B.O.A.T - Brownest of All Time

Chapter 5

Okay so my bad. Last night the picture wasn't exactly his crush. It was his love. I mean, it was Aisha and it was the first time he sent me her picture, so that's why I didn't know.

And yes she is pretty — though as a person who considers features to call someone pretty and not just the skin tone, I'd say she looks average — not the prettiest. But in the the eyes of the general crowd of course she'd be considered a total beauty because she has two things that they adore — very fair and super thin.

No wonder Sameer cries over her. It's always the beauty that men go after. Beautiful women are the ones that make men act like they are under a spell. Not plain-faced, brown-skinned, bloated girls like me.

I can't believe he just randomly sent me her picture when I was talking to him about The Big Bang Theory. He maybe a Friends fan but that doesn't mean he can just change the topic with a picture of his ex-girlfriend like that and make it a sad conversation all over again.

It was so hard for me to divert his thoughts away from her after that. And because he was feeling sad and lonely, I stayed up till 3:30 am chatting with him until he fell asleep, which was technically 12:00 am for him because of the 3.5 hours time difference between the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.

And then of course I had to wake up at 5:45 am for prayers and get ready for work afterwards. So I only slept for 2 hours and now here I am at office, feeling terribly sleepy and looking like a zombie. He must be still sleeping though because he works on a roster basis and it's supposed to be night-shift for him today.

James is not in today too. He has gone to his hometown Kandy. Must be some family issue. That's why he's on leave. I kind of miss him but in a way it's also good that he's not around because I'm hardly doing any work today. I can't concentrate on anything.

One, because I'm sleepy and the other because Aisha's fair face keeps flashing in my head and when that happens all my insecurities keep crawling in too. Also, James is the one who assigns me work. So naturally when he isn't around, I don't have much work. I finish unimportant pending tasks and try to create work for myself on days like this.

Yesterday was an exception because of the Board Meeting. Today is normal and that's why the general notion among many at office is that I'm just getting paid to use social media. Some of them have directly said that to my face while the others speak behind my back, Naomi says.

It's not the boomers. Though I find the boomers a little annoying at times, they are mostly cool with me and they almost consider the work I do as magic. It's the ones in their thirties and forties — they are the ones with big mouths, always passing unnecessary remarks. Ah, but it's not like I care.

Sometimes I do get angry but mostly I ignore because deep down in my heart I know that I do honest work and my boss realizes it too. So that's the only thing that matters, right?