_CHAPTER {7}_

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Only he who started it can finish it

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HE IS MY NEIGHBOR

"And then I met him this morning too," Alishaa said dropping her hands from her face, "So you have been ruining a guy's shirt two times the same week?" Zack asked, laughing at her. "Not have been but yes"

"Stop saying he ruined your day when you actually ruined his, I can't believe he let you go" Zack stated laughing harder, "No, he didn't I escaped"

"Yeah but-"

"Lisha?" A voice said behind her, she turned and started smiling instantly

"Nashy? Rashy?"

"We meet again and still with your nickname" Naadir said while scratching his head, slightly chuckling, "I told you I will be calling you with that" She smiled wider at him.

"How are you doing?"

"I am doing well Alhamdulilah, how are you?"

"Alhamdulilah, you live here?"

"Yeah, this is the community I told you about"

"Wow! Indeed, it is amazing" Rashid said, looking at the park from the playground, to where it was decorated with lights and where people were chatting. The elders were seated on the chairs while the young adults were standing or walking around.

"We moved here, a week ago" Rashid added, then stepped away from Alishaa walking up to Nadiya "Asalaam Alaikum Aunt Nadiya"

"Wa'alaikumSalaam, you came," Nadiya said happily, keeping a napkin on the table Alishaa was leaning on. "Yeah, we told you we would"

"Well thank you for coming, I see you have already met my daughter" She pointed at Alishaa who waved a peace sign.

"Yes Ma, we met at the company a week ago"

"Oh, you work at the same company?" She asked "Yes"

"Alhamdulilah, now I wouldn't worry about her, because she can be careless"

Right, embarrass me, Mom!!

"Faaris didn't come?" She asked slightly disappointed, "No he came, he went to answer a call"

Her smiley face came back once again as her attention got called, she turned back to the boys and said "Oh great, let me check on the food," She walked to the direction where the barbeques were grilling out and other types of foods.

"Oh sorry, this is Haneef, Rose and Zack" She pointed at her friends, they smiled at them and exchanged greetings, "Lisha, Emily is asking if you will sing today?" An older man asked, from the elders table, "Nahh, I won't! Mr. Luke will" He nodded and turn to his table.

"You sing?" Naadir asked her, "No"

"But he said?" She pressed her lips and said, "Well yeah, I try sometimes, when they are bored at the cafe or at times like this" he nodded as she explained, "Oh MashaAllah, that's nice" he praised.

"Thank you" He nodded at her smiling as Rashid walked off to the food table.

Faaris walked around looking for a space without noise to communicate with Renzo when he noticed an empty bench from across the street. "What happened Renzo?" He asked seating down, "We are losing our shareholders" Renzo said panicking, "How many have we lost, so far?"

"About 50 of our new investors and mostly are at the top of stock market" He sighed running a hand in his newly trimmed haircut roughly, "Where are they going? Because we can't lose a lot of them at the same time within a week"

"They are investing in Richards or A&X" He roughly made a solution but decided to look through it first, "Okay, I will see what I can do" "Until when?"

"Tomorrow, till then I want you to look at the sale rates of Richards"

"Okay, Ciao"

"Yeah bye " He hung up the call and kept the phone next to him, he removed his spectacles and closed his eyes. He heard something drop, and he immediately put his spectacles back, he looked around and saw a girl trying to stand up. He quickly assumed she fell on the floor, "Thank God no one saw that" The girl said dusting her gloved hands, "Are you okay?" He asked approaching her.

She groaned pouting, "And someone saw that, laugh already" She turned around throwing her hands upwards, "Hijabi girl?"

"Mr. Grinch?"

"What?" He raised his left brow looking at her, "Nothing!"

"Why aren't you laughing already?"

He shrugged putting his phone in his pocket, "I wasn't going to laugh. Do you always fall?"

"This is the first time you saw me fall"

"Nope, the last time you spilled your coffee on me, twice"

"Don't make it a big deal" she said rolling her eyes, "How comes you are everywhere for the past week?"

"I could ask you the same question" she replied remembering she saw him at the Moonlight Restaurant too but didn't want to tell him because then her identity will be out.

"Are you telling me it is a coincidence? Because I am not buying that"

"I didn't ask you to or wait are you stalking me?" He crossed his hands over his chest and stared blankly at her, saying, "Yeah, I have enough time to waste"

"So, if you are not following me and I am obviously not following you, how comes you are everywhere?"

"Do you live here? And no, I am not trying to kidnap you"

"Yeah, I live here and I assume you do too?"

"Yeah, you work at Nifaas?"

"Yup, an assistant, what about you?" He nodded, feeling glad he might meet her tomorrow.

An assistant?

"I work there too" He replied, "How come I never see you here? Are you new here? I know everyone here" She tapped her chin thinking if she knew him. The thought of her thinking about him made him feel a bit happy but he wasn't about to acknowledge that.

"Oh, so you are the mayor" She pressed her lips sighing, she didn't know him and he was already giving her headaches. "I lived here my whole life and I never saw you"

"I moved here a week ago" He wanted to stop the conversation but at the same time he wanted to know more about her. He felt the curiosity he lost years back coming back, every time he thought about her but again, he didn't want to acknowledge it yet.

"Alright! Welcome and bye" She started walking to the other side of the road where the party was held. "Wait you didn't tell me your name" he stopped her. She stopped walking but didn't turn, she was hesitating about whether it was a good idea to tell a total stranger her name or not, soon she came up with a better idea, "It's Nala" she replied, he wanted to ask her if he would meet her again but stopped himself, he looked down and putting his hands in his pockets.

"What's your name?" she asked breaking him from his thoughts, " I thought you left" he whispered "What?" she asked furrowing her brows, "Nothing, it is Kin- I mean Faaris" she gave him a peace sign and stomped off.

He stood for some minutes before walking back to the park, he stood looking around for the guys, "Dude where have you been?" Naadir asked tapping his shoulders from behind, "I was on a call with Renzo" He replied, starting to think about how to save his company.

"Oh yeah, he just told me, what are we going to do?"

"I think I got an idea"


Got nothing much to say, so peace✌

Oh right please take care of yourselves, every soul is an important one




Manal

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