Hooked By The Hijabi

Sixteen

A/N

Assalamu Alaikum, y'all! It's been so long. Hope you guys are all great :)

__________________

Maha

It's become like this for me:

5:00-7:00 A.M. : Fajr Salah. Basketball practice.

7:00-8:00 A.M. : Go home. Shower. Breakfast.

8:00-8:30 A.M. : Back to Uni.

8:30 A. M.-2:15 P. M. : Lectures/ classes. Presentations/ assignments. Dhuhr Salah and lunch.

2:15-3:30/3:45 P.M. : Back home. Nap.

3:30/3:45-5:00 P.M. : Snack and be the family loafer that I am. Asr Salah.

5:00-7:15 P.M. : Assignment work with 5 minutes I-can't-do-this-anymore breaks after every fifteen minutes. Maghrib Salah.

7:15-8:00 P.M. : Studies and more assignment work.

8:00-9:00 P.M. : Dinner. Isha Salah.

"And you think your parents will let you wedge a job amidst this schedule?" Yusha asks with ill-concealed dubiety.

Yusha suggested that I work as an undercover intern in his company to make our frequent interactions less questionable. However, now that I have provided him the rough rundown of my current daily routine, he seems to backpedal on his idea.

"Are you doubting my convincing skills?"

"Yes," Yusha answers candidly, sounding suspiciously like Mom. "And, on the off chance that your parents do agree, and even if you can make room for the job between your downtime, the case will take up a fair amount of your mental capacity and you'll be over-exerting yourself. Need I rehash the health priority clause from our Agreement?"

"Don't bother, mother duck." I cross my arms.

"You're an important asset to this investigation," Yusha says, an amused look overtaking his features. "Just a few months. Then you can knock yourself out."

"FYI," I start, "I totally get that you're a patient person and that you've spent half your life waiting for this, and can proceed to do so for a few more months. But let me tell you this: I'm not exactly gung ho on solving this ten years stale case; not when I've finally come to accept the bitter turn of events. And in the near future? It might just hit me how utterly crazy, ridiculous, and pathetically delusional I was to let myself believe we might actually be able to dig up the truth."

"So, you're implying there's a possibility your self-confidence may plummet in the future. And that you may begin to underestimate and doubt yourself?" Then Yusha smirks. "In other words, you're afraid you'll chicken out."

"If you think I'll rise to the bait, I hope you stick around long enough to be disappointed." I respond with a tilt of my lips. "Sometimes waiting is just wasting time. I might change my mind for whatever plausible reason."

"Then I'll simply have to bring you on board once more." Yusha answers gamely.

"You say it like it'll be easy."

"If it is, then time saved. If not, I'm a sucker for challenge."

Yusha walks me to the elevator and clicks the down button for me.

As the elevator doors part, I am face to face with the person I was least expecting to see.

"Maha?"

"Emad," I say, stepping back and allowing said person to exit the elevator.

"Wow. Fancy seeing you here."