A Piece Of His Heart

Twenty-nine

Waleed

"Will you please relax?" She spoke gently, gripping my hand in hers as I brushed my hair with the other, then fixed my tie in place for the fiftieth time, and adjusted my sleeves.

"I have all reasons to be... anxious right now. Let me be."

"Yes, you do. But your hand is literally trembling, Waleed." I checked, and yes it was shaking. "Everything will be okay. There is no way your hard work will go in vain." I nodded mindlessly at her words, too interested in trying to understand why my waistcoat looked a little off. Or was it just me?

Today marked the release of Pakistan's first smartphone designed particularly for visually impaired people.

And I was close to passing out from the nerves.

Yes, my company was already successful. Yes, I'd done this- product releases- a thousand times before, but I was in the same condition each time.

Eliza squeezed my shoulder and I patted her hand, passing her a wobbly smile through the mirror. She grinned in return, leaned up, and placed a kiss on my jaw. This woman. I was so, so grateful to have her. "Wait here, I'll be right back." I let her go and watched as she raced out of the room and returned a few minutes later with a bowl and spoon in her hands. I looked at her quizzically and then scowled when I realized what she was trying to feed me.

"You can't be serious." I'd just gotten away from Mama and her habit of shoving a spoonful of yogurt mixed with sugar down my throat on every occasion.

"Well, Aunty called me and strictly told me so I am serious. Now open up." She rubbed the spoon against my mouth until I had no choice but to open up and swallow it down. "For the record, I don't believe in it. I just didn't want to let down Shazia Aunty. And stop fussing over it, just hold your head up high and walk into your office like the boss you are, okay? May Allah grant you a lot of success, Ameen."

I muttered 'Ameen' under my breath too and engulfed her in a hug that soothed my nerves slightly. I was worrying over nothing, I told myself. The worst that could happen was that the sales would be low, which I sincerely doubted because it was an enhanced version of a regular smartphone for people who weren't disabled. The pre-orders had already been a great number.

"Right, I should go now. Allah Hafiz." I kissed her forehead and waved at her before going down the stairs and into the car, considerably calm now as I drove to work.

Like I'd expected and known, all employees were gathered in the lobby, some smiling and some seeming anxious as I was. Aruba met me half way, grinning from ear to ear.

"Do you ever worry?" I asked her, then raised an eyebrow at her when the herd of employees parted to reveal a table with a cake on it.

"Nope, now go and grab the knife to cut the cake as the countdown ends. Then, I want you to leave and go home to spend the day with your family, understood?" She ordered, again making me question who was the boss and who was the assistant between the two of us.

I passed her a two-finger salute. "Yes, Ma'am." Then rounded the table to stand behind it and hold the knife with a red ribbon tied to it. The cake was shaped as a phone and was large enough to feed an army. I knew it would be enough for all the employees and looked at Aruba gratefully for it.