Besabriyan

8|EIGHT

Feeling content after so many days, Zaviyar walked out of the meeting room with a satisfied grin on his face- one that screamed victory and money. In his left stood another man almost a decade older than him, carrying a similar smile. The deal was sealed and the project was finalized.The Meraki's dream project of the year was finally being carried out so well that it might make turnover in billions. He was happy. Zaviyar was elated. The smile on his face resembled the one he had when he had cracked his first project. For a man who smiled less, his smile was contagious and put everything around him in a lighter atmosphere.

The employees in his floor bustled with joy, congratulating each other for the success and preparing themselves for the upcoming sleepless nights. When this project would turn out to be a success, their incentives would be even higher so they knew they could work their heads off on it, knowing that Zaviyar did as he promised. He watched the employees in amusement in oblivion before turning to the man in left and shaking his hand.

"It is in our honor to be doing this project with you so please allow me to buy you a cup of coffee to celebrate it."

"Are you rejecting my idea of having a nice dinner before I even said it?" The man laughed. Zaviyar's eyes widened in scrutiny for a second before he pushed it to the back of his head and pulled another smile. Zaviyar Ali Dawar never brought his colleagues to dinner or to any meal. He hated how oversweet their words at the dining table would be.

So he laughed it off, "It's nothing like that-" He pushed his fist into his pocket as it curled inside his suit pants, "I'm actually running out of time. Moreover, Its not in me to have a dinner with coworkers."

His assistant who stood just behind looked at him as though he had lost his mind. He worked days and nights on it. He made his employees work days and nights on it. He made his assistant have sleepless nights by making her go through reports and make new ones if anything wasn't right. Zaviyar had his entire company tossed over his head just before the man arrived at their company. Her clutch on the folders tightened- if anything were to happen because of his bluntless she would bite his ears off and quit. She wouldn't care if she weren't to get another job.

"Well I can understand but let's postpone the coffee to the day we make a success of the project." With that, the man left. Zaviyar stood on the doorway to his office, looking at something in the papers he took from his assistant. The young woman was exhausted to the entirety and it hadn't been three yet. She yawned soundlessly to make sure to not make a sound to distract him and she was held back when she was just escaping from behind him.

His eyes caught on the last woman he expected to be there in the Meraki Industries. Clad in the lightest of gray- tiny embroidered flowers peppered everywhere on her anarkali and dupatta. His eyes caught on the woman who looked up at a man and talked to him with confidence radiating prominently around her. There was a spark- this was the same spark that he spotted on when he met her eyes for the first time. When she wasn't running away from him or shutting him off. This spark was the very same one that he intended to look at everything he met her. This was the spark that she carried around, even around him before she knew he was engaged.

"Who is she, Maha?" He asked his assistant, without turning to look at the yawning woman. His eyes still staying on his woman. He didn't mean to ask about her. He meant to ask about her presence in the Meraki and there was no way was he going to allow anyone to know that he knew her- not when the company was her potential workplace.

"An intern who was selected in the interview. She started her four months internship today. Her name is-" Maha paused, trying to recall her name.

"Maheen." He uttered, lost in a trance but then quickly recovered when he saw Maha looking at him with huge eyes. He shut the file and slammed it on her hands before shooing her away. And once Maha was gone, he took steps to her. Ones that took him towards her. Sped up but calculated. Walking from where she wouldn't see him, he took steps to stand behind her. To shield her from the gaze of the men as he should.