Unanticipated Turn

TWENTY SIX

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Meenah kept her head down, thinking about what transpired between her and her friends. She couldn't wait for the school to close, so she sneaked out. She was practically jogging by the time she reached her destination, where she could think freely without any sort of distraction. Meenah looked up, and read the huge gold letters above the sliding glass door.

"Moon Library." She muttered with a smile, watching other people walk out. This was where she asked part time sometimes during holidays when she's less busy. She stared at the gold letters, and climbed the stairs.

Inside the library was warm, bright and smelt of paper. She did not attempt to look at other humans and quietly made her way through the lobby to the central part of the library.

Meenah fastened her eyes to the gray carpet and found an empty seat in the corner of the almost empty library. Once she was comfortable against the leather, she looked up.

She headed towards the literature section, looking for her favorite book. After a few turns at every shelf, she gave up. She couldn't find it at all. Someone probably borrowed it. She settled for another book she liked reading.

Meenah lowered her book, and for the first time in a few hours, a man sitting in the library was clearly staring at her. Meenah knew it was Muneer Fawaz, her stomach fluttered and she can't help the small smile on her lips.

Meenah's eyes drifted back to her book, the to the homework all around her.

Time to go home, Meenah crammed things back into her bag. When she packed away her homework, pens and water bottle, Meenah walked to the bookshelf, which was just behind the couch.

She reached up to the shelf where her book belonged, struggling. Meenah stood on tiptoes, yet still, the shelf was a few inches above her head.

She looked left and right for the step ladder, but someone had moved it. Meenah glanced back up to the space between two thick books, wondering how she could take her book.

She tried reaching again, scratching further than before, feeling the muscles in her side pulling until a hand took the book from her hand. Meenah stopped standing on her tiptoes and watched a large hand slot the book back into place.

As she turned around, she was met face to face with Muneer Fawaz, his signature smirk on his lips.

"Hey." He greeted.

"Hey." She replied back.

"I wanna take you somewhere, no questions, just follow me and no objections." He said firmly. Meenah just nodded.

~

They were currently sitting in the back of Muneer's Bentley. One of his hands curled around a travel mug, full of black coffee, the other occupied with drawing mindless circles on the back of her hand. Any other time, Meenah would have denied the fact that she needed placating, but his touch helped calm my anxiety.

"We have to go in sometime, Meenah," Muneer tried to soothe, though his voice was tight with laughter.

Meenah ignored him, just as she had ignored him for the past five minutes as they sat, parked in his lot.

As another minute went by, she finally broke."Why? I think I can see the house perfectly fine from here." She nodded sharply, motioning toward the large mansion-like house beyond Muneer's head. The house was huge and Meenah felt belittled just looking at it.

"You can see the house, yes, but you can't see my parents, can you?"

"Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure I can see someone moving around in the window..."