Masked

《8》

•{ the four kids }•

"Um, when will we come back, sir? "

Asmah asked, her tone full of hesitation as she placed in front of her the one question that wasn't needed yet, every eye in the room averting towards her.

The elder man answered after a short pause, not taking off the smile on his lips.

"The trip to Paris will be of a week. You leave day after tomorrow, on Saturday. And come back the next Saturday."

"The next Saturday?"

She repeated his words, though this time her tone laced with concern.

"Yes. But, do you have any problem Ms Asmah? You sound a bit disturbed."

The man asked, making her blink furiously before she looked down, and only look up to run her eyes on the other's faces. Alice who sat beside her, stared at her with a faint smile, curiosity lingering in her blue orbs. Alex looked at her with a questioning smirk, one of his two sleek eyebrows raised in question. And the one at the back, Saalim, slightly craned his head to the side, to look towards her with slightly raised eyebrows, the smile he usually put on not visible then.

She sighed, looking away at the same time.

Ugh. Why now! What should I do now? Ya Rabbi! Help me please!

Putting on a sheepish smile on her lips, she looked back at the elder man and spoke. Even if she had a slight idea at the back of her head, that it was of no use placing an excuse, knowing that when the director had planned for something, he would do his best in bringing it out to life.

But she still tried, for her bestfriend. For Huda.

"Uh, sir, actually the thing is that, my workmate Ms Huda, she has her engagement on the coming next Friday. So, I wanted to be there with her."

"Oh, so you're saying that you can't go with them, because you need to attend a friend's function."

Asmah nodded, still looking at him. The smile was no longer the same on his face when he sighed.

"Sir, I think Ms Asmah should be excused."

She shot her head towards where the medium deep voice had come from, landing her eyes on Saalim who glanced at the man with a smile. The smile was back now, like it usually would come up whenever he needed to have a conversation with someone.

"Because, she is Ms Huda's friend, I feel that her presence is needed in the important function. So I suggest that you grant her leave."

She shifted her eyes away to look at the director, who nodded at his words, making her looked down on her lap with an emerging smile. She felt a sudden rush of emotions, that would only come up when one's hoped were being lift up.

"Ms Asmah, if it's that important for you, then I guess I'll grant you leave. But please think about it once again. I choose you for this task because I believed that atleast you wouldn't deny this decision. You've always worked hard, so I thought you'll use this as a chance to, maybe get promotion."

Asmah sighed looking down, after the director raised an eyebrow and simply shrugged at her, putting the whole responsibility of her decision on her.

What was she supposed to do? Choose friend over work? A side of her kept telling her to back away for Huda, because she needed to be there with her best friend at her first own function. But the one side that spoke very rarely, began pestering her to choose work, since it was a golden opportunity for her.