I'd been on edge since Fajr.
When the email came in last night, I thought it was a mistake. A glitch in the scheduling system. An error someone in HR would correct by morning.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVZIWI9VPX
But then the revised weekly schedule hit my inbox a few minutes later. Every meeting with Imran—gone.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDfFQbQa0f
Replaced with joint sessions, team strategy reviews, and onboarding syncs... all with Lamija Begović.
I stared at my calendar for a full five minutes, just waiting for it to shift back.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKXakZ8cVe
It didn't.
I prayed Fajr at the masjid near my apartment, the one with peeling blue paint and a heater that hummed too loudly.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWtbb4iAmb
I needed the quiet. I needed the grounding.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXruXBxrRi5
I tried to focus during sujood, whispered du'a between breaths.
Ya Allah… protect me from my own ego. And let what I do speak louder than what I say.
On the drive to the office, I didn't play Qur'an like usual.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18kXXJTCHr
Just silence.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOAPQ1B7Xly
Sarajevo was still half-asleep, the city bathed in that cold, pre-sunlight stillness.
Zehira texted me just before I pulled into the lot:
Zehira: Good luck, ljubavi. You'll be brilliant.
It almost made me smile.
Even her mother knew what a difficult woman she'd raised.
I should've gone upstairs.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnall8jW7g
Should've taken the elevator straight to the top floor and stepped into whatever version of hell this week would be.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PXMdVQay2
But instead, I turned left.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlhfG4g4Ja
Down to the garage level.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJafJtKYhLK
To the drivers' lounge.
The room was empty, but warm.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomp5u8hVcL
It smelled like diesel and stale coffee and those cheap Bosnian cigarettes my father used to chain-smoke.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3kOSTykzHX
I closed the door gently behind me and leaned against it.
This place had barely changed.
Same cracked leather couches.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbO56HurbnK
Same humming vending machine.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pDcKnJF64
Same half-faded poster about snow chain protocols.
I walked over to the corner where the lockers used to be.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5c66A1Gj3
My father's would've been three from the end.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXt3Le4UMZW
He used to let me sit in his truck while he checked in with dispatch.
That's where I first saw her.
Lamija was fourteen.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLsnDnQSvv
Bright scarf knotted under her chin.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aTk57rUT0
Boots too clean for the garage.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVHzY3iOXN
She walked in with a box of new company merchandise to hand out to the drivers—hats, hoodies, branded mugs.
I was gone the moment I saw her.
She handed a jacket to my father.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8p2ikSMhbr
Then looked at me.
"You're Ibrahim's boy?" she asked.
I nodded, ears burning.
The cap she put on my head was comically big.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzCBJMUgLR
I could barely see past the brim.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡct7Ku9d5n0
She grinned anyway.
"Looks good on you."
My father chuckled as she walked away.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVt6J1pPI6u
"Little boss has good taste," he said, ruffling my hair.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRjfYRXbbk
"Careful, Ayub. That one's trouble."
I still have that cap.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmXAHBoSE6
Buried in a box in the back of my closet.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqtgGh7RYE
Never wore it again, but I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.
My father died a few months later.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wYZdtqv1x
Rain-slick road. A sharp turn just past Visoko.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWKbf5DOLi
They found the truck wrapped around a concrete barrier.
I still remember the knock on the door.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35emqlR3CO
The way my mother cried without sound.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFIke40qaX
The way she remarried four months later like my father was a chapter she could close and shelve.
Her new husband didn't want baggage.
I was the baggage.
She left me with my uncle—a man who only tolerated me because we shared a last name.
The house was cold, even with the heaters on.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuka8eZKsr
They moved around me like I was furniture.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNdTWJB2NV
Something temporary.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4VKDnTscx
Nothing worth keeping.
Zehira Begović started asking around.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69aVELJNqC
In the masjids.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmoklJ0kvG
At the community center.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVarDFNu7hj
Where is Ibrahim's son? Who has him?
She showed up at my uncle's door like a storm in a silk hijab.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpQzdn4b1t
I still remember the way she pushed past him without waiting for permission.
"Get your things, Ayub. You're coming with me."
And just like that, I did.
I was sixteen when I moved into the Begović house.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjt7xyG2esx
I stayed for two years.
Imran took me in like a brother.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡupr2JaVhOt
But what their parents gave me—that was something else entirely.
