Choosing Him

11

After their mothers intervention, Zayan had grudgingly agreed to let Areesha work. Her mother and brother kept a special check on her diet. If they weren't enough already, her boss made sure to remind her to take a lunch break as he didn't want another scene with her angry brother.

A few weeks passed and everything was going smoothly. Her mother woke up in the morning to see off her children as her brother had joined a law firm too. She tried to not be late to work, but occasionally she had to cross the speed limit and now had the entire glove box filled with over-speeding tickets and she had paid quite a few fines as well. She wouldn't be surprised to know that she spent a great portion of her salary because she was late evey other day.

Nevertheless, she tried to wake up earlier in the mornings. After her fajr prayer she always fell asleep even though she tried to stay up. Yes, she was praying regularly now. She would be late sometimes, actually a lot of times but she still tried to be on time. Her bed just had its charm and it would lull her in.

At night time however, it was a different story. In the darkness of her bedroom, she would lay wondering how would it be if her father died and Amir hadn't broken their engagement. She was still trying to get over him but would occasionally grab her phone to call him to meet her up somewhere only to realize that they weren't together anymore. Her mother had still not spoken to her about him but otherwise their relationship was better than before.

She had never really understood the meaning of the ayat in the Holy Quran that after every difficulty there comes ease but she was experiencing that ease now. Her brother made her realize that her engagement with Amir was not halal so it broke. Zayan had not liked Amir from the beginning when their parents had gotten her engaged to him before their father had died. He told her that the love Allah puts in the hearts of people after nikah is the real and everlasting love. She had accepted the fact that Amir was not destined to be for her, but that didn't stop those feelings of worthlessness and hurt.

It was a very ordinary Wednesday of her mundane life and she was working in her office as usual.

A young girl in a headscarf came up to her and demanded to meet Mr. Ali.

"Is Fawad in?" The girl had asked her. 

"Yes hes he is. Do you have an appointment?"

"I don't need an appointment to see him." She replied haughtily with a roll of her eyes. Areesha's eyebrow raised as she stared at her. Whoever was this rude girl, she thought.

"Well listen here whoever you are. Sir said that no one disturbs him unless its anything important. So please do me a favor and let me do my work in peace." She said in a bored voice and turned back to her laptop.

The girl raised an eyebrow at Areesha."Guess what? You're fired!" She said dramatically.

"Oh really? I'm so scared then!" Areesha said to the girl sarcastically. "but sadly that right lies with Mr. Ali who employed me."

"Watch me then."

She barged inside Mr. Alis office before Areesha could stop her.

"Salam! I've fired your secretary." Areesha heard her from outside.

"Walaikum Salam. And what's up with you and firing my secretaries? " she heard her boss say.

What? She was fired?  Oh! This girl must be someone important to him, Areesha thought. But how could she have known?

"I'll start packing sir, don't worry." She said as her boss and that unknown girl stepped out of the office right that instant. She didn't need any more embarrassment for the day.

"You're going to leave just like that? No tantrums?" The girl who she stilldidn't-know the name of asked her in surprise.

Now it was Areesha's turn to be surprised. "Whatever do you mean?" She asked her.

"Most of his secretaries throw a tantrum as they love working with my dear brother here. I was just checking you. When I heard my brother here had hired a new secretary I took it upon me to check whether the girl was a gold digger and would trap my brother in her charms like most girls in drams do. But hey I like you, you're different so you aren't fired."

"So you are Maya?" Areesha asked her surprised. This girl was a little too talkative for her her own good, she thought as she looked at her amused.

"Ooh so you already know my name too." She asked, her eyes glinting with curiosity.

"Yeah Sir mentioned it a few days ago." Areesha said with a shrug. "If you had introduced yourself it would have saved a lot of trouble though."

"That's exactly my point! If you had known who I was what would the fun be in watching you scared of losing your job. But you weren't scared so you aren't fired either because that means that you are wokrking here for the job not trapping my brother!" A very weird theory, Areesha thought but refrained from saying out loud.

"I'm right here you know ladies. And Miss Areesha you please get back to your work, I need the presentation ready by tomorrow or you will actually get fired." Mr Ali said to her sternly. Areesha had forgotten that he was actually right here.

"Empty threats bro. I like this girl. Don't fire her. But if you don't mind can I please take her along with me for shopping? I just came here for your credit card." She said.

What? She didn't even ask me if I wanted to go or not, Areesha thought quite surprised at this cheerful girl in front of her.

"Umm she works here. You can take your friends along with you." Fawad said to his sister in an attempt to convince her but to no avail.

"Nope. She's coming and that's final. Aren't you?" She asked directing this part towards Areesha.

"Uh yeah of course, " Areesha said a bit hesitantly.

"Credit card bhai?" Maya said to her brother with her hands in front of him. He fished out his credit card from his wallet and handed it over to her.

"Ok thanks! Let's go then!" She beckoned Areesha to come who looked at her boss in helplessness who just shrugged.

"So what's your name? Mine is Maya as you already know."she asked her as they descended down in the elevator.

"Areesha"

"I see. So what do you do? Oh sorry you work here of course. My bad. I am studying medicine." 

"That's nice. I was actually considering medicine too but I gave in my admission form late. So here I am." Areesha had started to feel a little at ease with this Maya. She was a blunt, straightforward, confident, talkative, honest girl and had a gregarious personality unlike Areesha.

