Love So Far

Farewell

"Mazak uda rahay hain aap mera?" I frowned.

*"Are you making fun of me?"

"Actually, I'm trying to cheer my wife up." He said. "Two days will pass by quickly, In Sha Allah." He paused. "Waise, main soch raha tha. Aap ke Papa bhi akele hain aur chotiyan hai unki is hafte, to aap kuch dinon un ke paas reh aayain? Jab Omar waapis aayega, In Sha Allah, main usay wahine chodh doon ga."

*"I was thinking. Your father is alone, and he has days off this week, so why don't you go and stay with him for a few days? When Omar comes back, In Sha Allah, I will drop him off there as well."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" I smiled, touched at his consideration yet again. He genuinely treated my parents like his own.

"Yeah, a guy needs his peace and all." He looked relaxed as he drove.

I know why he was so chilled out and in a good mood: Umair was on the road to be locked away for a very long time. With him in prison, his second wife had made accusations against him for abuse as well, and things were looking truly bad for him. Zafar said that he knew that it was not right to gloat over another person's downfall, but Umair had truly asked for it. And I couldn't agree more.

"You are so awful."

"I love you." He just grinned.

My cheeks warmed up, and I held my Zaid just a little closer. "I love you too, Zafar." 

****

Later that day, Zafar drove me, Saad and Zaid to my parents' house. I took Omar's stuff along as well, since he was going to be coming here as well.

I asked him to stay for dinner, but he said that he wasn't comfortable leaving his elderly parents and Mahnoor alone, so he had to go back, which I completely understood. 

"Take good care of yourself and the boys." Zafar told me, after Papa had taken the boys inside the house. Because our home was far from here, Zafar had met Papa in the car porch as he had to get back.

"You too. Have your meals on time, and get proper sleep, for Allah's sake!" I put my hands on his shoulders. I glanced towards the main gates where the guard was sitting in his cabin. "Come on, too public here." Taking my husband's hand, I led him down the side of the house towards the back garden. While the Ali family home was beautiful, magnificent (Ma Sha Allah), I was already missing my own veranda, my own home. 

It was funny. I just to pace around this garden, wearing my designer outfits, as I spoke to my friends on the phone, completely at home in this world. But now, now I genuinely felt like a guest here, even though it was the house where I grew up.

"I'm going to miss you, Zafar." I told my husband, as I hugged him goodbye once we were out of sight.

"I'm going to miss you too. But you never insist of coming to stay the night, and on his days off, your Papa must get lonely." He said.

I nodded. "Bhai asked him to come to him, but Papa wanted to spend his holidays here, at home." 

"Yes, there's just something else about spending your holidays at home. Sure, travelling sounds nice and all, but home is home, yaar. Especially when the wife and the kids are not around." He winked at me. 

I rolled my eyes. "Papa's used to not having his kids around. He's used to it just being him and Ammi." I felt a little sad as I said that. I suddenly miss the chaos of childhood, where Bhai was always teasing me or pranking me, causing me to run around the house screaming and crying, complaining to Ammi or Papa. "I can't stand two nights of being away from Omar, I can't even imagine how Papa and Ammi feel."