Dear Shumail..

Chapter 32

20th May, 2021

Sip.

Sip.

When anxiety strikes, people seek out a variety of techniques to help them relax. It was Caffeine for Shumail.

Despite the fact that it was his fifth cup, all he could think about or hear were Eram's words, which rang in his ears. Even though he tried not to think about what had happened earlier in the day, he couldn't help but remember what she had asked of him.

"Then leave me!"

Those words rang in his head like a tape recorder, and he couldn't get them out of his head.

He began to feel out of breath as if the oxygen level in the room had suddenly fallen. He removed his tie and opened the collar button on his shirt with his hand moving up towards it. He began to take deep breaths.

'What do you want?' He heard the voice in his head ask him.

'What does that mean?' He found himself asking back to the voice in his head.

'Do you want to stay with Eram or part ways with her?' He was at a loss for words when the voice asked. 'You may either forgive her and start a new life with her, or you can just let her go, which is the greatest option for you both.'

A knock at the door jolted him out of his reverie, and for the first time in his life, he was relieved to be interrupted in the middle of his job, most likely because he didn't want to answer the question.

'You can't keep avoiding answering the question indefinitely.'

Shumail let that slide and ordered the person to enter with a small "Come in."

His secretary entered. Her hips swayed beautifully, her normally knee-length skirt fell just above her mid-thighs, and her figure-hugging shirt accentuated her curves. She flashed a seductive smile across her lips, making her intentions to hit on him all too clear. Shumail was too preoccupied with other things to notice her inept attempts, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.

"Sir, these are the sales report files for this month. Also, before the new smartphone features are approved, a meeting has been arranged to debate them. It's at 4 pm, this evening. Later that, you don't have anything else planned." She gave him a rundown of everything he needed to know.

He simply nodded in agreement. She slid the paperwork onto his desk and turned around to walk away, giving him another seductive smile. He grabbed the files and started going through them, reviewing the sales figures. Looking at the file in his hands, his brows furrowed, and he grabbed for the intercom to summon his secretary. It continued to ring, but there was no response from her end. With an irritated expression on his face, he stood up and walked out of his office to his secretary's cabin.

Before entering the cabin, his knuckles made contact with the glass door and he knocked on it. She wasn't to be found. He took a deep breath and looked about the cabin for the previous six months' sales reports.

He rummaged through several cupboards. He couldn't find the files in there. He walked up to the desk, opened the drawers, and studied the files, but it wasn't what he needed. One of the four drawers had a lock on it. His gaze fell on the keys on the desk, and he proceeded to test each one to determine which one was the correct key for the lock.

The lock unlocked when he tried the last key and he yanked open the drawer. His hand came into contact with a letter. He slipped it out of the way and retrieved the files from the drawer. Those were the files he had been looking for. He was going to close the drawer and walk out the door when his gaze fell on the stacks of letters beneath the folders. His brows wrinkled in bewilderment.