"You like shopping don't you? I hope I am not dragging you with me unwillingly." 

"It's fine. I do enjoy shopping."

"Ok great! Then we can be best friends for sure! You can give me reports on bhai though. Like is he interested in any girl in his office and stuff like that. Me and ammi are actually on finding-a-girl-for bhai-mission."

"O-kay." Areesha said slowly. Why was she supposed to do that? 

"Do you drive?" 

"Yes."

"Nice." She said thoughtfully. "So what do you think of my brother?"

"What about him?" Areesha asked unsure. 

"As in do you like him?" Maya asked curiously.

"What?! What are you trying to say?" Areesha asked her incredulously as her cheeks reddened a little in embarrassment. What sort of question was that?

"Nothing." She said as they sat in her car and she started driving. Areesha glanced at her still wondering what had made her ask that. Maybe it was just a general question. She shrugged of those thoughts as Maya started asking her about her favorite shopping mall.

They drove to the shopping mall, laughing and cracking jokes as if they had been some long lost friends. It was very unlike Areesha to be that talkative as she was a closed off person but Maya somehow made her feel at ease.

"Nah this one doesn't suit you. Try this on." Maya was telling her new friend Areesha in the mall.

"Ok. Here hold my stuff," she said to Maya handing her her phone and purse.

While Areesha was changing, her phone started ringing. Maya picked up the call without seeing who it was thinking it was her own phone.

"Hello?" She said into the phone as she cradled it between her shoulder and neck.

"Salam. Areesha did you have lunch? And did you take your medicines? I don't want you fainting again." Maya got confused and checked who it was. Oops she thought this is not even my phone, she thought.

"Umm hello? Areesha isn't here at the moment, when she comes I'll have her call you back." She said quickly, feeling a little awkward that she was talking to a complete stranger.

"What? Who is this?" A sharp voice came from the other end.

"I'm Maya, Areesha's friend." 

"Whatever just pass her the phone."

"Well look whoever you are. I just told you didn't I that she is busy. She can't talk right now."

"What is she doing then?"

"She is changing." 

"What? Listen here girl, don't you dare play any games with me-" At the same time Areesha walked out of the trying room in the new dress.

"Areesha, there's some rude dude on the phone, he needs to talk to you and he can't hear whatever I tell him. Here," Maya said as she handed her the phone. 

"Oh hey Salam Zayan. Yes I've had my lunch and the meds as well if that's why you called."

"Who was this rude girl who picked up your phone and where are you?" Zayan asked her and she rolled her eyes.

"She's my friend and I am here at the mall. I'll talk to you later. Ok?"

"Areesha listen to me carefully, if you're in danger just say mango, OK? " Zayan's worried voice filled her ears.

"Mango?" Areesha repeated chuckling.

"Ok I'm coming to you. Share your location with me." He said and she could hear things moving and falling.

"Jeez! I'm not in danger bro! Just in the shopping mall, shopping. Now go back to doing whatever you were doing and stop worrying about me. I'm a grown girl for goodness sake!" She said amused at his over protectiveness.

When she said the part about the grown girl, Zayan seemed to think that everyone was indeed normal and hung up the phone.

"Sorry, I picked up your phone accidentally. I thought it was my own-" Maya started feeling a little awkward.

"No worries girl, chill." she said to Maya.

"Who was that by the way?" She asked not being able to keep her curiosity 

"Oh that. He was my brother. We're of the same age but he likes to play the over protective big brother role. He was telling me to say mango if I was in danger!" She finished with a roll of her eyes. Deep inside however, she was happy that he was there to worry and take care of her even though she was a grown up.

"Aww. That is soo cute. But I understand your pain. Sometimes bhai gets in that mode too. He does a background check on all my friends in case I'm mixing with the wrong sort! By the way you look gorgeous." Maya told her.

"Why thank you m'lady!" Areesha said fake bowing and the two girls giggled at that.

***

After they had a dozen shopping bags at least they decided to leave. From shoes to dresses to rings they bought everything in a span of three hours.

"How about a smoothie? Shopping always makes me hungry!" Maya said.

"Yeah sure." Areesha shrugged.

After they had their smoothie, and were dead on their feet, they drove back to the office. 

After Maya dropped Areesha back to the office they parted ways but not before exchanging phone numbers.

With a bright smile, Areesha entered the building and headed to her office. She had laughed so much today. She just hoped this was not the silence before the storm. She had never felt so good in a very long time.

With a stupid smile plastered on her face she went to her cabin. She had already put her shopping bags in her car.

When she was just about to sit down, her intercom beeped indicating that her boss wanted her.

She trudged to his office tiredly.

"Looks like you two had fun?" He asked her as she entered. The beautiful smile on her face said it all. Wait beautiful?

You did not just call her smile beautiful, Fawad thought. 

"Yeah loads after such a long time. Your sister's a fun person!" she said with her eyes twinkling. She wasn't fake smiling this time and it was from her heart.

"That's great. But I had no fun at all. I did more than half of the presentation, just go through it at home and complete it."

"Means I can leave already?" She said enthusiastically.

"Yeah. Just email the final version to me before 9:00."

"Alright then. Khuda Hafiz," She said as she left the office. This day had turned out better than she expected.

***

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