She heard Haran’s voice calling her, but couldn’t see him. She realized with a jolt of both fear and satisfaction, that she had made it. She’d driven to work despite her condition. The next instant the sensory overload hit her. The noise was overwhelming, as were the smells, and her vision seemed to be impaired because everything seemed brighter, sharper, more detailed – more alive. She could see shimmering shadows and vague auras glimmering around everything. She was staggered to realize that the table she sat in came to her neck, and the burger which she could just a moment ago enjoy, now towered in her throat as a nearly insurmountable obstacle. The perspective of everyday things was suddenly completely skewed and had her staggering. She leaned over getting ready to vomit from the flood of sensory input, when she felt a hand on her back.
“Hey, are you ok Yasmine? I think you need to go home, you look tired!”
Haran seemed giddy with concern; a state Yasmine had never imagined him capable of, while she was still woozy. She looked up at him in order to express her misery, but before she could utter a word their eyes met and she was struck dumb. The perspective was completely different. Whereas before he had been a fiery co worker and Yasmine had seen no gender about him, now he stood taller than her and she could feel the male energy pouring off him. His eyes were a deep and glittering brown iris, his warm dark black hair curled in waves just below the nape of his neck and tucked behind his ears, a wisp dangling over his forehead. His nose and mouth were strong and firm, and the rest of him was slim, lean and muscled in ways she hadn’t seen before. How could she have missed all that? She felt like she’d been struck by lightning. The power of it literally put her to the ground, landing her on her butt with an “oof,” unable to clearly identify this feeling.
She could see he was just as shocked. His brows shot up and his jaw fell open, and he staggered back to lean against the water cooler as if Yasmine was a ghastly plague he needed to escape before he was contaminated. It was at that moment that Tina showed up.
“Hey Haran, how’s the floating around going? Oh, Yasmine! Are you ok!?"
Haran didn’t say a word but took off and disappeared without looking back. Yasmine didn’t think she would ever understand him.
“What was that all about?” Tina asked as she watched him leave.
“I have no idea. One minute I thought I was going to puke and he was standing right next to me, the next minute I looked up at him and he practically ran away like I was the devil himself.”
“Really? That’s not like him. I mean, sure, he can be moody, but he doesn’t panic easily. You just looked at him and he freaked out?”
“Well, I can’t speak for him, but when I looked at him it was like someone hit me with a brick. But my senses are all crazy right now. This whole menstruation thing is a real overload for the senses.”
"So when you looked at each other, it was powerful? It was shocking?”
"Yeah, you could say that.”
“But you don’t feel that looking at me, right?”
“No. But I think I’m starting to adjust.”
“Hmmm. Interesting.” She had an amazed grin on her face.
“What?”
“Nothing. Nevermind. I’m sure it was just the shock to your system from the lack of zinc in your body.” Tina giggled.
“Anyway I think I need to call for your mother to take you home, you should probably get some rest, what is your mother’s cell?”
“What?” Angel looked down and realized she was standing in her puddle of puke. She could feel her blood rush to her head and she imagined her legs floating. No wonder Haran had seemed so concerned. Tina took her hand and helped her sit on the chair while she made the call.
“Lie down and take some rest. I’ll find you a ride home.”
***************
Haran had to get away, he needed to breathe. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. He’d been comfortable with Yasmine before, but, today, when she’d looked him in the eyes, he’d gone weak in the knees. Her eyes were the color of sage shot lightly with molten copper. Her hair was black as coal, sexy long and unruly. He could imagine jamming his fingers into it while kissing her. He remembered all the conversations and times spent together at work with her before. It made him feel a sudden urge to hold her close and protect her from the vague unknown. And from Jafar, they were never meant to be together. He also remembered how naked he’d been without her all these while.
“Oh, Mother,” he groaned trying to wipe her image from his mind without much success. He was flying just to fly. He didn’t know where he was going; he just needed to get as far away from her as possible. But no matter how much distance he put between them, he could still feel her. He’d felt the jolt. Felt the shock and felt the way Fate had branded her as his. He had no doubt that it was some huge cosmic joke at his expense, but there it was just the same. He could no more deny it than he could stop breathing. Even now he could feel the connection, as much or more as before. And from the look on her face he could tell she’d felt it too. Little did he know this was just the beginning..
