A woman in a revealing outfit approached Alfiq as he worked at the monitor in front of him. Since Alfiq had taken a week off, he naturally had plenty of paperwork to deal with now.
His wedding leave was over. He had to return to the office as the company's director.
“Excuse me, Mr. Alfiq. This is the document you need to sign.” The scantily dressed woman held out a file in an exaggeratedly coy voice.
Alfiq only glanced at her before refocusing on his computer. Feli, Alfiq's secretary, could only huff in annoyance at her boss's complete indifference. Even so, Feli still refused to give up on winning Alfiq's attention.
“Have you had lunch? I brought a lot of food today.”
Alfiq let out a harsh breath at his secretary's chatter, which he considered completely unimportant. It was more than a little annoying.
Knock! Knock!
The office door was tapped softly. Alfiq narrowed his eyes toward it. Without waiting for her boss's permission, Feli promptly opened the door. A woman in a batik outfit stood there, her long hijab draping down to cover her chest.
She was the complete opposite of Feli, who was wearing a dress above the knee. Alfiq's eyes widened at the sight of the batik-clad woman, who looked overwhelmed carrying several tiered lunch carriers.
“What are you doing here?” Alfiq asked as he rose from his seat.
“Have you eaten?”
There it was again—“Sir?” Alfiq grew even more irritated. In truth, he was touched by the attention from the woman in batik, who was none other than Inaya, his wife. Then a mischievous idea occurred to him.
“Fel, you said you brought a lot of food. Where's mine?” Alfiq asked, deliberately trying to make Inaya jealous.
“Of course, sir. I'll get it for you, hehe.” Feli eagerly accepted the request.
Inaya gazed sadly at the tiered lunch carriers in her hands. She regretted bringing so much food. Alfiq, however, curled his lips into a smile when he saw how downcast his wife looked. It worked! he cheered inwardly.
“Don't you want to try my cooking?” Inaya offered, trying to smile despite the pain in her heart.
Alfiq shook his head.
“All right, then. Ina will be going home. Assalamu alaikum.”
Inaya hurried out of her husband's office, which made her chest ache. Was it painful? Of course it was.
Instead of apologizing, Alfiq was delighted that he had successfully teased his wife. He peeked through the curtains to make sure Inaya had left the office.
“Bahahaha...!” Alfiq's laughter rang out loudly.
“Mr. Alfiq, here's your lunch,” Feli said, bringing rice with a full spread of side dishes, just as her boss had requested.
“Just keep it for yourself. I'm still full.” Alfiq then returned to his seat.
Feli gaped at her boss's words. “But didn't you just say you hadn't eaten?”
“Who said that?”
Feli could only bow her head respectfully. She didn't dare argue with her boss and left.
Alfiq stretched the muscles in his back, which felt stiff after he had remained in his seat for nearly two hours. He walked down the office corridor in search of some fresh air. Alfiq rubbed his eyes, sharpening his vision to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Two security guards were enjoying some food. Just smelling it was enough to make the worms in Alfiq's stomach stage a protest for nourishment.
“Hey, Mas Alfiq, want some?” one of the guards invited him warmly.
Alfiq carefully examined the tiered lunch carrier in front of them. He had seen it before. It looked familiar.
“This is from Inaya, Sir. Your wife is a dream—beautiful and thoughtful, too.”