~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸Poem from Mahra to Zayed~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸

If only you were a little less proud,

And your personality wasn’t as alluring in any crowd.

If only those lips would smile a bit too often,

My days would brighten up and my heart would soften.

They say they love your elegant stride,

It’s absurd how they don’t see your pride.

You are unaware of the pain that you cause,

And a bit too arrogant for being a boss.

Your audience awaits and expects you to explain,

You walk away and leave the watchers in pain.

Let’s not forget those eyes that I think are outspoken,

It makes me wonder; how many hearts you’ve broken?

I want reasons for your attitude and those looks of coldness

But if I ask, my innocence will be accused for boldness.

I, Mahra, here by accuse you Zayed

For being a Hard-hearted man.

I don’t know what the jury or Hamad will say,

But I’ve made my decision the best way I can.

*~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸*~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸*~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸

                                              ~'♥♫•¸Chapter Eight ~'♥♫•¸

                                                        ♥ The Proposal ♥

I slightly opened my car’s window to let the fresh and fair cold air tickle my skin. It smelled like wet wood, sea water and fresh dew.  It smelled of winter, hope and happiness. Our winters aren’t as cold and crispy as what they are supposed to be. Winters in the UAE are like spring in any other country. Where in other countries leaves fall and become dry, in my country they become colorful and lively. And when the not so hot sun hits the fresh grass in the fields, there’s no place in the world I’d ever want to be. Winter in my country has too many faces and all of them are beautiful. And it was here. Finally, I’ll be able to go to the desert for camping with family.

I was feeling good today, after two months of torture. Ever since I had been refused the promotion, I haven’t had a restful day. But today, surprisingly, I felt good. You know that sense of calmness you have sometimes when you wake up in the morning and you feel like you can take over the world, that’s how I felt. Finally, I and my fate were in good terms. Though I would never forgive it for doing what it did to me.

Or maybe I was just being simply oblivious, finding the reason for my calmness in other matters where in reality, I think it lay in my prayers. This morning when I prayed my morning prayer, after that I read surat Yaseen and prayed for myself. I realized then how much in need I was of inner peace. And just like always, my wishes were fulfilled. Finally, I was clam and at ease.

I had heard from Hamad that Mr. Waleed wasn’t feeling well, and all this time I was a little hesitant to call him, thinking it might be a bad timing, but today I did. You can’t blame me; it was my good mood that made me do all that.

I inhaled, slowly, waiting as the phone rang on the other end. He wasn’t picking it up making me regret my decision of calling in the first place. When I was about to close, it was Mr. Waleed’s voice I heard after such a long time. “Hello” he greeted warmly. I think he was grinning too which put a smile on my face.

“Hello Uncle,” I addressed him as ‘uncle’ because we aren’t at work anymore. Even though he was the only one I respected so much but our relationship was much closer than a boss’ with their employees.

“Why have you been so silent all this time? I was expecting you to call.” I was embarrassed and didn’t know what to say. “You out of all people, I had assumed would call every day.” He went on, a bit of humor gleaming in his voice.

“I am so sorry uncle. I thought you must be busy.” I uttered.

“Busy with what? With sleeping?” He ragged and I laughed. “I am sure I could have taken some time out for you.”

“Hamad told me you haven’t been feeling well,” I said, trying to change the topic and mercifully end my embarrassment. I heard him take in a deep breath and though I couldn’t see him but I knew his smile had faded.

“Alhamdulillah 'ala kull haal (All praises be to Allah in all conditions)” had been his reply. I silently prayed for him to get well soon. “There’s a trick to live a long time without growing old; and unfortunately I never learned that trick.” He joked, making me chuckle.

“I wish you had,” I said, forcing back a grin, “So that you’d stay with us for a longer period.” And we wouldn’t have to deal with your arrogant son, I thought.

“I think it was about time to give my son the chance to show his reliability.” He spoke at a serious note. “How’s he been?” That question I thought was tormenting, as much as I wanted to answer sincerely and display my opinion about Mr. Zayed, but I couldn’t.

“Everyone thinks he has a lot in common with you.” I said incoherently, swallowing a lump that had formed in my throat. I had just praised my boss’s so called good image. My words had been the exact opposite of the impression that Mr. Zayed had set. Maybe to other people he might be as great as his father, I have seen it in their eyes, but just because of his pride I’d say otherwise.

I talked to Mr. Waleed for five more minutes and then he hung up. I got out of my car and went inside the office building with a new energy and good spirits today. I just hoped everything would go fine.

