Crimes of Caffeine

I knocked at the door.

"Come in," Ezzah loudly said from the other side.

"I cannot believe that even on a Saturday, I do find you in your office," I said as I walked further in after opening the door. Taking my cocoa-colored coat off, I looked around, pretty decent place. Everything was white with a single glass wall giving a view of the city.

"Well... I am just finished. Where is Pamir?" Ezzah asked, not looking up at me; typical.

"He is in the parking lot. I might have ditched him when he said to wait for him down there. Do you know he is the jealous type?" I asked, taking a seat. My statement caused Ezzah to chuckle.

"He does not seem like one, but I guess we all can be possessive," Ezzah stated with a smile, ending her sentence with a small shrug. She finally glanced up but only to pick up her phone and text someone.

"So, where are we going? I am bored. It's been a week, and your husband only talks about work." I complained because I was here for work and when I say work, I am not kidding. I was working for Pamir against mine and his will.

Pamir needed an ethical hacker for the company he was working for, but because the project was very significant with new technology, they wanted to take up a guy who won't sell their company's or projects secrets out. Ezzah mentioned how I was one great ethical hacker, and my educational background and experience was top the charts that, her words, and not mine. Pamir had to be professional, and despite not liking me, he agreed because I am trust-able in that sense. After all, I am family; the special snowflake.

"Well, you are here for a job, but because I promised you, we will show you around. So, trust me. After I give these papers, we are taking you out for dinner." Ezzah said as she closed the file and waited for the person she was probably waiting for, but the door burst open with an angry Pamir, glaring at me as I waved at him with a cheeky smile.

"I told you to wait outside jerkface," Pamir stated, and I pouted at him as if he had wounded me.

"Is this how you treat a guest?" I asked with a smirk when he kept on glaring at me. Ezzah shook her head with a slight chuckle.

"No, but this is how I treat people who flirt with my wife on my face," Pamir said as he went towards Ezzah, who smiled at him.

"So, should I flirt behind your back?" I asked with innocence.

"Try me, and I will tell you how much I hate you," Pamir said before caressing the back of Ezzah's head.

"Bro PDA." I made a face as if I was about to puke.

"Don't wanna see it? Then get out." Pamir said as he kissed Ezzah on the head as she chuckled at our childishness. Since I found out that Pamir was jealous of me, which was four days ago, I had been torturing him because I found it funny that despite Pamir knew I was harmless, he still got extremely jealous.

"Pamir, he is kidding, and you know it," Ezzah said, but Pamir did not stop glaring at me. I was still smirking at him while wiggling my eyebrows at him in suggestive ways. Ezzah saw that Pamir wasn't listening to her, so she turned him around and placed her hand over his cheek and made him look over at herself instead. Pamir's eyes turned soft on an instant as he smiled back. They do have something very special but got to ruin it, sad. I gaged to piss him off one more time. Pamir closed his eyes, gritting his teeth and Ezzah tried to control her laugh.

It never gets old.

"That is it!" Pamir moved away and got a hold of my collar as he pulled me towards the door.

"Bro what are you doing?" I asked as he playfully winked at Ezzah, who chuckled.

"I need a private moment with my wife. So, I am kindly throwing you out." Saying this Pamir open the door and literally throw me out and closed the door without looking back at me. Ouch, that door did hurt. I rubbed my nose to subside the pain but instead, I bumped into something, correction someone.

"I am so sorry. I did not see y..." I halted for a moment. I forgot that there was a thing called alphabets. I saw a girl in front of me. In black office pants with her white shirt tugged in, she seemed professional. The girl was observing me, maybe trying to figure out who I was as she must have never seen me before in the building while I did not even blink for a second. She had this thing on her face that made her stand out. 

Innocent yet a little savage.

"It's fine, but if you would excuse me, I need to go in." The girl tried to move me away from the door because I was blocking her way.

