The phone rang for a bit, Naira's patience running thin as a vicious cough ripped through her. She wrapped her blanket tighter around her shoulders, realizing her hoodie alone would not bring her the desperate warmth she craved. Rayan's picture blinked back at her, the call falling off. 

Fuming, she redialed, except this time it was through a video call. She secured a hijab the best that she could, knowing her eyes were sunken and nose was red as a reindeer. With flushed cheeks and skin paler than usual, Naira looked like she came from a horror movie, but she dud the best she could with pinning her hijab. 

Most of the time, her hijab was the only thing she put effort in from a variety of colors, patterns, and a set of different materials that ranged from cotton to silk. She had pride in her hijab, and she showed it to the rest of the world. 

Granted, Rayan ignoring her calls stomped on that pride. 

"Naira, sweetheart, do you need anything else?" asked her mother as she walked into her room, chaotic mass of black hair tied in a messy bun and a similar hoodie covering her physique. "I told your dad to make soup. Any preference?"

"Anything that rushes the term of a cold." 

Her mother rolled her eyes with a smile. "Now's not the time to be snarky," she chided before her vision narrowed on her phone. "I thought I told you to stay away from work."

"I can't. This is important," she replied, calling Rayan again. "He promised he'd keep me updated every hour. He's two minutes late."

Knowing there was no arguing with Naira when she was in work mode, her mother sighed, closing the door behind after mumbling a few duaas (small prayers) for her daughter's sanity. 

After the second ring, Rayan's annoyingly cheerful expression filling the empty space of her phone, his oceanic eyes imitating a morning dew, rejuvenating with laughter, with happiness that Naira's breath caught in her throat. 

She hated the feeling, hated the fact that his eyes alone could erase her anger, but she couldn't bring herself to hate him. How could she when he offered too lighten her load?

Naira scowled. "What happened to sending me hourly updates?"

His grin widened, a mischievous glint in his eyes like a gem staring back at her. "Well, I didn't know you'd be so eager to see me."

"You know that isn't true." 

"That's not what the missed calls say," he slyly remarked. Before Naira could open her mouth to a retort that'd put him in his place, he beat her to it. "Before you harass me with questions, yes. I did all you asked except the financial reports."

Her mind settled back into business mode. "Oh, right. I'll take care of that. How is the setup for tonight's event? Your fans are looking forward to it."

He shrugged on her screen. "Our fans love everything we do, no surprise there. Kyle and Wesley are practicing vocals now. You only wanted to hype up our new song with the event, right?"

Nodding, she reached for another tissue. Her sinuses stung with the discomfort that flooded through her, body rising in heat once more as if she were engulfed by the sun, drowning in its blazing rays, a sea of fire. She felt gross all day, and it seemed there was no way to speed her recovery. 

Being sick was too unproductive for her liking. 

Sensing her discomfort, Rayan's gaze softened, and she saw the background blur behind him as he walked to a different destination, possibly for privacy. Naira was too out of it to care. 

She coughed again. "When you introduce the song, make sure a livestream is running for the fans outside of the country."

"Have you been taking it easy like I told you to?" he asked, ignoring her previous words.

"That's none of your concern."

"Anything related to you is my concern."

Naira stumbled over his statement. The fierceness in his voice melted her protest, and her heart fluttered from the heated look in his eyes. A part of her wondered what he meant, if his flirting was serious, or if she was looking too deeply into things. 

You're his manager, of course he's worried. 

"If it makes you feel better, my family has taken most of my essentials away, so the financial report won't be done for a while."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "God forbid, people need to take away your technology for you to relax."

Naira's lips quirked into a smile.

"Would it be so hard for you to make our lives easy?" 

"Now, where's the fun in that?" she teased. 

Another cough ripped through her, just as vicious as the last, and it rocked her head with a pounding ache. She groaned, leaning against her headboard, eyes closed. Perhaps everyone was right. Stressing was doing no wonders to her body. If anything, it made it worse. 

She faintly heard Rayan's name being called on the other line. 

"That's my cue to leave," he sighed as if he was disappointed. "Oh, I forgot to tell you something."

Naira sniffled as she opened her eyes. "What is it now?" she nearly groaned, expecting another one of his oddball comments about taking a break.

"You look cute in a hoodie."

"What-"

He hung up, and her screensaver replaced her sight. The compliment barely registered in her mind.

But then it did.

He called her cute. A popstar called her cute.

Naira may have been a woman who treaded on a path of logic and fact, but there was no denying the accelerated thump of her heart as a smile touched her lips.

----

Y'all my TA really said, "draw all the mechanisms." Making my life hard for no reason T^T

Really hope he doesn't Google me and find this author's note though XD

Hope you didn't think I'd make Naira clueless forever.

What do you think that thump means? Is Naira about to crush on a popstar?

Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow!