That afternoon, Dashtan arrived home first after returning from the office, as he was taking off his tie and looking at his watch he remembered Rakia. He clucked and ruffled his feathers in annoyance at himself for forgetting to pick her up. He took off his tie completely and threw it on the sofa in the living room after which he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt and unbuttoned his wrists and rolled up his sleeves to the elbows. When he turned around to go back outside he found Rakia had just entered and came over.

“Sorry for forgetting to pick up....” Dashtan stared at Rakia who just...