Zaira made sure that the alarm was set on time.

Today, not only did she have to pray but also she was going to work.

Zubair was still sleeping.

Tahajjud was already over. But there was still time for fajr to end. She was torn between waking him up and not.

"Hey. Wake up!" She trued.

No movement. She waited a little. Then she proceeded to tap him on his shoulder.

Still nothing.

Ugh! She hated this! Him!

"Hey! Are you  waking up or not!? You are going to miss Fajr!" She hit him, frustrated.

Suddenly, he woke up and he tugged her hand.

Due to the force she was pulled forward. Their faces were inches apart. And he stared into her eyes.

In that moment, Zaira noticed, that his eyes were a shade of blue.

How could her Lord give such nice and beautiful eyes to him?

But there was another emotion in those eyes, she couldn't quite place what it was.

Then she realized that she literally was appreciating his eyes and she mentally smacked herself.

She tugged her hand off his iron grip swiftly.

"What are you doing? It hurts you idiot!"

He looked shaken.

"I- I am sorry. Didn't mean to-" and he walked to the bathroom in a hurry.

Wait. Hold on. Did he just apologize? He just did. He must still be asleep.

Never in the years before, had she ever seen him to apologise.

Especially not to her.

***

This was the first time she was stepping out of the house.

"Where are you going, Zaira?" Mother asked me, when I was heading towards the door which lead to the garage outside.

"To get my car keys." I replied, turning towards her.

"No, dear, you and Zubair can leave together." Sje replies with a little glint sparkling in her kind eyes.

"Uh...."

she looked towards him, hoping that he would oppose it. She counted on him for these things. Because these were the only things, which we both had the same opinion on.

"No. definitely no." He started, with his hands raised.

"She has a car. I have a car. As simple as that-" He started, emphasising on each word and gesturing at me.

"You both will go together, Zubair." Mahera replied, sighing at her son.

Begrudgingly Zubair left the room.

It seemed he was mama's boy.

A smile lit up her face. He seemed so different to his old self. Maybe he was always like this.

I just might have not noticed.

***

The ride was silent.

Zaira's thoughts went to  the incident that occurred in the morning. She felt a bit uncomfortable around him. Not letting it get the better of her, she chose to pay attention to her phone.

They reached the Company HQ. It was enormous. There were three tall structures which were connected at the top. On top of the architecture, the name 'Khan Construction' was ingrained.

It was quite a view.

Getting out of the vehicle, both of them entered the complex. There were many employees who greeted them.

But they were throwing strange looks at me.

Maybe they're pitying me for being stuck with him?

After crossing the great expanse they called the lobby, they alighted a private elevator. Then they reached the top most floor.

The floor stretched far. She was amazed at the way each place was built. There was a nice order to it. The glass cubicles of each office had similar bronze plaques on them, which indicated their department and the Chief. Following it, there was a list of the employees, who she assumed, worked under the chief.

It was very orderly and neat. The place was well maintained too.

"So Zaira, I hope you like this place." Khan grabbed her attention, making her direct it  to him.

She nodded enthusiastically, earning a chuckle from him.

"Zubair oversees, Management and Finance and some other, and I want you to focus on Contracts, Designs, and paperworks. While I have complete trust in your capabilities, I want you to get adjusted here, first. I don't want to give you much pressure, but once you get better you both can share the load. You and Zubair will be having your office room together for the time being. It'll be easy and efficient to cooperate.

I hope you like it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting starting in just 15 minutes. I will catch up with you two later!"

He walked away when we both nodded.

"First I have to tolerate you at office, next I have to share my room?"

He walked off, sighing heavily.

Zaira couldn't care less.

She followed him, beside she hadn't a single clue on where she was supposed to go.

They had to pass a big span of working desks, at one point. The worker, stared at her like she had two heads growing. Zaira just didn't care anymore. Surely they don't mean any harm.

Zubair walked towards a set of double doors and opened it. She followed him inside. There was a small table beside where, a petite woman stood. She was shorter than her, definitely shorter than him, had dark brown hair.

"Good Morning, Sir. Mr. Khan informed us of the changes to be done. And Good morning to you too, Madam. All the arrangements have been made, and Mr. Khan has sent Mr. Daniyal to assist you on starting your work here."

Zubair just stiffly nodded and walked into his cabin.

Zaira smiled and introduced herself.

"Hi. I am Zaira Zaky. Nice to meet you."

"Hello, I am Wendy Parkinson. Nice to meet you, Madam. Congratulations on your wedding!" She chirped.

Once inside , she noticed that there were two large mahogany tables which occupied the room.. There were two large, transparent walls made of glass, which provided a nice view of the city, adjacent to each other. While the other two walls were pale white in colour.

The other side of the room, was occupied by few plush couches, a table and a shelf. The room was quite spacious.

