The Scars They Hide

Chapter Sixteen - Too Good to be True?

Chapter Sixteen – Too Good to be True?

It was days before Lutfiyah saw Jaafar again. And it wasn't because either had sought the other out. It was purely because she was in her own world.

The problem of the rent was weighing on her and she had the worst feeling that she would need to move to another building that was slightly more in her budget if she was not able to pay the next few months. The rent itself was reasonable but what with her father being in the state that he was in, she was the breadwinner for more than just herself. And her father's pension was just not enough for everything some months.

The sound of her cell phone ringing brought her out of her thoughts and her heart skipped a beat when she recognised the number as the Human Resources department from Conan.

"Hello."

"Hi, is this Ms Abbas speaking?"

Lutfiyah stepped into her building foyer, heading for the elevators as she spoke.

"Yes, it is she."

The woman on the other end of the line cleared her throat. "This is Susan from the Human Resources Department at Conan. Well, Ms Abbas, there seems to have been some change in your contract. At the beginning of this year, the clause that allowed you a housing subsidy was revoked due to new management but things have been reconsidered and after lengthy discussion, Conan has decided to reinstate it into the contract."

Lutfiyah stopped in shock. "What?"

"Yes, the details have been emailed to you and your new contract should be sent to you tomorrow. Please be sure to sign it as soon as possible so that I may file it. Thank you for your lovely work at Conan. Goodbye."

Lutfiyah stared at her phone as if it had grown three heads and a tail. She was dreaming, of that she was sure. There was no way that this was happening. It didn't even sound right. Well, she wasn't a lawyer or anything but was this how things even worked? Unless there was something to do with new management.

Who knew what odd things took place in the world?

Then the full enormity of the situation hit her and knowing that she was alone in the foyer, she jumped with joy, letting out a tiny shriek of happiness. It was just her luck that the lift doors opened up just at that moment.

But she was so happy that she couldn't even bring herself to be too embarrassed as Jaafar looked at her with amusement.

"Good news, I take it?"

She grinned shyly. "Most definitely."

A small grin slipped onto his face, making his eyes light up. "I'm glad."

And with that he slipped passed, giving her space to enter the lift. She pressed her floor number and sighed with happiness as the doors slid closed.

The doors opened with a slight huff, allowing her to exit but she frowned as she neared her door and found four packets of groceries just sitting there.

What was going on?

Bending down, she rifled through them and her frown deepened when she realised that it was all grocery items that she used on a daily basis. Even the brands were right.

A flash of colour caught her attention and she turned to see the blue Post-it note stuck to her door.

Lutfiyah-

This is just a small gift of gratitude for always cooking and sending food for me and especially for the other night when I needed a place to crash. Jazakillah

-Jaafar

She stared and stared, the words swimming in front of her eyes until she heard the lift slide open and the voices of her daughter and Jane as they made their way towards her. She straightened up, collecting the grocery bags as she did so, and turned in time to see her daughter grinning at her.

"Mama!"

She greeted May by kissing her cheek and nodded thankfully at Jane.

"She was very well-behaved today, Ms Abbas."

Lutfiyah's eyebrows rose at the words. Jane hardly ever spoke and even that one sentence was a wonder to hear.

"It's because she loves you, Jane. Thank you, again."

With a nod, Jane turned to go. She paused, waved at May then continued on.

May began to babble about her day and Lutfiyah nodded where she needed to but her mind was stuck on the grocery bags now sitting on their kitchen table. May paused in her rambling and frowned.

"You went shopping without me, Mama?"

Lutfiyah shook her head and joined May in the rifling of the bags. "No, this was a gift from Uncle Jaafi." The ease with which the nickname slipped out of her mouth made Lutfiyah scowl.

The scowl turned into a look of surprise as May whooped with happiness. "Uncle Jaafi bought me ice-cream. Uncle Jaafi bought me ice-cream. Neh neh neh neh neh!"

Lutfiyah burst out laughing at May's antics, her eyes crinkling with love as May stuck her tongue out at no one in particular.

"Who are you saying that to, May? That's for me too."

May looked up at her mother and considered the statement deeply before nodding. "Okay," she replied solemnly before helping to unpack everything. Lutfiyah grinned at the sight of her daughter lugging the bottle of oil to the cupboard, insisting on carrying it despite it being almost her height.

That night, as she cooked the food using ingredients bought by someone else, Lutfiyah wondered what exactly her reaction should be. On the one hand she was slightly affronted. She was an independent woman who could look after herself and she didn't need anyone shopping for her. The feminist side of her protested at the entire thing and demanded that she march right over to the flat opposite and just leave the bags there to be returned.

However, the other, more sappy side of her, the side that had been alone for so long, the side that craved someone else's worry except her father's, that side of her glowed with a slight light of acceptance. She wasn't happy that he had bought her groceries but she knew that it gave him peace to do this for her. So she accepted it. If just to prevent more conflict.

The compromise didn't stop the feeling of satisfaction of knowing that her food was letting someone sleep with a full belly.

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I know it's abit of a short filler chapter but I'll post soon to make up for it.