Divulging Remorse ✔

Chapter 26

Two years later

She checked the time on her desktop. Five-fifty; her day was over at the office. Gathering her phone and some papers from the table, a yellow sticky note stuck on a book caught her eye. Dang. She was called in for a meeting with the Head at six o' clock, it had totally slipped away from her mind, despite the reminder. 

Walking out of her cabin, she popped her mug in the dishwasher at the coffee station down the corridor and pushed opened the heavy glass door before two quick knocks. 

The man behind the half organized clutter, mahogany desk with three drawers on the right-hand side, swivel chair, mac book pro, several stacks of paperwork, he briefly looked up atop his glasses sitting low on the rim of his nose and went back to the pile; flipping pages and marking them in an urgency to finish his task and get himself to talk to her. 

The office room was huge, occupying the most spacious corner of the unit. The floor-to-ceiling windows gave two views up from the seventeenth floor: Shaykh Zaid Road to the east and Safa Park just a few blocks north. The two remaining walls had a bookshelf filled with all things law, and a  single oil painting - Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers.

He looked up again to find her still standing at the door. In a haste, he pointed a pencil to the chair opposite the table, gesturing her to sit. 

She took a seat and rubbed her palm with the thumb of her other hand. There was always something about this job that made her switch on the eager beaver in her. Before every case, she burst with excitement, but at the same time felt overwhelmed with a consciousness that she was a part of someone's destiny.

When she had first applied for a receptionist's vacancy, much to her surprise, she was hired as a junior advocate. Even though she had a Bachelor's in Law, she was quite taken aback because she had zero experience and had no internships in the past, but her amazing interview had led her to bag the role. It was to mediate and resolve legal disputes which are very petty and do not have the substance to go to trial in the court.

The first day was still fresh in her memory, how Younus Hadad, who was the Cheif Attorney for UAE's Ministry of Legal Affairs was just too hard on her, but eventually, he had loosened up a little as he saw her progress with intelligence. There was an element of insecurity within him though, or maybe she thought too much, but he mostly didn't like it when somebody tried to excel ahead of him; and that somebody always had to be Riya. His expertise and experience were definitely far reached what Riya had, but it was clear that she had milestones to touch. She didn't care, just did what made her happy and that was, to go high. Not even the sky was a limit. 

Once she had started, there was no looking back for her. She now had aims, a career to pursue which she'd been wholly absorbed in. Working in this law firm for the past two years had made her patient, calm and sensible. Riya Jahangiri's life was no more a mess, she wasn't a mess; she thought before she spoke, took some deep breaths before reacting to something she didn't like and stopped being judgemental about people. Ironic for the field she'd been working for, right? Maybe, it was the job that had taught her all that, or maybe it was just some people who had been in her life to teach her a lesson and then left. Because not every person who wins a case is about power and not every person who does badly is really bad. She had learned it all the hard way, from here and there. 

Sighing, she wondered what could possibly be the matter that he'd wanted to talk to her about. Maybe, it could be about training the new intern who had joined a couple of days ago. Or, it could be about the case he was working on and he wanted some help.

Wait, it could be about that illegal property case last month, she thought to herself, gleefully. 

Mr. Younus had stopped scribbling and was now looking for something in his desk drawer. She waited restlessly. Upon finding what he had been searching for, he finally had begun.