"Yeah I will get busy. Dont know if I will come online tonight or not."

"Achha." (Ohh)
It was 10pm, and he was still looking forward to talk on text before sleeping?

My my.

"Hmm. You know what happens with me? From morning till night, I don't keep a track about anything apart from work. Whom do I have to talk to? What will I talk about? Nothing. Just work, work, work, and work. That's why I even forget to text you sometimes because I get so engross in work. Your incoming texts reminds me of you then."

"Ohh. So this happens."
Well.
Murat ahmad is opening up again.
Gotta listen up.

"Yeah. And when I'm doing nothing, no work, nothing, just sitting idly, at that time I make plans about work. How about I do this? What results will I get? Pros and cons? etc. That's why even when I'm free, my brain is at work."

"Hmmm." I listened quietly to him.

"At night after wrapping up everything when I lay down to sleep, my brain starts calculating and planning stuff. And when something just clicks in, I immediately note it down to research about it next morning.."

"So you won't forget it." I completed his sentence. 

"Hmm. During night I keep a check on the messages too whenever I wake up from sleep. Because sometimes an important text pops up, and I urgently have to log in the laptop to complete that work, then go back to sleep."

"Ohh. Sounds exhausting."

"Yeah. I just don't get time to think about any other thing. And even if i do, I just don't want to."

"So you keep yourself busy."

"Yeah. Few days ago some guests came up at home and I urgently had to get the laptop which was in the room. So, I quietly went, did my work, switch it off and went out, paying no attention to whatever they were talking about."

"I see."

"Aisi zindagi hai meri," he concluded at last in low voice.
(That's how my life is.)

"Hmm from morning to night, work work," I mumbled back.

"Hmm."

A workaholic guy who likes to stay alone and avoid people at all costs. But is willing to freeze at terrace to talk to me?

Am I flattered?
Yes

Is it the first time?
Nope

"Even right now I'm thinking about it," he broke the silence which engulfed us a few seconds ago, and also my chain of thoughts.

"Ohh. By the way, you do web designing right?" I finally initiated my favourite topic I had always wanted to talk about with him.

Because I like coding.
And especially coders ;)

"Hmm."

"All that coding stuff."

"Hmmm."

"You must have tags learned by heart now."

"Hmm. You see, tags aren't that important. It's more like... Well, the ones who are real coders, they don't know much about tags and all you know?"

"Oh really? Because as far as I remember, I mean, during school days, I used to love computer classes and I made various small websites too. It was fun." I smiled remembering old days.

"Hmm."

"So various tags are given for different tasks. Like to add pictures, videos, or links." My hand pinpoints every word in air.

"Hmm yeah it functions like that."

"So that would be more detailed version. The work you do."

"Yeah. HTML is very basic."

"Hmm. HTML, body...."

"Yes. Then comes CSS, PHP, JAVA, JS, Python." His voice deepens with every word.

"Ohh. Java went over my head in high school."

"And when you combine them all, that's when it gets real crazy."

"Ohhh, gotcha!!"
And he does that 'crazy part'.

Thats so
...sexy

An official coder.
Wow
I couldn't help but feel impressed.
Not that I'm not.
But still.

"My interest increased for coding in class 11th, but disappeared soon enough when I met this thing called Java." I chuckled recalling those times. "I was like okay, enough! I can't do this anymore."

Love 020, a chinese drama.
This was one of the main reason for my love of coding.
Xiao Nai
Wei wei
Uff, those good times in 2017.

"Hmm. Yeah. I just love this stuff since childhood you know?" He muttered.

Childhood!
Arrghhh this is getting more sexier!

He started telling his client stories, ranging from national to international companies, how their demands sometimes surprises him, and all the negotiation then done.

"Today I got a call from US, and you know what that guy asked for?"

"What?"

"He was asking me about this work, which I had done and dusted 5 years back."

"Wowe. So who was he? Client?"

"Yeah. But what surprised me most was, he couldn't find a single person who could do this job for him, and that's why he was tensed about it."

"Hmm, maybe because the '5 years old thing' isn't in trend nowadays. Sounds like a lost diamond." I joked.

"Yeah."

"Then?"

"Then I provided him all the details he needed. Currently we are negotiating the deal - price, budget, deadline, and stuff."

"Oh, I see."

"Thanks to the Almighty, now I have started to get offers from huge companies too. Recently, ****** company hired me for work thrice in a row." It was visible through his voice how happy he was.

"Wow, that's great, Mashallah. I'm so happy for you." I smiled wholeheartedly. "At least it's much better than the last job you had."

"Nope, that was a different field."

"Yeah, but it was a tiring and a lot hectic job, as compared to this." 

"It's not about being hectic or getting tired. You know why I did that job?"

