Two days later, Zishan sat in her
room watching her final video. She had made amendments after he had given his
ideas a couple of days prior, and today was the day for the final submission.
Now, Haifa felt like she needed more time.
"Are you sure it's good?"
she asked again.
Her anxiety was entirely justified,
considering the contentment she felt with her progress until that very morning.
Haifa had decided to submit her work after returning home from work, but her
peace was disrupted when she overheard some guys at work gossiping about Lamya,
at the tea room.
Haifa had, for the most part,
forgotten about her rival. Since the initial takeover of the company, Lamya had
rarely made an appearance. Haifa was both thankful and wary. Lamya's absence
alleviated her stress, but it also meant every moment out of her sight was
likely spent perfecting her submission. Rumors circulated that Lamya had hired
herself a photo flight package from TMA - Trans Maldivian Airways, and had
privately chartered excursions to explore the most beautiful islands in the
region.
Lamya eventually returned to work
regularly a couple of days ago, and her demeanor was consistently angry,
particularly during phone conversations. Haifa was oblivious to the target of
Lamya's frustration. According to office gossip, she was leveraging connections
to improve her chances of winning. the company, however, had decided not to
engage in unfair favoritism, subjecting Lamya to the same judgment as anyone
else.
Haifa found herself torn, uncertain
of how to feel. What was clear was that her anxiety had intensified, and she
wished for more time to refine her submission. The situation had become
undeniably real and significantly more stressful for her.
Zishan gently pulled her hand to
his; she had been biting her nails nervously since he started watching. He does
that—whenever she nervously bit her nails, he simply took her hand and held it.
She had since tried to stop doing it, but old habits die hard. She was very
grateful that he did not express his disapproval with expression or words. She
loved how he kept her from her bad habit.
Haifa had brought him to her home in
the evening to meet her family. He was already known to all of them, but she
wanted to invite him into her family as he had done with her. As she had
expected, he charmed everyone. He was smooth and easy with every member of the
family, and his charisma was genuine.
"All right, here it goes,"
she closed her eyes and hit sent on the submission button, sending her entry
through the portal on the company's website. Instantly, a thank-you email
arrived, acknowledging her submission and providing the date for the winner's
announcement along with more details.
"There you go," Zishan
said happily. "You did well. It was really great; I know because I watched
the submissions from previous years too. I think you could win."
Haifa attempted to smile, grappling
with the knowledge that she needed to share with him the reason behind her
optimism about the competition. Yet, a slight fear held her back. She worried
that revealing her plans might strain their relationship, given his ongoing
commitments on the island and the assumption that they would continue staying
together.
With the budget approval, Zishan's
workload had significantly increased. Most evenings, he was either at the
office or traveling to other islands. They devised a strategy for conducting
interviews with candidates from various atolls, selecting three major islands
to minimize the travel distance for interviewees.
The training was set to commence in
just a few weeks, and Haifa anticipated that Zishan would become even busier,
given his wealth of expertise in the subject. She hesitated to burden him with
her secret, recognizing that it might be inconsequential if she didn't win.
However, a deeper fear lingered—that he might ask her to stay, and she might
find it difficult to refuse. Worse yet, he might not be keen having a
long-distance relationship with her.
Haifa's mind was in constant turmoil
as she pondered a solution to her dilemma, often ending up with a headache from
overthinking. She was unsure how she would broach the subject with Zishan and
sometimes found herself secretly wishing she wouldn't win, just to avoid the
conversation. Despite this, she wasn't ready to fully embrace Vavathi as her
home.
"Do you want to watch a movie?
It could help take your mind off things for the night," Zishan suggested,
pulling her into his lap.
Haifa gratefully rested her head on
his shoulder, "I don't think we can stay alone in a room much longer. I
can feel my mom pacing even now." She laughed.
Zishan chuckled, standing up and
gently setting her on her feet. "I think she's trusted me enough to let me
stay up here this long, I don’t want to abuse her trust," he grinned,
causing Haifa's heart to melt. "We can watch something downstairs or play
cards with the girls," he offered.
"You really want me to stop
thinking about it, huh?" she asked as she turned off her laptop.
Zishan slipped his arms around her
waist from behind, "If I know you, you'll overthink through the night,
struggle to sleep, stress yourself out, and the cycle will repeat. Did I miss
anything?" he asked into her ear,
Haifa's lip twitched as she leaned
into him, "You know me pretty well now?" turning her head to look at
him.
Zishan smiled, "Ah, I witnessed
the live action during those three days when my parents invited you to our
home. I had no idea I was putting you through that much pressure, but I'm
learning now," he said, kissing the tip of her nose.
Looking at him with adoring eyes,
Haifa marveled at her luck to have found a man who cared so deeply for her. She
couldn't believe she had spent so many days in doubt about being with him,
missing out on all the love he had to offer. Her heart swelled with emotion at
the realization of how genuinely loving he was.
"I love you so much," she
whispered, gently cupping the side of his face with her hand.
"I love you too," he
whispered back, before playfully tugging her out of the room and into the
living room.
