The difference she made!

The accident

You are not the one, whose birds died within your rib-cage,

I am the one who witnessed the carnage...

It was a bright morning and everything seemed to be just fine. Fajr was wearing a white fluffy dressing gown, shining like the sun. The aroma of her scones with jam and freshly brewed-with-cardamom coffee filled the room. She walked toward the table where Khalid was sitting and talking on his cell phone. She nudged a coffee mug towards him, he nodded as she settled at the table with her coffee. She held the coffee mug with two hands and savored the coffee one small sip at a time, staring at him and impressed by the way his Adam's apple moved when he spoke and his eyes; those deep, dark brown ones caused a new electrifying reaction in her body.  She was so engrossed in his eyes that she didn't notice when he actually disconnected his call and was looking at her.  The moment she realized that, it was too late. She gave herself a mental slap when she saw his smile.

Feeling pleased with the sweet-tasting coffee he had just tasted, he asked; "what's it?"

His question brought her back to reality again. She shook her head and shrugged, "nothing."

His mouth slightly smiling, he said nothing but made some kind of sound that Fajr was pretty sure meant he didn't believe her.

He took another sip and said; "your eyes telling me otherwise and I trust eyes rather than tongues."
She turned her coffee mug around on the table; 'What if the eyes lie?"
"They can be misunderstood but never lie."
"so you admit that you may misunderstand the message you got through them?"
"Not me" he smiled broadly.
She rolled her eyes; "arrogant!"

He held up a scone before taking a bite and commented; "too honest!"

"it means you agree about your arrogance!"

He took a sip from his mug and corrected; "I'd rather say confidence."
"But overconfidence often turns into arrogance"
"You are right enough there, but there is a red line between arrogance and confidence that I make sure not to cross." He chewed and swallowed the last bite of scone; " You know what? I recommend you try to learn how eyes speak!"
"That's a risk I'd rather not take." She reached for a piece of scone and broke off the corner and popped the pastry into her mouth.
Feeding his curiosity, he inquired; "where is the risk?" he glanced at his watch to check work time.

"despite of the small space the eyes occupy on faces, they basically are too deep and wide, like a sky or sea, once you focus on them either you get lost or drowned."

Fajr explained, twirling her locks around one of her fingers.

He had realized this habit of hers whenever she got lost in deep thoughts. "that's so deep." Then he picked another scone; "this tastes pretty good."

"Thank you." She smiled, her smile tugged at his heart.

He stopped eating, tossed the rest of his coffee back, and wiped his mouth with his napkin, ready to go to work when he said; "We are having lunch with family today. Ruqaya and her kids are there."

She nodded with a slow gesture, her eyes on his face; "what time shall we go?"

As he moved to the hall table to collect his keys, he responded; "not sue yet, I'll call you."

***************

And as promised, he called before afternoon to tell her that Fahd was going to take her to the family house, because he was too busy to come. He'd joined them later.

She did what he'd asked her to do, and in less than 2 hours she was in the family house among others.

When it was getting close to lunch time, and there was no sign of him. Everyone began asking her about Khalid's whereabouts. She felt embarrassed as she had to repeat "he was busy, he must be on his way now."