His Little Neighbour

seventeen

Mashal felt very welcomed in her in-law's home, they were all kind so far. That's what she thought anyway. With each passing moment, she was reconsidering her opinions.

"Alhamdulillah, I'm so glad you're back home after so long. You don't visit us anymore," Hania huffed as she caressed her son's face, who smiled at her sheepishly. He had so many notifications pinging him back to back, Mashal could see how his hands were twitching to check them out. But he knew better than not to.

They were seated in the huge living room of the Saeed family home. Murat sat beside his mother while Mashal had the misfortune of sitting beside his twin, who made it crystal clear that she didn't like her all that much. Mashal swallowed another lump in her throat as she watched everything cautiously, putting up a happy facade. They stayed the night here yesterday and Syra decided to meet her brother today, so here they are. Murat was right across her. It shouldn't be a big deal.

Syra couldn't be too bad anyway. Except her ego was too fragile that she's still holding onto the incident that happened back when they got married. The one where she denied permitting her to post their intimate moments on social media. Who knew that she'd still hold a grudge?

"He has someone else to take care of know, ammi. How would Murat remember us now? His phone calls are also turning into a namesake formality these days," Syra smiled slyly as she ate her bowl of pomegranate, her little daughter, Shazia laid beside her carelessly. Her words were almost like silly teasing but only it wasn't.

"Syra, you know it's not true." Murat became defensive as he rested his head on his mother's shoulders, making her grin at him. She didn't say anything about her daughter's comments which meant even she might have similar opinions.

Mashal's insides twisted painfully at her sister in law's choice of words, but she kept quiet anyway. Her parents have always taught her to ignore negativity and she's going to do just that. Even though the said negative person happens to be very close to her husband, she's going to remain calm. Her face turned from happy to neutral, not giving Syra the satisfaction of getting under her nerves because that's exactly what she wanted.

"It's not like that and you guys know it," Murat sighed as he glanced at his sister. Little Shazia cooed happily beside her mother, he walked towards them and took his niece in his arms with a fond smile on his face and at the same time he managed to pass one of his charming smiles to his wife as well, whose face flushed deep red. Their stupid arguments from yesterday and the silence which followed it remained forgotten for a while.

"I have always been busy. But I called every day. Like I promised I would," Murat sat back on his seat beside his mother, who nodded her head with a small smile.

"You did, but you weren't always like this you know." Hania smiled sadly. Almost as if thinking about the changed Murat pained her.

"Yes, Eliza's influence has ruined you," Syra spoke carelessly while she chewed the juicy pomegranate seeds.

Mashal was so lost in her own world, enjoying the sight of her husband holding his baby niece ever so gently with that warmest smile on his face. For a split second, she began to picture him with the baby of their own. A little Murat or Mashal sounded like a dream and that thought almost made her freeze. He or she will have their whole heart. It would be the symbol of their love. A mixture of both him and her. A little baby with either darkest black eyes or deepest brown eyes. She'd personally prefer black eyes, the one she began to fall in love with so maddeningly these days. Murat would spoil their baby rotten just like how he takes care of her. He was everything she has ever dreamt of and he would make an amazing father.

The moment didn't last long as she heard her sister in law take that one name which seemed like the biggest threat to their marriage. Her eyes lingered a bit more on her husband as she observed how uncomfortable he became as soon as Eliza was mentioned.