💎 Z A Y N 💎

30

Gripping onto the bannister, she carefully made her way down both flight of stairs. The guests were spread out in the living room, the back room, the garden and the room at the end of the garden. Syra entered the kitchen, where Zayn was waiting for her. He wore a plain white jubbah and was rocking the baby in his arms. Locks of his wavy onyx hair resting against his forehead, silver-grey eyes twinkling. He ran his hand over the baby's similar but thick brown curls. He saw her and grinned.

"Shall we?" He asked, lifting her tikka and pecking her forehead, causing Syra to giggle at the gesture.

"Let's go," she replied.

The pair walked into the living room which was bustling with guests. Zayn cleared his throat and announced,

"His name is Imran. Imran Asher Ahmed,"

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Now the stress-free days could begin. She gave her last exam for the year. Garam girl summer begins. Jk. She had a son to take care of and a hoard of henna bookings. Bridal season you know. She would have a broken back. Well Zayn already broke it. Her mother insisted she get professional massages done. She didn't want her daughter to be plagued by back pain in her youth.

Imran was such a good baby. Barely disturbed her in the nights, he could stay with anyone for weeks on end - she had expressed so much milk and frozen it. She loved spending time with her darling son, but was kept from doing so because of sixth form and revision. Zayn had been busy too, also working for his father.

Syra begun buying her things herself. Zayn was putting all his money into his savings for the future and she was contributing too, so it felt wrong to use that money when she had her remaining money. And she knew if she kept money to the side, only she had a right to it. But if Zayn did the same, Syra also had the right to that money. So when it came to her skincare, makeup, clothes, toiletries, she purchased it with her own money. Even though Zayn gave her money. That she begun putting away for a Hajj trip. And that would be around £10k. It was expensive.

Zayn's eighteenth birthday was coming up in a few months. He would then start using his uncle's old car to do jobs for his brother-in-laws company which was a decent pay too. And with the birth of Imran, they had got some money too. So they were at 115k. She was sure by the time it came for them to buy a house, they would have accumulated most of the money, so they would sue their parents help for the remaining. So, she stopped worrying about money and focused on her family and studies.

Little did she know that she would soon enter one of the most toughest phases of her life.

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It was the end of August - the end of their summer holidays. It had whizzed by so fast, spent with Imran and Zayn and her family. Some of her family from Australia had visited, making Syra miss her birthplace and first home very badly. Australia was beautiful, she much preferred the weather over there to England, but there was a lot more diversity here in London so she felt more at home here. Wouldn't trade her life with anyone's.

Imran was two months. He had begun babbling too and he could tell if he was in the arms of someone familiar or a new person. His thick curls were growing rapidly, everyone was shocked to find out he was only two months with so much hair. She often referred to him as his middle name, Asher, which she shortened to Ash.

She remembered how straight after the aqeeqah she had to go back to the hospital and stay there for four weeks because Imran had got an infection. She had been so surprised they had let her off before because he was almost three months early but he did not have breathing problems and was a little over his expected weight so they let him. She guessed it was from the nazar as she had to go hospital while the guests were still leaving. Imran would just crying uncontrollably and they realised some parts of his body and turned blue.