"Healing was a process. Hisham was already halfway through it and he didn't even know it!"-Amalk807

Once in a blue moon.

More like once in forever.

Or more so, more like once in never ever.

That's quite the exact number of times the Hosseini brothers ever made it to work early and not just early; but a whole hour early.

To say it was quite the hullabaloo would be very much an understatement and one would probably run out of enough synonyms for the word commotion; created by Hisham and Khaleel as they raced each other to the top floor while riding on different elevators.

Childish?

Yes! Pretty much!

They however doing it solely based on the grounds that they were carrying out some kind of a much needed 'survey' and that too for the rest of the employees so as to know which elevator worked the best and the fastest.

Much to Khaleel's utter dismay however, just before his elevator's door could close on him, Hisham had very much sneakily slid in like the slimy little slug he was and pressed the buttons to a few more extra floors.

It was no rocket science that Hisham made it first, with Khaleel in hot pursuit and as far as Yasir was concerned, let's just say he quietly followed them at a tortoise like speed and leave alone pretending not to know them, Yasir went to the extent of pretending he didn't even breathe the same air as them.

That's how embarrassing they were!

Running towards his office at Olympic like speed with Khaleel hot on his heels, Hisham very much dramatically and very much forcefully flung open the gigantic door, not caring a dime that it was made of glass, for was it to shatter into pieces in any case, he most definitely was going to make Khaleel pay for it.

That too, double the price.

Not having even a micro of a second to lose, he did somewhat of a swimmer's dive across his office desk, scrambled to get to his chair and the very second he got on it, he swirled round to face the wall behind him, his back to the door and the minute he heard Khaleel very much breathlessly storm in, he swirled round once again and that too, in the most dramatic manner he could pull off; and with the most serious look ever etched all over his face, he spat...

"Khaleel! This is the CEO's office and not the public washroom in your locality where you can walk in anytime and anyhow! Go back and knock! Twice! Twice until I say 'yes'! Then another two more times until I give you the actual permission to come in!"

Not at all expecting the sudden plot twist, it took a minute for Khaleel to register everything and he couldn't help but laugh loudly giving it to Hisham for always being a step ahead, when it came to any kind of joke and as soon as he got over it, he playfully said...

"You want knocks, right? Il so give you KNOCKS!"

He then very much quickly bent down, got his shoes off in the split of a second and literally the next thing we knew, he was flinging his shoe at Hisham and that too with the most perfect aim.

"Here you go! Eat that!"

"Also, consider that as ONLY but knock number UNO! You're welcome! Now, as for knock number TWO..."

He then picked up his other shoe, flung it again, to which Hisham very much skilfully ducked much to his disappointment.

"Now for the other two knocks as to where your so called 'permission' is concerned..."

He then began to quickly attempt to pull off his socks only for Hisham to literally scream...

"Bro, I swear if you even dare remove your skunk like smelling socks, I'll so call the POLICE!"

The threat of course only but fell on deaf ears as Khaleel continued to pull off his socks, only for him to stop when Hisham actually picked up the telephone's receiver and for the next second or two, they both stared at each other, both trying not to laugh and it was Hisham who first broke into loud laughter followed by Khaleel who said whilst laughing...

"Fine! I'll let you live! Just but this once!"

It was right about this time that Yasir too made it to the office and by the time he actually sat down, which we could consider to be a second or two, Hisham and Khaleel were already very much playfully arguing over something totally new and something totally out of context to the previous one.

Keenly listening, Yasir couldn't help but smile to himself as he very much enjoyed the very much long overdue banter which Khaleel had started off.

"You kept prank calling me last night. Weren't you?"

Feigning nothing but extreme shock and hurt, Hisham quickly placed his hand over his heart and said...

"Excuse me?!"

"You were!"

"I wasn't!"

"You were!"

"I wasn't!"

"You so were!"

"I so wasn't!"

Pulling out his phone from his shirt's pocket, Khaleel quickly and very much carefully scrolled through his previous night's long call log and whilst bringing the phone's screen right in front of Hisham's nose, he asked...

"So you're trying to tell me that this isn't another of your numerous phone numbers?"

Not allowing Hisham to even reply, he instantly dialled the number right in front of Hisham's face and literally seconds later, a very much shrill ringing sound overtook Hisham's pocket.

