***
Farida had to leave the office late at night again, it was past nine in the night. Her earlier conversation with Afaan wasted a lot of her time, although it was the most important part of her day.
"Finally, I've done all of my work for this month dad, I'm coming home now." She said on the phone as she approached the glass main door. Everyone had left, except for her and the security guards. They said their goodnight and she went to her car. The rain had stopped just a few hours ago, she was thankful that Jared had pulled her car out of the parking lot and parked it right in front of the building. It would have been scary to have to enter the parking lot so late that at night, that too alone.
Her phone rang loudly as she opened the car door, making her pause and slid her phone out of the bag. She rolled her eyes at the callers ID, it was Fahad whom on the other line was eager to know why Farida had been avoiding him. He was leaning against his car outside the building of f&f. One if his security guards spotted his restless boss banging his fist on his car, something that he had never seen Fahad do. With concern, he approached Fahad and stood a few steps away.
"Sir, is something the matter?"
Fahad turned his face slightly towards the young security man and sighed.
"Its nothing, network issues." Fahad replied and the guard nodded but clearly, he didn't believe it, he knew there were no network issues in the area, there were many hotspots available.
"Shouldn't you be at home?" Fahad asked the guard, closing time had long passed.
"I saw that your car was still here, so I waited. I will leave as soon as you do." The security man said and Fahad smiled slightly before opening his car door and zoomed off.
Farida ended the call and slid into her car. She threw her bag on the passenger seat and zoomed off as soon as she started the engine. For the first time since the past three weeks, sudais was not there to watched her get home safely. He had a business to attend to in Florida.
***
The road was so full with vehicles, one can spend hours in the traffic jam. Seeing that, Farida decided to take a short cut back home. She was barely able to make it out of the jam, it took her almost half an hour. With a final hiss, almost hitting the car beside hers, she finally made it back to the street she came from, following another route to avoid the traffic jam.
The route she took was muddy from all the rain, she was not expecting that to happen. To make things worst, her car decided to stop right in the middle of the nowhere.
"Ya Allah!" She yelled, the engine didn't want to start. There was darkness everywhere, she could not believe the situation she found herself in. She left the lights on and stayed in the car, making sure that the doors were locked.
She took her phone out of her bag and dialled her father's phone number, it couldn't go through, there was no signal in the area. She dialled her mother's number but it was a waste of time.
After an hour of fright and anxiety, her phone rang and jolted her. Her heart almost melted as she saw that it was her mother calling. She picked the call and tried not to burst into tears.
"Mum, I'm stuck somewhere, I need help." She said but unfortunately, her voice was not heard on the other line, the signal was still not good.
"Hello? Mum?" She said, this time, let loose the tears she had been holding back. She continued to try calling different numbers. After some time, she spotted a car approaching, the lights were the first to take her attention. She slid out of her car after contemplating whether or not she should, something told her it could be a wrong decision but she had no other choice but to try.
Waving her skinny hands in the air to grab the persons attention, she took off her heels, threw one in the car and held the other one firmly for self defense, then she stepped aside to let the car park beside hers.
Her mouth hung open when a familiar voice spoke.
"Are you okay Madam?" Fahad asked out of concern. That route had always been his way home and he had never encountered anyone going through there so late at night. The moment he saw her car, he knew that something was not right and the hands that were waved confirmed it, so he decided to help.
"You?" Farida asked Fahad when he got closer. Fahad frowned when his eyes landed on the woman who had been on his mind for a month.
"Is that you Ms Farida?" He could not believe that fate could be so twisted. Farida rolled her eyes at his question and folded her hands on her chest.
"Don't pretend you did not know. You have been following me!" She accused and Fahad raised his eyebrows, amused.
"Hey, calm down. I pass by here everyday, trust me." Fahad explained.
"Trust you? That will be stupid." She replied.
He noticed the shoe she was holding and laughed heartily.
"Were you going to hit me with that?" He asked, pointing at her heel.
"Oh yes, I can still do that." She said sarcastically.
He ignored her sarcasm and began searching for something inside her car. when he finally found what he was looking for, he pressed the button and the car bonnet clicked open, all the while, Farida watched his every move. She would not have accepted his help if she had another choice.
After a while, Fahad closed the bonnet and looked at her apologetically.
"Don't tell me it cannot be fix right away." Farida asked.
"I'm sorry, I will drop you off at home." Fahad said and she snorted. Lightening struck as it illuminated both of their faces, his green eyes shone and made him look like riddick.
"I don't know what I did wrong but, right now, this is the only option we have." Fahad said, his heart sank because of her behavior towards him. If only she would understand that his intentions were good.
"Go away, I don't need your help. All men do, is take advantage of innocent girls and I will not let that happen to me Mr Fahad. Do you think I have not already realized that you didn't take my number because of the children? Now I even doubt that he was really your son." She blurted without even thinking twice. Fahad was beyond shocked at her comment, his frown deepened and his mouth hung open. Finding words to say suddenly became a problem. Something that only happened whenever she was around him, even his late wife had never left him speechless.
