Perpetual

My head is spinning, I have woken up with a terrible headache it feels like if I don’t do anything about it right now I might lose myself. I try to sit upright but the weight of the headache is dragging me down.

‘Leo you need to get up.’ My room mate James yells.

I open my eyes but don’t respond. I want to tell him that he is making noise and should leave me alone but whatever energy I have, I am saving it because of the pounding headache.

‘You know we will be late right?’ he asks burging into my room.

‘James don’t you knock?’

‘I have been calling you for what seems like forever but you were not responding.’

‘And that should have sent a message to you.’

I sigh deeply and force myself out of bed

‘Drink lots of water, it will help with the headache.’

‘What in God’s name did we drink yesterday?’ I ask sighing as I walk to the adjoining bathroom

‘I always tell you not to drink your alcohol like you drink your tea but all that falls on deaf ears.’

I ignore him. I brush my teeth and then force myself to take a cold bath, it’s supposed to make me feel better but I am still feeling awful even after finishing.

‘Ready to take on the world Mr. Mweembe?’

‘I am always ready.’

‘That is what I long to hear for you young CEO.’

I wear a huge smile, I bet if I were light in complexion my cheeks would even burn.

‘I am so proud of you Leo, I don’t know anyone that is as determined as you are. You deserve everything good in life that is yet to come.’

I smile again but this time feeling like tears are coming to my eyes.

‘There is no time to cry. Let us go and do this thing.’

‘Yes please.’ I respond.

Our help comes through and hands us our thermal cups which we carry for work. I have always told myself that there is nothing coffee can’t fix but today the feeling of seeing everything I have worked so hard towards coming to life is making me happy.

I graduated top of my class at the University of Zambia with a degree in Engineering. I had a knack for building things from the ground up and I always knew my degree was something that I wouldn’t use much. In my first year of school, I had a business idea after I saw how my fellow students struggled with assignments and would always pay people to do them for them. The problem with that is that it was not allowed at the school so I wanted to develop an app that would be approved and then bring on board different scholars that would make money by helping people and both parties wouldn’t feel robbed or like it was illegal. It took a while but I have finally done it and we launched the app yesterday so today we start operating legally.

The drive to the office is quiet. James and I are using different cars. As I drive my mind takes me to all the times that I have failed, the number of times the app had glitches and all the times I wanted to give up. My friends told me I was wasting my time, that I should just concentrate on engineering because that is where the money is but my passion was somewhere else so no matter how many times I failed, I still forced myself up.

Finally at the office, I smile at the reserved slot in the parking lot. I didn’t think a day like this would come. After parking, I carry my things and walk into the office building. I am shocked when I am welcomed by a loud applause from my team.

‘You didn’t.’ I say to James who is part of the crowd.

‘Of course I did.’ He responds coming to hand me a wrapped gift

‘What is this?’

‘Open it.’ One of the employees says.

I am a sucker for wrapped presents so I take my time unwrapping it and the tears that I have been holding back finally fall. They have given me a branded diary and pen, It might seem little to other people but this is more than enough for me.

‘There is nothing that we haven’t already said Leo. You have proven that determination and hard work eventually pays off. Congratulations for this, we are proud to be under your leadership.’ James says.

‘I don’t know what to say.’ I respond honestly.

‘How about you say thank you.’

‘Well thank you.’ I say and that makes everyone laugh.

‘Now let us get working, we have assignments to write.’

‘Yes boss.’ They chorus.

‘Leo.’ I say and it makes them laugh again.

…

Kwenje’s Girl

Winnie

🙇🏾‍♀️