~Iman’s P.O.V~
Giving Zayn my email, I noticed how his face lit up immediately. He thanked me and promised he won’t bother me every other minute but I assured him that I gave him that email to use whenever he felt like he needed to. And he can always talk to Youssef who is kind of going through the same thing and had the same lectures they could really benefit one another.
Hearing the door open, my thoughts got interrupted as my head turned to the customer. It was exactly 5:30 so we needed to close up. This will be the last customer of the day before the discussion.
“Al Salam Alykum.” Mazen said entering the shop, his eyebrows furrowed and he gave me a confused look.
“W Alykum Al Salam.” I replied mimicking his expression as my curiosity took over. I wanted to know the reason behind his look.
“Hey Mazen, just in time for the discussion.” Holly beamed coming from the back room as she went to close up.
“What was that guy doing here?” Mazen gave me a confused look then suddenly it turned to an angry one, “Was he harassing you again? I could still go after him now.”
“Mazen, relax. He wasn’t bothering me. He just came to say goodbye. He is leaving.” I explained to stop Mazen from going after Zayn and making an actual scene in the street.
“Leaving? Where is he going? And why did he come to say goodbye?” Mazen asked sternly, anger still evident in his eyes but he tried his best to control it.
“Cause he is a family friend.” I answered in soft voice trying to calm Mazen down a little. I didn’t know why I felt the need to satisfy Mazen. He was over reacting as if he was Ayman and I needed to justify my actions to him but it didn’t bother me as I thought it would. On the contrary, it made me feel kind of special in a way.
“I highly doubt he is a friend of Ayman’s.” Mazen scoffed making me feel my stomach dropping for a second. I hated how he talks about Zayn like he wasn’t worthy of even our friendship.
“He is my friend and Youssef’s friend as well.” I found myself quick to defend Zayn even though we weren’t really friends but that was none of Mazen’s business. Regardless of my feelings towards him.
“Your friend?” Mazen Raised an eyebrow at me, shock in his eyes.
“Yeah.” I replied with much confidence, surprising not only Mazen but myself as well.
Personally, I don’t believe in the whole boy-girl friendship but our intension is pure. I want to help Zayn be a better person and seeks guidance and comfort from my words. Plus I wasn’t doing anything wrong so I wasn’t going to justify myself to Mazen.
~~
It was almost 8PM, the discussion was great and the turnout was even better than last weeks. I was happily watching the crowd engaging in a heated discussion about the character’s intention about something but I wasn’t paying too much attention to what they were saying.
My mind was preoccupied with Mazen who was somewhat ignoring me the whole night. Since our little argument if that what it even was, Mazen hadn’t said a word to me not even commenting on this week’s turn out.
To be completely honest, I kind of felt hurt. I felt like I did something wrong but I knew I did nothing wrong.
Why was I feeling like that? Why did Mazen’s looks give me a funny feeling in the bottom of my stomach? Why did I even care about his opinion?
These were all questions rooming around my mind all night. And the fact that Mira had been all talking to Mazen all night made me even more upset and I don’t even know why.
Usually, I don’t really care what anyone else does but the way she’s touching his arm after she laughs or when she flatters her eyes while smiling when he talks just seems off to me. It makes me a little angry to be honest.
“What’s on your mind?” Yasmin startled me with that question.
“Nothing, just watching the discussion.” I shrugged it off like it was nothing.
“The discussion in that way,” She turned my head to the left a little making me blush.
“Yeah, right.” I mumbled looking down at my hands feeling embarrassed that I was caught staring at Mazen and Mira. They were talking and laughing. Mazen was being his charming self with Mira while he was cold to me.
“Mazen looks extra good today, don’t you think?” Yasmin hummed making me give her a weird look.
Mazen always looked good but to be fair he did look a little better today. His clothes were neater and he wore semi-formal attire making him extra good looking. I didn’t really notice due to our argument or my distraction with Mira’s actions around him.
