IMTIHAAN اِمْتِحان

seven

" Ammi? Abbu?" Abu Bakr cleared his throat at breakfast and called out to his parents.

Zafiraa was sitting just beside him, had her head bowed down in shyness and her cheeks flared up a cherry red. She wanted to be the one to tell her in-laws but had chickened out just at the last moment.

Reason why her husband had to step in for her!

" Jee?" Aafiya replied as she stopped eating, her hand hung midair with her niwala, as did Shahbaaz.

She looked at him with hopeful eyes, her heart in her throat since the last two days.

Aafiya, Shahbaaz, Ramsha and Saahil all were worried for their children but didn't vocalize it. Not wanting to add to their burden.

Not wanting to add their own expectations to their children's burden.

" Abu?" Aafiya called him in a small voice, her hands clenching her dupatta in nervousness.

Zafiraa smiled tearfully seeing her mother-in-law so emotional and she realised then just how much this pregnancy means to everyone. It wasn't just them who were going to be parents. Their parents too would be grandparents and this somehow eased her anxiety, relieving her a little.

" Ammi?" This time Zafiraa reached out to hold her mother-in-law's hand and she just looked at her with teary eyes.

" Ammi?" She said again, her lips failing to form the words that would change their lives.

" Jee Ammi ki Jaan?" Aafiya almost cried seeing her daughter-in-law so emotional.

" Aap... Ammi... Daadijaan..." Zafiraa hiccuped, unable to form a coherent sentence but that's all it took for Aafiya to take her in a bone crushing embrace.

" Shukar Alhamdulillah!" Aafiya murmured against her daughter's hair, kissing it fervently as she let her cry in her arms.

Abu Bakr wiped his own tears that have been flowing since the last few hours. They had been doing just that ever since the test came back positive.

Crying their hearts out!

Tears of gratitude.

Tears of joy.

Tears of relief.

Tears of victory.

Shahbaaz just reached out and squeezed his son's shoulder, his own shoulders sagging in relief. As if all the burden had been lifted off his back.

And it kind of had.

The worry of seeing his children so heartbroken and traumatized for the last six years had taken a toll on his health too and Shahbaaz finally felt he could breathe in ease.

" Mubarak hou Beta" Shahbaaz ruffled his son's hair, trying very hard to keep the tears out of his voice but to no avail.

Because the very next second he felt his son's body thrown into his arms and he could only hug him back tight.

And Shahbaaz gazed at Aafiya with tears in his eyes, their arms holding their children and their lips muttering a string of Alhamdulillah!

That evening when they sat in front of their doctor it didn't feel any different from the millions of times they've found themselves in the same seats.

And yet it was.

Because the doctor was smiling at them, her hands holding the reports that confirmed their results.

" Your HCG levels are consistently high and your basal body temperature too is in the perfect range..." Dr Rizwana said a little too happily seeing the young couple's eager faces.