Retrouvailles

A day later

It felt strange to wake up to an empty bed after three years of staying with the person she had just parted ways. No one came to call her after she attended Anaya in the early hours of this bleak day.

A sad smile came on its own, realizing how her mothers were giving her time to handle his departure. They might not have been at their best in the last couple of months but a person who she lived with all her life, shared one of the closest relationships even if not emotionally they were there for each other in some of the toughest times they had seen together.

The guy who usually was so dependent on her had packed his bags just fine for this USA trip, perhaps her decision to accompany Amma to her Nani's place for the last two weeks was not that bad of a decision. It definitely gave both of them some time to come out of the dependency they have grown towards each other.

Her eyes wandered towards his side table. Just like the uncrumpled sheets and unused pillow the empty space reminded her of so many things she was trying to block from last night. For a moment she felt angry why he didn't tell her prior about his flight, why he kept coming to Anaya at her Nani's place but didn't tell his plans.

Even last morning it was Badi Ammi (Her mother in law) who called her to ask if would she be able to come back in case she wanted to discuss something with Fakhir before he went away, of course, they needed to meet because her husband had fulfilled one last wish of hers as his wife.

The brown envelope kept in front of her on his work table was the remainder of where they stood after last night.

She knew her eyes were swollen due to all the crying, she had told her mother it was the last cry but this last cry just happened to be one of the longest sessions she would have to endure whenever she was alone.

She was still lying down, staring at the white wall when her phone pinged followed by several pings she ignored but then a thought came and she wiped her eyes gently to not distress her already swollen lids and tried to focus brushing away the tears.

"Flight was further delayed for three hours"

"boarded the connecting an hour ago."

"text me when you see the message."

"Waqas would receive me at the airport."

"I'll stay with him for a day or two before everything is settled."

She kept reading his messages from the notification shade without opening the app, unsure what to say... does she need to start the distance right away or do they need to pretend nothing changed?

"I ordered something for Anaya for her second birthday, it might get delivered today..."

She waited for him to say anything else and when he didn't, she kept the phone aside. "Anaya's baba missed her second birthday as well."

*****

"Tea, coffee...anything Sir?" the air hostess brought him back to reality and he looked up at the woman smiling at her.

"No, maybe a pill for headache if possible," he replied and waited for her denial when she affirmed to return with it in a couple of minutes.

What an amazing turn of events, he had missed Anaya's first birthday and just before her second he was flying away from her... the last time was his first step towards finding himself, but he regretted it later not because he missed it but because he would always miss being away on her special day. Perhaps that is what life was - always leaving you in a muddle of choices.