Fated

Ch. 10

'Excuse me' I stood near Zain's office for a very long time debating whether I should resign or keep working under him. Finally, I put my stress on "we will see" mode and decided to face him.

He was sitting on his couch looking through some paperwork when I entered.

'I did knock before coming in...I can come back later' I stood awkwardly waiting for him to tell me what to do.

'Do you know how to make coffee?' He asked me while keeping his eyes on the paper. Dressed in casual business wear accompanied by heavy eyelids, he looked completely worn out.

'Yes,' I answered him.

'I take it black no sugar' He finally looked at me as I stared at him.

'You want me to make it for you?' I asked.

'Why do you think I asked you if you know how to make coffee?' He shook his head. He was such a moron.

'Okay,' I didn't want to give him the satisfaction that he was bothering me. I went to the station and made him a cup of coffee. I didn't turn to face him as I waited for the coffee to brew but I could tell he was observing me.

'How is your college going?' I heard him ask after a long moment of silence.

'Okay,' I kept my response short.

Once the coffee was done, I went up to him and placed the cup on the table in front of him and went back to my spot where I was standing earlier.

'Sit' He picked up the cup and waited for me to sit down.

'You will be assisting me from now on...I am working with some clients to help them develop business models and I want you to search for suitable resources for our clients to help them with prototype development and branding creation. For funding or learning opportunity, connect them to our advisors on site. Along with that, I want you to plan something for our PD day that's coming up...think of workshops or seminars that our staff will enjoy and search for caterers for the event. I will confirm the date soon...we are still deciding between the two dates. It will take place in the large meeting room, but the decorations will be your responsibility. I will give you the company credit card to use for shopping for the event. Get a company laptop from Salman and always check your email every hour. For a few days, you will be sitting here so pack your stuff and ask one of the volunteers to put away the files.' He went on and on. I wish I had a notebook to write everything down.

'I can't commit more than five hours a day' I said to him.

'I don't expect you to' He replied instantly.

'What will Bisma be doing?' I couldn't help but ask.

'Why are you so concerned about her?' He looked me in the eye and I felt as if he was accusing me of being nosy. I wasn't being nosy, I was just curious. Why didn't he offer these tasks to Bisma? She was his intern after all.

'She is your intern...shouldn't she be assisting you...besides, you will work a lot better with her' I told him.

'She is doing just fine where she is...but you' He stopped.

'Me?' I asked him.

'You have a lot to learn' He said to me.

'Hey...where do you want the setup?' Salman walked in the office suddenly and looked at us.

'Go get your stuff' Zain got up to show Salman where to set up my new work station.

'You're leaving?' Bisma seemed as if she was waiting for me when I entered my soon to be old office to pack my stuff.