Another Forever

4 4 | t r u s t

"Do you need anything else?" Caroline asked as she handed me the cup of hot chocolate. I was cozied under her weighted blanket, lost in my thoughts.

"No." I smiled at her. "And thank you for picking me up and letting me stay here. I owe you."

"You owe me nothing, miss. We are friends and friends help each other. I don't know what transpired between Mr. Shah and you but you are always welcome here. Now let me shut the drapes so you could sleep." She said and left me alone in the room.

I didn't want to return home and see his face and the first person that came to my mind was Caroline. She immediately came for help at my call and picked me up.

It might seem like I was overreacting but Faaris had broken my trust yet again. If I had one clue Faaris was interested in me like that, I would have never agreed to marry him. It was a betrayal to Usama and to myself.

Yet, he hid it and let me think this was an arranged marriage and we were both compromising. He had multiple occasions to tell me but he chose to keep me blind. It might not made sense to someone else but it made sense to me. My trust was broken and it couldn't be mended anytime soon.

••••••••••

The next day, Caroline motivated me to leave the bed and go for work. I was hesitating as I didn't want to come across Faaris so I hit upon an alternative. I searched my clutch for the card that I got from that Owen Riggs last night.

After dressing up in an appropriate outfit from Caroline's closet, I called an Uber and went straight to the address mentioned on the card. I had to wait fifteen minutes in the lobby after which his secretary took me to his office.

"Miss. Noor, what do I owe this pleasure?" He raised his eyebrows on seeing me.

"I thought it would be better to get out of my comfort zone and work somewhere else." I said.

"Do you have your CV with you?" He asked.

"Yes." I handed over the paper to him. Thank God, I had printed one earlier.

"Hmm." He gave a quick look. "I can find some work for you here at our office. So when will you start?"

"Today?" I said hesitantly.

"Wow. You seem quite eager to work." He chuckled. "Actually there are some formalities first. I'll need your previous employer to make you a letter of recommendation. Can you get that?"

"Uh... Is that necessary?" I asked.

"Why? Is that an issue?" He asked.

"No. Not really. I'll do that." I said and then excused myself.

My next stop would be the place I was dreading the most. I didn't want to accidentally see Faaris because I know, my perseverance would stumble by seeing him. So I made sure to skip the elevator that he normally used. Thankfully, I managed to reach the office of the head of graphic designing without coming across Faaris.

"I didn't know you were leaving. Did you have any issue here?" Mr. Moby asked.

"No. I just want to work there. Can you do it? Can you make an LOR for me?" I asked.

"I can do that. I have a sample. I'll do some editing and then print it out." He said.

"Great."

I waited for half an hour while he did that and prepared my LOR. The whole time I prayed Faaris didn't come to know of my presence or he would try to talk to me about it. Once the letter was prepared, Mr. Moby handed it to me and I sighed in relief.

"One more thing, it needs to be signed by the CEO. Make sure you do that or it's of no use." He said and I groaned out loud.

The more I wanted to avoid him, the more I was being pushed towards him.

I was tempted to leave without getting it signed but then I realized, I'll need this LOR wherever I went to find a job. I couldn't just hide at Caroline's home forever. And why was I even hiding? I wasn't the one who was at wrong here. If anything, he should be the one worried to face me.

With this newly found determination, I made my way towards Faaris' office. The secretary let me go inside and when I reached in, the scene inside made my heart drop.

Faaris, the always well-dressed Faaris, was sitting on his desk in an unironed shirt and no coat. He was rubbing his forehead and the scene almost melted my heart.

No. That is exactly why I didn't want to face him.

"I need you to sign this." I said firmly and he whipped his head up.

"Noor," his eyes bulged out of the sockets and he began to stand.

"Don't." I said. "I just want you to sign my LOR so I can get out of here." I said and placed the letter in front of him.

His eyes looked swollen as they switched between the letter and my face. He then finally pulled out his pen and signed the letter in exasperation.

"Just come home and we will sort this out." He requested.

"That's exactly why I don't want to come home." I said and picked up my LOR.

Ignoring his pleading glances, I made my way out of his office and then back to the Uber to hand over this LOR to my new employer.

•°•°•°•°•