Okay so my bad. Last night the picture wasn't exactly his crush. It was his love. I mean, it was Aisha and it was the first time he sent me her picture, so that's why I didn't know.

And yes she is pretty — though as a person who considers features to call someone pretty and not just the skin tone, I'd say she looks average — not the prettiest. But in the the eyes of the general crowd of course she'd be considered a total beauty because she has two things that they adore — very fair and super thin.

No wonder Sameer cries over her. It's always the beauty that men go after. Beautiful women are the ones that make men act like they are under a spell. Not plain-faced, brown-skinned, bloated girls like me.

I can't believe he just randomly sent me her picture when I was talking to him about The Big Bang Theory. He maybe a Friends fan but that doesn't mean he can just change the topic with a picture of his ex-girlfriend like that and make it a sad conversation all over again.

It was so hard for me to divert his thoughts away from her after that. And because he was feeling sad and lonely, I stayed up till 3:30 am chatting with him until he fell asleep, which was technically 12:00 am for him because of the 3.5 hours time difference between the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.

And then of course I had to wake up at 5:45 am for prayers and get ready for work afterwards. So I only slept for 2 hours and now here I am at office, feeling terribly sleepy and looking like a zombie. He must be still sleeping though because he works on a roster basis and it's supposed to be night-shift for him today.

James is not in today too. He has gone to his hometown Kandy. Must be some family issue. That's why he's on leave. I kind of miss him but in a way it's also good that he's not around because I'm hardly doing any work today. I can't concentrate on anything.

One, because I'm sleepy and the other because Aisha's fair face keeps flashing in my head and when that happens all my insecurities keep crawling in too. Also, James is the one who assigns me work. So naturally when he isn't around, I don't have much work. I finish unimportant pending tasks and try to create work for myself on days like this.

Yesterday was an exception because of the Board Meeting. Today is normal and that's why the general notion among many at office is that I'm just getting paid to use social media. Some of them have directly said that to my face while the others speak behind my back, Naomi says.

It's not the boomers. Though I find the boomers a little annoying at times, they are mostly cool with me and they almost consider the work I do as magic. It's the ones in their thirties and forties — they are the ones with big mouths, always passing unnecessary remarks. Ah, but it's not like I care.

Sometimes I do get angry but mostly I ignore because deep down in my heart I know that I do honest work and my boss realizes it too. So that's the only thing that matters, right?

I wasn't feeling hungry at all so I'm having a late lunch today. It's 2:30 pm. Naomi is seated in front of me and she's talking to me about how much she hates her mother-in-law. She's telling me how her mother-in-law watches Sinhala tele-dramas endlessly and because of that she never gets to watch anything on TV.

Poor Naomi. She was living in Qatar with her husband Malith until her mother-in-law fell sick last year and they had to come back to Sri Lanka to take care of her. And now she's stuck with her. I feel sorry for her.

Apparently her mother-in-law hates her too but she's sort of a silent killer. She acts very nice to Naomi in front of Malith and everyone else, but when alone, she comments negatively about the food that Naomi prepares, the clothes she wears and so on, making it mental torture for her.

Poor married women. The amount of trouble they have to go through because of the love they have for their husbands. I have a lot of respect for them and I'm very doubtful whether I'd ever be able to play the role of a good wife like these women. I'm very impatient, I get angry and I can't just put up with someone's bullshit just because I love their son, isn't it?

As Naomi keeps talking, I stare at my phone from time to time, waiting for a message from Sameer. I mean, it's not like he texts me everyday but after last night, I feel like he will today and just as I expect, he sends me a "good morning" text at around 2:50 pm.

I smile sheepishly as I start typing a reply and Naomi catches me doing this. She asks me, "Who are you texting? You can't stop smiling." I normally never speak about my feelings openly to anyone, especially not the ones about boys but for some reason I feel like telling her everything and so I do it.