"I..." I was still speechless for some reason but quickly worked my way out of my dumbfounded brain and stopped her.

"I am sorry, but what's your name?" she was about to knock when she stopped on my words. Why did I ask her name again? I had to stop her, not ask her about her name.

"Jeena." That made me smile. Jeena, to live it meant. She arched her eyebrow at me, and I quickly continued.

"Right, Ms Jeena, I don't think it's a good idea to go in right now," I started as I pushed my right hand inside my jeans' pocket while using my other hand to gestures towards the door.

"Why?" she asked, not understanding the meaning behind my words.

"Actually, they are having a private moment in their, Ezzah and Pamir. Your boss with her husband I mean." I explained, but what I saw, it confused me. Jeena's once perplexed face gave up an evil smile.

"Pamir is in there?" She asked, pointing her finger at the door, and I could only nod.

"Thank you." She stated and knocked at the door loudly, making me jump at my place.

"I swear I will punch you Rafan." We heard a yell from inside. Pretty sure it was Pamir.

"Hey dorkface, open the damn door or I will call the guards from the ground floor, saying that a psycho harasser locked my project head with himself." My eyes widen as she yelled loud enough for them to hear as she kicked the door this time. The savage part of my intuition was right all right. I could not believe the guts of this girl.

Wasn't she supposed to be... I don't know, professional?

"Oh, why do I have to suffer these morons!" Pamir said as he opened the door and glared at Jeena first, later at me.

"Because you are an idiot and a crackhead." I couldn't help but chuckle at Jeena's words, and Pamir's face. It was priceless.

"Don't forget, a jealous puppy too," I said which caused Jeena to first look at me, but she moved her head towards Pamir with a slow smile creeping onto her face that made her look well... creepy.

"I hate you." Pamir scorned at me, and that just made me shrug in approval.

"Okay, cut it out, guys. Jeena this is the file for the national refugee fundraiser." Ezzah said as she came, and stood beside Pamir who was leaning by the door frame now.

"Great. You guys leaving?" Jeena asked, looking inside the file.

"Yeah! We are taking Rafan out for dinner. Oh, by the way, Rafan she is Jeena, my best friend, and Jeena, this is Rafan, my childhood best friend and cousin." Ezzah explained as she slipped her hand with Pamir's who smiled at her. Ezzah was always like that. She gave preference to friends over her extended family. The cousins that were dearer to her were eternally her friends first later something else.

"Wait, is he the legend that caused this romantically repulsive idiot to feel butterflies in the pit of his stomach?" Jeena quickly snapped her head up and looked between us all with a grin.

"The very same," I said cockily, and Pamir rolled his eyes while Ezzah just laughed.

"Sir, may I just say how honored I am to be breathing the same air as you." Jeena sarcastically stated giving a side glance to Pamir who was rubbing his jaw all annoyed.

"Hey, don't mind me asking but what are you doing right now?" I asked out of the blue, and both Ezzah and Pamir's eyes narrowed at me, I could feel it. I tried not to look suspicious with a fake smile Jeena.

"Nothing, I will just drop this off to the department for my assistant to make some copies for tomorrow and leave for home to watch some Netflix, why?" Jeena replied, looking between us yet barely stopping her eyes at me in the end.

"Well, why do not... you come along with us, for dinner?" I offered as I glanced over at Ezzah, with a pleading look and Ezzah narrowed her eyes at me but shrugged as if she does not mind me inviting Jeena.

"I, don't know, I do not want to create trouble," Jeena said unsurely this time.

"No, trust me. These people will make me gag. I might need some company too-uh, to make him insane for a little while longer." I gave a fake smile, hiding the fact I was a nervous wreck while pointing at Pamir, who just stared at me with a face that said, why do you exist again?

"If it's fine with everyone," Jeena said, and Ezzah smiled genuinely while Pamir just shrugged, causing Ezzah to punch him on the arm.

"What did I do?" He said but shut up when he saw Ezzah glaring.

