My Knight In Shining Kaftan (COMPLETE)

Chapter Twelve

"Two souls don't find eachother by simple accident."
-Unknown

____

When she reached the hall, the man, Malik's doppelganger or whatever her aching heart wanted her to believe, had already pulled the brooding girl gently to the dance floor with eyes as warm as freshly baked muffins, from a distance, one can see the love he truly had for her. But all the girl did was train her gaze on him, mentally calculating why she allowed herself to be there in the first place.

Salma on the other hand, felt a painful lump form in her throat as he continued to sing a romantic song, swaying her side to side. Maybe it was because Salma was staring so hard that he had to look away from his lover and glanced briefly at Salma's figure at the back of the hall, then snapped his head back to her direction again and his eyes widened a bit. Salma saw a hint of recognition in his eyes. The man, without any iota of doubt, was indeed Malik.

He cut his gaze and fixed them back on his soon to be wife, pretending as if Salma was no more than the caterer she was. Salma folded her arms against her chest and looked away too, wiping the tear that threatened to slip from the corner of her left eye and straightened her shoulders. She would survive the rest of the event, collect her paycheck and leave.

Sadiq came up to her side and guided her to the chair she was sitting on before that shocking revelation. Malik ended his song and the crowd around them cheered while some raised their phones to capture the hug he gave the brooding girl, she hugged him back but a smile never found a spot on her face.

"A-are you okay?" Sadiq asked, wanting to punch Malik's gut but he knew better than to ruin the one thing she had been carefully planning for the past week. Leaving that event hall with her paycheck in peace was very important to Salma, seeing how she didn't overreact to what was happening showed how big of a deal it was for her so he tried to comfort her. She slowly nodded but refused to meet his gaze.

"Are y-you sure?" He asked again just to be clear. "I'm fine Sadiq.." she tried to smile. "We'll begin to serve them by nine thirty...you know what to do, please. I'll be outside in my car, call me if you need me for anything" she pleaded with him and he saw her unshed tears. He watched her leave.

The elevator rode down to the first floor and she headed to the parking lot. The moment the cool breeze hit her painted face, she let out a frustrated sigh and tried to breath steadily. Inwardly begging herself to not cry, at least not tonight. When she was walking down to where her car was, she noticed a man leaning against it. Her eyes moved from his toes to his head, she struggled a frown unto her face.

"Excuse me, I want to get into my car please" She looked him dead in the eye, suddenly having intense hatred for any guy that has the same smug look Malik usually had when she first met him. He smirked and gave her a look before saying, "Alright" he moved away, but in the process of doing so she heard him murmur a word that sounded more like 'cheap'. She was shocked.

Her mouth chose not to collaborate with her brain so without as much as a warning, "Excuse me what did you say?" Slipped out. She only wanted to sit in her car peace but then this one, seeing the way he was looking down at her. "I said alright, the car is cheap anyway" he repeated without any remorse. "I can take you on a ride in mine if you want" he winked. Is that a rich-bastard-pickup-line?

She thought, and her mind drifted to when Adam took her to get plastic forks. Was he sincerely trying to help? Or he was just another rich bastard using that same pick up line. Her jaws dropped and his words cut deep in her heart, could that be the way Malik saw her too all that while?

The more she looked at the man, the more she noticed how disrespectful he was being to her and it even pained her more when she realized that was how Malik stares at her and she dumbly mistook that for love. "Come on, I know you want to" the bastard's voice lulled her out of her trance.