CHAPTER 2

The next morning,I wake up by 4:38 a.m. Pray Fajr, go back to sleep and wake up later to do a few workouts and take a shower. I walk downstairs to make breakfast, but today, there is a significant addition. I have to cook for that man who calls himself Ismail. I can’t still believe he is living with us.

Today I am making pancakes for the kids while I prepare coffee, eggs, and French toast for Waheeda, Aazim, and Ismail. Everyone comes down after getting ready.

“Good morning,aunt,” Aayan and Eman say while walking downstairs, looking cute in their school uniform.

My sister has her kids in a private school, so they wear a uniform.

Aayan is four years old, has Afro black hair, a light skin tone, hazel brown eyes, and a round face.

“Good morning,” Waheeda and Aazim say while coming down the stairs

“How was your night?” I say placing their breakfast in front of them.

“It was fine; won’t you get ready for work?” Waheeda says

“I will, just after I finish doing this,” I say plating Ismail's breakfast.

“Good morning slave,” I whisper to Ismail once he walks into the kitchen

“Don’t call me that” He whispers back

“I can call you whatever I like because as long as I remember, I am the master here and you are the slave,” I say grinning

“Not anymore; check your phone.” He says with a big smile

“What did you do?” I say picking up my phone to check for the pictures, but I am not able to find them.

“How do you know my passcode?” I say making a mental note to stop using my date of birth as my passcode.

“Anyone who knows you can guess your passcode.”

“This is not the last of me; I will find something to use against you, to bend you to my will,” I say in a dramatic tone

“This is the last of you,” He says too in a dramatic tone.

“I can’t believe two adults are acting like children,” Waheeda says walking into the kitchen

“We are not,” We both say in union

“Do you know how both of you sound?”

“Like Adults,” We say again in union

“Why are you copying me?” We say

“YOU STOP, YOU STOP,” We say again together

“Both of you stop,” Aazim says

“Alright,” We say

“I am going upstairs to get ready for work. Ismail your breakfast is on the table” I say making my way upstairs

“Oh, how lovely of you!”

“Don’t expect it every time, Mr.”

“I won’t,” He says with a smirk while enjoying his breakfast, clearly not taking me seriously.

I walk upstairs to my room; the walls are painted light grey while the ceilings are painted white with a chandelier in the middle. There is a queen size bed, two white pillows and two light grey pillows with a floral pattern on them. A white blanket with fluffy edges. There are two banana coloured chairs in front of my bed with a centre table and a TV at the far end. There are two white bedside tables with flower vases on it on both sides of the bed. There are two doors in my room; one leads to the bathroom while the other leads to the closet. My room is one of the reasons why I don’t mind living with my sister. It’s everything I wished my room to be.

Today I am wearing a checked black and white trousers, a black blazer, a white blouse, a black bag, a white veil to use for my hijab and a black set of heels. After I am done dressing and applying a little makeup to my face, I walk downstairs to be on my way to work, not before eating my breakfast.

I make noodles for myself because my dear family forgot to leave any food for me.

“What kind of noodles is that? I have never seen any like this” Ismail says creeping up from behind me.

“Aha! You scared me, and it’s a Nigerian noodle, the name of the brand is called indomie. It is the best noodles you will ever have” I say smiling while enjoying my meal

“Wow, it looks good,” He says, looking into my bowl of noodles.

“Do you want to taste some?” I say with an evil plan in my head

“Yes, why not.”

“Here,” I say pretending like I am going to give him my bowl of food, but I pull it back to me.

“HEY! That’s not fair” He says, whining like a child.

“Do you really think I would be nice to you, MR.?”

“Yeah yeah, that’s true. I can’t believe I forgot who you were for a minute.”

“Will you leave my side so I can eat my food in peace?” I say waving him off

“AHA! Bye woman” He says raising his hands

“Yes! Bye”

After I am done eating; I walk outside and step into my burgundy G-wagon to be on my way to the office. I hope the CEO is a nice person because my group of interns will be working closely with him. 

I arrive at work on time; I walk inside to meet my supervisor before the CEO gets here. On my way there I meet Emma. Emma is my friend from work; I met her when I came here. Emma is what you call an American doll. She has a rosy-pink skin tone and is 5’6 foot tall. She is an intern also. We have been working together for the past two months. She is friendly and fun to bewith.

