"It's either the document was intentionally not signed for the tech company to carry on with their work or the documents where never given to us." Salman said using his shoulder to hold the phone to his ear as he spoke to his personal assistant.
Umaymah who was descending the staircase maneuver her way to the kitchen and quickly fixed herself a bowl of cereal.
She was the type of person who poured milk first in her bowl before the cereals.
She munched hastily on her breakfast because her lectures were starting by 9am and it was few minutes to 9 already!
Her lecturer sure wouldn't take any excuses nor explanations.
It was either you arrived early and save yourself the embarrassment or arrive late and wait outside till the class was over.
She quickly dunked the plate alongside the spoon into the sink.
On a normal day, she would have washed them immediately after use, but this was surely not the right time for that.
She hurried back upstairs and scavengered for her phone.
She didn't know where it was.
She ran back down the stairs with her handbag slung over one shoulder this time and entered the kitchen again.
There it was!
Her phone!
Right on the counter.
A great way to use two minutes!
Tch.
"I'll be leaving for the car now, be a bit more faster." He popped his head in and out of the kitchen unexpectedly with his phone still on his ear.
Umaymah took a look at herself one last time in the mirror along the hallway before joining her husband in the car.
Umaymah's school was about a twenty minutes drive from their home.
The car was filled with silence.
An awkward one to be precise.
When the silence was so unbearable for Salman to bear, he stretched his hand towards the radio and turned it on.
The soothing voice of Omar Hisham reciting the morning adhkar filled the car.
Once the car came to a halt in front of Umaymah's school, she proceeded to get down but Salman held her wrist preventing her from moving.
"I'm practically late for my lecture." She narrowed her eyes.
Salman just smiled and placed his hand behind her head before planting a kiss on her forehead.
"Have a nice day Ummi," he flashed her the brightest smile ever. "I'll come and get you once you're done,and if you miss me by chance, just call."He winked.
"Good thing I don't have your number."She hurriedly got out of the car.
"Says who?"He smirked and watched her walk into the building before setting off for work.
Umaymah arranged her handbag on her shoulder, mustered up all her courage and walked towards her lecture room.
She opened the heavy door in front of her.
All eyes in the classroom immediately turned to her.
She felt like her skin was crawling out of her body.
Luckily for her, there was no lecturer there.
I missed the class! Aish!
She sped walked to her seat and settled down.
"You didn't miss anything so don't worry," Khair muttered as she noticed her seatmate's face. "Ma didn't come to class, she just told the class captain to collect the project of those who were done and she dropped some assignments for us." She sled her notebook to Umaymah.
Umaymah's eyes travelled to the book in her front.
She scanned the pages that contained Khair's cursive handwriting and returned her gaze to her seatmate's face.
"Thank you."
Umaymah scrabbled for her notebook and pen in her handbag and began to write down the assignments.
She was only half way through her project, so she didn't submit it just yet.
°°°
"Good Morning Mr Tariq." The receptionist greeted as Salman walked into the company.
He nodded his head in response and headed to his office with AJ, his personal assistant trailing behind him.
AJ had been working as Salman's personal assistant for almost five years at the tech company since he left India, his hometown for a greener pasture.
"Did Mr Kameel's software application go as planned? Was it successful?" Salman settled down in his office chair.
"Yes sir, it was a massive success! It was more successful than we anticipated." AJ replied almost immediately.
"As for the document you told me about earlier today, any updates?" He flipped open his laptop, turned it on and waited for it boot with his left foot over his right knee.
"Yes. Like you said during our call, the documents were not sent to our company in the first place. They apologized immediately they noticed the mistake was from their own end."His Indian accent mixed with his well flowing English.
"Nice, Alhamdullilah!" Salman gave a sigh of relief. "Make sure the documents are sent to us at once so that we can proceed with work."Salman sat upright and moved his finger on the mouse.
"Alright sir, I'll do just that."
"And please could you get someone to bring me my usual."Salman requested politely.
"Alright sir."AJ nodded and walked towards the door.
"Thank you Arjun, I wonder what I'll do without you."Salman smiled at AJ making him smile back in return.
Arjun was his birth name, but he preferred to be called AJ instead because he found it more classy and he felt it was less complex for those who pronounced Arjun wrong.
AJ had heard Salman tell him those words multiple times, but everytime Salman repeated, it felt special to AJ.
It felt special that his boss appreciated his hardwork.
°°°
The time read 3pm on the clock in the corner of his office.
She must have finished by now.
He looked at his phone that was in his hand.
He turned it on and sled into his call log.
'Habibty❤️'
He typed and dialled the number once the name popped up.
After three rings, Umaymah picked up.
"Assalamualaikum." Salman's voice echoed in his office.
"Walaikumu salam."her voice came.
"What took you so long to pick up?"
"How did you save your number on my phone?"Umaymah did her usual by answering his question with another question.
