Chapter 10

“Well then, you can start checking the stocks starting today. You have experience in this before so you know what to do,” Chef Fuad said as he chased Muaz away and busied himself with his work.

Muaz went back to his station and continued with his work. Checking the stocks were usually done after dinnertime.

Once they had counted the stock, they would put in the order and get the head chef's approval. After getting the approval, they could send the order to the supplier.

In the morning, the one checking the stocks needed to come early to check in the incoming stocks. They needed to make sure of the quality and quantity of the ingredients.

Once in a while, the supplier would do dirty stuff like giving low-quality ingredients or the quantity was not enough. This would cause a lot of problems and thus, they needed to check it properly.

“You got Izzudin’s job?”

“Yeah,” Muaz replied.

“You should decline it. You already have a lot of work and now, he adds more,” his coworker said. “There are many others who have more free time but he didn’t give it to them.”

“It’s fine. I can handle it,” Muaz did not mind it.

“...” His coworker looked at him silently before he said, “You are too nice that people step on your head. You should fight a bit.”

“I don’t like conflict too much. If I can do it, I will do it. If I cannot, I will tell them. Also, I am just a low-level chef here, I don’t have much power to say no.”

“...Do what you see fit you,” his coworker shook his head. “Also, I guess you will leave your kids longer with your parents then.”

Muaz’s hand jolted. He forgot about the kids and he smiled bitterly. ‘I am sorry kids…’ he sighed. He took out his phone and messaged Marwan to take care of the kids a bit longer.

“Your kids' caretaker will hate you too if you always fetch them late,” his coworker added.

“Can you stop that…” Muaz was speechless.

“I am just stating the truth,” he replied nonchalantly and Muaz could not retort to that.

***

Marwan arrived at Maisarah’s workplace. Since he was not working there, he could not enter the factory’s vicinity. So, he parked in front of the main gate at the side of the guard’s room.

He took out his phone to message his sister but saw a message from his brother instead.

Marwan read the message and raised his eyebrow. He replied ‘OK’ and then typed in a message for Maisarah. He sent it and a reply came a few seconds later.

[Come to the parking lot]

[The guard did not let me in] Marwan replied.

Then, the phone inside the guard room rang. The guard answered the call and he stared at Marwan. “Is your sister working inside?” Marwan nodded.

“Go in,” the guard said and he added, “You should tell me that your sister is working inside.”

Marwan’s face blushed. He was too shy to say that, so he decided to wait there.

“Fill in your information here first and you can go in,” the guard opened a hard-cover not and handed it to Marwan.

Marwan filled in his information and rode his bike to the parking lot inside the factory. Once he was almost there, he saw Maisarah walk out of a door beside the building.

When he saw Maisarah, he was relieved. She looked fine. There was no physical injury he could see on her and her face was not pale like she was holding the pain.

Marwan stopped in front of her and he asked, “Where is your bike?”

“There,” Maisarah pointed at the spot. Marwan looked at it and saw the familiar motorcycle with the familiar registration number.

They went there and Marwan got off his bike and went to see Maisarah. There were scratches here and there and the headlight was broken.

As he checked the motorcycle, he asked, “Are your pain increasing?” He stopped checking the bike and stared at Maisarah.

“Well… it is more painful than before but it is bearable,” Maisarah replied sheepishly.

“Let’s go to the hospital now. As for your bike, I will bring it to a mechanic after this,” Marwan said.

“I need to tell my manager first. Wait a minute,” Maisarah said as she got inside the building again. Marwan continued checking the bike and once he had seen enough, he waited at his bike.

Fifteen minutes later, Maisarah came back.

“Have you performed your Zohor prayer yet?” Maisarah asked.

“Not yet,” Marwan replied.

“Let’s stop at the mosque nearby first before we get to the hospital,” she said and Marwan agreed.

The duo heads to a mosque nearby and performs their prayer. After that, they went to the hospital.

It took them almost an hour and a half to finish everything at the hospital. There were too many people there and they needed to wait a long time for their turn.

Still, Marwan’s job was waiting outside. All he did was wait as it was not right for him to follow his sister inside for the checkup.

Maisarah got out of the doctor’s room with smiles all around. “I am fine,” she said excitedly. Although she looked calm like she did not worry about anything, inside, she was worried if something major happened to her.

After all the checkups, the doctor confirmed that she was fine. No fracture, cracks, or something similar to her bones. She had no concussion but the doctor advised her to take enough rest. She only suffered some minor bruises and scratches.

Maisarah was relieved that everything was fine.

“Are you really okay?” Marwan asked for confirmation.

“I am! The pain comes from the bruising that I did not realize was there,” Maisarah smiled.

“Oh, that’s great,” Marwan nodded.

“Send me back to the factory,” Maisarah said.

“Hah? You want to get back to work?” Marwan was surprised.

“No. Let’s send my motorcycle to the mechanic now. Then, we will go home together.”

“Oh, okay.”