“Good morning, Kim,” Taleb greeted her with a warm smile. Kim returned his smile. He was much friendlier than Karim was and from the moment she arrived, went out of his way to make sure that she felt welcome, whereas Karim barely smiled at all.
“Hello, Taleb, how are you?” Kim asked.
“I am well, thank you,” he replied to her politely. Karim was never that polite. “How is the tutoring going?”
“Kim says that I am progressing really well.” Amare told him with a grin on his face. Taleb raised his eyebrows.
“Shall I trust your words, brother?”
Amare dropped his jaw as Kim laughed. “Yes, it is true. He is doing really well. He is picking up most things really quickly,” she said as Taleb smiled.
“Relax, Amare. I believe you.” Taleb told him. “The men in our family are very intelligent.”
“Are they now?” Kim folded her arms over her chest as she looked at the two brothers.
“Yes. We are,” Amare replied with a cheeky grin on his face.
“Two against one, this isn’t fair,” she mocked complained as the brothers both laughed.
“Okay, we will have mercy on you.” Taleb winked at her, which immediately reminded her of Karim. She would swear that she had seen him wink at her whilst he was working out. The thought of it made her stomach knot up wondering what he was thinking. “But, I can’t say the same for our brother,” he added.
“Thank you,” she said absently before she realised that he had said something else. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“How are you getting on with Karim?”
The timing of Taleb’s question caught her off guard as she wondered if he knew that she had been spying on his brother while he was working out in the mornings. She kept a straight face hoping that her thoughts wouldn’t give her away as she did not want Taleb teasing her about Karim the way Amare had done earlier.
“Fine, I guess. Considering that I can count on one hand the number of words he’s said to me since I got here.”
Nodding his head, “You will have to excuse him if he is unfriendly towards you. That is just the way he is,” Taleb told her. “Although, admittedly, he might be ignoring you more than he normally would, as he was told not to bother you. Our brother can be a bit…anti-American. He is much like father in that he is stuck in the old ways, but at least father recognizes the need to hire quality tutors when necessary.”
Kim nodded, “I understand. I’m relieved that it isn’t him that I have to tutor,” she joked. If she tutored him, she would never be able to concentrate. Granted, would he even accept her help? Taleb and Amare laughed.
“It is a good thing,” Amare replied with a wink as Kim frowned at him, hoping that she wouldn’t blush.
“Sometimes, our brother can be a dick. Just ignore him,” Taleb told her as Kim raised her eyebrows. She was not expecting Taleb to refer to Karim as a dick.
“Got it,” Kim replied, now worried about being caught watching him. Would he say anything to her?
“Anyway, I interrupted your session because I came to bid you both farewell.”
“Already?” Amare asked.
“Yes.”
“Where are you off to?” Kim asked.
“My term at Harvard is about to begin,” he replied smoothly.
Kim raised her eyebrows. Harvard! That was impressive. Maybe it was true that the men in their family were intelligent. Not only did they have looks, but they also had brains. It was not a common combination.
“That is amazing,” Kim told him.
“I did tell you about the intelligence that runs in my family,” he reminded her as he smiled broadly. Kim gasped. The level of self-conceit in that family was shocking. Taleb turned on his heel and walked out leaving Kim to wonder what would happen now that he wasn’t around to shield her from Karim.
Chapter Five
Later that night, Kim had just returned from a stroll post dinner. The food they served in the Sharqi household was absolutely delicious and she had difficulty putting her fork down when everything tasted so good, so she thought that a walk might help her settle her overfull stomach.
As she walked down the hall, she saw a door half open. She stopped right in front of it and looked inside. To her surprise, it was a home office -- Karim’s home office.
She spied him sitting at his desk shuffling through stacks of papers. Rubbing his head in apparent agitation, he stood up abruptly and began to pace. As he made a second circuit around the room, he happened to look up and made eye contact with Kim.
She gasped, as his gaze had caught her off guard. His cold dark stare sent shivers down her spine. He did not even smile or say anything to her. He stalked towards the door as Kim resisted the urge to back away in nervousness. She thought he was coming to say something to her, and instead, he kicked the door shut.