Farmeed Oneshots

8. Turbulent Vacation

Where Farjaad and Umeed travel to Thailand, but Umeed's journey was not kind to her and her holiday only gets worse.

I shouldn't be warning anyone about this, but I will anyway because I don't want such an audience to be reading this if they have that mentality. There will be mention of periods (menstruation). The only reason I say this is because some people find it a taboo topic and I don't want such people to be reading my work. It's periods guys, it's normal, and should be treated like something normal.

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The flight from Pakistan to Qatar was pleasant to start off with. Both of them were dressed in matching sets of baby-pink t-shirts and black sweatpants. They were fully in vacation mode and beaming with excitement. Umeed was excited about lots of things, like travelling business class and leaving the country for the first time. Farjaad was excited in Umeed's excitement; to see her jump ecstatically when they announced for Business Class passengers to board first, or when she was poking him for the fifth time and telling him to look at the camera so she could take pictures and send them to Haya. Her excitement made him look forward to their journey, as well as the thought of spending a week on an Island away from everyone, surrounded by just trees and water - just the two of them.

He had enjoyed watching her explore the plane, amused at how she was overjoyed at seeing their cabin-style seats and how she could close them and have privacy to herself. And how she was unable to stretch her feet to reach the footrest under the screen, or how her eyes lit up every time a cabin crew member would come up and ask her if she needed something.

The journey to Qatar was pleasant for the most part, and they had a stopover for two hours before their flight to Thailand, where they had another transit to reach their final destination. Farjaad had spent considerable time planning this vacation. He spent hours researching, planning and booking everything - completely on his own. This felt like their official honeymoon.

Unfortunately, around the time of their wedding, Farjaad had major projects occurring the following months, which meant he could not afford to leave the country for a long period of time. In fact, the schedule was so hectic that he would be at work on weekends too. And to make up for it, he could only take Umeed around the country whenever he could find days. He had made her a promise that he would make up for it, and he did.

He did not hesitate to book anything that would make Umeed happy. Seven nights at Four Seasons was no joke itself, but he went further ahead and made sure to add a list of activities to keep him and Umeed engaged. From massages, scuba diving, fishing, kayaking, to even dinners by the fireplace. He made sure they got the best luxury suite, which had direct access to the beach as well as a swimming pool. To say the least, Farjaad was passionate about going all out and making sure Umeed would love it and that they could spend their time together in ease.

Halfway through the first flight, Umeed informed Farjaad that she was feeling a little off. He reached out to her forehead to check for fever but was relieved to feel no heat. However he did request from one of the crew if they could serve herbal tea. It could have possibly been indigestion or air sickness, but he could sense her discomfort and knew she wasn't feeling her best anymore. Umeed had fallen asleep for the remaining hour, and Farjaad used that opportunity to take pictures of her.

This was the beauty of their dynamic; Umeed's camera roll consisted of both their pictures, whilst Farjaad's camera roll only had pictures of Umeed. And not just any pictures, it was all her candid moments, and she was completely unaware of the camera's presence. That's what made Farjaad take them, he was efficient in capturing Umeed in her true vitality, like that one time she was standing on the cabinet because there was a cockroach on the ground, or now, when she was eating her food whilst watching 'Coco' on the screen. Those were the pictures Farjaad loves looking back to, enchanted by her, and the memory behind the image.