Embraced (#2 Natives series) #ProjectNigeria

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

          "BUT SERIOUSLY, WHY ARE YOU on a diet?" Munir asked again around a mouthful of spicy meat.

It was the second time he was ordering. Fatiha sighed as she bit into the flat and dried piece of meat in her hand, having no intention of telling him anything, but before she could even think about it words tumbled out of her mouth almost as if they had been waiting to reveal the little secret. "Faisal wants me to slim down a bit." She said, gasped, and then she slapped a hand over her mouth.

Munir only stayed quiet for a few seconds but those few seconds felt agonizingly longer to Fatiha. She didn't know what she had been expecting from him but when he began to laugh, Fatiha was suddenly reminded again of why he was her sworn enemy. Of why she despised him.

"What's funny?" she dared to asked.

"You are." He told her with a shake of his head, his shoulder's shaking with silent laughter. That was how he laughed, quiet but still annoying like rain on the back of a turned steel basin. "Because I hope you don't plan on doing so. You're okay just the way you are."

You're okay just the way you are. It was the first time he had complimented her on her size rather than make fun of her, but Fatiha had years of torment under his name to dilute whatever honesty he threaded into his words.

She snickered scornfully. "Maybe," she snidely affirmed. "But then again, I've always been a private comic show for you, haven't I?"

The humor in Munir's eyes dimmed the moment he noticed the shift in emotions and atmosphere. "Fatiha, I didn't mean it like that."

With her heart thundering in her chest, Fatiha pushed back her seat and rose to her feet. Her eyes weren't glistening when she looked down at Munir's pleading ones, but she could feel the heat already smearing through her body and she knew that any moment from now her extremely dry eyes would betray her.

This was her fault. Her own doing. She'd had the chance to run but she had stuck around. She couldn't lash out at Munir. He had tried to help in what way he thought was helpful. Her eyes were beginning to sting. God, she should have left when she had the chance to.

"I hope you had fun again today." She said and picked up her bag from the other plastic chair before turning to leave.

Munir was right at her tail as she reached the young lady with the POS machine. She pulled out her debit card and handed it to the other lady before telling her what it was she was paying for, all the while ignoring Munir as he tried to talk to her.

The fairly bleached lady in a burgundy button-up shirt with a tag that said Cashier and underneath it Rahmah worked on her system for a while, glancing eagerly between a quiet Munir and an oddly composed Fatiha. She finally handed the card back.

Fatiha looked at the blue and white card in her hand with her name engraved on it, then back up at the lady who had on a too-big smile on her made-up face, a question on Fatiha's pale one. It couldn't compare to that of the cashier who had on makeup that was way too heavy for the time of day and her skin type. Through the haze of her irritation, Fatiha still had the mind to pity the younger lady for the possible outbreak of eczema and pimples.

"Your partner has already made the payments." The turbaned lady shared, her smile growing annoyingly bigger. The red of her lips reminding Fatiha of the Joker.

Fatiha didn't snap at the girl, instead she nodded and resumed her walk, hoping that Munir would follow her. He did. Good.

When they got outside, far from preying eyes and listening ears, Munir grabbed a hold of Fatiha's hand to halt her movement.