"Great let me just do this," Jeena said as she moved the file in the air.

"We are waiting in the parking lot," Pamir stated, and she nodded.

"You know what, take your wife and I will come with Jeena that is if you don't mind," I stated and Jeena with confusion just nodded at me. Pamir mouthed a careless 'okay' and dragged Ezzah out with him as she brought her bag with my jacket that I must have left behind when Pamir throw me out.

"So, why?" Jeena asked as I followed her down the hall. I for a brief moment examined the side of her face, trying to judge, what she must be thinking.

"What do you mean?" I asked her back, not understanding what she meant. I couldn't make out what was going on in her mind.

"Look, I am not dumb. A guy just met me, and he wants to walk down with me to a stupid department instead of going with his friends. That is something suspicious. Either you want something or you are a psycho killer/rapist. From your face, you seem like you belong to a good family. So, I am giving you the benefit of doubt." Jeena shrugged as she said that while I just stared at her. She was straightforward as Shaikh Rasheed on almost everything. That is a very stupid comparison, but she was darn blunt.

"I might need your help," I stated honestly. I required her help, even before I found out that she was Jeena; Ezzah's best friend.

"With what?" she said as she walked into a room and I followed behind. She waved at a woman who was taking a bottle of water out from the fridge.

"Ezzah and Pamir's anniversary is coming up, but due to their hectic work schedule and workaholic habits, I doubt that they will have time for each other. Especially Pamir. So, I was thinking of getting them a one-week getaway package, but the problem is I cannot. I need you to help me set it up by convincing them both." Jeena turned around and eyed me curiously that it actually made me cautious about my appearance.

"Why me?" She asked as she folded her hand over her chest.

"Because you are blunt. You get on Pamir's nerves just like I do and you are Ezzah's best friend. She would listen to you. and in return, Pamir will listen to her." She blankly stared at me that after some time, it felt even weirder by being under her radar.

"You know what? We will get along just fine." And the evil smile she once had earlier was back again as she smirked at some thought maybe because she was not looking at me anymore but at the wall behind me.

"I will take that as a yes," I stated with a lopsided smirk and grinned as her eyes met mine.

"So why was Pamir pissed at you?" She asked as we both were waiting for the elevator.

"When I came here I found out that Pamir still hates me, so I started pissing him off more by being extra nice to Ezzah. She knows that I am just messing around, even Pamir knows, but his green hulk comes out whenever I make her giggle." I chuckled, shaking my head.

"I know. Ezzah told me what happened in Pakistan." Jeena smiled as we both walked inside the elevator.

"I couldn't have imagined Pamir would be that possessive over Ezzah. I mean he cannot even see a guy with her. Though he does not stop her, he does restrain himself a lot. I guess that he might still have that bitter perception that we might have ended up together but still. It's just absurd." I said, feeling an acidic taste in my mouth just by that mere speculation. I still hated the idea of it. I always found Ezzah as a sister, and these people had to make it complicated.

"He loves her, what do you expect, but I gotta say he is dumb. I still remember his face when I found him outside the door of her office waiting for her when we were in a meeting just because Ezzah was giving him a cold shoulder for his stupid stunts, which he pulled off in Pakistan after they came back." Jeena said as we finally reached the lobby.

"That's my friend. He deserved it, though." I said, laughing at the fact what Ezzah did.

"I know, right. Dumba** thought it was okay to mess with her like that. Even though he felt bad and happy by what she had confessed, but he was still dumb to think he could leave her. At first, when I did not know the whole story, I was trying to patch them up, but when I found out what exactly had happened, I was so pissed at him." Jeena said, gesturing her hands in the air.

"What took you both so long?" Pamir asked with a solid tone, narrowing his eyes at us.

