Solar Eclipse

Chapter 2

The next day, as I pass by the rooms designated to the Akademiya's scribes, I see our favorite scribe looking down on the book on his lap and I reach out to knock on his opened door. His voice floats out without looking up, "Yes?"

I enter the room and he looks up and narrows his eyes at me.

"Oh, who do we have here? Miss Nadiah in the flesh? What happened to sending your assistant in order to avoid having to face me?"

"My dearest scribe, I had something private to talk about with you and I'm afraid my assistant would not suffice."

"Private matters during office hours?"

I fold my arms on my chest. "It's about Kaveh."

"What is it?"

I give him a close eyed smile. "You want us to talk now? During office hours? Certainly not, dearest scribe, I could never even dream of interrupting you when clearly you're working so...," I look at the book on his lap before looking up to say, "...diligently."

Alhaitham gives me an unamused look at my comeback, looks back down on his book, and says, "Fine, meet me at Puspa's after office hours then."

"Sure. I need to get back to work now anyways. See you. Don't be late."

                                                 — — — — — — — — — — — — —

I see Alhaitham walk in through the doors of Puspa's Cafe when I'm ordering my coffee at the counter. No greetings are exchanged between us and after we get our coffees, we navigate our way towards the farthest possible table and wordlessly sit down.

Before I can even have a sip of my coffee, Alhaitham opens, "So? Is something wrong with Kaveh?"

I try to cool off my coffee a bit as I blow on it but when I take the cup to my lips, it still seems too hot to the touch. So I put it down and answer his question.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with him, per se, but something will definitely be wrong very soon if you don't up your game."

Alhaitham draws his eyes up towards me from his hot coffee and coldly says, "I would greatly appreciate it if you could just get straight to the point, Miss Nadiah."

"The point is, dearest scribe, that Kaveh plans on leaving your house soon and if you don't admit that you want him to stay, you will lose him for the second time in your life."

It is now my turn to take up my coffee and for him to glare at me while putting his cup down.

"I fail to understand how this is any of your business. If Kaveh brings up the topic I will simply tell him to do as he wishes, it isn't my place, after all, to force him to stay if he wants to leave."

I put my cup down with considerable force and it almost spills some coffee on the table.

"That's exactly the problem, Alhaitham! Have you considered the fact that your attitude towards this whole situation might be exactly what is pushing Kaveh away from you? Have you considered that saying 'do what you want' with that expression you plaster on your face all the time can come off as 'I don't care what choice you make since it makes no difference to me anyways'? Have you considered that Kaveh might also think how you think, that — what if he overstays his welcome and since you're not going out of your way to say that you want him to stay, it clearly means you want him out of your home as soon as possible?"

"Why would he think that? He should know that with my personality, I would directly tell him to get out of my house if I didn't want him there."

"And that's where you're wrong, dearest scribe. He does know your personality, more than anyone else, in fact. However, this is a very emotional matter for him. You know what a home means to him. He cannot possibly stay if you don't explicitly ask him to, do you not understand? And what do you mean 'he should know'? He's no mind reader, and neither should he need to be! Communication is a thing, how about applying it in your love life?"