The Wait ✔

Taken

Murad Iqbal

The doors of the elevator opened with a ding, followed by the 20 people squeezed in the small lift. I walked up to the receptionist Kaylah, who was engrossed in munching on a subway.

"Is Humdaan in his office?" I asked, not bothering to go with the protocol. 

I think I was either too loud or a bit rude because I'd startled her.

"Jesus! Mr.Iqbal, it's only you." She said dramatically placing her hand on her chest. "Anyway, good afternoon. How are you doing today?" She asked batting her eyelash.

"Is Humdaan here?" I inquired, not bothering to return her greetings. I was in a foul mood and this lady can sometimes, with an attitude like this can surely get on your nerves.

"Oh! Umm...let me check first. I don't think he was expecting you but..." I shot her a death glare, indicating her to shut that mouth of hers and this clever one seemed to have received the message, as she shut up the very next moment. She dialed some numbers and after she was done asking, turned to me and said, "No he is not here. He left about an hour ago."

I nodded my head and gave her the file. "I need these signed by him as soon as he returns. This is extremely important and I need them by tomorrow." She bobbed her head and placed the file on her desk, while I made an about-turn to leave.

"Have a nice day, Mr.Iqbal." She said loud enough for every being on the floor to hear.

The time on my wristwatch showed it was 1.00 pm which means I can pray Juma'a in the mosque nearby.

****

I stepped into my shoes, after praying Juma'a in the mosque. Luckily I had made it in time for the khutba as well and believe it or not it was about husband-wife relationship. I switched on my phone to see I had a new voice mail and a few texts as well. The World can't even let you pray in peace! I tapped to play the voice mail without checking the ID.

"Good Morning, Mr.Iqbal. Hope you are fine. It's nothing to worry about, just that Momina didn't show up at the office, today. Also, I've been trying to reach her since morning but her phone's been switched off. Tell her to contact me soon. Thanks and take care."

I checked the caller ID which read Lynn M's colleague. Alright! makes more sense now.

Maybe my woman didn't feel like facing the world today or something silly and has the world worry about her.

I was nearing a huge warehouse when my phone rang in my pocket. It was Mom. With a sigh, I picked it up, hesitantly, saying Salam.

"Walaikumsalam, son. How are you?" She sounds worried and tired.

"Alhamdulillah. How are you and dad?" I tried to keep my voice sound normal. Because, I didn't want her to know about anything, yet.

"We are fine, too." There was a moment of silence, which was unnerving in a way.

"Did something happen between you two?" I was thrown off guard by her sudden question and it took me about some time to recover before I replied "No. Nothing. Why? What happened?"

"I've been calling Momina for the past 2 hours but it's showing switched off." She reasoned.

"She must be in some meeting mom. Or--" Before I could make any more excuses, she cut me off.

"It Friday, Murad. She has a half-day today. Did you guys fight again?" Her voice was getting louder each second and if I didn't do anything she might burst on the wrong person, i.e me.