"Aishi, the precision that you require, we can't achieve. We had a word with John earlier and he thinks we can relax them a little".
If she could roll her eyes any further into her skull, she would have. It's her third year in the job and she still has to prove her expertise to some undergrad student intern at their manufacturing site.
"Well, the requirements are critical for the part to meet the design intent. I am the design engineer and the product owner. I have taken these through multiple reviews and got the sign off from the subject matter experts. Unfortunately, John is not the signing authority on these requirements, I am. So, why don't we work through your challenges instead?", she replied with all the patience that she could muster.
Being a product design engineer in the aerospace field meant that she is constantly engaged in a battle to claim her seat at the table. Sometimes it's the coworkers who mansplained simple solutions to her, and other times it's the stakeholders who weren't confident enough with her designs. She just has to run twice as fast as any other man and she made peace with that.
She finally ended her passionate discussion with the intern and stretched herself onto the uncomfortable airport chair. She had given in to her manager's "request" and took a week off because her company is trying a new employee work-life balance policy. She ended up getting a tourist visa and booking her tickets to Budapest. She started this job right out of college and worked every day, with neither a social life nor any care for personal well being. She spent weekends solving design issues and embraced workaholism. This helped her get a quick promotion and a lot of awards, but she forgot how to relax.
The flight from Bangalore to Dubai was fine, she slept on her way. But the 4 hour layover was torture. She just found a quiet corner in the glitz and glam of the airport and started surfing through her emails and returning some work calls. The conversation just left her drained and in dire need of caffeine, so she started searching for a starbucks nearby. While waiting in the line to order, she looked back subconsciously to see who was standing behind her, and shocked was too small a word to explain her emotion. It was the famous singer Joshua, nonchalantly scrolling through his phone, flashing a sweet smile at her when their eyes met. She smiled back and quickly looked away. She couldn't believe herself.
"I really enjoy your music, you are doing good work!", she looked back at him and said shyly.
"Thank you!", he replied. He thought she would fangirl and ask for a photograph or an autograph, but she just turned and looked ahead. When it was her turn, she ordered her coffee and stepped aside to wait for it. He found it refreshing. He started his career a little over 5 years ago and reached an insane level of popularity among young women.He is used to the paparazzis flashing their cameras at him and fans flocking him wherever he goes.
Aishi was beaming from within. She is glad she could meet him in person. It's funny, she thought, how he seemed so much more human than the media photographs. She could sense that he was looking at her, but she didn't pay a lot of attention to it. She knew how uncomfortable it is for celebrities to get their personal space invaded and she doesn't want to partake in that behavior.
"Aishi! A Caramel Macciato!" She goes to the barista to pick up her coffee and goes back to the corner table she was sitting at.
"Aishi, may I join?",Joshua asks her while standing in front of her table with a coffee in his hand.
"What?? Is this really happening? Is it really him?" Aishi's thoughts scream.