13

Hundred Million Stars from the Sky

"What? What is this? No Dating Contracting? What is that supposed to mean?" she was hell confused.

"It means whatever is written in it,"

"Strictly not allowed to date anyone without the superior's command," she fake laughed. "This is crazy,"

"Am doing everything, why can't I make sure I get a bit of sincerity through work," he asked her. "And it's not like it's fixed, this contract is valid only till probation, we will amend a new one later. A real one."

"But this is crazy,"

"That one is between us, and I would appreciate it if you don't share it with Lay,"

"So I will be the only one signing it if I am to? In this company? Whoa, seriously? Why?" and he shrugged. He took a cigar and lighted it.

"Can you not?" she asked him. And he threw the cigar away. "I will think about it and contact you back." She got up quickly drinking the water. And he stood there smiling as if he enjoyed everything. She gave him a fierce look and a tight smile that almost looked like not a smile at all. She kept the paper there itself not wishing to show Lay this and she walked out saying, "Ok then,"

He watched her walk out his arms folded and still smiling, "You will know why!" he said and got back to his work.

"Oh god how do I end up meeting only the weirdo kind that exits in the world," she stepped out of the elevator and walked to the parking lot. As she walked, she heard Lay's voice, it was clear enough to hear.

"Dad, how can you ask me to do that, she left when she wished and now she is negotiating to come back, you should be taking my side," he was saying. Destiny's heart sank. "I won't be back for a couple more days," he told his dad. "Yes dad I get, but I don't like what you just said. I don't wish to mix Brighty and business. If uncle has decided this surely it's not because she likes me then, what if she leaves after then? Can you guarantee me that?" His father seemed to have been telling him something but he was stopping him. "Dad, listen, just listen, give me time, just give me time, you always knew how much I like her," Destiny stood there frozen, 'not liked, but like," she thought. 'Not liked before,' interrupting he thoughts she heard his voice again, "Dad give me time, just give me sometime alright." He said and hung up. He got back into the car and waited as if nothing had happened. Destiny waited there for another five minutes to not let him know that she had heard everything and walked pretending to be all excited.

He was awfully silent for a few days and his phone was busy getting texts and calls. Business and personal. A couple of times in the name of going to the gym, he stayed out long, alone and would come back home late. Yuri felt really bad about something she had no clue of.

That night Destiny finished off her work soon and walked into her room making sure she locked the door. He was busy working with his laptop and a few printed out documents. For a moment she decided to not disturb him. Then she changed her mind and took away his laptop. And carefully changed the documents, then she sat on his lap, facing him, her hand around his neck.

"No more working," she said kissing him. And he nodded smiling and tickled her.

"Don't. no don't," she kept warning him and bit him.

"Oh no, no, no, you made a mistake," he teased her and ran his fingers inside her t-shirt. She laughed. 'I'm going to use you this time Lay, to feel better,' she said inside her head looking at his laughing face. 'I deserve to feel better, for tangling myself in your web, and this is the only way I find to do it so' she thought. She put out her wild side he had exposed her to. Soon he carried her to bed and began to make love with her and she reacted back with every nerve in her body.

"Why did we open the ending page of our novel in the beginning Lay?" she whispered to him as he kissed down her neck. But he did not answer her. His concentration was only on her and not her words. He slowly took off her clothes and explored every inch of her. She then knew she was nothing but a bait again. She felt the exact feeling in him, what she wanted to do, and they were doing that to each other. It became very emotional, there were tears whelming in her eyes that he didn't notice but kissed her. And she did it with everything. They were awake all night while the hundred million stars in the sky witnessed every single thing. All she ever wanted was not to become like this, to not become miserable when she fell in love. And it happened.

The next day, Lay woke Destiny passing her the phone. It was Benny.

"What?" she asked in sleep.

"Good morning," Benny wished. "It is the first thing you should say to people."

"Good morning, now what?"

