Love So Far

Making Amends

"But they won't beat him up for me." She said, sadly. "You know Bhai, you're the best brother in the whole wide world. You always take care of me, unlike stupid, mean Ahad Bhai."

"No matter what, he's older than you, Jazzy. Don't talk about him like that." I patted her head. "But yes, I'll always take care of you, I promise."

****

PRESENT

I still remember that day very well, and the promise that I'd made to her.

I'd told her that I'd take care of her, and yet I'd let her and Hania be abused and mistreated by my own wife, and I'd been a pretty damn useless brother in that matter.

I paced around our garden and I looked up at the terrace with a sad smile. There was a narrow ledge that led from the terrace towards the window of Ahad's room. We'd often climbed onto it, me and Fawad, to scare the hell out of Ahad, and it had always worked successfully. Fawad had almost fell off it once, but after the initial scare, our main concern was our Ammis finding out.

Everything had shattered, lying in a million pieces around me. My close relationship with my sister, my brotherly friendship with Fawad...everything.

And Sadia was not completely at fault. I was at fault too. I should have taken strict action when Sadia had first mistreated my sister.

I'd let everyone down: my family, my best friend, everyone. I'd even let little Hania down.

As I continued pacing the garden, feeling overwhelmed with intense sadness, my phone started ringing in the pocket of my kameez. I pulled it out and was surprised when I saw the caller ID: Fawad.

How did the idiot know that I'd just been thinking about our friendship?

Smiling, I answered the phone. "Assalam Alaikum, Bhai."

"Walaikum Assalam." He replied.

For the next few minutes, we asked about each other's families, exchanging formalities.

"Yaar, listen." He cleared his throat. "Ahad, Zoya and your parents are visiting our home next month, In Sha Allah. Tu vi aaja, yaar."

*"You come as well, bro."

"You want me to come?" I repeated, surprised.

"You can bring Sadia Bhabi and the boys." He said. "Laikin aana zaroor, suna hai?"

*"But, you have to come, you hear me?"

My heart warmed. "Fawad, I appreciate the invite, but I won't be able to tolerate it if any drama is caused in your home. That would be the final straw."

"We'll cross that bridge if we get to it." He said, almost dismissively. "But I'm insisting, you have to come. Mina and I will love it, and I'm sure Hani would love to play with your beard some more."

I laughed heartily. "Of course. My beard is Hania's favourite toy."

"Come. Any issues, we'll deal with it." He reassured me.

I sighed. "In Sha Allah, we'll come. But don't curse me later."

He laughed this time. "No matter how bad things get between us, I can never do that, Bhai." 

I felt reassured, knowing that there was still a chance of bringing our friendship at least fifty percent back to normal. "And make sure I get plenty of parathas when I get there."