Ishq | (complete)

03| hareef

Laila blankly stared at the screen scrolling through the schedule. This man in question had missed almost all of the morning meetings. While for the rest the day started around 9 am at the office. Her employer didn't bother with starting the day until the sun hit the middle of the day and the clock struck past one.

She rubbed her eyes as she stared at the corner of the screen. One-thirty. The hell was he doing cooped up in that office? At exactly 1:47, the iPhone, that was to be used by the executive assistant, was given to her by the company buzzed on the desk. Finally. She sighed, she was bored to death by memorizing all the procedures and policies. She assumed all the numbers, important emails, and calendars were saved by the last assistant.

Ali Sir
Have my lunch delivered from The Craft
The usual.

The usual?  She furrowed her eyebrows at the text splashed across the screen. Haan mujhe to uper se elhaam aayega ke yeh kiya khata hai

Shehryar Ali had disappeared in his office and hadn't bothered to show his face to anyone. He didn't have the decency to introduce himself but now ordered her like she was his naukar. 

Well, you are his naukar, Laila.

The thought countered her earlier thoughts. She scowled at her ownself before scrolling through the contacts to find Zain's name. He was her only savior in this giant inferno.

"Hello?"

"Hi, good mornin- I'm mean good afternoon. I uh needed a little help here." She bit her lip, feeling weird and incompetent somewhat, but hell, it was her first day, but it seemed like she had been stuck here for centuries.

"Did my brother say anything? I'm sorry. He is-" Oh man it seemed like her other boss had no faith whatsoever in his brother. 

"No. I uh just wanted to know what the usual is from The Craft."

"Oh. Yeah. Do you have something to write in?"

"Yeah." She pulled out the pale blue journal Malka had given her. She smiled looking at the penguin painted on the cover. Malka knew how much she obsessed over penguins.

"The Craft's number is already saved on your phone. He usually gets the Spicy Chopped Salad, Scallops wrapped in Bok Choy in Mushroom broth." Uh, What? Oh, She was going to throw up. She hated anything remotely related to seafood, not that she could even afford it apart from the roadside fried fish, but still. And what in the world was Bok Choy? "Cara Cara Sorbet and Sparkling water." Cara who? 

She scrunched her nose as she the food was delivered to her desk and she used the company's credit card. She stared at the package with all the fine details of black and red. One would think they were rather delivering diamonds and Gold or something.

She knocked on the door and heard a small humph from inside. The moment she opened the door her eyebrows almost shot up to her hairline. How the hell did he breathe in this mess? The papers were strewn across the office. The tie was thrown on the couch along with his jacket with the countless water bottles and what was that...?

Sharab ki bottle. Astaghfirullah. 

She put her hand on her chest. Saying Astaghfar as if she had accidentally touched it herself. And buried between all the papers, files, and post-it notes was her boss. He was still writing something down. She walked in, the door closed behind her with a swish. The man hardly even looked up. Rude.