First Step Taken Successful`

"Do you think we can do this every day?" Nazreen asked Hidayah while she munched on the chicken sandwich. Hidayah chewed the food slowly while she nods her head, without lifting her head.

"So… What's your plan for today?" He probed again.

After swallowing the food in her mouth, Hidayah looked up and smiled. The uplifted lips and plum pinky mouth attracted Nazreen's attention. Every time Hidayah smiles at him, it seems his heart will skip a beat. Every laughter she makes stalls everything surrounding him. As if her laughter triggers the world to slow time.

"Erm, I have a meeting in the morning… after that, I wanna do some light workout… You don't need to follow me in the afternoon." Hidayah didn't know if she can trust Nazreen with the Black Eagle's base.

"Are you going to the base?" He asked again.

"You know?" Hidayah questioned curiously.

"Yeah, it's cool… And the growth is amazing!" He exalted Hidayah's effort on her accomplishment. Hearing someone complimenting her work, she felt warm in her stomach.

"I wouldn't be able to achieve them without Daniel and Leoniel's help. They are more involved with the development and enlistment." Hidayah replied. Nazreen nodded his head with understanding.

"Hmm… What made you decide on building your own force? Doesn't the family already have one? In fact, the family's forces are meritable." He asked the question he had been wanting to know for quite some time. His men were unable to get the information to date. Even Hidayat was not knowledgeable about the reason for Hidayah's discernment.

"Tell you next time…" Hidayah replied in a cheeky manner. She smiled smugly, holding her cup of coffee with her hands close to her chin. She softly blew on the surface of the coffee to cool it down before taking a sip.

A wide grin appeared on Nazreen's handsome face. He collected his gaze on her shy timid body that was contradicting her pompous expression.

After finishing the morning snack, both Hidayah and Nazreen decided to take a walk in the Oriental garden. Even at a young age, Hidayah prefers the Oriental garden over the English garden due to the bamboo forest. There are days where Hidayah would be doing her martial art practice in the bamboo forest.

The walk through the garden was filled with silence. However, there was no sense of awkwardness between the two. Nazreen did try to start a conversation but when Hidayah did not respond, he thought she just needed some quiet time. Hence, he decided to shadow his wife and take in the scenery surrounding him.

When they arrived at the bamboo forest, Hidayah paused her steps and took in a deep breathe while stretching her hands up in the air. Pure bliss could be seen on her face as a wide thin grin was plastered with a warm touch making Nazreen's eyes fixated on the woman.

He then slid his left hand into his trouser's front pocket and took out a small blue velvet box. The ring was one of the family heirlooms that was divided equally among the 4 sons to be given to their wives. The ring in his possession was once his great-grandmother's. He was contemplating if he should present it to her now or later…

Deep in his thoughts, he didn't realise that Hidayah had left him behind in the bamboo forest 😅

***************

A week passed and Nazreen had adapted well with the Loh family. He also had been driving Hidayah to and from work and other places. However, Hidayah's attitude towards him was still cold. Though, there were moments where she engaged in a conversation… But Nazreen had to initiate the dialogue...

Indeed, there were improvements… She no longer avoided him and they had made a routine of doing their daily prayers together. For now, Nazreen will take whatever was given to him. He also was moved to the guest room on the 5th level, much to his surprise, by Hidayah. Her justification was 'so that it would be easier for both of us during prayer times'.

He also had the providence to take a tour of the underground base of Black Eagle and the private property that belongs to Hidayat. The very same property that houses the Siddique Orphanage Hidayat erected or rather asked to build on his 18th birthday.

Named after their maternal grandfather, the orphanage now houses a total of about a thousand kids from infancy to teenagers. The orphanage also provides educational bursaries for all the kids. They also gave each kid a chance to train their body with martial arts and other skills like archery, shooting, computer skills and linguistic lessons for those interested.

According to his brother-in-law, if there are any potential candidates found in the orphanage, he will enlist them into Black Eagle for further training. Of course, this will be discussed further in the future.