"Are you sure its not poisoned?"
Mawra glared at her brother as he made faces at the plate which she has placed in front of him, "eat." she said firmly, waiting eagerly for him to taste her food and give some honest review before anyone else woke up and tasted it. She is not a great cook, but is on the way to become at least an edible one.
"What is this by the way?" Ahil gulped nervously as he eyed the food once again. Mawra's frown deepened at that, "I don't know, okay. Just eat. It's my own creation."
"Please Mawra. Anything but this." the poor boy groaned in annoyance. Mawra frowned at him and took a spoon of whatever she cooked and forcibly made him to eat. Ahil chewed it with great difficulty and gulped a glass of water almost immediately and now it was his turn to glare at his elder sister.
"You should be banned from entering that kitchen. What the hell was that?"
"Was it that bad?" a sheepish smile played on her lips as she poured him another glass of water, he snatched it with a huff, "bad is not the word I'd like to use here."
Mawra's face fell at that. She wanted to master the art of cooking so badly, but guess its not her cup of tea. Ahil's face softened at that sight, "chill Mawra. Its alright, not everyone can cook. You're doing pretty amazing job at your office. Your future husband should see that, not your cooking skills. We are living in twenty first century."
"I'm pretty sure when you'll be married ammi will search for a bride who knows how to cook well. These things just don't change you know." she sighed exasperatedly, while taking away the plate and threw it in the bin. Her mother is going to kill her for wasting so much food. But it is what it is.
"Lets see about that, but don't ever enter kitchen, please. People are going to talk no matter what. Don't let them get to you." Ahil patted her back with a grin, as though he was her elder brother and she the younger sister, she just shook her head with annoyance.
"You wouldn't know this feeling until you get rejected by some random auntie just because you couldn't cook." Mawra muttered to herself as she cleared the mess in kitchen and walked into her room to have a bath.
After taking a quick glance at herself in the mirror, she wore her wrist watch and a sheepish smile formed on her lips as she eyed what time it was and eagerly waited for the screaming to begin
After taking a quick glance at herself in the mirror, she wore her wrist watch and a sheepish smile formed on her lips as she eyed what time it was and eagerly waited for the screaming to begin. As though on cue, her mother began to yell.
"Who wasted this much food? Mawra! Mahira? Ahil?" Rashidha Hussain's loud screech was heard from the living room and Mawra knew she was gone.
"I did not ammi." Mahira, her younger sister yelled from the opposite room and Ahil, who knew everything remained silent. With a nervous smile, she walked down stairs with all her stuffs and met with her mother's fuming eyes.
"I asked you not to try anything stupid, look at the waste you've created."
"Ammi, I'm sorry okay. But how can I learn without trying?" Mawra kissed her mother's cheeks, who calmed down a little bit. Her trick somehow worked, thankfully. Otherwise her mother would have gone on and on about wasting food and its cons.
"But wasting so much food is not good beta. Allah doesn't likes it." Rashidha shook her head and walked back into the kitchen to prepare lunch and breakfast for her family.
Her father, Akram Hussain chuckled at that scene as he read the newspaper in the living room, she pouted at him.
"I'm leaving, ammi, abbu. I have an important meeting to attend, I don't want to be late. Allah Hafiz." Mawra muttered with annoyance and was about to leave, "but what about the breakfast and lunch?" her concerned mother asked from the kitchen.
She was too upset with herself to eat any food. So, skipping is what she opted at that moment.
"I'll eat in the canteen, its fine. Allah Hafiz." not waiting for any reply, she left the house and smiled politely at the driver, who was assigned to her from the company.
One of the biggest pros of working in the Qureshi enterprises is that they provide her with car, that picked her up from home and dropped her back safely. It was one of her favourite facilities that the company provides. It wasn't like her family didn't have a car. They did, it was her father's and only he uses it mostly.
The Hussain's wouldn't call themselves poor nor were they rich. But they just make the both ends meet every other month sufficiently, and Mawra was grateful for the transportation her office provides. Otherwise she'd have to use the public transport.
