarrass the receiver but how he would accept and learn his mistakes from the corrections you had given." I brought myself to say. I felt silly saying this because those words sounded like it was coming from a motivational speaker –something I wasn't.
     
Her eyebrows knitted in a small frown.
      
"And, your point is..."
       
"No one is perfect, missy. You have no right to judge anyone for a past mistake. Just as nature changes, so do people."
   
There was absolute silence from both of us for a minute and then, she suddenly burst into laughter followed by gentle claps of her hands, startling me in the process. Slowly, she drew closer to me, too close that I could smell the sweet delicate jasmine scent of her body and hear the tense, yet gentle movements of her breathe. It seemed as though she did not care of her height, which had me towering above her like a large palm tree over a tapper.
       
"Way to go, Mr Hameed. Making a pathetic effort to play the pity cards here."
    
My jaw set and I felt a little angrier. Never in my life would I want to play the pity cards. And never to a girl!
      
"Anyway...," She continued. "I am not prepared for a comeback today. We will surely meet another time. I'll let this one slip by. But trust me.  Next time, you wouldn't be so lucky."
   
"I hope to never to see you again." Was my blunt reply.
    
She smirked mischievously. God! How much of a pretty little witch she looked right now! Why was I taking pleasure in the pains that she inflicted on me? Still, I couldn't help myself but admire the courage with which she spoke.
       
"I remember when you told me the same words. That we would meet again. Look at us now."
        
"Go to hell." I managed to gulp down some amount of anger and give a reply. She weakened me. Not her harsh words. But every other thing about her. Her eyes, her scent, her deep seductive voice, her body. I badly wanted to touch all of her now. Her eyes, her hands,  her curves. But then, that would be stupid and so fast of me. I wanted her so bad just as I wished to run away from her presence forever.
    
She gave that mischievous smile again.
       
"Whatever. I'm leaving now. Enjoy your stay here. I'm guessing you're modeling for this mall with the shirt you're having on. How cheap! The almighty Hameed Indimi doing a petty modeling job for a mall, at a small pay. This is so hilarious!" She laughed and strode past me but stopped again after moving three feet away. She turned to face me again.
      
"Mr Hameed,"
   
I clenched my fists, feeling anger already blinding my vision to think straight. Nevertheless, I turned to face her.
       
"The shirt fits you perfectly. You should actually consider applying for a job here sometime, you know." She said and walked away, her laughter trailing behind until it finally faded away.
    
How was it possible that this woman beats me at every confrontation? I breathe deeply to get a better hold of my rage. Glaring at the spilled contents on the floor, my anger returned. She could not even finish packing up the things she threw on the floor before leaving. With a burning heart, I bent to pack them all up again.

Author's note

This is the shortest chapter I've written so far. Pardon me.

But the romance is something else!

I need a boyfriend, ya all😭😭!

PS:

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