"Your dog-like attitude won't work on me, be polite, and I might just tell you." She said and walked off while Pamir just gapped at her. Here is the thing about Pamir, he is too nice to a point where it's bad for himself. He never replies back to anyone with bad words. Whatever he even does to me is out of jealousy not because he could do it because he cannot. He is a classy person in that sense.

"I like her," I uttered, looking at her back as she walked away from us.

"Sure, you do." Pamir sarcastically slapped the back of my head as we walked out.

"So, where are we going?" Jeena asked as we reached Ezzah by her car.

"I was thinking of having dinner in this Mediterranean restaurant, it's great and besides we always have desi food," Ezzah explained going through her phone.

"Wait, is it Arabian Nights?" Jeena asked quickly as she joined her in examining the content on the screen.

"Yeah," it was Pamir who spoke this time, "why?"

"I need a Lebanese coffee. It's been ages." Jeena excitedly stated which caused a smile to appear on my face looking at her childish acts only to observer Pamir and Ezzah mirroring my expression.

"So whose car?" I asked.

"Rafan you can go with Pamir because both us have our cars here too," Ezzah stated as she gestured her index finger between Jeena and herself.

"Come, brother lets ruin your rest of the day," I spoke as Pamir was looking at Ezzah with a longing. Ezzah smirked with a raised eyebrow and Pamir groaned and pulled me to his car by my upper arm.

"Bro, I know you love me and all but don't make it public this soon." I cooed, and Pamir pushed my hand away with disgust.

"Just get in the stupid car already," Pamir said, getting in his place while I laughed shaking my head. Bad move because I accidentally glanced over at Jeena who was looking at the sky before she took a picture of the changing colours and placed her phone in her pocket and slipped inside her car. She was one of those kinds who view the world differently. I was staring at the car too long, I knew it, but Pamir honked on me anyway that caused me to jump abruptly.

I gestured my hands in the air, giving a look that said what-the-hell-man!

"Get in the car, Romeo!" Pamir said, taking his head out of the window and my eyes widen. Did he know?

"It's just a... crush, I think. Do not tell her." I said as I took my seat beside him and Pamir's head snapped at me.

"Who?" He asked, confused, causing my eyes to widen.

"No one. Drive." I quickly stated as he snapped his head at the static road, at the front.

"Weird," Pamir said, twisting his car key and putting the car in gear as he drove off behind them.

"Sir, what kind of coffee would you like?" The man asked in a slight Italian accent. He was waiting for Rafan to make an order. He gulped. He stopped consuming coffee since she left.

"I rather have something fresh. Can you just bring me a cup of green tea, squeezed with lemon and honey?" Rafan requested, and the waiter nodded as he jotted down the order on his notepad.

"Anything else?" He asked, but Rafan replied in denial with a shake of his head as he looked forward, at the man sitting opposite to him.

"So, I was thinking, why not just make a deal in Turkey too. It's a good chance to extend your company's scope in that part of the world." It was indeed a good idea. Rafan has been almost everywhere in the world, and it was a good strategy to make a legal mark over there too, but he has so many other commitments in Saudi Arabia right now because the royal family wants him to check their new system, which was supposed to limit the default setting of some social websites. Why do they still want to block voice, and video calls was still beyond him.

"Talk to them. If they can wait until next month, they can have me there." Rafan said as he looked outside the window briefly. The old bricked walls and streets, oozing a heritage filled with the architecture of Renaissance and Europe, were poetic in its own way as people walked by and a artist painted on his canvas on the other side. He couldn't believe he was in Florence right now but the slightly visible Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was enough of a proof.

Yet a simple question was, how long will Rafan run away from everyone? After his mother, it's hard to go back home. Rafan would rather live on a plane forever instead if that saves him from the most painful memories of his existence.

"I will try, but I am not sure. They are desperate to release the app as soon as they can." Mark said, and Rafan knew he was right that those people were desperate. Despite Rafan knew that he might be able to finish the royal assignment much sooner then he was expected too, he still was not 100% sure about it. It was better to not make a commitment, which he couldn't full fill. That was his theory.