“Hello,” Emma says walking up beside me and gives me a cup of coffee

“Thank you, how are you?” I say and take a sip of my coffee

“Am fine. Are you ready to meet the CEO?”

“I am kind of nervous because I don’t know anything about him, so I don’t know what to expect.”

“I heard he is handsome, young, sexy and single,” She says, smiling while lifting her brows.

“Of course, that is the only thing you will find out about the CEO,” I say giggling

“What! Can you blame me? I am single and ready for any guy to change that” She says with a wink

“Will, you ever change?” I say smiling while shaking my head

“No, until I find someone to put a ring on it.” She says chuckling while pointing to her ring finger

“I will put you in my prayers.”

“Please do and bye, see you later. And do tell, if he isreally like theysay,” Emma says,smiling and walks to her office.

“I will,” I say and walk to the conference room where we are meeting the CEO.

We all wait for him for a few minutes before he arrives. You won’t believe who steps into the room.

“YOU!” Ismail and I say at the same time

“Why do you keep following me everywhere I go?” We say at the same time, making everyone in the room look at us with a confused look.

“Umit, can you step outside for a moment.”

“Yes sir,” I say cringing while saying it.

“What are you doing here?” We say in union

“We need to stop doing this,” We say in union

“You go first,” We say again together

“AHA! We need to stop this” We say again at the same time

“I should talk first I am the boss,” He says feeling himself

“I am letting you talk because, I don’t know what you are doing here, even though you just called yourself my boss,” I say folding my arms

“As I said before, I am your boss; this is my company, so, Miss, you are the one who should be explaining to me why you are in my company.”

“I work here as an intern, and I can’t believe this is your company. Why do I see you everywhere I go in my life?” I say while I start feeling a headache coming, from the information I just received.

“I don’t know too, but no one should find out we live together.”

“Do you think I will want to tell anyone that I live with someone like you?”

“Good, and that your reason does not apply, becauseI am amazing to live with,” He says before walking back into the conference room. I walk back inside briefly after him.

He briefs us on a project to be done in a week and not surprisingly, he made me the team leader. I am sure he did it to see me fail so, he can make funof me later, but I will so prove him wrong when I ace this project.

It is lunchtime, and I am meeting up with my best friend Fatima in a restaurant not too far from where we both work. I obverse Dhuhr (afternoon) prayer, before going to meet up with her. I arrive at the place with Emma before Fatima. We order our food while waiting for her. I order buffalo chicken wrap with homemade ranch with a glass of water. Emma orders chicken cob salad with a watermelon smoothie.

“So, how is work?” I say and take a bite of my food.

Emma and I don’t work in the same department. She works in the Administrative department while I work in the programming department.

“Work is fine other than the fact that my supervisor can be overbearing at times.”

“Sorry, I know how that feels.”

“He is so annoying that sometimes, I wish I could knock some sense into him.”

“I can imagine you doing that to him,” I say chuckling

“Thank God, I only have to work under him for a year.”

“Yeah, our internship ends after a year.”

“Yes, it does.”

“I just remembered I have a basketball game on Saturday, would you like to come,” I say recalling where I play basketball during the weekends, we have a match this Saturday.

“You play basketball,” Emma says with shock all over her face.

“Yes, I do, and I understand why you are surprised. I don’t come off as someone who plays sports.”

“Yeah, you don’t.”

“I know, and I would have you know, I am an athlete,” I say smiling

“Wow, if you did not tell me right now I would have never guessed it,” Emma says still looking a bit surprised

“I hear that a lot,” I say smiling

“Which other sports do you play?.”

“I play volleyball, I run and any sport that requires a lot of strength.”

“That’s nice,and you can count me on Saturday. I will bring all my cheerleading spirit with me” Emma says smiling

“Alright, I will send the address to you and Fatima is here,”I say and see Fatima stepping inside; I wave my hand so she can see me, after turning a few times she spots Emma and I and walks towards us

“As-salamu Alaykum! (Peace be upon you)” She says coming up to hug me before sitting down

Fatima is dark skinned and 5’6 foot tall. She is Somalian but born and raised in America, so that makes her American but has a Somalia heritage. 

“Wa Alaykumsalam! (peace be upon you too)” I say hugging her back.

