You, Me & the Alter(cations) - Farmeed AU

11.

Umeed yawned, stretching on the sofa while rubbing her eyes with the bottom of her palms. It was chilly, she was shivering as she did. Currently, she had no awareness of where she was. She just remembered sleeping, that too only because her body could not handle it anymore. It gave up and so did her eyes.

"Good morning" Farjaad spoke, smiling as he flipped the omelette on the pan. His apartment was an open-living concept, a big square opening was in between the kitchen and the living space.

Umeed sat up, recalling everything, remembering where she was. It all dawned upon her.

"I emailed you everything." Was the first thing that left her lips. She sat up, shivering and checking her watch. It was ten. The weather outside was still cloudy. She looked at the blanket that was over her, this was not there last night.

She went to place her hand on the sofa so sit further straight but it caressed a ball of fur, she looked down to see Coco still sleeping, curled up in a ball.

"I know, dekh liya hai." He chuckled. "I would have woken you up and told you to go in the guestroom, magar tum araam se so rahi thi I didn't want to disturb." He reasoned. It took almost ten minutes for him to decide whether to leave her and go sleep or wake her up. He looked very comfortable, he did not want to disturb her. And he prayed that the blanket was enough for her since the heating was on. That too switched off in the morning.

"Sorry, pata bhi nahi chala kab aankh lag ayi." She felt a little embarrassed. The change in plans were not in her control. None of the previous night was planned, it all just happened. And she wondered if that was a mistake to agree with in the first place.

"Omelette mein kuch khaas pasand hai?" He asked her, breaking her trail of thought. He seemed to be fine with it, she thought. He was bubbly, calm, not distraught by her presence. Umeed nodded. "Okay good." He flipped it once again before transferring it to a plate. "Wese, apki in se kese bani?" Farjaad pointed to Coco.

Umeed smiled.

She shut her laptop off and sighed. Her head was hurting, it was really late, almost dawn. Farjaad had left half an hour ago. Seeing that man, it made sense that he'd spend more time in the gym. She didn't know what to do.

Her eyes were closing. Umeed sat back on to the sofa, her back against it. It was so soft, so cosy. The room was warm, the sound of the RAIN was so loud against his balcony. The thunder was a background noise to the AC which made the room warm.

She smelled of musky wood. A strong scent, mahogany with a hint of vanilla, slight oudy nodes. It was frantic, it was intoxicating.

Umeed felt her eyes slowly begin to shut, she could not hold her.

A faded meow.

She blinked. Sitting up.

Another meow. A little louder.

She gulped. It was at a distance, it was muffled. She knew where it was coming from. And Umeed groaned softly.

It was just a fear since childhood. Nothing special, she just didn't like cats. It was one time Haya and Sameer went to play with the neighbour's cat and Sameer came back with a scratch and both of them were crying. Umeed did not want to be the third victim.

Another stretched meow.

But she felt bad. It was the cat's space. She invaded it. What if it's hungry? Or thirsty? Or even worse, in danger?

Did Umeed want to be the only witness if Farjaad came to back to his cat harmed? She'd be held accountable.

And what if it's eating and drinking supplies were in the kitchen? And it was genuinely starving. Umeed began wondering.