"Destiny, your resignation is processed. You are free to leave. Your salary for this month will come directly to your bank so you need not worry. We will miss you, I will too," since the phone was on speaker, Lay heard everything.

"Mr. Benny there is nothing to miss, you just lost an ace in your company for your unethical work, hang up if there is nothing else to say," he said and hung up on him before Benny got to say anything. Probably nothing would have got into Destiny's head.

It was around 9 when Destiny woke up, Lay came with breakfast in bed, sandwich and coffee. She had them and stayed in bed, covered in sheets.

"I have to leave tonight," he informed her.

"There is something I gotta tell you before that," she told him.

"What is it?"

"Laters Baby," she said winking at him copying the dialogue of the famous Christian Grey. "I'm kidding. Let's go out later, I will tell you then,"

He still had hours before he left, and they decided to roam around until then. They got ready and drove to Mall of Qatar. A huge place that she still had many corners to explore. They walked around holding hands and soon got tired. They ordered for a bucket in KFC and waited for long. In her peach chiffon blouse and blue, she looked chic. She tied her hair up as they received their orders.

"Do you know how unhealthy this is?" she teased him.

"Please don't," he begged as he took the bite. He was always health conscious that he always had a lot of salads and fruits with his meals to balance the diet. She laughed at him, counting the time they were running out of.

"What is it that you wanted to tell me?" he asked again.

"Not now, later," and he sat there looking at her for a moment. His face was bright today, no confusions. She understood that he must have already decided. She could guess that from his face too. She guessed that on the night before itself. His body gave away the information.

Soon after they walked out of the mall, Destiny asked him to drive to the museum park they first met.

"Why there?" he asked her.

"I wanted to go with you when there was sunlight. In fact, I have never seen in the park in the day.

"What if we get late? I don't want to miss the flight," he said with his thick accent. To Destiny, he sounded pretty excited to get back.

They walked to the end of the park that faced the west bay. There was no one around since the sun is still high up. They settled on that tiny hill and looked at the city in the distance. She took her phone and texted Mohamed.

"There is no point avoiding anymore, let's talk about you and Brighty," she told him minutes later. She took an act of huge courage to open it herself.

"What about us? What about her?" he asked back. He was pretending that everything is fine.

Destiny chuckled. "I heard everything you talked about to you your father Lay. I really think we should talk about it. For the past few days, I have been dying inside pretending everything is fine, but I wanna know"

Lay took a deep breath. "Her name is Brittney, but I call her Brighty, she was always cool and smile bright. I met her in my freshmen year in college. And we happened to be of same major too. Everybody drooled over her except me. So we became friends, but then eventually I fell in love but did not tell for all the three years. A year later college during my post-graduation period I told her, it took a few months. Then she finally reciprocated my feelings. Of course, our families were friends so everybody was so happy for us. And a few months later that, soon after graduation Mohamed and I began to step on our dreams, you know about it all already. And the first time he called me out for the official purposes, I brought her here, and I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, but I should have known that I was forcing her into something she wasn't ready about." Destiny died a hundred times as she heard them all. "Then I proposed and she said yes, Mohamed threw us a party here. And we went back. Months after that, she gave me the ring back she confessed she can never see me as husband material," he told her word by word of what happened.

"Then why is she contacting you back?"

"Trust me, I have no idea, either it's the parents or she really wants me back." He said and looked far, he really did look like he had no clue. "My dad is saying her father wants into invest into business but in return, I should marry her, so I wonder if she is being forced to."

'But her messages sounded desperate,' Thought Destiny, smiling, looking at his face. He didn't say anything about them, him or her. Not even a word. 'Can't blame, he doesn't have an idea about anything, and how can he think of an add-on pack like me in the moment,' she told herself. Destiny soon walked towards the edge of the water again. The same spot she stood the other day. He walked behind her. They looked at each other. And she took a step closer to him and kissed. Her thoughts were too loud. She then let him go and took something from the bag.

"Destiny," he said gasping.