Lights, Camera, Scandal

Chapter 10

Zain let out a sigh of frustration as he yanked at the tie around his neck. This was his fifth attempt at making the knot look right; the damn thing kept ending up crooked.

He peered into the mirror in his car, carefully looping and pulling and tugging at the silk, until everything was finally settled in place. He was scrutinizing his work when his phone started buzzing. He glanced down at the caller ID; it was Sahr.

"Hello?" he said, picking up her call.

"Hi," she said, "please tell me you made it to your office on time?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But?"

"I haven't gone up yet. I'm still sitting in my car"

"Why?"

"Because...I was fixing my tie?"

"You were fixing your tie?"

"Yes."

"Zain."

"What?"

There was a pause before Sahr spoke. "Look," she said softly, "I get that you might be a little bit nervous since its your first day at-"

"-I'm not a child Sahr." Zain said, cutting her off.

There was a pause before she spoke again.

"Zain," she said, her tone even and measured, "get out of your car, go up to your dad's office, and start your day. You can't keep people waiting. Ok?"

"Fine." Zain said with a huff. He hung up before Sahr could reply.

He got out of his car, locked it, and walked to the elevator, pressing the button to go up. He scrolled aimlessly through his phone while he waited for the doors to open, trying to ignore the nervous pit in his stomach. He wasn't used to feeling this way.

Ding.

He stepped inside and pressed the button for the seventh floor, glad to see that no one else was inside with him. He didn't want anyone to see how anxious he really was.

The truth was, he'd never felt comfortable at his dad's company. Even as a child when his mom brought him and his little sister Laila for visits, he'd only last thirty minutes before he'd begged her to go home.

Mom.

Hardly a day went by when he didn't think of her. Her books, her favorite pieces of art, even the first notebook she'd given him, bound in leather and meant for his poetry, were scattered around his apartment, reminding him of her every day.

Ding.

He took a deep breath as the doors slid open, all thoughts of his mom pushed to the side, as he prepared himself to face the day.

"Zain!" Danish greeted him with a wide smile on his face as he stepped through the doors. "Its good to finally have you here."

Zain grinned backed, grateful for the sight of a friendly face. "Hey, I didn't know you were gonna be showing me around today."

"I wish." Danish said. "I snuck out of a meeting a few minutes early just to come and see you. Just pray Aqeel mamu doesn't find out."

Zain laughed. "You should go then. I wouldn't want you getting in trouble because of me."

"Yeah right." Danish teased. "The shit you got us into when we were kids-"

"Zain?"

Both cousins turned around to see Jude. "I'm supposed to take you to see your father." he said. "If you'd just follow me?"

"Yeah, sure." Zain said. Turning to Danish, he asked "lunch, if my dad doesn't kill me?"

"Definitely." his cousin replied. "Good luck!"

Thanks Zain thought. I'm gonna need it.

****

Sahr had a headache.

It had started out as a dull ache in the morning after her phone call with Zain, but as the day dragged on it had turned into a full blown throbbing in her head. And no amount of coffee or painkillers could to kill it.

The throbbing got worse as she tried to focus on the papers that were scattered around her. Lists of possible venues, quotes from caterers, and half a dozen florists' cards were among the pile. Wedding planning was no joke.

"Sahr?"

She looked up to see her fiancé, who was sitting across the table from her. They were at a café not too far from her office; they'd made plans to meet up for lunch, and hammer out some of the details of their mehndi.

"Are you ok?" Tariq asked. "You don't look too well."

"Yeah I've just had a really long day." Sahr said.

"What happened?"

"I've got this new client, and he's such a pain in the ass."

"Aren't they all?" Tariq said, teasingly.

"Yes." Sahr said with a small smile, which quickly turned into a grimace as she thought of Zain. "But this one is in a league of his own. He's the most disrespectful, irresponsible, cocky asshole I've ever worked with."

"Damn. You usually just stop at irresponsible. That bad huh?"

"Don't even get me started. He does something right, and I think he's making progress. But the next time I tell him to do something, he screws it up again."

Sahr thought back to the breakfast they'd had a few weeks ago. Zain had been good for a while after that, but for the last few days he'd gone back to being infuriating. All of that lead up to this morning, when he'd delayed going to his first day of work and hung up on her. The nerve!

But she didn't want to think about that right now. She wanted to focus on the man sitting in front of her – the man she loved – and plan their wedding. She was about to suggest they finalize the color scheme for their mehndi when the bell above the café's door jingled, signaling the arrival of another customer, and grabbing Sahr's attention.

"Oh fuck me."