Fatima had ordered breakfast for me and a couple of other girls from our department so we all gathered up there to eat. We sat there talking and I noticed Noora wasn’t around. I asked one of her very close friends, Hissa, where she was? And found out that she was not going to come because she’s in Abu Dhabi.

I frowned, because I had some very important news to tell Noorah about the problems we had been facing in our project. But looks like the odds are in my favor. The signs of this being a good day were really great. Now I wouldn’t have to see Noorah and my blood wouldn’t boil every five minutes because of her new ‘Bossy’ attitude.

I had had my breakfast at home so I didn’t want to eat again; therefore I just drank some tea that they provided in the kitchen. To be honest, I was getting bored because of the story that Hissa was telling us, it was one that happened to her almost every day. Today, with some new spices, of course.

“Hey guys,” She said, her eyes shining. “I have something to tell you.” We all turned to her and I had a feeling about what was coming up. Her kind would have nothing else to say.

 After she had gotten our attention she began; “So I was at Dubai mall the other day with my friend,” She smiles. “And there was this guy.” Of course there was, I thought, wanting to roll my eyes but couldn’t.

Hissa knew very well how to put the decorations in the right places. Now, the girls were hooked with her story, because she was giving us everything that interests a girl. A good looking guy and a girl with her friend in the mall..anything could happen. As for me well, I just wished she would finish this as soon as she started it.

“We were walking across the parking lot to our car, and he rolled out into the aisle beside us and said; ‘Hey you beautiful’ Both of us stopped ‘cause I was really embarrassed at someone calling to us like that.” Hissa explained. I scoffed at how she was trying to show that she was the good one here. Even Latifa, another of our colleagues, who had joined us, gave her a sidelong glance.

“My friend asked him, ‘Are you talking to me?’ he totally ignored her and said, ‘The one beside you’. He called out his number to me and I just died of shame.” She carried on, me and Fatima exchanged a knowing smile. Hissa was that kind of a girl, ones who find pleasure in such things.

When Hissa didn’t receive the warm reaction she was expecting, she just smiled it away and said; “God, Boys nowadays are just…” she trailed off. This time I really did roll my eyes.

After she was done with her story, I went back to drinking my tea as my eyes scanned a file in front of me, related to our project that Mr. Faisal had handed us last week. If not for my unfortunate luck with this promotion, I would’ve been taking on the lead here, instead of Noorah. Oh forget it! Why am I even ruining my mood?

 Suddenly, I heard one of the girls gasp beside me and I looked up to see, six pair of eyes staring at something on my left. I followed their gaze and upon turning I found out that it was a figure, his figure; Mr. Zayed’s.

We kept staring as he walked passed us with such sufficiency, the energy of which hit me here, like he was glorified to be back in his territory. His steps were gentle and delicate. Looking around him I noticed he was taller than anyone in the room. He took out his shades, which had been covering those cold eyes, and then he swiftly tucked them in his front pocket. My eyes followed his graceful hands, which moved slowly yet indefinably beautiful.

SNAP OUT OF IT! Something screamed in my head. I cursed myself for keeping track of such small details.

We were still looking when he picked up his phone that had been ringing and then he vanished from our sights. I realized what I or ‘we’ were doing and I grunted; ‘God’ I said between giggles. I felt guilty of what I had just been doing. Along with the other girls I had been admiring our boss, Mr. Zayed, too.

Turning to them I noticed that they were still under the spell that Mr. Zayed had cast. They still stared at the spot where he’d just disappeared, they were awed. I saw Fatima come back to reality as she looked down at her hands on the table and muttered ‘Astaghfirullah’ her voice held a glint of guilt.

As for Hissa, she released the breath that she had been holding; “Masha Allah.” She praised, nodding. “He is really good looking.”

“Yeah,” that was Fatima, “So he is.”

“Lucky the girl who will have him.” Latifa stated and we all giggled at her. Truly, he was good looking, but no way on Earth was I going to admit it.

“I pity the girl who will have him. Poor soul will have to cope up with all that pride.” I declared my opinion out loud, as always. My thoughts went back to the woman that I had seen two months ago, Janaan was her name and I had a feeling that I will never forget that name. She was the only one I knew who had such an effect on my boss and had been visiting him constantly from that day on.

The girls gave me weird looks, like they couldn’t believe I just said that. “Oh c’mon Mahra.” began Hissa. “The guy is haunting me in my dreams.” She added.

“It’s not fair for a boss to be that good looking. He’s extremely distracting.” Latifah said her hand on her heart, as humor brightened her face. We all laughed at that.

Our conversation was interrupted when Mrs. Miller made her way towards me. She seemed to be in a hurry and her eyes lit up when she spotted me.

