Halal Heartbeat

Chapter 3

Mazin

It was her. Manal Mahmoudi. But she didn't look like herself. Taller, thinner, and glowed up for sure. She still wore the Hijab, which hadn't changed.

Same old Manal.

I give a light smile which she doesn't return. Our boss looks from her to me. "You two know each other?" Subconsciously, I answer with, "Yes". We all stand quietly and tension fills the room. "Sorry, will you excuse me? Bathroom break." She plasters a smile and dashes out of the room, leaving our boss and me alone. "So, um, Boss-'' He cuts me off. "Please, call me Dr. Brandon." I clear my throat and continue. "Ok. So please, tell me a bit about this position."

After Dr. Brandon fills me in on what I'll be doing, Manal walks in with a weak smile and clears her throat. "Ok, I'm ready to take him in." She instructs me to follow her and we both step out of the room and into what looks like her office. I look around in astonishment.

This can't be the same Manal from high school.

"Ok, so this is my office, and we'll meet here every day that you have work. Though out your shift with me, you'll learn a lot of things such as how to assist a doctor, care for a patient, etcetera. Any questions?" She huffs impatiently. I shake my head. "Good," She says, clasping her hands together and leading me to the corner of her office. "This will be your little cubical office workspace, whatever you want to call it." I plop into the rolling chair and pretend to type on the keyboard and answer some calls. After talking about some more ground rules and routines, it's our lunch break. Turns out we have almost the same schedule. But I don't dare follow her, because I'm the last person she wants to see right now. Instead, I sit in my corner and contemplate my past life.

Why did I give her such a hard time?

A knock on the door startles me and I yell, "Come in, it's open!" A short woman in Hijab walks in with a puzzled expression. "Oh, you're that guy!" Her face eases and she gives a warm smile, extending her hand. "Hi, I'm Nurse Mia, Manal's best friend! I'm sure she's told you about me." Hesitantly, I take her hand and smile weakly. "Nice to meet you, I'm Nurse Mazin." She sits down in Manal's chair and continues ranting on and on about how she and Manal met, but all I could think about is how stupid I'd been. How selfish I'd been. How blind.

When we were kids, our families would always get together once a year for a community picnic during the summer. But as time passed, we grew apart. I remember I was ten and Manal was about nine and a half. I really liked her, serious about her for a while. So since my family had gotten there earlier, I scooped up some daisies and waited for her. When she finally arrived, she was with two other kids. "Hey, Mazin! This is Lubna and Laith," Then she leans into my ear. "I have a crush on Laith." And then she giggles. But I don't. Instead, I drop the flowers and give a weak smile. We were just innocent little kids but from that day on, I stopped going to the picnics and avoided her completely. Four years later, she popped into my life. We went to the same high school. I don't know what got into me, but every time I saw her, I remembered my fuming anger when she "rejected" me. So she was an easy target for me and my friends. For four whole years, we tormented and mocked her, and for what?

Manal

During dinner, we all talk about our day. Ahmed dropped Mama off at the local library for Bingo, and he stayed home all day to study for an upcoming exam. Baba met up with my uncles to go play some golf, and Amina was at work. "And you, Manal. How was your day, did you get that promotion you always ramble about?" Ahmed chuckles. I bite my tongue, remembering that I hadn't told them about that. "No, actually, something a little better happened," I lie. Immediately, his eyes perk up and I grasp everyone's attention. "I'm guiding a nurse through their shifts. Mazin, actually. I don't know if you remember, but when we were young, we'd get together for the summer picnic each year." Mama snaps her finger. "Yes, I was actually talking to his Mum a few days ago. She comes to bingo too." Baba adds on. "We should invite them to dinner next week." Everyone nods in agreement and Mama begin making food arrangements. I choke. "No, Mum, not great. There's no need, in fact. First of all, this family we haven't kept in contact with for years just miraculously pops into our life, and we treat them like saints. Second, you all know the bullying and torment I went through with Mazin. I thought we cut them off, remember?" "Astaghfarallah!" Baba begins. "Chere, we taught you better. Why do you talk about that family in such a manner? Yes, we've had our ups and downs, but you're working together now." Amina pipes in. "But that's past trauma, and I get Manal's point. But Baba's right too, it'd be impolite to shut them out. They're in our lives now." Mum gives my sister a hard stare. "Stay out of it," After there's an awkward silence, I excuse myself. "I've lost my appetite," Baba yells out, saying I'm being selfish and ungrateful. But I block him out. They all have no idea what I've gone through and bringing those past people and memories back won't do me any good. It'll just make it worse than it already is.

"Morning Brandon," I smile at my boss. "That's Dr. Brandon to you." I nod and give a sheepish giggle. "About Nurse Mazin, he's a temporary thing, right?" He laughs at me, shaking his head. "Nope. He's your problem now! Oh, and there he is. Better get to work, Miss Mahmoudi." Then he slips out of my office. A second later, Mazin walks in. I glare at him, then turn back to my papers. "You're supposed to knock." He frowns slightly. "God, ok," He sits in his cubicle and starts on his paperwork. "Could you be any meaner?" I look up from my desk and dart my eyes straight at him. "First of all, Mazin, meaner isn't a word. Second of all, yes, I could be if you pushed me to it." But then he smears a smirk and his response dazes me even more. "Looks like you picked up a thing or two from high school. How to talk back certainly isn't one of them." That hit straight like a knife. Wounded, I pound my fist on my desk, grab my paperwork and walk out. "Excuse me."

"What are you doing in here?" Mia asks as I brush past her into the lounge. She follows me in. "Manal, what's wrong? Did he upset you?" "He always upsets me, that's the thing, Mia! I can't do this anymore! I'm going to talk to Brandon today and tell him it's not working out." Plopping on the beanbag beside me, Mia takes me in her arms in comfort. "Look, I know this brings back so much trauma, but he already made it clear that nothing Is going to change. So just work on keeping up a good image and learn to work with him," She cups my face in her hands. "In life, you're going to be surrounded and work with people you might not like. But you've got to deal with it." I nod and thank her. "Oh, you're back," Mazin says as I walk into the office. I try not to glare, but walk over to his cubicle. As I'm hovering over his desk, I notice that he finished all the papers. "Wow, you're done with the paperwork already?" He nods. "Yeah, it wasn't much, honestly." I nod and take it along with mine. "Ok, we'll drop this off at Brandon's office and then I'll give you a quick tour of the hospital and nurse lounge." As we go on the tour, there's an icy awkward silence between us. Asides from introducing people and places briefly and answering the occasional question, the conversation is pretty much at a halt. Once we're at the lounge, I quickly check my phone and see a message from Mum:

"Manal, if you can ever bring yourself to, please let Mazin know that we're inviting him and his family over for dinner next Wednesday. If you can't, I understand Habibti (my love)."

I sigh deeply and walk to the kitchen, where Mazin is. "Coffee?" He asks, holding up his mug. I shake my head and smile briefly. "Mazin, my Mum is inviting you and your family for dinner next Wednesday." The words spill out faster than a fountain. Mazin takes a sip of his coffee then replies. "Sure, it'd be nice for our families to get together again."