She then noticed a man was standing beside one of the plush couches. He seemed quite old, buthis eyes spoke of experience. She assumed him to be Mr. Daniyal.

And with his help, she obtained an introduction to the company, her responsibilities and duties, her field of work and what she had to work on.
.
She had to inspect conditions of contracts, had to sign some documents and had to give final judgment on some deals and projects. She had to determine if the designs and structures were okay. She had to go on site visits, making sore everything was upto date.

***

She figure out quite a lot of things, about the Company in the following days of working.

She had to admit, even Zubair was working a lot. When lunch time came while she went out for food, he would continue to work.

Now she knew why Ayra and mother always labelled himsthat as a workaholic.

***

In the moment, Zaira was going over a deal with another corporation regarding an apartment complex, when the door burst open with a force that made her flinch.

What the?

Zubair came fuming, and marched towards her table. He slammed his hand against the table, in barely concealed rage.

He looked straight at her eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?  Why did you reject the proposal given by TadVin Incorp.?"

He raised his voice.

Oh.

This is about that.

"Obviously I had to reject it. That structure is not suitable. We would not succeed in it. It will break off."

She explained in an angered tone.

"Are you for real? It's perfectly fine. There are no faults in it. I went through it!"

"You don't get it. Look."

She tried explaining it with the blueprint which lay on the table.

"Here. The foundation only supports this roofing. Once we start to build it it will try to support both of them. But after two three years it will break off gradually. We can't just strengthen materials we use, thay would be too costly. They wanted this to be a temporary complex. If in future, they want to redesign it, it would be hard to adjust"

"We built this. We knew in the future this would happen and so we planned the foundation so it could bear more weight. Didn't you see the foundation review?"

"I read that, alright. It has been 10 Years since that was built. I don't think the foundation is strong enough." she protested.

"You were not even there! Do you even know what you're talking about?"

***

Zaira was packing her things. It was almost 9:30 p.m. She just wanted to sleep. The fight had caused in calling a meeting. And she had to explain her concept all over again. He continued to explain his theory. In the end , everybody concluded that the project would be reconsidered, with new planning.

If I could just beat some sense into him.

The stubborn mule.

"I am going home." The man in question, suddenly said.

"I don't think we should go together."

And he left. Didn't look back. Just left like that.

Had he always been like this?

I didn't even  ring my car!

I didn't know if I should just laugh or cry.

He just left me alone. How could he? He didn't even ask me if I had money? Ya Allah!

She reached the ground floor and left the building.

Her efforts in trying to hail a Taxi, proved to be futile. If she walked a little further, she could find a taxi. But then paying for the rest of the way would be a waste.

So she made up her mind and walked.

Yeah. She walked back to the Khan Household.

All the freaking way back home!

***

It was 10:30 p.m., when she finally, reached home.

To find that everyone was asleep.

The lights in the house were off. She went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water and calmed herself down. She swearing form head to toe. She hadn't worked out much recently. And the walk back home had been so tiresome.

She hoped Emily was awake. Her food was simply Masha Allah.

Then suddenly the lights switched on in the living room.

Mahera looked startled when she noticed Zaira.

"Zaira? What are you doing down here at this time?"

She gave me a look over.

"Where did you go?"

"Asslamu Alaikum mother. I-I just returned back from work."

She told a bit cautiously.

"Wa Alaikum Salaam. What? What do you mean? You came earlier with Zubair right?" She asked, confusionmarring her features.

"Uh-No? He left before me. I just returned now."

"But- How did you come back, then?"

Should I tell her?

Usually, it's the daughter in law's actions which cause a rift between son and mother. Not the son's actions. This story seemed a bit twisted.

He was the one who left me.

"I took a cab, back." I lied.

Forgive me, Allah.

Looking back at her, without taking my eyes off her. I didn't want to seem suspicious.

We both barely tolerate each other. I don't want any more problems in our 'Paradise'.

But my kind mother in law, was very sharp and observant. She had noticed my shoes which were very dirty and coated in mud. In my haste to reach the kitchen, I had removed and left it carelessly by the door.

Anyone who looked at it, could probably tell that the owners of the pair, either went for a run or a hick. That was quite obvious.

To say that her mother in law seemed  peeved would be an understatement.

She raised her brows at her.

Why would you lie?

Her eyes asked me.

A shiver ran the length of her spine. This wasn't her mother in law.

"Zaira. Did you have dinner?" She asked trying to control her anger.

" Yes." The lie rolled out of her tongue, in a heartbeat.

Boy, I felt bad for Zubair.

"Alright. Go wash up, I'll make you some hot tea. Since tomorrow is a Saturday, I hope you can get a good sleep. Don't worry about waking up early."

Her words were final. No buts and ifs.

I nodded and ran upstairs, as quickly as I could.

I entered the room, to find him sleeping soundly.

I just sighed heavily and went into the washroom.

The mule had it coming tomorrow.  And it wasn't my fault.

***