Life Savior

He was walking around in the kitchen, trying to make his sandwich while making sure he met up with the time without being late for work. The sound that came through his phone caught his attention and he walked out to his living room, wondering who called or texted him at this time. Taking a sip of his coffee, Yazeed sat down and took his phone to read the message, it came from Sulaiman. He tried reading it aloud but the way his voice sounded made him changed his mind, too bad for a morning voice.

‘Hey, Man! the morning I don’t whether you slept well or not. I feel so bad for what I said yesterday even though it’s the truth, but Yazid, you have to give this a thought. I am not saying it should necessarily be her, but it looks like the girl likes you and she is beautiful without a doubt. It looks like you enjoy her company as well. So, why not give it a try? Or should we speak about it some other time? See you at work.’

He sighed and placed down the phone while giving it a thought as Sulaiman said even though he knew there was no way he could do as Sulaiman wanted. He walked back to the kitchen having a flashback of the way she looked, how she smiled, how excited she seemed whenever he smiled and the way she pouted her lips whenever she was angry at him but couldn’t voice a word out.

He could admit to the fact that he loved being in her company even when she wasn’t speaking or staring at him when she thought he wasn’t looking, and he liked the innocence that dripped from her eyes whenever he caught her staring. But what Sulaiman suggested was something he couldn’t bring his mind to think of. He knew it wasn’t a sin, but to him, the new version of Yazid Adam Bunza, loving or rather accepting someone into his life will be horrendous. It wasn’t just about him, but about her as well. He didn’t want to douse her innocence with a pinch of his grief nor did he want to put a glimmer of tears on those exceptional does like orbs.

He turned off the sandwich maker and figured out he had lost his appetite. Covering everything up, he walked back to the living room, took his office bag and walked out of the house. He drove directly to the company while doing all he could not think about what Sulaiman had said, but to no avail. He parked the car and his eyes momentarily stared at where she used to park and there she was! Leaning on to her car with her right hand clutching her handbag, her left scrolling through her phone. She had her face dolled up with a simple touch of makeup and to his dismay, Jalilah wore an Ankara gown today.

Wasn’t it just yesterday he thought about how he had never seen her in some clothes other than abayas and English dresses? Yes, he saw her in her jeans once, when she thought he wasn’t staring as she danced. From the way she stood, he needn't be told that she was waiting for him and that nearly made him smile. Nearly.

He took his eyes off her and hopped out of the car, forcing himself to ignore her even if she spoke to him. He had to stop giving Sulaiman more reasons to talk about the things he liked. He walked past her and was sure she didn’t realize he had walked away until a few seconds after that.

“Hey! Good morning!” She half yelled and he had to turn to look at her at the way her voice sounded.

He wished he didn’t turn at first, because the way she smiled while she walked up to him with a gait he was sure even the gazelle would envy, Yazeed had to look away. She stood beside him, “Good morning.” She greeted again with a wide smile that was rather affecting his being.

“I'm taking the staircase today, are you in? Or you can call Wafiyya down?” He asked, and didn't miss the way her eyes turned sad but she masked everything up with an even brighter smile.

“No, let’s go.” He noticed she was holding a picnic basket with her. He was sure it was their lunch or her lunch, whatever he wished to tag it, but she seemed to be having difficulties holding it. “I’m so glad I didn't wear heels, it would have been another torture.” She whispered and walked past him, walking up to the stairs. He had to bite his inner cheek to avoid himself from smiling, she looked so pissed.

He walked behind her, watching her every step as she struggled to hold the basket. Yazeed was tempted to collect it from her, and when she stumbled and nearly fell, he didn't know when he rushed to where he was and took the basket from her hand. She went cold, looking up at him as if that was the first good gesture she had ever gotten from him.

He scrunched up his face and spoke, “Stop giving me that look, you’re struggling to carry it yourself.” He didn’t wait to hear her answer when he walked past her and he was sure she had his eyes still on his retreating back. But the big question here was on him, what the hell was happening to him? He wasn’t like this for the past years but he could feel it, something was changing in him.

“Hey, wait for me!” She yelled behind him and sprinted up to reach his pace. She was giving him that appreciative smile that he found so hard to ignore, and before he had to force himself to look away from her face, Jalilah spoke again, “You didn’t notice?” She asked with a baby grin and he wondered what that was.

“What? And you’re grinning like a baby who has been gifted a candy does.” He retorted.

She stopped walking and he had to stop as well, she had this cute pout on her lips that as much as he wanted to ignore her and walk directly to his office, he couldn’t. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed, please.”

“If only you’ll stop talking in puzzles and tell me what exactly, we don’t have the whole 24 hours of today.” He walked past her and he heard the soft sound of her shoes as she followed behind him.

“Is it that you’re naturally like this or you choose to be like this with me?” What the hell was this girl talking about? He wished he had superpowers to know what she was talking about even though he enjoyed seeing this desperate look on her face. Like, did you not notice or you choose to act like you didn’t?

He ignored her and kept walking as she persistently kept asking him, which he all acted like he didn’t hear her. “You know that if you don’t notice this I'm going to be so sad, right? And I won’t light up your day with my amazing smile.” He had to internally chuckle at that. Who the hell told this girl that she lighted his days up?

“And who told you I need your shrinking smiles to have my days lig-” he wasn’t able to finish his sentence when one of the cleaners walked her way with a wheelbarrow which had some damaged electronics and if he didn’t act so fast in pushing her out of his way, she would be pushed upon the stairs by the edge of the wheelbarrow and he couldn't imagine the damage that would be done.

He didn't want to, but the was the only way to save her life, the cleaner moved so close to her that with just another step, they will all hear nothing but her scream as she rolled down the stairs. But all she cared about was, ‘Don’t even start with I have shrinking smiles, because I could tell from your eyes my smiles are the prettiest you’ve seen.”

Act up, Yazeed! He had to save this girl. With one pound of his heart, Yazeed used his right hand and he pulled her to his side. She lost her balance and he had to hold her to his body as she steadied her balance. When the cleaner saw that, he stopped and that caught the attention of some of the workers.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking straight. Thank god he was able to push you aside, I would’ve hurt you. I'm so sorry.” He kept begging and Yazeed nodded his head at him and waved dismissively.

She was cold standing by his side, with his hand holding hers and her body leaning onto his, this...he didn’t even have to think was the closest they had ever gotten, because it was. The eyes of the workers that were on them were what brought his attention back and he pulled her away from his body, but with a reason unbeknownst to him, he still held her hand.

“Are you okay?” It looked like she wasn’t herself until now, and she shook her head coldly at him before she broke into tears.

“I’m scared.” She whimpered, Yazeed squeezed her hand a bit.