As I tell her I can see that Naomi is equally excited like me. She even takes a look at Sameer's picture and says that we will make a good match. She also tells me that after a breakup it's mostly the best friend that becomes the next love interest. Apparently it has happened to a lot of her friends and even in her case when her 8-year relationship with her ex ended it was her then-best-friend-now-husband Malith who helped her mend her broken heart and they fell in love.

"But I'm not his best friend. We've only known each other for a few months" I say, to which she replies, "So you become his best friend. Just be there for him when he needs you the most and then he will soon fall for you". Oh I love Naomi! She always tells me what I like to hear!

As we come out of the lunch room, Naomi and I are laughing, until we meet the office skunk at the entrance of our office space. The moment Naomi sees him, she quickly runs to the washroom saying that she'd be having an interview in a while and needs to touch up her makeup. Okay, this is bad. Now he's going to get me into a conversation and talk to me endlessly.

The office skunk is Mr.Lewis, one of our Directors. He's given that nickname because he really stinks and keeps spitting when he talks. He also has the reputation of being a womanizer. So women hate talking to him because he tries to touch them.

No other boomer at office is disgusting like him. I still remember how on my first day when Naomi was taking me on an office tour and introducing me to everyone, when we stopped at Mr. Lewis' cabin she told me he's the person everyone goes to whenever they need advice on something because he's that knowledgeable.

I believed in her words that day and because of that when he asked me to take a seat to have a quick discussion, I felt honored and being a typical new-recruit-trying-to-impress-the-bosses, I did what he said without a second thought. Soon after I sat Naomi left the room saying that she needs to send an important email. So there I was stuck for the next 45 minutes listening to this old man speak nonsense and that too trying to hold my breath in his stinky room. Luckily James gave me a call and I finally walked out. If not for him, I would've died that day in that stench. Ewww!

No James today, which means no saving today. I have to figure out a way before he speaks to me. Sameer's message is what's open on my phone so I quickly type a message to him, "Please call me. Urgent."

I don't expect him to call me but he does it. The very next moment my phone rings and I answer it in a way that Mr. Lewis sees that I'm genuinely on a call. Then I quickly walk down the stairs.

"Hi! Is everything alright?" asks Sameer. Oh his voice sounds so manly. This is the first time I'm on a voice call with him. I'm having that tingly-butterflies-in-my-stomach feeling.

"Hey! Thanks so much for calling. It's all good now" I say. "But you sounded pretty urgent on your message. I thought you might be in some trouble" he says. "Well I was almost going to get into one" I reply and tell him about Mr. Lewis.

We have a good laugh together. As I keep thinking of how perfect this moment is, Sameer tells me, "I can't imagine what I would've done without you. You are the only reason I could be laughing like this right now. Thank you." Wow! This is getting better and better. Out of context, sounds like something you'd say to your better half. So am I his better half? Is that what he's trying to say?

I mean, I didn't do much. Why would he say such heavy words to me? Has he started liking me? With all these thoughts in my mind, I reply, "That's okay! I just want you to feel better".

"No, really. You're being so helpful right now. You're a great friend" says Sameer. Okay there goes my bubble. He just burst it by friend-zoning me! I'm not his best friend like Naomi said. I'm just a friend that helps him distract himself out of this.

I feel so disappointed right now. So that's it? Just a friend? I don't know why but I'm getting teary. Maybe the fact that nobody I like will ever like me back makes me feel like a loser. I finally say, "No problem Sameer. I gotta go. Bye!" and before he could say anything I hang up and walk up to my desk.

As I sit on my chair and turn to see where Naomi is so that I could tell her this is never going to work between us, I see her in the meeting room. And she's not alone.

She was after all telling the truth about an interview. There's a guy in there with her and he looks young. I mean I can only see his back view from here, but it is enough to say that he's really young — someone in twenties.

Woah! Now that's new. We don't get to see many of them of that age group around here.

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Any thoughts about our new character? 😉
Also, will Ilhaam end up being just a friend to Sameer? 😩
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below ♥️

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