The Sultans

Chapter 23

A large crystal chandelier hung above the heads of the hotel guests as they filled their plates with food and sat down to eat. There was a small line of men and women dressed in business suits and only one or two couples that had came down for breakfast so early in the morning. Nyla and Zain were occupying a small table of their own that was in the far corner of the room. Nyla barely had an appetite at this time so she decided to just grab a piece of toast. Zain had seen and shoveled half the contents of his own plate into hers.

"Eat it." He said growled.

Nyla sighed shoveling around the contents of her plate. Unlucky fo her, he had chosen a salmon eggs benedict drizzled with creamy sauce. Nyla had only tried the first bite before she pushed the plate back towards him.

"I don't like it." She complained timidly.

Zain glared.

Nyla slowly pulled the plate back towards her and tried to take another bite. She hated the fact that the egg yolk was spilling about in her plate. She hated the flavor of it.

She looked around the room eyeing the croissant on a man's plate.

"I want that." She said pointing at it.

The man turned around and looked at her before sitting at his table.

Zain's gaze was fixated on Nyla, "Don't point." He hissed.

Nyla crossed her arms in firm resolve.

"I'm not eating this." She said, pushing the plate back towards him.

He glared at her and this time, she matched his gaze knowing that whatever threat he had in mind he wouldn't go through with in public.

Zain seemed to come to the same conclusion and nodded at her.

"Go then, get something filling." He said, with emphasis on the last word.

Nyla immediately stood up and scanned the buffet table. She knew Zain was watching her so she first went to get a small serving of scrambled eggs to avoid any other comments from Zain.

As she was getting her food, she noticed on side of the table that was filled with sweet things like doughnuts, muffins, cinnamon buns drizzled with hot glaze, cheese Danish, and chocolate filled croissant which were nearly finished. Nyla eagerly shuffled over to it getting there just before another man who waited a little too close behind her tapping his foot impatiently. Nyla stood, trying to decide what she wanted. She reached for a chocolate croissant in front of her but then hesitated when she saw the cinnamon buns, she froze as she thought about which one she wanted.

The man behind her sighed.

Nyla quickly reached for the croissants again, her hand hovering over it.

"Move." The man said in an annoyed tone from behind just as she had picked it up.

The man tried reaching around her and grabbing a croissant to go along with his coffee, but someone intervened by stepping in between. She turned to find Asad standing next to her and 

Nyla's relief quickly turned to shock as he unceremoniously dumped the remaining six croissants into his plate and turned around to face the man behind them.

"Excuse me," would have been more appropriate Asad said, his voice not betraying the slightest hint of anger as he gently guided Nyla back towards their table.

Nyla kept glancing back watching the man who stood rigid with anger as he glared at the rest of the pastries in front of him.

Nyla was slightly shaken buy the incident, she looked at Asad who seemed unperturbed by what had just happened and took a bite of his omelet.