After all, he was not Jeena.

He internally snorted at that thought. He can never be like that woman he despises. He loathes her. He wished he had never met her in the first place. He wished, she never walks on his ground, but then again he doesn't leave his enemies. He promised himself that he would find her, find Jeena, and he will make sure she begs him for the mercy that she never showed him.

'I will take your bloody freedom and slap it on your face. I will make you rub your feet on the rough surface of this earth until you don't regret what you did to me. I will make sure you feel sorry for what you did to me. I will ruin your life the same way you ruined mine.'

Rafan was promising himself, but deep down there was a part of him that still hoped that what he suffered was not true. That there is something that he was missing but he had shut that part off, and convinced himself to believe what he saw instead and the only thing he saw was her sins and crimes.

Rafan glanced outside through the large window as his eyes focused on a certain brunette walking away and his breathe hitched. His eyes expanded as he took the possibility of being close to her. He quickly stood up and proceeded to leave.

"Hey, where are you going?" He heard his friend, but he could not help but ignore it and run outside the double door of the cafe.

He walked on the narrow road as he glanced here and there, to catch the shadow, he saw a few seconds ago. He saw the same woman again. He ran after her as she moved ahead, out from the narrow street towards that cathedral that dominated the view of travelers.

The more he went close to her, the more his eyes blurred. He was not sure what he felt in that moment, but there was fear sticking to whatever he felt. The brunette stopped, making Rafan's speed to reduce along. He took slow steps as she took out a camera from her rusty colored messenger bag. Rafan was a foot away from her as she captured another picture, still facing away from him. Rafan gulped. His lips moved but not a word left.

"Jeena?" He finally managed to speak with a broken voice, and the woman turned around, confused.

Their eyes met, and at that moment, he knew the difference. Just like he loved the wrong person, he saw the wrong person. Rafan looked away clutching the chains around his neck.

"Posso aiutarla?" She asked as she took his appearance in, the bulky man whose hairs were pulled back in a man bun. He was clothed in a green denim jacket and black jeans with a white shirt had an expression of disappointment.

"Scusa, pensavo fossi qualcun altro." Rafan spoke with an apologetic smile. The woman smiled with a node and walked away. Rafan scrunched his eyes as his heartbeat was out of control.

He looked towards him, aimlessly. He was not admiring the beauty but had grief over his mind that still could not forget the memories of her.

It's funny how we think we can un-love someone as if it's a button that could be pressed to turn off how we feel, but in reality, we cannot. This is what it's like to love someone you should not be loving anymore. Even if you try to create distractions you do end up where you do not want to because memories and feelings are not something that can be changed by people, environment or aura. They are there to stay until we don't find a cure.

Rafan stood there, gritting his teeth as a tear slipped down his cheek on his pathetic being because he knew, even after all this time, he was still in love with her, but he cannot forgive her.

Chapter 2

Glossary:

Posso aiutarla? = Can I help you? (Italian)

Scusa, pensavo fossi qualcun altro = Sorry, I thought you were someone else.  (Italian)

As Salaam Alaikum

This is me officially coming back!

I am embarrassed to ask such a question with the way I have denied you all the pleasure of enjoying the little happiness you get from my page, but I will be a complete brute to my morals for a moment and ask away with little dignity;

did you all miss me?

I give you Florence!

That's for those who could not really visualize it

That big thing over there, ya the orange-ish, is the dome of Santa Maria di Fiore.

This thing right here is a genius architecture. 

Enough of me being a geek over things that fascinate me. How was the chapter? 

Once upon a time, he was happy;

Because he was in love with her, Jeena.

But now he is just someone who is broken and literally sees her in every other girl.

I hope you weren't confused between the past and present. So, how was the chapter? (that is if you have survived the gifs and pictures.)

Allah Hafiz!

P.S:

The next chapter will be posted on 28th of the June.