Very much cornered and completely dumfounded, Hisham could only but blink for the next good minute or two after which he said while shaking his head in utter disappointment...

"You're calling an alarm call; a prank call?"

"An alarm what?"

"An alarm call!"

"What in the fish, is that?"

"It's a call that is an alarm!"

"Huh?!"

"Okay, fine. It's an alarm that is a call!"

Quirking one of his eyebrows way too high up, Khaleel stared at Hisham for a good whole minute, almost as if questioning the universe as to whether his cousin had a brain or not and then asked...

"Now, do I have to pay you to elaborate or?"

A small but loud laugh immediately escaped Hisham's lips and before he could even open his mouth to say anything, Khaleel quickly cut him off.

"Is whatever you're about to say super dumb?"

"Yes! No! Pssht! I mean, not at all!"

"Just save it then!"

"What! But why?!"

"Just...save...it!"

"Khaleeloooooo, come ooooon..."

"Trust me bro, that's the one piece of information I am very much willing to live without! Thank you!"

Not about to let him go off so easily, Hisham let out another small laugh and then said...

"Yasir very much wants to know though! Don't you Yasir?"

Caught completely off guard, all Yasir ended up doing, was asking confusedly...

"I do?"

"Of course you do. That's why you're even here in the first place!"

Shaking his head in nothing but utter disbelief, Khaleel couldn't but chuckle to himself as he listened to Hisham take the actual trouble to...

No! Actually, it wasn't any trouble at all because it was simply Hisham being Hisham.

Unknowingly giving his brothers a small glimpse of his old self, Hisham very much eagerly continued...

"Now back to educating you brainless bananas. An 'alarm call' or if you want to call it a 'call alarm' is basically a phone call disguised as an alarm!"

Not at all believing the kind of trash his ears were being subjected to, Khaleel palmed his face as he muttered to himself but loud enough for Hisham to hear...

"Kill me someone before I kill him!"

Lending a totally deaf ear to Khaleel's words, Hisham only but tried to continue only for Khaleel to quickly interject...

"If it's a phone call then why did you keep hanging up?"

"That's because it's an alarm!"

"But you just said that it's a phone call!"

"Yes which is an alarm!"

"Which is still a phone call right?"

"Yes but an alarm!"

Shutting his eyes, Khaleel placed both his hands over his ears and said...

"I swear, if I even remotely, hear the word 'ALARM' just but one more time in my life, I will jump out this window!"

Without any kind of hesitation and with the most mischievous smile on his face, Hisham of course very much quickly said...

"ALARM! There you go! Now jump!"

All Khaleel could really do was shake his head in utter disbelief as laughter forcefully escaped his lips, deep down within; his heart leaping with nothing but joy as he got reminded of how much he really had missed Hisham being mean to him.

For anyone else; they would only see it as meanness.

For him Khaleel; it only but showcased Hisham's immense love for him.

It was their thing.

No one else would ever understand.

His thoughts were cut short and he almost took everything he had just thought of back, the second Hisham forcefully grabbed his cell phone from his shirt's pocket and said...

"Here, let me save my new number for you!"

He then furiously typed away on Khaleel's phone for the next few seconds, only for Khaleel to tremendously roll his eyes, the minute he saw Hisham's new contact name as...

'MY LOVE'

"You are not 'My love'!"

"Excuse me? What?"

"I said, you are NOT 'My love'!"

"I am!"

"You're not!"

"I am!"

"You're not!"

"I am!"

"You're not! In fact I am changing it back right this instant!"

This only but led to the beginning of a new banter, only for Yasir who had been quietly listening all this time to stop it by saying...

"Khaleel!"

"Yeah?"

"Ummm speaking of your love..."

A pin drop silence then reigned the room as Khaleel held on to his breath, only for Yasir to finally add...

"I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU!"

To be continued...

***

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THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A LONG CHAPTER BUT IN ORDER TO UPDATE MORE FREQUENTLY, I SPLIT IT.

MAYBE WHEN I FINISH THE BOOK I SHALL JOIN THE CHAPTERS TO MAKE THE BOOK SMALLER.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE CHAPTER.

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

ASALAM ALEIKUM.