“Wa AlaykumSalamFatima,” Emma says hugging her

“Hey! You can say it well now” Fatima says smiling

“I learn from the best,” Emma says winking towards me

“That’s good,” Fatima says sitting down

“Babe you won’t believe who my boss is,” I say to Fatima

“Who?” Fatima says getting all excited to hear

“ISMAIL”

“ISMAIL,ISMAIL?” Fatima says with a knowing look on her face

“Yes ISMAIL, ISMAIL”

“How?”

“He is the CEO of the company.”

“You are kidding me right; babe tell me the truth,” Fatima says taking a little bit from my food

“Hey, don’t touch my food and I am not joking,” I say hitting her hands away from my food

“Can I ask something?” Emma says looking confused

“Yes,” Fatima and I say

“Why is it a big deal?”

“It’s a big deal because that man has gotten Umit fired three times,” Fatima says

“How?” Emma says looking at Fatima and me with disbelieve and shock

“When I was in university I had three part-time jobs and got fired from all of them because of him,” I say remembering how I lost all my jobs because of that man.

“Did he own all the places you worked at or something?” Emma says, looking confused.

“No, he did not. Unfortunately for me anytime he came to a place I worked, I always poured coffee on him. I never did it on purpose, but it always happened. It’s like anytime he came I was always distracted, and it always got me fired. I think he gets me fired every time because it’s always after I pour coffee on him, they fire me. The first time it happened, I thought it was for another reason, but when it happened three times, I just knew it was his doing. That’s why sometimes I call him my bad luck.” I say still finding it unbelievable, that I pour coffee on him anytime I see him, even though it has happened in three different places.

“Wow, I can see why you don’t like him,” Emma says

“Yes, and I wish this time I won’t get fired because I love my job,” I say

“Just make sure not to pour coffee on him, and I think you will be fine,” Fatima says giggling a little

“Hey! Stop laughing; it’s not a laughing matter; this is my career we are talking about.” I say

“The only thing I can tell you is to be careful because I don’t want to have to take care of you,” Fatima says laughing

“HEY!” I say giving her a little push while shaking my head.

Fatima orders her lunch; we all finish eating before leaving to go back to work. Emma and I say our goodbyes before going to our various offices. I am on my way to my office when a voice stops me dead on my tracks.

“Umit can I see you in my office,” Ismail says

“Yes, sir,” I say, wondering if I would ever get used to giving him so much respect.

I knock on his door before stepping inside. His office is nice for someone like him. The walls are painted white with a few golden lines around the edges. The desk is ceramic brown with white coloured chairs and behind the desk area is a bookshelf. The left area has a TV with brown couches, and also a beautiful view of the city through the glass windows. The floors are made of white ceramics, making his office stand out. I am proud of him, but I will never tell him that. 

“You asked for me sir,” I say cringing while saying it

“You can call me by my name when we are alone. You sound so weird calling me that” He says trying hard not to laugh

“I can see you are enjoying the fact that you are my boss,” I say, knowing deep down he feels like he has won a trophy.

“More than you can imagine,” He says finally letting his laughter come out

“Why did you call me here?” I say getting comfortable on a seat

“Who said you could sit down?” He says trying to sound serious

“Who said I couldn’t,”

“Whatever, I called you here to sign this,” He says, handing me a contract and acceptingdefeat.

“What is it,” I say taking the contract from his hands

“Read it for yourself.”

I read the contract, and it says; I should not come anywhere near him with a coffee 

“Are you serious?” I say with disbelieve that he will get something like this written on paper.

“Yes, I am because I can’t have you pouring coffee all over me in my company, and maybe if we have it out on paper, you will be able to abide by it.”

“It was a mistake.”

“Three times does not sound like a mistake young lady.”

“Alright fine, I will sign it, only if you promise not to get me fired, if anything happens,” I say not adding if I might pour him coffee

“What do you mean by if anything happens?”

“I don’t know maybe something not work-related should not get me fired.”

“Alright, I will draft another one, and I will bring it home.”

“Okay and see you when you get home then,” I say getting up from my seat

“Why did you guys just sound like a married couple,” Someone says from the door, and It is none other than his best friend, Udar. He is also not one of my favourite persons in the world.

Udar is light skinned, 6-foot-tall has a lean build and black hair. He has a Pakistan heritage but is born and raised in London and moved toAmerica for his university when he was 18.

“We did not,” I say with confusion

“No, we did not,” Ismail says confused

“You guys sure did,” Udar says smiling while taking a seat

“Whatever, see you later Ismail,” I say,stepping out of his office.