His Substitute Wife

First Day at Work

As Aleena walked through the large company building, she felt excited but also very nervous. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach flap around mercilessly the deeper she walked. 

Although Aleena really wanted the job and believed that it would be the saving grace of her time spent in Mardin, she was afraid of making mistakes. She had never worked before and all the knowledge she had was simply theoretical. Not to mention, she was told that she would be working in the secretarial department which meant that she would be seeing her husband a lot more than she would have liked. 

Finally they reached the end of the hall and entered Zayd's office. 

"Mr Arslan, our new secretary, Aleena, has arrived," said Mrs Kaya said. 

Mrs Kaya was an older, short and stout lady who had kindness and warmth dripping out of her eyes. The moment she saw Aleena, a warm smile grew on her face and she accepted her straight away. However what Aleena liked the most was that instead of turning her identity simply into "Zayd's wife", she referred to her by her own name and did not change her identity into someone's wife. Aleena was Aleena to her which was rare in Mardin where everyone who saw her referred to her as her husband's wife. 

Zayd hung up the phone and placed it down before he turned to Aleena and Mrs Kaya. 

"You may leave," he dismissed his older secretary who simply nodded and left. 

Zayd then turned to his wife, his eyes traveling up and down her body to examine her clothes, before he approved and pointed at the seat across from his seat. Aleena felt her face burn under his scrutinising gaze but she held her head up high and took a seat where he pointed anyway. She didn't have any reason to be stubborn. 

And then without further ado, Zayd got straight down to business. 

"Arslan Textiles is a fabric export business," he told her what Mrs Kaya had already explained on their way there. "We're the biggest fabric export business in the country so we cannot afford to make any mistakes. All of our mistakes reflects the country." 

Aleena nodded in response. He was indirectly her to be careful although Aleena didn't need him beating around the bush to get his message across. 

"You will start off as my personal secretary," Zayd then informed her, making her heart beat a thousand beats per minute. "I will let you be involved in our decision making and if you do well, I will promote you to work in the logistics department."

Aleena's mood lifted as soon as he said that. The logistic department was the department that involved planning, managing and controlling the flow of goods from their company to their destination. It was the area she had always been most interesting thing about business for her and she even considered it the heart of businesses. Without the logistics team, a business wouldn't run far nor long. 

"I understand," Aleena said with a smile. 

And thus, her first day at work began. 

It wasn't a very eventful day. Her job entailed following her husband everywhere so she just did so silently. The most interesting part of her day was meeting the factory workers who actually made the fabrics. Although their job entailed harsh labour work, they all smiled warmly the moment they saw their boss. Aleena was surprised by the deep level of respect they had for him, however, she was more surprised by the deep level of respect Zayd also had for them. Although he gave off haughty and arrogant vibes, Aleena was genuinely surprised by how kind he truly was to everyone regardless of their status, age and wealth. 

Finally, after their final rounds in the factory, it was lunch time for the workers and time for Aleena to return home. Although she mostly stayed in the office doing paper work with Zayd, she still felt exhausted so she was glad her day was cut short. She would really need to build tolerance for all the work required for her. Turned out working in a company was not as easy as she had assumed. 

"Mesut will take you home," Zayd told her as she packed her bag with the paper work he had asked her to go over by the next day. 

Aleena nodded only to remember that she had plans with Miray. She stopped in her tracks and turned back to face Zayd who had his nose in some files. She hesitated for a few seconds, unsure of whether to just tell him her plans or ask him if she could go. However, wanting to maintain some independence, she decided to just tell him. 

"I will be going to the Bazaar before I return home," she awkwardly announced, her words hanging in the air. "I need to buy some new outfits." 

She waited for a reaction from her husband and although she did see his eyes slightly narrow, she did not get anything else. It was clear that he was not used to having his wife make plans without his permission however, he also knew that Aleena was not used to life in Mardin so he decided to let her get away with more than he would have otherwise tolerated. 

When he continued to stare down at his papers without paying any heed to her, Aleena turned on her heels to leave. However, before she left Zayd stopped her. 

"Take Mesut with you," he told her, finally looking up from his files. 

For a second, Aleena felt her breath hitch in her throat by how dark his eyes had become. She once again felt as if he was staring deep into her soul and she was not sure if she was terrified of the way he looked at her or if in some twisted way, she liked it. 

"I-It's okay," she told him. "I'm going with Miray."

Somehow, his eyes darkened even more after hearing the words leave her mouth. Aleena felt her entire body burn as his blazing dark eyes stared through her but she did her best to hold herself up straight. It was hard to do so when she felt as if she was a sheep stuck in a room with a hungry wolf. 

"Mesut will take you," he said more strongly this time, leaving no room for arguments. 

But even if she wanted to fight, she wanted to move away from his gaze even more. 

So without thinking any further about it, she hung her head low and said in the meekest tone possible, "Yes, Mesut will take me."