“There you are,” She said, “Mahra, you and Noorah will have to prepare for the presentation.” She reported. I stood up to see what she wanted but when realization hit me, my eyebrows shot up.

“What do you mean prepare for the presentation?” I asked. Disbelief colored my voice.

“The presentation that you and Noorah have been working on, Mr. Zayed expects you both in the meeting room in about an hour.” She informed.

“But it was due next week. We still aren’t done with it.” I stated. “Besides Noorah is absent, so I can’t do it myself.” Mrs. Miller walked ahead ignoring me completely as if she didn’t have time to listen to my declaration.

“Mahra, I can’t give him those excuses. He just wanted to know what you guys were doing. He wants to check along with Mr. Faisal, nothing to panic about.” She replied. Once again I noticed her skirt riding up and I drifted my gaze.

“I am not panicking alright, and this was Noorah’s project she is the one who will present it.” I tried to keep up with her quick pace. For a short woman like herself she walked remarkably fast.

“It’s not the real presentation.” She acknowledged, turning to her right. And though my cabin wasn’t anywhere near this corridor but I followed her anyway. “He just wants an insight of what you guys have been doing. The real presentation will be later, when Noorah is present.” She informed.

“But I can’t…” I stopped myself before saying something stupid. I was about to admit to her that I am incapable of such a task but then my pride reminded me of something.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” I asserted. “But I need some time.” If I was doing this, I might as well do it the right way and make Mr. Zayed realize what mistake he had done underestimating me.

Mr.s Miller turned to me, abruptly and shook her head; “That my dear, I can’t buy for you.” I analyzed her face, hoping for it to soften but it didn’t. “Because today he is going to leave earlier. He has another meeting. So, you must be ready within an hour.” Her glasses slid down her nose and she pushed them up. With those words Mr. Miller walked away and I watched her back slowly disappear. Then with a loud sigh I turned around, planning to kill Noorah when she comes back.

I walked back to my cabin and on my way I called Noorah, to break the news down for her. I called her twice and she wouldn’t pick up, she must be extremely busy or she’s just ignoring me to piss me more off, like she hasn’t done any of that lately.

I waited on my nerves as the phone rang for the third time that I was calling her. Fortunately, this time the phone clicked and she picked up.

“Hey Mahra,” She greeted. I frowned and cut of the formalities, coming to business directly.

“Hey, Listen Noorah. Can you, by any chance, come here now?” This took her abrupt attention.

“What? Why?” She said. “I am in Abu Dhabi. There’s no way on hell I can be there. But what happened?”

“Well, we are asked to present our project today…I mean, now. Mrs. Miller just told me that Mr. Zayed has asked to see what progresses we have done.”  I confirmed.

“But the presentation was supposed to be next week in front of the other organizations.” She said it like I already didn’t know. I huffed loudly, intending her to hear me.

“I know but our Boss can be quite unpredictable.” I scoffed. “He wants to check in on us.”

“Well, that sucks. Can you please handle this Mahra? For me Please Habibti (Dear)” She pleaded, in such a soft tone that I’d never heard. I might do it but not for her, I would do it only for myself.

“Do I have any choice?” I mocked. “I gotta run. Call you later.” I hated her for leaving me alone in this mess.

'♥♫ After two hours.'♥♫

I caught my breath and eyed the glass of water that sat in front of me. My throat had run dry after talking continuously for an hour. The meeting was over and I collected my stuff to get out of there as soon as I could. I took a quick glance at the water again but didn’t approach it because that would show that I had been or am still nervous, which is something I wouldn’t want to admit to anyone no matter how true it is.

 I had walked into this room filled with gentlemen. They all stared at me expectantly, waiting for me to either impress or depress them. My work needed to be good, because we were so close to the deadline. No mistakes were affordable.

Mr. Zayed, Mr. Faisal along with Khalifah, had been the first to come here. We were then joined by a couple of other male managers in our department. At first I had been nervous, yes, if I denied that fact I’d be a liar, but then remembering my aim and the discouragement that I received from my boss made me want to push out every ounce of courage and confidence that I had in me. I was asked questions by my leaders every now and then. They wanted to know whether if I understood the work that I was doing.

The first two questions were from Mr. Faisal, which I answered. One of them had been about Noorah, and I answered, with some annoyance, that she couldn’t make it. Then Mr. Zayed asked me a tough question which took me off guard. He had shot me a question like a bullet. For a few seconds I thought I hadn’t comprehended his words.

The room went silent and the air around me felt like a thick blanket that was suffocating me. I felt his eyes scrutinize my every move and I looked away from him for an escape, doing myself a favor.

