A Najma SS: Imperfection Is Beauty---ON HOLD - Page 9

Chapter 5: Woh... Actually and Winking For The Win!

If Aseem had to be completely honest, he was scared. He had seen a lot of men and women cry on television, in hospitals, in movies etcetera but none of them had ever made him bat an eyelid.

But watching Najma cry like it was the end of the world, his mind was going blank with fear. First things first, he called the secretary and told her to bring in a big box of tissues. Next, he offered her his own handkerchief till the box of tissues arrived. She took it without hesitation and wiped as many tears as she could with grace. Yes, there was a way in which tears are to be wiped and she had perfected it.

He wanted to go and pat her on the head but he resisted because that would probably just make her cry more.

After five minutes of copious weeping, Aseem finally asked her, "Ms. Khan, is something wrong? Did any student play a prank on you? Are you unhappy with this job?" There was just a hint of disappointment when he asked the last question but Najma failed to notice it.

Najma shook her head in answer to all his questions. She was still sniffling and Aseem realized that if he didn't calm her down, a new tributary of Ganges would be passing right through his office.

"Okay. Calm down. Tell me what happened. From the beginning" he said firmly.

Amidst sniffling, a few hiccups and a lot of 'I am so sorry', Najma narrated how her day had gone from bad to worse, all the while her eyes fixated on a point in her lap."Please don't fire me. I can do better than this" was all she could say her voice a little hoarse from crying.

"So you are crying so much because you thought I was going to fire you?" He was beyond amused but Najma failed to notice even that; she was so busy beating herself up mentally.

"I didn't think that you would fire me. I knew that you would fire me. After all, I am but a novice. You gave me one chance to prove myself and I failed----

"I am not done yet Ms. Khan" he cut her off." Workshop. You will attend training workshops every weekend. Since tomorrow is a Saturday, you may begin from tomorrow. I'll have the assistant mail you the details immediately."

"So you are not firing me?" Najma suddenly looked up, the relief in her voice hardly contained. 

Aseem saw how the expression on her face changed from gloomy to relief to a beautiful Close-up smile. It felt like all the lights in his office had become extra bright. No one would believe that the same girl had been crying buckets few minutes ago. She has very expressive eyes he noted.

"For getting cold feet on your first day? I have seen professors twice your age go blank in the middle of a lecture because a student interjected! It happens to the best of us. Just because you have never been through failure, you found it earth shattering. For me, its old news! You'll get over it. Now why don't you take the rest of the day off? It doesn't look like you'll be able to do much teaching today" he said, winking at her as she stared at him in utter surprise.

Wait...what? Did he just wink at me? Her heart skipped a beat and she couldn't stop that blush from creeping up her cheeks. Rising from her seat, she turned to leave but she turned to ask a final question."Sir, how did you...I mean...how did you know that I have never failed?" 

He had this soft look in his eyes that she didn't understand." Khuda Haafiz, Ms. Khan. And please don't go out smiling like I rewarded you for breaking a rule.  I have an impression to maintain around here!"

Najma couldn't help smile at his words. She still wanted an answer but it looked like she wasn't going to get an answer. Not today at least she thought."Allah Haafiz, sir."

"Don't forget about the workshop Ms. Khan" he repeated after her. 

Coming out of the cabin, she beamed at the receptionist but upon remembering his words sobered up immediately. By the time the receptionist could react, Najma was already gone, a skip in her step.

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Evening

Dining table

The conversation at dining table was nothing short of entertaining since the arrival of Zoya. That evening, unknown to Asad, Zoya had cooked food single-handedly, working for about three hours in the kitchen. Naturally, it was delicious.

"Ammi, the food is just amazing today" commented Asad, literally licking his fingers.

"That may be because Zoya has cooked it today. Usually, you don't even like this dish but I can see what cooking with love can do" said Dilshad, smiling fondly in Zoya's direction. Zoya grinned at Dilshad, sat straighter and said, "Thank you Phoopi."

Asad remarked, "No wonder the platform is messier today."

"Don't worry Mr. Khan, I will clean it up and you can check it later to satisfy your OCD. Is that fine by you?" she asked him, a mocking smile on her face.

He nodded, clearly accepting defeat.

Not being able to bear the silence, Zoya asked Najma, "Tamatar, how was your day today? Did you give any of your students a lecture on tameez and tehzeeb? Then everyone would have come to know you are Mr. Asad Ahmed Khan's sister" She burst into giggles at her own joke and was joined by Dilshad, as Asad tried to give her an irritated look but ended up giving a tiny smile which didn't go unnoticed by anyone.

Najma on the other hand, dropped her fork at the words 'first day'. She gulped and bent down to pick it up while thinking what she would exactly tell them. When she came back up, Dilshad asked her again,"Yeah, Najma. How was your day? You came back earlier than what you had mentioned."