“I wonder what he is going to do tonight.” Yasmin had a little smirk on her face giving me a weird look which confused me but I let it slide not caring that much.
“Who knows?” I shrugged it off as I went to the middle of the room to announce the end of the discussion. There were sighs of disappointments but for the most part people got the idea and started gathering there things and leaving.
“I bet he is dressing up for someone special.” She winks at me with a smile. I looked at her not even trying to smile out of politeness as I felt a pin getting immersed in my heart. Must be Mira.
Looking around the room to distract myself, I looked at the few people left in the room talking among each other about the discussion. It was nice seeing the small community we built getting stronger and people in it getting to know each other outside this small shop. It made me happy.
Smiling at the scene in front of me, Mira’s laugh caught my attention making me turn my head to look at her and Mazen. I quickly averted my eyes looking at Yasmin who was on the phone.
Noticing that she was mid conversation with someone, I went to the last couple of people in the shop and told them that we had to close the shop. They were understanding and told me how nice the discussion was and they will come next week which made me smile.
“My job is done for the day so I’m going to go. Have a nice weekend everyone.” Holly yelled as she walked out of the shop. She was smiling and happy to leave which was odd since she was gloomy all day. Maybe she just doesn’t like work anymore. I should try to be nicer to her.
“Bye, Holly. Have a nice weekend.” Mira beamed waving at Holly then turned to Mazen, “I should be going too. See you at Riaz’s?”
“I don’t know yet, I’ll see.” Mazen smiled at her a tight lipped smile.
“Okay, just tell me if you changed your mind.” She smiles widely then gives me and Yasmin a look before saying bye to us.
“Yasmin, if you don’t mind can I talk to Iman about something really quick?” Mazen asked making me raise an eyebrow at him. What did he want to talk to me about that Yasmin couldn’t know?
“Sure, I’ll be in the back room.” Yasmin smiled making me even more shocked. She agreed to leave me alone with him?
“Iman,” He took a deep breath then looked me in the eye, “I’m sorry if I had upset you earlier. I didn’t mean to. I just don’t trust that lad. And I don’t like the fact that he’s rooming around you.”
Mazen’s words were out of nowhere but at the same time I found myself smiling when he said them. It wasn’t his place to be aggressive to me just because of Zayn but I like this side of him. He wasn’t afraid to apologize when he is wrong. Not a lot of Middle Eastern guys were like that.
“Thank you, Mazen. And don’t worry about Zayn. He is just my neighbor. He is really close to Youssef.” I don’t know why I was justifying myself to Mazen but I felt I needed to since he apologized.
Nodding, I knew he wasn’t convinced from the look on his eyes but he seemed to let it slid as she changed the subject, “So, you are not mad at me?”
“No, I’m not.” I answered feeling my cheeks heat up. The way he looked at me saying those words made me uncomfortable but in a say I liked which was weird.
“Good, now we can go now.” He smiled but I gave him a confused look which he ignored, “Yasmin, we are done.”
“Everything good?” She asked getting out of the room.
“Yeah,” Mazen smiled then went to the door, opened it and held it for us, “Shall we?”
Smiling, I got out of the shop with Yasmin and I stopped to say goodbye to Mazen before we go home, “See you after the weekend In Sha’ Allah. Have a blessed one.”
“Huh? Aren’t you coming with me?” He asked confused making me take a step back. I never ride in the car with him what got him to think I would start now?
“No, we are just going to walk. Thanks.” I replied politely with a smile.
“Actually Iman I forgot to tell you this but Ayman called me telling me that he and Youssef went to Uncle Adam’s and we should go there with Mazen.” Yasmin told me making me raise an eyebrow at her.
“He did?” I was so confused.
Ayman would normally flip if I got in the car with a stranger. Did he really trust Mazen enough to ask him to give me a ride?
Not that Mazen wasn’t trust worthy but it’s just so unlike Ayman to do something like that. Normally he is a caveman when it comes to these things.
What was going on?
***
A/N
Fast update yaaaay.
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