Bismillaah hir Rahman nir Raheem.
"Do you think it's going to work out?".
"Yes, it would. In shaa Allah".
"Well! I doubt that".
"Why so?".
"Because I don't know anyone there".
"Sameer", Maahi sighed over the phone, "Just follow my instructions and that would be enough".
"I will try", Sameer replied picking up the cardboard box and placing it on the back seat of his car.
"Today morning, when the parcel came, my wife thought it's also an post-wedding gift from my dear friend",
"Oh! But I have already given the gift before the wedding. I am sorry to disappoint you this time", Maahi said cordially.
"It's okay Man! How could I forget that? It was something so beneficial for my entire life", Sameer cajoled as he entered the car and ignited the engine to life.
Though Maahi didn't attend his friend's wedding, he hadn't left the country before giving his friend a wedding gift.
As Maahi lived alone, most of the monthly wage he earned in the internship was leisure, it was more than enough, so he saved each penny. Apart from giving money to Saad, there was enough amount to be saved.
When Sameer got hooked up with the aspect of Marriage, Maahi was so happy for his friend and when the part of giving a gift came, he lent all those savings to Sameer as a 'Wedding Gift'. Sameer convinced him hard to not take decisions like that but Maahi was adamant.
Yes, Sameer had a well-paid job in hand but he was getting himself in taking up more responsibilities than before. On one side, he should take care of his parents, who lived in the countryside, and on the other, he should fulfill the rights of his wife. So Maahi thought it would be better to buy an apartment than to rent it. It would be more profitable for him and it turned out to be helpful now.
With the amount Maahi gave, Sameer added some more of his own savings and his parents too helped him along the process.
Now if Sameer was leading a peaceful life, all the credits went to his friend.
Maahi was no angel. He was human too. But he was someone who knew the value of this world. He was someone who doesn't want himself to trade into the false deceptions of this world.
He knew something precious, that most of us ignore.
Which is,
The real happiness comes not in saving money, but in spending it on our dear ones.
"I think I have arrived at the location", Sameer pulled the car to a halt, "Rahma Orphanage right?", he asked through the phone.
"Yeah! It is", Maahi smiled even though Sameer could not see him. Hearing the affirmative answer, Sameer cut the call, saying he would eventually call him again.
Sameer walked inside the reception and as per told, a middle-aged man was standing behind the desk writing something. "You must be uncle Bilal", he wondered out loud with a salaam.
When addressed, the Man looked up and nodded, "I am. How can I help you?",
"Well! I am Sameer, Maahi's friend. The one who went to America a few months back",
" How can I forget Maahi beta?", Bilal smiled, "You are his friend?",
"Yes", Sameer replied.
"So glad to meet you, how is he?", he said coming forth the desk, welcoming Sameer inside.
"Maahi wanted to give this to you", he extended an envelope towards Bilal and the latter took it with understanding.
"No one who has left this country has ever remembered to pay to this orphanage, but Maahi, he is such a righteous one", he said.
"He is, Alhamdulillah. I am so lucky to have him as my friend",
"Alhamdulilah, may Allah bless the both of you. Do you want to drink something?",
"Uh! No Uncle!", Sameer shook his head, "I have work to catch up, before that, I wanted to meet Saad. Is he available?",
"Of course he is", Bilal laughed, "Come I will lead you to his room".
On his way to Saad's room, Sameer video called Maahi and put the phone under his shirt pocket in such a way that the person before him would be visible to Maahi from the peeking camera.
They both entered the small room and Saad was reading a book on his single bed. When his eye's landed upon Sameer, he placed the book down.
"Who is this Uncle Bilal?", he asked.
"He is Sameer. Maahi's friend",
Upon hearing the name, the Lil Boy's eyes lit up, "Maahi Bhaiya's friend?", he asked, his voice so innocent, that Sameer melted into a puddle.
He gave a curt nod and kneeled to the Boy's height. "How are you? How is Bhaiya?", the boy blasted him with questions.
"We both are good, Alhamdulillah. He sent me to give you this", Sameer extended the cardboard box towards him, "As promised", he finished.