"Woh...actually...Ammi..."began Najma only to be cut off by Zoya,"Allah Miyah! What's wrong with you Najma? When did you turn into Mr. Khan, beginning your sentence with 'Woh...actually'?"

"Ms. Farooqui."

"Mr. Khan."

"Stop it both of you! Let Najma say what she wants to" scolded Dilshad.

"It was...good. Since it was my first day, they cut me some slack" she said, playing with her food.

"Najma, don't play with your food" said Asad and she immediately stopped. Zoya just rolled her eyes and imitated Asad's facial expressions, making Najma giggle. When Asad looked up, Zoya sobered up.

"Ms. Farooqui, how old are you, mentally?" he asked.

"Mr. Khan where are your manners? Asking an unmarried woman, her mental or chronological age is highly inappropriate! A man like you, who is already let's say, 200 years old mentally would've known that!"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, you are excused. I have a lot of respect for senior citizens, you know. And you are like the VIP Senior citizen if there is something like that" retorted Zoya smartly.

Asad was about to say something to answer her back but Zoya declared, "I am done with my dinner. I never knew I could cook so well! Thank you all, for appreciating my culinary skills." She glanced at Asad specifically at the word 'all' which was not gone unnoticed by anyone.

"Also, today it's my turn to do the dishes. So just leave the vessels in the sink and I'll handle it" she said enthusiastically like washing dishes was the best thing in the world. But that's how she always for any work.

Soon, Dilshad and Najma were also done with their dinner. Both of them called it a night and went off to their rooms.

"Mr. Khan, how long are you going to take? I want to get done this with so I can sleep early tonight" Zoya said while washing the utensils. When she didn't get an answer, she turned around to find Asad standing right behind her with his plate in his hand staring at Zoya with an affectionate look in his eyes.

Najma came out to ask Zoya if she could borrow her laptop to check her mails when she saw the tap running in the sink. She was about to alert Zoya about it but she saw her brother and Zoya simply staring at each other, like it was just the two of them in this whole world. They look so perfect together especially when they are not fighting! She thought. She didn't like spying on their precious moment like this, but you don't see true love blossoming in your kitchen everyday! She hid from them so that they wouldn't notice her but she wouldn't miss anything out.

"Ms. Farooqui...woh... actually..."

Go bhaijaan! Go! Make me proud cheered Najma mentally.

"Yes, Mr. Khan?" urged Zoya eagerly.

"I wanted to tell you that..." he continued, taking a small pause between every word, sweat gathering on his forehead.

"Uh-huh?"

"That...that...the food was just delicious. I loved the food" he said finally and exhaled heavily.

Zoya's face looking like she was deciding between smashing his face between two plates to see if it vibrates or smack him on his head with a wooden spoon repeatedly till there were lumps that would tear through his scalp. Just like it was shown in cartoons.

Even Najma sighed. For a man who runs such a huge company, Bhaijaan can be really silly sometimes. Maybe social awkwardness towards the opposite sex ran in their family she thought, remembering her own conversations with Mr. Kabir.

She forced a smile and took his plate, "Thank you Mr. Khan. Anything else that you might want to tell me?" she asked hopefully.

"Anything else? Yeah. No. Yeah. Um... Goodnight. Sweet dreams" he said quickly and rushed to his room, his face downwards out of sheer embarrassment.

Zoya sighed audibly and returned to the dishes, realizing that thanks to Mr. Khan's Woh's and actually's, she had wasted so much water!

Najma thought it was finally safe for her to go down. She descended the staircase and asked her,"Zoya, can I borrow your laptop for some time? I need to check my mails."

"Yeah, sure go ahead Tamatar" she said absent-mindedly, returning to the dishes.

Najma muttered thanks and took Zoya's laptop upstairs in her room. Thanks to Zoya, they now had wi-fi connectivity in the entire house. She opened her inbox and sure enough there was mail from the college. She opened it and began reading about the workshop programs and activities but it seemed like it was never going to end! Just as she was about to reach the end, there was a knock and Zoya peeked in,"Hey, Tamatar may I get my lappy back? I need to watch an episode of the show that I follow. I can't sleep before I watch it" she said, feeling quite silly about it.

"Of course you can! It's your laptop. As it is, I am done with it" she lied, hoping there was nothing important towards the end. It was something about who will be her 'guide' and all but she was going to meet that person tomorrow so no big deal.

     Zoya took her laptop, bid Najma goodnight and left the room. Najma finally fell to sleep, thinking if she could get Asad and Zoya together. It would be totally like a fairytale love, she thought sleepily. Her thoughts shifted to a certain twinkling green eyes and she fell asleep in no time, a soft smile on her lips.