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

Chapter 6

Oh God! I'm late again. It's 8:55 am and I'm still on my way. It will take another 15 minutes for me to reach office. This is super bad. I hope James is on leave today too. It's not like he's going to say anything. But I feel embarrassed walking in late when he's watching me from his cabin.

I've got the worst spot at office by the way. It's right in the middle of our floor and draws so much of attention. From my boss to the sullen-looking people in Finance to the overly-noisy Sales guys to the pretending-to-work HR guys to even the grim-looking CEO — everyone could spy me from their spots.

I mean, it's not like anyone is that jobless to keep staring at me all day but they will at least notice the number of times I walk in late, isn't it? I really should work on my punctuality.

You know what I don't understand though? I didn't even go to bed late last night. So how did I still manage to get late today?

I mean, after Sameer friend-zoned me yesterday I wasn't really in a mood to have late night chats with him. So I told him I had some work and stopped texting by 7:00 pm.

When I said that of course I was wondering what I'd do without chatting with him because now that I was so used to it my stupid heart was going to expect it. But luckily when I went home Salima and the kids were there.

Salima lives very close-by to our place so whenever my brother-in-law Zafar gets late to come back from work, she comes and stays with us. Her 2 daughters Haya and Caira and her son Iyad are such cuties. Totally adorable. Now I'm not a baby lover. I mean, I don't even want to have one of my own because they're so messy and are too much of a commitment. But these three kids — I love them with all of my heart.

When kids are around, you don't even feel the time passing because of course they have so many different demands and by the time you finish attending to each of them your day will be over! So yeah yesterday especially my niblings were such big help to distract myself.

I spent the whole night reading for them, assisting them to go to the washroom from time to time, and even watching a few of their favorite cartoons with them. My hands were too full so I hardly had any thoughts about Sameer.

So, everything about last night was cool except for the times when the kids kept jumping on my bed, shouting or crying around me. When it comes to noise, I'm like an old grandmother — I just hate it!

But even them screaming was better than what Salima and mom were trying to do. They were pestering me the whole time asking me to pose for pictures like a homely-girl-in-my-best-dress-that-would-both-emphasize-my-figure-and-also-make-me-look-modest. All this trouble to give Nisa aunty's broker guy a printed photo of mine to find a proposal for me. Brown people and their stupid boomer habits!

Why is it that a girl has to pose specifically like that? Why can't they just use an existing picture like a selfie I clicked on Snapchat? I mean, those are the only ones where I look good after all!

However, I did as they said because they both were worried about my age and mom was almost crying about how all the young girls around us got married by 19 or 20 and I was the only one turning into a spinster. Such drama! I'm 25 mom! Not 45!

Anyway, I can't complain because at least times are better now. I remember how when Salima was a young girl she was taken to a studio to click a clear picture to be sent to the brokers.  Imagine that! All the way to the studio where an unknown old cameraman comes and touches your face and hands trying to adjust the way you pose!

Do all this and end up with someone like Zafar. I mean, he's not a bad person. He's very loving and according to Salima and everyone in the family he's very handsome too because, after all, he's fair-skinned, you see. But I always felt Salima could've scored someone better than that. I mean, if I had her looks I wouldn't have settled for a guy who is struggling financially.