NO, Mahra. You can do this. Focus!

I gave it a little thought, I remembered I had dealt with that problem at home. I had studied our project well enough this last week for situations like these. I had prepared myself for almost anything. So after thinking for a brief while, I answered the question and he looked satisfied but didn’t stop the inquiring. I dodged some of his other questions because the little glint of satisfaction on his face had boosted up my confidence.

When, finally, I was done with the presentation, some of the managers started to leave. Mr. Mark complimented me on my work on his way out, following him was Khalifah who did the same with a wide grin he said; “Well done. That was great.” I mimicked his grin and thanked him for the compliment. The third manager, however, left without saying a word and I turned to pack my stuff and get going.

The glass of water was still on my mind as I gathered my items and listened to Mr. Zayed and Mr. Faisal’s voices. My mind was too preoccupied with my own loud thoughts to pay attention to what they were saying.

I was turning to leave but stopped when I heard Mr. Zayed’s voice call me. I froze and again that weird feeling, that twisting in my stomach came back when I heard him say my name. I never got used to of it. I don’t know what was happening. I wasn’t really scared, because I knew I had done well. I could see it in their eyes. I could see it in ‘his’ eyes.

“Seeing that you were working under Miss Noorah, who was supposed to be the one to present this,” My boss said, his eyes moved away from me and swept around the room as his right hand pointed to the projector screen behind me. “But she was absent and you did it instead.” He stopped and if I am not wrong, I think there was a small smile of appreciation that escaped his lips “I must say that it was a good job.” He complimented with a nod. I heard my heartbeat thumping in my ears therefore I was unsure if I heard him right. I couldn’t say anything, my tongue was locked. He was the only one who did that to me.

“Impressive,” praised Mr. Faisal, making me turn towards him. “I think I was right about that potential thing.” My lips broke into a smile and soon I was grinning. ‘Potential’ may not be that bad of a word after all. When Mr. Zayed had told me that, I couldn’t help but be infuriated. My eyes flickered from Mr. Faisal to him again, and I saw that smile again, it had widened now. It was one of those smiles that made me forget the ‘Thank you’ that I was about to say to Mr. Faisal. One of those smiles that could lessen the amount of anger I had in me towards him. A calming smile.

“I think she should be the one who presents this in front of the other organizations.” Mr. Faisal interrupted my thoughts, making me want to squeak out in happiness but I stood there completely lost of words. This was more than what I had hoped for.

“I think that’ll be nice.” replied Mr. Zayed, shocking me. I was proud of myself for changing his opinion. Not just his opinion even his looks were different now. The amount of damage he had done to my pride and myself confidence had instantly cured now, I had proved myself.

'♥♫ '♥♫

I slouched back on the chair next to Fatima as I reached her cabin. I don’t know why she had been the first person I went to, I just needed to talk to someone about this. I sighed deeply and was smiling ear to ear. She crooked an eyebrow with a half smile she stared at me.

“I did it.” I announced, happily, without meeting her curious gaze.

“Can you please bother to tell me what happened?” She mocked. I turned to face her.

“Fatoom, I did it. I showed them what I was made of.” I spluttered, which made her laugh.

“Look at you. Your eyes are shinning. What is it that you have done this time?” She asked. I narrowed my eyes at her last words. But it wasn’t the first time she blamed me for being an attention seeker.  I decided to brush it off, but I’ll have to remember to start an argument on this some other time.

“The presentation,” I breathed. “I nailed it. They all looked very satisfied. So much so that Noorah is no longer presenting it next time. Guess who is?” I asked and then answered my own question by pointing both my thumb fingers to myself. “Me.” I said. Whenever I was excited I used hand gestures to help deliver my message.

 Fatima, being my friend was happy for me. “That’s great. They should’ve never underestimated you.” Funny how I thought the exact same thing.

“No, actually I think they did a favor ‘cause I recently found out that I work better under pressure.” I notified. She smiled again and said; “Well then, you should thank Mr. Zayed for doing what he did to you.” I thought about that for a while.

“Not until he increases my salary.” I joked and we both laughed.

We sat there talking when someone called us to come in the hall for Abdullah’s surprise Birthday party. It was nearly lunch time and so naturally everyone had gathered around the buffet on the fifth floor, that’s where the party was. The Birthday boy, Abdullah, stood by the cake. Looks like they were over the surprising part. Beside him, were Ahmed and Khalifah, they were laughing on something and though I couldn’t hear them but I smiled anyway.

“Hey Abdullah,” I called as me and Fatima got closer to them. We received the attention of some people around them. Both, me and Fatoom wished him a Happy Birthday.