They gave me status.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtI4dnAu9s
Access.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWvpfhqgXK
An education I never dreamed of affording.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4x6mpNCvvZ
Tutors. Travel.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP2AJ7PUHZR
A desk in the corner of the estate library stocked with everything I needed.
They treated me like a son—not just with warmth, but with investment.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLXuH495Wg
The kind you pour into a future you believe in.
Even now, they're the closest thing I have to parents.
And Lamija...
Lamija was fire and gravity and sharpness in human form.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDmQ0x0emh
I learned quickly to keep my distance.To observe. To stay just close enough to protect, and just far enough to never be a threat.
When I worked for Imran, I watched her first.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZH8rPRAfw
When I cleaned up messes for their father, I cleared hers first—before she ever knew they were coming.
She never asked for protection.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4kSeJOLBB
She wouldn’t have accepted it if I offered.
So I didn’t offer.
The only thing I’ve ever protected more ruthlessly than this family’s secrets… is her name.
I stayed close enough to see every angle.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhkIzVEPVk
Far enough to never be in the way.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YpPMxLsJx
Always just outside the light.
She didn’t see me.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXsH54FKap
Not really.
But I’ve moved for her since the day I learned how.
I sat down on the old couch near the window.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKTwxSiCH4
Closed my eyes.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKURroFU7WL
Spoke softly into the space like I used to do when I was a boy sitting in the truck.
"Babo... they want me to work under her now. I’ve asked Allah for distance more times than I can count. And He just moved me to her door."
I huffed a bitter breath, let my head fall back against the couch.
“The one woman I’ve spent half my life trying not to want. You should see her now. She’s sharp enough to make men flinch. And God help me, I’ve never wanted anything more."
I smiled, no humor in it.
“This is going to end badly, Babo.”
The silence pressed against my chest.
"I miss you."
I sat there a little longer, until my throat stopped burning.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnODRYFLKrw
Then I pulled my shoulders back and headed for the elevator.
The executive floor was mostly dark when I arrived.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqynizRIyTF
No chatter. No phones ringing.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU3beZDuGVc
Just the soft hum of the lights and the faint click of my own shoes.
Everyone knew Imran started early.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡps96KObL5B
Too early.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZcrHhArqF
He was probably already in his office, sipping bitter coffee and reviewing shipping reports.
I wasn't ready to face him yet.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTl2b41VDva
Not until I figured out how to say it without sounding like a coward.
My new desk was in the operations wing—closer to Lamija's glass-encased office.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjUVnLQPAw
Front row seats to the storm.
I dropped my bag onto the desk and pulled out my tablet.
The welcome packet was already open—color-coded folders, division performance graphs, open contracts.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthJMxJqRw9
She was nothing if not thorough.
There was a note at the bottom of one file:
Review before the 10am sync. Come prepared. –L.B.
Short. Sharp. Efficient.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uXrIeEQTM
Pure Lamija.
I opened the file.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU1RYU72hWD
Every line was tight. No fluff. Just results. She didn’t ask for effort—she expected it. That’s what made her dangerous
I’ve stood behind her for years. Protected her name without ever needing her to say mine.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhctOx82iBA
Now they’ve moved me to her side.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLv6NkEMzq
And I’ll keep holding the line—even if she never knows it was me.
I stared at the screen until the lines blurred.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRA1ZDz579
Then I stood. Slowly. Quietly.
And turned down the hall toward Imran's office.
I didn't knock.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf95OaUDnS4
Not yet.
I just stood outside the door—105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wpOLcbYQb
trying to figure out how to ask the one question I already knew he wouldn't want to answer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
So. We met Ayub.
He prays. He calculates. He trauma-bonds with diesel fumes and controls entire crises with three words and zero expression.
Very on brand for someone who’s just been reassigned to work under the one woman he’s spent half his life protecting—and trying not to want.
Is he emotionally prepared for this transition?105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjgRfFATxg
No. But he won’t show it.
Did he try to spiritually process it before opening an Excel sheet?105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6QB3ZOslK
Absolutely
He’s been quiet for years.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTVljfHNx4
Now he has a front row seat to the storm.
Pray for him. Or don’t.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAubXXtjqs
He’s already decided he’ll burn for her anyway.
Better yet—leave a comment telling me who you think is going to break first.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScbhrH5O47
(It's fine. I already know. I just want to see where your loyalties lie.)105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhULmBlcq8K
105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eOZ2X85CD
-Ash&Olive105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznvtTOZzjW
and then Add to home screen.