Chapter Text
Most days, it was terrifyingly easy to get lost in the feelings. Kalim was a naturally loving and affectionate person after all, especially towards the one he thought of as a childhood friend – and who had recently become so much more. While Jamil wasn’t exactly good at admitting his own feelings, Kalim was the exact opposite. For the longest time, this free affection was just one more of the countless things which made the other so annoying.
(A part of Jamil had resented the Asim heir for being able to express himself without a second thought while he had to repress so much.)
(Another, softer, part hated that this guilelessly loving nature meant that he could never hate his clueless master properly like he wanted to.)
It was different now though. Once Jamil finally allowed him in and they had gotten past the thorniest part of their relationship, that quality of his fast became something he appreciated. And it wasn’t like Jamil was the only one who’d grown as a person – Kalim had too. Strange how despite having been stuck with him since birth, Jamil still managed to discover so many entirely new sides to him. It was like Kalim had just been waiting to be given the chance to prove himself. (Which, actually, most likely was the case.) Things changed between them and Jamil didn’t quite know how to handle it.
A majority of these changes were positive; unusual, but positive. Not all of them though. Far from it.
Jamil stared at the annoying pest hanging off Kalim’s arm, a scowl settling on his face.
She was smiling and twittering, perfumed so obnoxiously that Jamil could smell the scent coming off her a mile away. She tipped her hair over her shoulder, exposing her neck. A necklace glittered in the light, flowers carved into the gold.
His scowl darkened.
(Yes, some of the changes to Jamil and Kalim’s relationship were far from positive ones.)
(For you see, Jamil had recently discovered a rather troublesome tendency in himself to get jealous easily.)
The girl was, thankfully, not approved of by either one of Kalim’s parents for a potential marriage match. That would have made things a tad bit more complicated.
No, she was simply a daughter of one of the Asims biggest business rivals. She had begun approaching Kalim at various social functions a couple of weeks ago- and since then had managed to make a right nuisance of herself to both Kalim and Jamil. The Asim heir, although a patient and friendly person by default, quickly became weary of her all too transparent efforts to seduce him. Especially given the kind of trouble they always led to with Jamil afterwards.
As for Jamil, well…
He soon found himself seething with rage every time the wretched girl was so much as brought up in conversation.
It wasn’t so much any one specific thing that got to him, it was more… everything. Not only was she exactly the kind of wealthy, spoiled little rich girl that Jamil despised, she absolutely refused to take a hint. Not to mention her complete lack of subtlety with her intentions. It would have been almost funny, if it didn’t piss him off so much.
(The condescending way she treated him after finding out that he was only a servant didn’t help either.)
After spending so much time resenting Kalim, this feeling, while not entirely new, was still bewildering. Jamil discovered that he detested even the thought of Kalim being intimately close with anyone other than him, let alone having feelings for them. He had gotten used to monopolising Kalim’s attention, used to the fact that he would be his first priority, always. That certainty being threatened just as he himself was finally coming to terms with it all was… infuriating, to say the least.
(How dare that girl intrude on something that was so clearly not hers?)
(Had all of Kalim’s polite but firm rebuffs simply gone over her head, or was she deliberately ignoring them in the mistaken belief that it would get her anywhere?)
(Did she seriously have such a high opinion of herself to think that she stood a chance?)
Little by little, Jamil found his patience whittled away, both by the numerous obvious attempts at seduction and Kalim’s failure to adequately deal with the situation. Irritatingly enough, the ideal solution was already off the table, made impossible by Jamil’s own insistence they keep their newfound relationship a secret. Though, considering the girl’s determination, perhaps even that would not have been enough to stop her. Kalim’s continuous refusals didn’t do anything to deter her after all.
Put simply, she was a pest and an annoyance and Jamil would’ve loved nothing more than to push her off the nearest convenient balcony.
The day that his sorely tested temper at last reached its breaking point was when the girl (whose name he hadn’t bothered to remember out of pure spite) invited herself over one time too many. Her father had been attempting to negotiate a business deal with Kalim’s father recently and she had taken full advantage of that to come over at every opportunity. Jamil tried to busy himself elsewhere whenever that happened, because sabotaging negotiations for the Asim family’s head by strangling a guest for getting a little too close to his boyfriend would probably be a bad idea.
Except that didn’t always work…
Jamil scanned the semi-crowded downstairs room, searching. It didn’t take too long to find who he was looking for- the two of them were very conspicuous.
‘I would love to see more of you, Kalim!’ the nuisance chirped, batting her lashes. ‘Wouldn’t you? Hey, why don’t you come to my party next week?’
Kalim laughed awkwardly, pulling away from her and stepping back.
‘Sorry, but I-’
Dark eyes narrowed.
There they are.
Not wanting to waste another second, he made his way over.
‘Kalim.’ Jamil cleared his throat pointedly, alerting the pair to his presence. ‘I need to talk to you for a second. Alone.’
The girl raised an eyebrow. She turned a pout to Kalim, fully expecting him to rebuke the servant’s request-
‘Oh, sure! About what?’ Kalim exclaimed. He had already bounded over to Jamil, his smile blinding.
Jamil’s gaze slid briefly to their shocked guest.
‘Something important.’ He said blandly, before pulling Kalim unceremoniously out of the room.