"Take advantage of you? Okay, you are right. I had a personal reason for asking for your number, but my intentions were not to take advantage of you. I will never do that to anyone." Fahad explained, hating the fact that he had to explain himself to someone who will not even believe.
When she didn't say anything, he continued.
"Its getting late, and it can start raining anytime from now, let's go." Fahad said and immediately, droplets of water landed on their skins.
"I'll sleep in the car, go away. I'd rather stay here than let you do me a favor." She said and hugged herself tightly, it was already getting cold but her stubbornness wouldn't let her reason. Deep down, she knew that Fahad was being sincere, if he wanted to do something to her, there would have been a perfect place because the road was silent and no one would hear her scream.
Fahad shook his head and went to his car, he started the engine and began to drive away. Farida watched him as he did so and her heart hammered in her chest. The rain got heavier and she decided to let her ego down.
"Are you really going to leave me here, you idiot!" She yelled and Fahad smiled satisfyingly. He knew that his little trick would work.
He stopped the car and reversed it, stopping right in front of her. She rolled her eyes and stood still.
Fahad got out of his car and strode pass her, he closed her car door and demanded for the key. After locking the car, he opened the passenger seat door of his car and invited her to get it, which she did after a few seconds of eyeing him.
Fahad sighed in relief that the drama was over and closed the door. He silently prayed that she wouldn't get off before he could make it to the driver's seat and his prayers were answered.
"Fasten your seat belts." Fahad instructed after turning the lights on.
"No." Farida replied and Fahad rewarded her with a chuckle.
"Okay, suit yourself. But don't say I didn't warn you." He said and drove off.
The rest of the journey to her home was silent, apart from the times when she had to give directions to her home. She fastened the seat belts without being told again when the speed became unbearable, Fahad noticed that and chuckled, making her roll her eyes.
"Right in front of that little garden." Farida explained when they entered her neighborhood. Fahad stopped right in front of her house. When she opened the door to get out, he began driving again, almost scaring her to death, then he stopped again and laughed at her expression.
"You are sick!" She yelled and jumped out of the car, walked away furiously without another word.
"You are welcome!" He said behind her and watched her search her bag for the house keys and got in before leaving. He noticed that the lights in the living room went on as soon as she opened the door and he saw her mother sitting on the couch.
Farida was not surprised when she found her parents sitting in the living room at that time, they were worried sick about her. Seema was in tears and Ali parted her back affectionately. The two pairs of eyes landed on their daughter and seema bursted into tears again, but this time, it was tears of relief.
Farida ran towards her parents who were already on their feet and enveloped them in a hug.
"Forgive me mom and dad, I followed a short cut willow showed me and the car broke down right there. I was so scared. But its okay now." She explained without pausing to even take a breath.
"Don't ever follow that route again." Seema said between sobs.
Her poor parents had been restless for the past three hours. She said she would be home soon, but they didn't see her. Seema, Ali and Maryam had called her number several times but it wasn't going through.
Ali went to Elliott and sons to look for her, but the doors were closed and the whole building was dark. After that, he went straight to the police station, they said that a missing person complaint can only be accepted if the person had been missing for forty eight hours, so he sadly went back home and prayed that she was safe.
Maryam descended from the stairs and ran towards Farida.
"I'm glad that you are safe." She said and they hugged each other.
Meanwhile, Fahad reached home and pulled his car in his usual parking space. He looked at the spot Farida had been seating a while ago and smiled, although his heart sank at the thought that she hated him.
He was going to look away from there when he saw that she left her car keys, he wanted to take it back to her, but he decided to call his family mechanics and have it fixed that night.
Fahad got the car fixed and drove it back home, afraid that his mother would worry about him if he decided to take the car to farida's house. It was already twelve in the morning.
When Fahad got home, he found his mother and sister restlessly waiting for him on the couch.
"You are late than usual son. What happened?" His mother asked and he sighed.
"Nothing serious mother, let's just say that I had a long and frustrating day." Fahad replied and sat beside his mother.
"But you didn't pick your calls." Jasmine said worriedly. Fahad took his phone out of his pocket and sighed.
"It was on silent mom. I'm sorry."
"May Allah make your affairs easy for you son." She said.
"Amin. Thank you mother." Fahad said and kissed his mother on the forehead.
"You should go to sleep mom. I'll do the same." He said and escorted her to her room, he left after seeing to it that she had fallen asleep.
"You will tell me all about it tomorrow brother. And who's car is that?" Fauziya said as soon as he returned to the living room.
"Do I need to take you too to bed fauziya?" He asked jokingly, walking towards his room, fauziya laughed and went to her own room.
Fahad took a hot shower, Washing away the pain in his muscles. He slept off thinking of how he will return the car in the morning.