The boy quickly opened the box and let out a squeal. There was no bound to the happiness that passed over the Orphan's face and it was like Magic. Maahi would be the only one who does this type of Magic, lighting the world of the ones he had in his life, Sameer thought to himself.
Seeing the Lil one jump up and down, did he feel moisture cling to his eye's.
This was the real happiness of Maahi, making his cherished ones smile.
When Sameer showed Saad, Maahi's face on the screen of his phone, he kissed the camera of the phone infinite times, as if he was kissing Maahi in person, and thanked him for the toys he had sent for him.
.....
Maahi opened the door to the Medical store and entered the lobby. Fathima's mother, that is, his Chachi, has fractured her leg. She fell off through the driveway, not knowing it was slippery. Someone had spilled some lubricants on the way to their home and she didn't notice it in a hurry. She couldn't even walk now and that's how he ended up picking the twins after school.
He placed his hands over the counter, as he needed some medications for her. When the boy behind the counter turned towards him, "A roll of crepe bandages and..", he read the names of the medicines after unlocking the phone.
Shabna looked up when she heard the familiar masculine voice and faced the one, she was so badly running away from.
When someone's quirk gaze fell on him did he looked up from his phone and saw the one, he would be chasing to accompany him throughout his life.
Their gaze collided for just a second. But this was the time Maahi understood the depths of the Hadith of lowering his gaze. It was said not to look at the opposite gender, for more than a second. Now, when he was looking at her eyes did the time stopped. He would have easily counted the micro and milliseconds which fell under that one particular second, on which he saw her. It was short but it was too long for him.
"Maam your package", another counter boy placed a plastic bag full of monthly essentials in a Women's life.
Shabna's face turned crimson as she pulled the bag to herself and hunched it into her handbag and scurried her foot, away from the store, mostly away from him.
"Maam! Your Change", the boy placed some Dollar notes and a few coins but she was long gone.
Maahi unknowingly called, "Shabna", because now he knew her name, without even realizing the layers of embarrassment she had felt as she ran out of the store and on his reverie of seeing her, he hadn't eyed the package that was placed before the both of them.
"Sir! You know her?", The boy asked and Maahi turned his attention back towards him.
"Sort of", he replied pondering what had happened.
"Please give her the money when you meet her again", the boy gestured towards the change.
"But How can I?",
"Sir! She had given a hundred dollar bill and the products she had bought were only within fifty dollars and I don't know any other way to reach her, that's why",
"Oh! Okay", He said in affirmative because he didn't know what else to reply.
......
Shabna rushed inside the apartment and closed the door in a thud. Jesima who was seated on the couch looked up at the frenzy, as the latter was breathing heavily.
"Did you see a ghost?", she asked.
"No", Shabna replied, her voice hoarse, she didn't know how many more days she would be running away, like this, but today was no exception for the embarrassment she had felt.
"Then who did you saw?", Jesima asked getting up.
"Someone who haunts my dreams", when the words left her mouth did she let her teeth dig deeper into her lower lip.
"Armaan?", Jesima wondered horrified and she was using his name after so many months.
"No", Shabna replied her eyes going wide at the mention and she quickly strode inside her room and locked it behind her.
The Next day was the same, early morning routines and a hectic school day. Fumbling with kids and mentoring them. She pulled her hijab straight and checked whether the pins secured it before stepping out into the Pavillion to go back home.
But who was she kidding, her fate had different plans.
She was walking through the ground to exit the school is when she saw him, again in a row of two consecutive days. He was walking back and forth and when he finally saw her, he quickly started walking towards her.
When she realized the weight of the situation she was pushed into, she stopped and changed tracks. She would go home through the back door of the school, she thought.
"Excuse me", the voice called behind but it fell on deaf ears.
"Shabna", this made her halt in her steps.
How did he even know her name?
She thought to herself but again, shook her head that it was none of her business.
"Shabna stop", the voice sounded desperate but she didn't allow it to bother her.
"The twins", Maahi ran a hand through his hair pulling it on the process, frustrated at himself more than her, "they aren't home".
She finally stopped and swiftly turned around, rooted to her spot, frozen.
"They are missing", now the voice felt broken, breaking her in a way, she hadn't imagined she will.
.....
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