Love Bites (Alhaitham x Kaveh)

Chapter 10 - Bittersweet

-Narrator's POV- 

It was at the crack of dawn when Kaveh left the Akademiya's premises after finally completing and adding his finishing touches to the blueprints. He would've left them at the Grand Sage's office but it was locked, so he decided he'd go and give them to him in person. He was exhausted and could barely hold himself up for any longer, without catching a blink of sleep the whole night. And to add to that, a pain throbbed down his lower back after...their activities last night. His head was killing him but his thoughts reminded him in a chant that he was just a few steps away from his house. 

No, Alhaitham's house- he corrected himself. 

So once he swung the doors open to the house, for once, he was glad to see that Alhaitham was already awake and sitting on a sofa, looking over some papers in front of him on the table. Shortly, he looked up at Kaveh but immediately went back to looking at the papers as if he didn't want to acknowledge his presence. 

"Here you go." The blonde exhaled as he threw the blueprints onto the table in front of him, forcing the latter to look up at him. "I'm done. I've made the necessary changes to the last design you didn't approve of." 

"I'll not be managing the approval of these anymore, but through the kindness of my heart, I'll pass them on to the proper authorities for you." Alhaitham explained as he took the blueprints and set them aside.

"What the fuck do you mean? Say it outright, I'm not bothered to deal with your nonsense right now." Kaveh was so badly craving the sweet sensation of slumber that he couldn't help but be straightforward with his words. He held his forehead and shut his eyes.

"I'm resigning." 

"What?" Kaveh's eyes shot up, his voice louder than he intended it to be due to shock. In response, Alhaitham held up a paper in front of him, which, after Kaveh read the title, was able to figure that it really was an application for resignation from the position of the Grand Sage. When he looked at the bottom of the paper past paragraphs of rules and conditions, he could see that Alhaitham had already signed it. 

"Huh..." Kaveh stepped back, walking the fine line between confusion and acceptance. "Wonder what the reason is for this...sudden decision of yours." 

"I don't like the work hours. And there's too much work." Alhaitham simply said as he compiled the rest of the papers and straightened them into a pile after tapping them against the table.

"I should've expected that. You're one of the laziest people I've met in my life." Kaveh laughed with sarcasm. And he wasn't exaggerating when he said that, because he truly believed there was nobody lazier than Alhaitham in the whole of the Akademiya.

"Would you believe it if I said that you're also one of the reasons why I decided to resign?" 

Kaveh's laughter stopped abruptly as the words left Alhaitham's mouth.

"What? Are you blaming me? What do I have to do with any of this?!" Kaveh's expressions changed to anger, as he glared down at Alhaitham. 

"You want me to be truthful, don't you?" Alhaitham's voiced lowered as he got up from the sofa and walked around the table to go stand right in front of Kaveh. Kaveh took a few steps away until his back hit the wall, and Alhaitham stepped forward, not maintaining any distance in between the two of them.  

"I applied for resignation long ago, because I didn't want to be in such a position. Not only was there more work, but longer work hours- which prevented me from coming home early like I used to when I was just the scribe." Alhaitham elaborated, before looking directly into Kaveh's confused eyes. "After a while, I realised another inconvenience was bothering me- the work hours prevented me from coming home early to see you."