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The scent of freshly fried zucchini filled the air passageways of Siraj's nostrils, and she tried so hard not to literally get on her knees and thank the waitress who'd just brought it out to her. A considerate sized portion of ranch was placed next to her plate, along with chipotle sauce.
Siraj pulled her right leg to rest over her left one while locking her phone, preparing to start on her appetizer. Just before she could take a bite, someone sat in the seat on the opposite side of the booth she was in.
"Can I hug you?" She asked him, and for a moment Emari didn't say anything, but eventually nodded.
She got up from her seat at the same time that he did, and she almost wanted to cry when his arms wrapped her up to return the hug. Missing him was an understatement, and she hated the current situation that they found themselves to be in.
Unfortunately her pregnancy hormones did get the best of her, causing her to begin quietly crying while in his embrace. All Emari did was continue to hug her, undeniably missing her the same way she had missed him.
"Why you crying?"
"I would tell you if I knew." She let out a sound as the result of chuckling and sniffing at the same time, reaching up to wipe her own eyes.
"I missed you." He mumbled, tilting his head down to look at her round face.
"I missed you too. I'm so sorry Emari. I know there's not much I can do to make anything better and that just makes me so sad." She pulled her arms from around him so that she could completely wipe her face, and he wrapped her up in a tighter hug.
Even though he could admit to his feelings being hurt over finding out that Siraj dated-and was pregnant by-his older brother, he couldn't allow himself to dwell on it long enough because he had begun to miss her.
Most of their life it really had only been friendship between the two of them, but it seemed like his feelings for her jump started after the birth of his daughter. For a while, she was the only one who seemed to actually care about his well being, back when Eriah was an infant.
Everyone else appeared to constantly be busy, so he decided not to burden anyone with the negative thoughts that had found their way into his headspace. Without him saying anything, Siraj was still able to pick up on something being wrong with her best friend.
The amount of attention she gave him during that time was ultimately what made him fall for her. Rather it was just a 'what are you doing' text, or a day she'd planned to get him out of his head, it meant a lot to him to see that she cared.
He tried to suppress those feelings for awhile because he was sure she didn't think of him the same, and he just felt like it was a lot going on in both of their lives-too much to have the time to focus on one another. Siraj made it hard though. Everything she did made his heart burst.
