Choosing Him

14

"Areesha I'm going for lunch. You want to come along?" Fawad asked her.

"No sir. You go ahead." She said without looking up from her laptop. They were currently in the office and it was lunch break and Areesha being the workaholic she was stayed put in front of her laptop and continued typing the document she was doing.

"Areesha you're coming along and that's final."

"I told you I'm busy, I have to type out these documents." She said feeling a little irritated.

"I don't want your brother going for my head if you fainting again."

"Oh and I thought that you were taking care of your employees for once. You really broke my heart!" She said dramatically placing her hand on her heart.

"I am not going to wait for you. Hurry up." He said with a tone of finality in his voice. If it were someone else they would sure be intimidated but this was Areesha.

"I'm not coming. End of discussion." 

"Don't then! You are fired." He said. Wasn't she really stubborn?

"Really?! That is so nice of you!" She said rolling her eyes.

Whatever Fawad said didn't affect her. He wasn't even sure why he was insisting so much. If she didn't want to eat then let her be. Who cares?

"OK, don't look so sad I'm coming." Areesha said when she realized how hungry she was and her stomach growled.

"Me sad?" He scoffed. "Actually stay here, don't come."

"Now I will come along whatever you say! Just wait a second."

She grabbed her purse and followed him.

***

"What do you want?" He asked Areesha at the restaurant. It was her favourite 'Royal Foods' owned by her dad's friend Mr. Dasti.

"The fried chicken here is really good. You wanna try it?"

"Sure. Let's order then."

They ordered their lunch and made small talk.

"So the owner of this place is your dad's friend?" He asked

"Yeah, he's a very nice man. You should meet him someday."

"Tell me about your father. How was he?" Fawad asked, hoping she wouldn't mind.

"Baba was the best father anyone could be!" She said dreamily as if transported to a different place. She loved to talk about him."He was so broad minded. Once in university there was this guy who went up to baba and told him that I wanted to marry him. I got so scared that baba would think that I was in a haram relationship and I avoided him for two whole days. Whenever it was his time to come home from work I went to my room and pretended to sleep," she said smiling at those fond memories while Fawad sat in front of her listening vigilantly. He loved the way she gestured with her hands when she was excited or she would bite her lips when she was nervous.

"Then baba finally confronted me about it and he asked me to tell him the truth. I was so scared that he might get mad at me but he didn't. Instead he called up that guy and told him off. It was so funny when he sat there scolding him and the poor guy couldn't do anything. When he was scolding him I had sneaked in the room behind baba. He couldn't see me but that guy- whose name I don't remember- could see me and I kept on sticking my tongue at him. It was so funny and I was so glad that baba trusted me so much. He was never like those typical desi fathers." She ended. She didn't know why she was talking about her father with her boss, but she couldn't help it. She missed him so much. Every little thing around her reminded her of his absence. But she kept on reminding herslef that he was in a better place now and prayed to Allah to grant her sabr.

"You're baba sounds like a great man!" Fawad said to her looking impressed.

"He was. And then there was this time when we used to make Mama jealous that baba loved me more. We used to tease her so much." she reminisced with a smile. 

Fawad just stared at ger, mesmerized. She girl was a gem and her ex-fiancé was losing a gem by leaving her. She was so dedicated to anything she did. He liked her strong character. Whether it be her dedication to her work or her politeness and her sarcasm when she got mad, everything. She always had a smile on her face for the sake of others but he had seen how broken she was. She had a fake attitude but at the same time she wasn't fake,  if that even made sense. She was an honest girl and Fawad had noticed that she didn't mind accepting her mistakes. Even though she didn't wear hijab she did dress modestly.

"Why are you so lost in your thoughts?" Areesha asked him snapping her fingers in his face.

"Sorry, it was nothing. I was just thinking."

"I could see that much." She said rolling her eyes. Fawad even liked the way she rolled her eyes. Damn! Why did he feel so attracted to this girl all of a sudden? It was all because of the stupid ideas Maya was putting in his mind. He shouldn't be thinking this way about her.

Before they could say anything else their lunch arrived.

After thanking the waiter, Areesha dug in her food like a hungry wolf.

"I thought you weren't hungry." Fawad commented looking at her amused.

"Shut up!" she said through a mouthful of food but it came out like 'shudup'

"Why aren't you eating?" Areesha asked him once she had swallowed the food. Fawad noticed that his food was still untouched while he was watching her eat.

"I am." He replied and took a bite.

"I like your taste!" He blurted out. His ears turned red at the double meaning of that and he looked down at his plate in embarrassment.

"Told you you would!" She said with a smirk making him look up. God! She had not realised it. Maybe it was just his brain.

He quickly took another bite of his food before Areesha could say anything.

***

After they were done with lunch they headed back to office.

Once they got there, they heard someone shouting from one cabin.

Fawad looked in and saw a man yelling at a lady.

He looked closer and saw that the guy was Ahmad his employ and the woman was unknown. Why the hell were they creating a scene in his office?

He was very mad. He told Areesha to send the guy to his office. After informing the employ she headed to her boss's office.

"What do you want from that guy?" She asked as she entered.

"I'm going to fire him of course." He replied with a tone of anger. 

"What? Just like that? Hear him out first." She told him calmly.

"Oh yeah? So that everyone else thinks that they can bring their problems to the office and they can resolve them here?" he said sarcastically.

"Stop it. Just listen to what he has to say first and don't be rude."

Before Fawad could say anything, Ahmad entered.

Areesha stayed there hoping that Fawad would listen to her for once.

"Yes sir?"

Fawad gestured him to sit down.

"Explain yourself." he said coldly. When it came to the discipline of his office he was very strict. 

"Sir she was my old girlfriend and she was black mailing me. I didn't pick up her call so she decided to come here as she doesn't know my residence she decided to come here. I swear I didn't call her here."

"Your personal relationships stay out of this office." He said coldly and Areesha shuddered at the thought of what this poor guy must be feeling.

"You do realize Mr. Ahmad what this means right?"

"S-Sir please don't fire me. I have my sick mother whom I have to support and my younger siblings to feed as well."

Fawad glanced at Areesha who was telling him not to fire him through her eyes.

"I'll see about that. Meanwhile resume your work." He snapped. 

"Thank you sir for not firing me."

"Yet. Now leave." Fawad said pointing towards the door. 

As soon as he left Areesha started scolding him."How can you be so inconsiderate? The poor guy said he didn't do it on purpose didn't he? Why do you need to be so intimidating?" She asked him exasperated. 

Fawad just stared at her amused."Stop scolding me like an old wife."

"What? Your wife? Where on earth did that come from?" She exclaimed taken back at what he had said so causally. "Are you bilpoar or something? Your mood changed in the matter of a few seconds." She snapped frowning at him.

"Yeah whatever." He said dismisively.

"What's wrong with you? What if Allah punishes you for that? You should be happy that Allah provides people through you. Don't fire him."

With that she haughtily got up and left.

"Stop ordering me around as if you are my wife!" He yelled after her and she just rolled her eyes. Where the hell did his wife come from?

Fawad knew she was right in a sense. So he decided not to fire him after all. But what he was actually thinking about was how Areesha would make a perfect wife. She had all those qualities in her. She was such a compassioante girl. He had started to like her. A lot. And all he hoped was that she reciprocated his feelings but deep down he knew she wouldn't.

Ooh, he likes Areesha now! 

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