"Isn't this too causal?" Ria examines Sahara's outfit.

"I'm not in the mood to wear a bright red shirt or anything." Sahara says in a soft tone.

Sahara chose to wear a baby blue ankle length maxi dress with a white hip-length coat paired with white small-heeled shoes and baby pink hijab.

"Okay, fine." Ria looks around in Sahara's suitcase and finds a cute baby pink Yves Saint Laurent shoulder purse. "Here, this matches your scarf."

One look at the purse brings flooding memories of Damian back into Sahara's mind. Her face changes from a blank expression to a sad one.

Ria then realizes this purse is too expensive to have been bought by Sahara... that means Damian must've gotten it for her, "I'm so sorry, is this purse not going to work? I could find you another one."

Sahara gives her most genuine smile, "No, it's okay. I can't let silly little things make me upset! Are you ready to go? Is Viktor coming to get us?"

"Actually... Imran is coming to get us. Viktor's going to meet us there." Ria has a guilty look on her face. Sahara doesn't want to get too close to Imran as she has enough of a burden to carry.

"Oh... well–"

Ria's phone rings, she looks at her screen and giggles, "He's here! Let's go!" Ria pushes Sahara out the door and locks the door behind her.

• • •

Imran runs his hands through his hair, he's extra nervous around Sahara. He doesn't have much experience with girls, especially girls as wonderful as Sahara.

"I heard you like listening to music... who do you listen to?" Imran asks.

Sahara's ears perk up, she loves talking about her music or tv/movie interests. She could talk about them for hours. "Um... I like listening to all different types of genres of music in different languages. Name a genre and I probably have at least one or two favourite artists from it."

She claps her hands together, "Ou, I like Oasis, The 1975, Kendrick Lamar... oh and The Weeknd and Drake, gotta rep my country's people." She becomes immensely aware of her Imran's glistening eyes on her, so fixated on what she's saying. She begins blushing, "I could really go on and on. I like listening to Hindi, Latin, Korean, Bangla, French, and so on... wow, that was a lot. I didn't give you a chance to speak."

Imran laughs, "No! Please, keep going! I'm really intrigued. You know you're really smart and sweet..." Sahara's raises a brow, questioning how he'd know in such a short time. Imran begins stuttering from being so blunt, "I mean, Ana told me about you. There needs to be more people at my company who are like you, your work ethic seems great from what Ana told me!"

"Thank you, I do my best." Sahara starts blushing.

"Maybe if I start telling people at my company the brain is an app they will start using it." Imran cracks a joke.

For the first time in almost a month, Sahara is genuinely laughing and it's not with Damian, it's with Imran. Is this is the fresh start she's been asking for? The new beginning? Then, why does it feel so wrong? Why does it feel like this is not the new beginning she needed?

She turns around to check on Viktor and Ria but they're nowhere to be seen.

"Have you seen–"

"Your friends? Don't worry, they texted and said they wanted to get us some Starbucks."

"Oh..." Sahara suddenly grew very aware of the fact that it was just her and Imran but for some reason, she feels safe around him, she feels laid back, she doesn't have to worry about him suddenly getting upset with her.

• • •

"Mr. Vasiliev? What are you doing here" Ria turns to Viktor, "What is he doing here? You brought him here to spy on her?" She face palms.

"Good to see you as well Ms. Fahim." Damian rolls his eyes.

"Good to see you my foot! I want you dead!" Ria huffs.

"Woah, woah, woah, I need you to calm down, love." Viktor blocks Damian from Ria's view.

"Love? Who the bloody hell are you calling love?" Ria stares down Viktor, who's walking backwards trying not to get smacked.

"Once you two are done with your couple fights, can we move onto see what Sahara and that little cunt are up to?" Damian starts walking towards the direction of Imran and Sahara.

However, Ria stops him before he became visible to the other two, "Hey! You can't just show up in front of their faces! It'll ruin the whole point of your spying missi–" Ria notices Damian isn't paying attention to her, "Hello? Mr. Vasiliev?" She waves her hand in front of his eyes but then notices he's staring at something in almost disbelief.

"What is he..." Before Ria could ask, Viktor spins her around and points at Sahara and Imran.

• • •

"What shows are your favourite?" Imran asks.

"Let's see... I love Supernatural, The Walking Dead, oh, and Game of Thrones is epic! I also watch Korean, Chinese, and Japanese dramas on the side because they're just so wonderful and finish quicker than American shows." She excitedly claps "Oh, I'm also watching This Is Us, Westworld, American Horror Story, Grey's Anatomy...Oh God, I'm babbling again..."

Imran slides his hand in his pockets shyly, "No, no, I love seeing you so excited when you talk about things you love. Your eyes have this almost sparkling glow to them when you're excited." Imran gives her an almost heart melting smile.

Sahara begins blushing, Oh my gosh, Sahara! Stop blushing all the time, you're always embarrassing yourself! Sahara gives him a beautiful smile, making his heart stop beating for a few seconds, "I'm glad you like my nonsense talk."

"Was it your idea to hang out while the sun is setting and it looks romantic outside?" Imran teases her.

Sahara looks at him with wide eyes and dramatically places a hand on her chest, "No, it can't be. I don't leave my house at all, let alone leave after sunset." Imran and Sahara laugh at Sahara's introvert joke.

Imran notices that Sahara's heel is about to get stuck in one of the cracks but since it's dark out, she didn't notice it beforehand. However, she trips seconds before he could warn her.

Sahara begins to fall back, but Imran manages to hold her before she hit the ground. He quickly places a hand on her lower back and places the other on her waist to hold her as Sahara locks her arms around his neck for balance.

Their faces are close enough to the point where their noses could brush against each other's. The light from the from the street signs reflecting on their faces, Imran leans in closer as Sahara is frozen in her spot, unable to move. This would have been a completely romantic scene... if only Sahara liked Imran.

She didn't like Imran. She isn't over Damian, her heart still hopes for him. Is it too much to ask for her heart to just move on? Is it too much to ask for him to come back to her...

This is wrong, it doesn't feel right at all. I can't expect to be over Damian by leading on Imran. Ya Allah, Sahara, stop this! This will be added to the, already-gigantic, book of your sins if you don't stop it now, Sahara! Sahara's conscious scolds herself as she squeezes her eyes shut from not being able to break it.

However, her innocent mind did not know that this is usually a sign to let the other person know it's okay for them to continue. Predictably, Imran took that as an indication for him to lean in even closer.

For some odd reason, Sahara felt a pang in her stomach. It is not from Imran being so close, it was as if Damian was close by... She opens her eyes and turns her to look, her heart sinks to her stomach, her blood runs cold, her breath caught in her throat. It's Damian.

She quickly straightens up and lets go of Imran, "Damian?" Imran, confused, turns to look in the same direction and see's him. Imran's expression is genuinely apologetic.

• • •

She walks towards him and stops right in front of him,"Damian? Damian, are you okay?" He wouldn't even look at her, her heart clenches. She desperately wants to reach out and touch his cheek but doesn't know how he'll react.

"How do we always end up like this?" Damian finally says.

"Like what?" Sahara asks.

"Like this."

- - -

A/N: I know this is shorter than most my chapters, but I kinda thought maybe you guys needed a quicker and shorter read, to keep the tension flowing. 😅

Let me know your thoughts about everything so far!!

♥️