His Girlfriend

5: Just Because

AHAAN'S POV

I groggily sit up, leaning on the object in front of me. A horn sounds, and I jump awake, eyes wide open. Scanning around, I'm in my car. It's already bright out, and has been for a while, since my steering wheel is hot from baking in the sun. Plus, I'm still in Ishqi's driveway.

She never came home? She would've woken me up if she did.

Instinctively, I reach for my phone to text her, but it is still dead from yesterday. Not to mention, I was probably already late for work. I check the clock in my car, and sure enough, it's already close to noon.

My heart nearly leaps out of my chest when I see Mr. Kapoor and Ishita sitting in chairs on the porch, casually sipping on lemonade as they watched me. Awkwardly, I smile, wave, and then leave the car to talk to them.

"Hi, Mr. Kapoor. Hey, Ishita," I greet.

"Hi," Ishita plainly returns.

Mr. Kapoor takes a long sip from his lemonade before wrinkling his face. "Why have you been in my driveway since I woke up?" He asks.

"You've been watching me sleep since you woke up?"

"I asked you a question first, young man."

"Well..."

I couldn't tell Ishqi's dad the truth. He would flip out if Ishqi didn't show up home last night. But maybe I should tell him. Did something dangerous happen to her? But if something didn't, she would be in so much trouble. Plus, Mr. Kapoor knew about our weekend dates, so I would be a jackass for skipping out on it and not knowing where his daughter is.

"Well?" He asks.

"I got really tired after the date I had with Ishqi. I wanted to take a nap, but I fell asleep the whole night."

"So, Ishqi came home?"

"Yeah, I dropped her off, and I slept outside...outside..." I emphasized outside to show I meant no funny business.

"Huh, that's weird. That girl never wakes up this early. I didn't see her this morning."

"When did you wake up?"

"Five."

"So, you've been observing me sleep since five."

"That's unrelated."

"I better get to work," I say, slowly backing from the porch steps towards my car. With their eyes still sternly set on me, I quickly slip back into the car and pull off.

Once I get to work, my manager greets me with shouts, his sweat shaking off his forehead and saliva shooting from his mouth.

"HOW ARE YOU THIS LATE? YOU MIGHT AS WELL SKIP WORK TODAY! EVEN THE NEWBIE WAS ON TIME! YOU'RE LUCKY THE INVENTORY IS ALWAYS PERFECT AFTER YOUR SHIFTS, OR YOU WOULD BE FIRED!" He yells.

"Even yesterday's?" I ask anxiously, remembering the sound of shoplifters running yesterday.

"HELL, THAT'S THE ONLY REASON YOU'RE NOT FIRED YET. BUT YOU'RE ON THIN ICE, MISTER!" He sticks his erect and hairy finger at my face before storming off to fix some misaligned displays.

That's weird. I was pretty sure there were shoplifters yesterday. Whatever.

Rhea immediately approaches me once the manager leaves, her face just as red as his and lips firmly pursed.

"Where were you all morning? I was almost late waiting for you to take me to work." She crosses her arms.

"You have your own car..." I mutter, walking to the back to retrieve my uniform cap. Rhea follows me, her face getting redder by the minute.