"Why?" Curiosity took over me.

"Two years back from now, I was confused."

"Confused as in?"

"Confused as in... because.... In the eyes of my family... this work from home... didn't have much value. It's not like I didn't used to earn from it. It was my side business. But the thing is, before... I didn't used to show anyone, that yeah I'm earning from it too." He started with his story.

"Ohhh."

"Yeah. So no one knew about it, nor did I share that 'yeah, I have an extra earning source,' or 'yep, I'm making use of my talent.' So everyone thought I was jobless, my relatives I mean."

"Relatives suck," I muttered. 

"They kept asking questions about my plan, giving advice that 'you are wasting your time,' etc. Then one day, one of my uncles, who's at a high rank in his company, provided a vacancy for me."

"Ohh."

"He said, 'I have set a post in my company for you. Now you must go for the sake of my reputation and do well.' This was the only reason I joined that company."

"Ohhhh. That's why."
Relatives get extra helpful sometimes.
Especially when we don't need them to.

"So I started working there, handled all the responsibilities, etc. Soon enough they got impressed by my work, but after a year or so, I decided to quit." 

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to convert my side business into the main business. Full-time work. My own business as a Digital Marketer."

"Ohhh, the one you are doing right now." 

"Yes. They weren't happy with my resignation though, and even gave me a proposal to promote me as a Manager, to stop me from quitting. But I had already made up my mind. It was the 1st day of Ramzan."

"Oh, I see." His explanation helped my brain in fitting all the remaining puzzles one by one.

"One the 3rd day, I got calls from 4 people. My manager, his superior, then his superior, then the main head. They were so hell-bent on me not leaving the work and were even willing to give me any title I want."

"Boy in demand." I couldn't help but joke.

He chuckled at my commentary. "But I politely declined them all. Its not like I can't do it or handle it. It's just that.... I dont want to." 

"Not interested?"

"It's an interesting field."

"Then?"

"But I wanted to focus on my own work na?"

"Oh yeah, right." I slapped my forehead.

"Then I told my parents that I left the job, and firmly said 'now don't question me what I am doing or not doing.' "

"Then?"

"Then I decided to upgrade myself a little. I bought a new laptop and step by step bought other necessities too: one gadget every month. Soon the clients increased, I got busy, and thanks to the almighty, I started earning well. So the parents were satisfied too, that yeah I did the right thing by leaving the job, and this work is indeed better."

"Alhamdulillah." (Thankgod)

"So no one pokes me anymore. If anyone asks about me, my mom replies, 'yeah he is busy in his own work'. "

"That's a good thing."

"15 days back, a friend of mine called me from the company I used to work."

"Again?" I chucked.

"Hmm. He said the company urgently needs a manager at one of their stores and are willing to give 20k bucks. So I gave it a thought, whether I should do it or not." 

"What would be your work as a manager?"

"Just supervising the store."

"Ohh. Not a bad deal?"

"That's what I thought. I said no at first, but when he requested some more, I gave a condition."

"A condition?"
Murat and his never ending conditions.

"Yeah. I said that I will bring my personal laptop too. If they have no problem with my laptop on their main desk beside their computer, I will join from tomorrow."

"And do your own work side by side?" I quickly did 2+2 of his condition.

"Yeah. I would have. But it didn't happen." He chuckled.

"Oh, they denied."
Ofcourse they would. I'm really slow witted. He deliberately gave them that condition.
Clever he is.

"Yeah, they said it's not possible to have two laptops on one counter. So I said fine, no problem. I mean, why should I leave my work in the first place for another person?"

"Yeah, right," I nodded.

"Hmmm, well I'm getting cold now so I'll get going," he mumbled.

"Oh, you are feeling cold." I tried to hide disappointment in my voice as I heard him leave.

"Can't tolerate it anymore."

"Aren't you wearing anything warm like a jacket or something?"

"Nope."

"Wow, how smart of you!" I rolled my eyes.

"Just a single shirt." He muttered.

"Why? Is the temperature too hot for you?" I asked sarcastically.

"There's plenty of heat in me though." I felt him smirk.

"I'm not talking about that heat." I sucked in for air.

"Yeah but I'm talking about that heat." His voice deepens, "Quite tempting, don't you think?"

"You're sucha flirt. Aren't you feeling cold now?! Go downstairs!" I ramble as my cheeks started to feel the heat.

He chuckles in his heavy voice and mutters with a shiver, "Yeah, Allah Hafiz."

"Allah Hafiz." I mumbled back.

11:06 PM
Time flashed on the screen as he cut the call.

Did almighty grant my wish when I asked to relive those 3 months again?
Because I certainly feel that vibe again. Just a little more intense than before.

And whynot?

You are gonna meet him in two days.

.
.
.

*****