“It’s time you get a little serious in life, because twenty five is a big number.” I said a little loudly. Now, everyone in the room had turned towards me. People who liked me had laughed and those who didn’t..well, let’s ignore them. But above all was the laughter of khalifah, his chuckle had been so loud that it made me feel like my comment didn’t deserve that much, but still I appreciated the effort.

“I’ll take note of that. It’s not every day we get to have advice from the ‘Experienced’ Mahra.” Abdullah teased. He knew I was younger than him just one year and that’s why he had said that. But it didn’t stop me. Nothing could stop me today.

“See your birth day really is a lucky day.” I joked. Come to think of it, it is a very lucky day. When the cake was cut, I asked Abdullah, tauntingly, what did he wish for? And I was glad to see that he was playing along, because he said he wanted to be someone I, Mahra, appreciated. He was a nice fellow didn’t take my sarcasm in a serious way, unlike some people.

My phone started to buzz, and I moved away from the crowd, out of the room, to answer my mom’s call. By the time I got out of there the phone stopped ringing, I was going to call her but a voice from behind me startled me a little. It was Khalifah, he stood there smiling broadly.

“Bismillah, you scared me.” I said, bluntly and then noticed an apologetic look take over his face.

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.” Khalifah apologized. I murmured a ‘it’s okay’ I am not even sure if he heard me right. But who cares. The only thought that ran through my mind is what does he want from me? Why did he follow me? I Hope this doesn’t have something to do with what Fatima said.

“Who was that on the phone?” He asked as if he had the right to ask that. At first I was going to give him a smacking reply but thought better of it.

“Just..family,” I shrugged.

“Your family,” He repeated after me. I raised an eyebrow. Okay, this is weird. What does he want? His face looked like he was fighting a battle in his head.

“Mahra,” He took a step forward. My heart skipped a beat, but I acted like he had no effect on me, which he didn’t. “You did good today.” He said his words hanging there.

“Thanks,” I replied, walking away from him. Fatima’s words were still ringing in my brain. I was about to escape when he called me before I could take two steps. I turned to him trying to hide my annoyance.

“Yeah,”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” He questioned, a devilish smile played on his lips. This is not good!

I looked around to see if we were having any audience but mostly everyone was at the party. I faced him and crossed my arms in front of me, giving him a look that said, ‘Let’s hear what you have to say.’ He looked at me, his eyes lingering on my face longer than I would like. He seemed confident, a little over confident I’d say.

“I wanted to talk to you before taking any actions.” Khalifah spoke. I frowned to show my displeasure. I have a bad feeling about this. “I have known you for a year now and have waited..” I hid the gasp that was about to escape my lips and held my hand up to stop him from completing. I couldn’t let him do this, but he insisted me to let him finish.

“I have waited long enough and I want you to put an end to all of this.” He spoke coolly and paused for a moment, rubbing his fingers with one another. “If I come to your house and ask for your hand in marriage…Are you going to say ‘yes’?” he proposed ever so calmly, whereas I, I felt like someone had poured cold water all over me. My head started to spin and it was anger, again, that slowly took over me, from my toes to my head.  I felt like all the blood in my body had rushed to my face. How dare he propose to me?

I was silent, as he stared at me expectantly. “So?” He asks, bringing me out of my troubled thoughts.

“Wow..” I uttered and saw him smile. “That was unexpected.” I lied because I already knew about all this.

I wanted to be the Mahra I was, but no, I had to handle this situation more maturely. I knew I was above this. “I am sorry you feel this way,” I muttered, trying to keep the cool. “But I don’t share the same feelings.” His expressions changed, he hadn’t been expecting this. To put an end to all of this and to make him never repeat those words ever again, I took a deep breath to deliver my next line which surely was gonna break him.

“I have never looked at you that way. You’ve always been like a brother to me, nothing more.” Awkward silence lingered around us and he still gawked at me, unbelievably. I wanted to tell him; ‘Hope we can still be friends,’ just like the girls often add in movies, but didn’t and left him there.

As I walked back to the buffet with shaking legs and cold feet, I think I had seen Hissa standing at the door.

'♥♫*~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸*~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸*~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫•¸~'♥♫

Hey guys:) Sorry we were so late. We had exams and then after that a little chillin' that comes after stress;) To make up for the waiting we are giving u a long and interesting chp. Hope u all liked it. Thanx once again 2 all our awesome fans. Let us know about ur views, through comments and votes.

Hope you liked the poem we wrote for Zayed. Just thought you guys might like it;)  Which I think u do;)

~Lot of Love from the writers

~Witty & Witch.