"Good morning, Ma'am." The driver greeted her with a smile as she sat in the backseat, "good morning to you too, Rakesh bhai." She replied with a smile of her own.
Mawra made sure that her boss's schedule for the day is well prepared lest he yells at her for not being ready in advance. Throughout the ride, she analysed what will happen today and listened to some random songs.
"We are here, Ma'am." the drivers voice snapped her out of daze, nodding at him Mawra got off the car and hurriedly entered the elevator. She hated being late, it was like an OCD. She liked to be punctual, every single day.
Tapping her foot impatiently, she waited for the twelvth floor to come and the first thing she did as soon as she stepped out was to prepare the usual black coffee for Mr. Qureshi, just how he liked it.
After working under him for over two years, she has mastered the art of preparing the perfect black coffee, just like he preferred. She can give that much credits for herself.
"Good morning, Mawra." her colleague, Aliyah's voice was heard from behind, "hey, morning." she smiled at her chirpily.
"You make the best coffee." Aliyah smelled the aroma with a dreamy look, making her to chuckle.
"I'll be right back, looks like Mr. Qureshi is here." Mawra mumbled as she eyed the familiar tall figure, clad in a black three piece, looking dashing as ever enter his office.
"Well then. I better get back to work." Aliyah mumbled to herself while walking back to her cubicle.
With an inward sigh, Mawra walked towards his office hoping that he wasn't in a bad mood. The only thing she hated about him is that he takes out his anger on the staffs in the most cruel way. She has been the victim of it, so many times.
With a knock at his door, she entered the lavish office and walked towards the table.
"Good morning, sir." placing his coffee on the table, Mawra greeted him politely. He nodded his head at that while going through something in his phone, with his usual frown on the face.
"Do I have any meetings today?" Ibrahim Qureshi's voice was deep and husky. Intimidated her for nearly months when she first joined.
"We have one at twelve p.m. Later on your schedule is mostly free today, sir."
"Okay, then. You can leave after that. I have some personal work to do." he grimaced at the word personal, but Mawra's face lit up at that. She was never given a day off in her two years of working in this company. Working as his assistant is an hectic job and the guy worked like his world depended on it, making her to work along as well. He was such a workaholic that it drove her nuts and she was glad to have this sudden break.
"You can go now." he dismissed her with another scowl. Mawra was used to such faces, so she didn't seem to be affected anyway for all she could think was her break after the noon.
Like wise, the whole morning passed by with mostly no work; surprisingly for Mawra. After being used to work endlessly almost every other day, this day felt so different. And the meeting too lasted only for thirty minutes, so unusual for her. It was just a name sake one. Everyone in the office seem to notice this weird behavior by their boss as well.
Something was definitely wrong, but she couldn't care less. It was his personal matter. Which was another eye opener for her, as she always used to assume that he never had a life outside office and his behavior today proved just the opposite.
"What are you guys laughing about?" by the time she came out, it was the lunch break and her colleagues have formed a circle at Rhea's cubicle and were all laughing at some joke.
"You came just on time, our Rhea here is getting married." Aliyah announced excitedly making Rhea to blush, who nodded her head shyly.
"Ohmigod, congrats. When?" Mawra beamed at her in excitement and happiness.
"Next month."
"But what's there to laugh?" it was one genuine doubt.
"The conversation went from congratulations to who will be the next one to our boss." one of the guy chuckled. Mawra raised her brows at that, "what about him?"
"We were all wondering how will he be as a husband? I mean the guy spends his whole life inside that stupid office. We feel sad for his future wife you know." another laughter erupted from within before she could react, everyone's faces changed colours and they all went blank. And then there was a pin drop silence.
Confusedly, Mawra turned behind and to say she was shocked would be a joke.
"You all are fired." she didn't expect anything less from him.
Turning towards her, "and you, Ms. Hussain... I told you to go home, what the hell are you doing here?" Ibrahim yelled, making her flinch in fear. Without wasting another minute, she ran away from there and grabbed her stuff from her cabin, which was opposite his office.
I definitely feel sad for his future wife. Mawra thought with a frown as she entered the elevator and pressed on the ground floor button, whilst tapping her foot impatiently.