They ended up playing cards with
Saira and Ifa for hours, taking a break for dinner. Haifa found it hard to take
her eyes off Zishan, even catching him looking at her from time to time. It
invoked a different kind of feeling, like she was a teenage once again. Most
importantly, she felt an overwhelming sense of love. She was sure Zishan had a
lot on his plate these days, yet he stayed with them just for her.
In that moment, Haifa became
certain—she was going to marry him. She wouldn't let him go, not now or ever.
If she managed to move back to Male', she would ask him to come with her. If
not, they would find a way. She was going to make it work.
***
The following day evening, as they
walked hand in hand after dinner, Zishan asked a question that caught her off
guard, "Do you still think about him?"
Haifa blinked, momentarily blank.
"Who?" she asked.
"Your ex," he clarified.
Furrowing her brows, Haifa replied,
"Of course not. Why do you ask?"
"Sometimes I feel like you go
off in thought, like you have something you're not sharing with me," he
confessed.
Her heart quickened, and she hastily
hugged his arm, offering a warm smile. "It's all you I'm thinking about.
Or maybe the competition. Mostly you," she teased.
He chuckled, playfully bumping his
head against hers. Trying to steer the conversation away, she asked, "Do
you still think about your ex?"
He appeared caught off guard.
"You know about her?" he queried.
"I heard a rumor that you came
from Male' heartbroken. She didn't want to come with you?" she inquired.
Zishan took a deep breath. "We
worked in same office, she was working in another department. Somehow she got
the wrong idea that I was rich," he explained. "We were dating, and I
was young and fell in love too fast. One day, as I was talking about my family
and the island, she suddenly turned to me, surprised. She accused me of
pretending to be rich and misguiding her. I tried to explain but she did not
want to listen. The relationship went downhill fast, and she was with someone
else within days."
Haifa searched his face for emotions
and noticed a hint of apprehension. The realization hit her. "The rumors
were wrong. You didn't come back from Male' heartbroken; you returned because
you were heartbroken."
He nodded. "I couldn't bear to
see her with someone else, so I left," he admitted. "But I'm glad I
came back. I missed my home more than anything. Besides, if I hadn't, I
probably never would have met you," he said, pulling her closer.
She hugged him back. "And you
never heard about her again?" she asked, curious.
"I did. She called about a year
after I had moved back, told me about the misunderstanding, and apologized. She
wanted to start over," he said.
"And?" Haifa inquired.
He shrugged. "I said no thanks.
I don't really date my exes. She called frequently for days, then
stopped."
Haifa looked at him, surprised.
"Really? Don't believe in second chances?"
"Nope," he said simply. Point
noted, Haifa thought.
Zishan looked at her with a hint of
worry in his eyes, as if trying to gauge if she was viewing his actions or
principles negatively. Haifa quickly smiled, attempting to ease his concerns.
"Does that mean I won't be marrying into money?" she teased,
accompanied by a playful, heartbroken expression.
Suddenly, Zishan's eyes twinkled
wickedly, and he hid a smile. "What?" Haifa asked suspiciously. He
shook his head, laughing. She blinked, replaying what she had said, but failed
to catch anything that explained his sudden change in reaction. "Tell
me!" she insisted, stopping in her tracks and tugging at his arm. They
were just outside her home, and she could see her mother and aunt sitting in
the joali.
Haifa, not wanting her mother and
aunt to overhear the source of Zishan's laughter, blocked their view by turning
to him and quirking an eyebrow. Zishan lifted his hands in surrender,
attempting to appear less amused. He looked at her squarely in the eyes and
asked, "So you've been thinking about marrying me?" as he fought back
a smile.
Haifa's heart skipped a beat as her
face turned bright red. "I... I..." she stammered, completely
speechless. Her mouth opened and closed, her ears burned, and sweat began to
dampen her back. Stupid! Stupid! she scolded herself.
Zishan pulled her a step further
from her home, wrapping his arms around her while still smiling broadly.
"I love it when you're flustered," he whispered into her ear, prompting
a shiver from her, "I think about marrying you too," he said softly,
lifting his head to face her.
"You... you do?" she asked
hesitantly.
"Yes, every day," he
affirmed.
"Do you think it's too
soon?" she asked, swallowing hard. Haifa still felt the sting of
self-doubt when discussing such topics because of Aseel. It was a subject he
had despised so much that she was extremely cautious about broaching anything remotely
related.
"No, I think I've found
everything I ever dreamt of," he said, kissing her forehead and leaning
his head against hers. "I have never loved another like I love you."
Haifa melted into him, overwhelmed
with happiness, feeling tears form under her lids. A single tear fell from her
eye, and Zishan gently wiped it away. "Don't cry, my princess," he
said.
"You make me so happy, do you
know that?" her voice quivered with emotion. "I never thought I would
be lucky enough to find a man like you."
"And I plan to make you happy
for the rest of our lives. If you promise never to cry, it breaks my heart to
see you cry," he said.
Haifa laughed while sniffing,
"It's not a sad cry, it's a happy cry," she said.
Zishan shook his head, "Nope, I
won't take any kind of cry," he declared.
Have a wonderful day!
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