"I asked first." Salman replied.
Umaymah sighed.
"I was shocked when the caller id popped up. I was contemplating on whether to terminate or accept the call."she responded.
"hmm, I see,"Salman smiled. "Are you done with lectures?"he asked.
"You didn't answer my question." She complained.
"I'll tell you when I come and pick you up InshaAllah,"he smiled. "So are you done with your lectures?"he asked again.
"Yes, we finished since 2pm."she replied.
"And why didn't you call? I would have come to pick you up then."concern filled his voice.
" I didn't know I had your number," She rolled her eyes."And what's with the name you saved your number with?"
"What? Habibi? I don't see anything wrong with that."he replied.
"I'm changing it anyways."
Salman let out a small laugh.
"I'll be on my way now, just wait for me."he got up from his chair.
After grabbing his things, he exited his office.
°°°
It had been about twenty minutes since Salman spoke to Umaymah.
She was still waiting on a bench outside the school premises with Khair by her side.
Umaymah didn't have much friends.
Most of the times, she was busy with her novels and laptop either reading or writing respectively.
She gently sled the book 'When wings expand' by Mahded Maryam Sinclair into the compartment of her bag that was dedicated to her novels.
"Wow! MashaAllah!" Khair cooed making Umaymah snap her head up from her bag to Khair's face then at what her eyes were focused on.
"Indeed Allah creates,"she squeaked. "He's super cute! Wow!"
Umaymah's eyes widen once she saw who Khair was referring to.
Salman!
"Lower your gaze, he might be someone else's husband." Umaymah told Khair who ogled at Salman.
"He doesn't look like he's got anyone... His hair!" Khair had her chin on her palm. "I'm going to approach him, there's no doubt. I can't miss this chance."Khair got on her feet and arranged her red locks of hair over both of her shoulders.
She began walking towards Salman's direction when her name was called.
"Khair!"her older brother who had just pulled over called out making her stop before turning around not after taking few glances at Salman.
"See you tomorrow."she grabbed her bag and ran to the car after waving at Umaymah.
"InshaAllah."Umaymah completed as she waved back.
Umaymah watched Salman as he paced the enormous surrounding of the university looking for her.
He had his hands slipped into the pockets of his pant when he came to a halt and began using his eyes to search.
Umaymah let out a very faint chuckle.
She grabbed her phone and entered her contact list.
She was about to call Salman when the word Habibi❤️ stared back at her from the top of her screen.
The sight of the name made her cringe.
Her phone was on silent mode, so the ringtone wasn't heard.
She was hesitant to accept the call, but she eventually answered it.
"Where are you? I'm here already." He still searched with his eyes as he spoke.
"Behind you." She replied.
He abruptly turned to be met by an empty space.
"Where?"
"That was a mistake, turn back to your original position, I'm standing there." She held back her giggles.
He followed her orders only to be fooled again.
The laugh finally escaped her mouth.
"Are you watching me?" He questioned with an arched brow.
"Obviously," her laugh subsided. "Just stay where you are, I'll come to you."she got up with her bag in hand.
She slowly walked to where Salman was standing.
"I still can't see you."he said through the phone.
Umaymah put the call on speaker.
"Hello, are you still there? "His voice seemed louder.
He turned his back.
There she was.
His beautiful wife.
A smile was lifted on his once worried face.
"You're here." He said.
"Yes I am." She replied and began walking ahead of him.
"The car's over there." Salman pointed and headed in a different direction.
Umaymah immediately changed directions and followed her husband to the car.
Once they got to the car, Salman took Umaymah by surprise as he did in the morning by kissing his wife's forehead.
"How was school today?" He ignited the vehicle.
She was silent for some seconds due to the shock of Salman's sudden kiss.
"School was great! I was super late for the first lecture but Alhamdullilah our lecturer didn't show up."she narrated.
"Mhm, interesting."he glanced at Umaymah as he drove into the road.
"You said you'd answer my question when you pick me up." Umaymah said staring at the road in her front.
"You've still got that retentive memory of yours." He looked at her again.
"That's not the answer to my question."
"Fine fine, I saved my number on your phone while you were preparing biryani the other day."he smirked.
Umaymah paused to recall that day.
She had indeed left her phone back in her room.
She turned her head and narrowed her eyes at her husband.
"I'm still going to change the name though."she returned to her original position and Salman simply smiled.
As Salman drove, a call came in through the tiny display board close to the dashboard.
"Incoming call from AJ." The robotic voice spoke.
"Hello." He said and he listened to what AJ said through his bluetooth device that was in one of his ears.
"Okay, Noted." Salman replied before ending the call.
Salman turned to enter the street on his left.
"Hey, where are you going? That's not the way home."Umaymah pointed out immediately.
"We're going to the office."he straightened the steering wheel and moved along the straight lane.