Meher •completed•

44.

*unedited, not proof read.*

A week had passed all in a blur since Meher knew the truth behind her marriage, since they found out about Hoor.

Arham had been a mess for the first three days, he hadn't left the hospital since they had entered the building, slowly, very slowly he had come to accept Hooriya's condition. Meher would often stay at night with Hooriya and Arham.

She spent her mornings locked in the room at the Butt mansion, sometimes talking to Nadia and Waris, sometimes helping their mother in the kitchen, she found peace among these strangers.

Hooriya's condition had started to deteriorate, it was just yesterday night that her heart had stopped beating, luckily Alia had been in the room with Meher then and had helped resurrect Hoor.

All of them knew the end was close, closer than they had anticipated. Hooriya spend her days in lucidity, the amped up dose of morphine was helping her breath despite the excruciating pain.

The unpredictable weather of Islamabad had a thunderstorm in store for them today, Meher sat curled up on the sofa with a shawl covering her, reading a book she had borrowed from Alia. Hooriya had been sedated for her to escape the pain and get some asleep, Arham had gone to drop Safa home and Yusuf had volunteered to work in the hospital for as long as he was in Islamabad.

The constant loud rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor somehow comforted Meher, assured her that Hooriya was still with her. As her eyes followed the words printed on the paper, she let out a small yawn. She was tried, extremely tired. Meher had lost count of the day or time since she had stepped out of Lahore, her life was a back and forth between the butt mansion and hospital but she wasn't complaining, she wanted to be here, do this for Hoor, she wanted her last days to be happy.

The loud sqeeking sound of the door made Meher look up from her book, Arham had entered the room, freshly showered wearing a white shirt and stone washed jeans.

Arham looked at hoor who was peacefully sleeping on the bed, he walked towards her and adjusted Hooriya's blanket covering her properly, he then bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead.

Meher looked at the scene in front of her and felt her heart pinch a little, she would lie if she would say that she didn't feel the pain watching Arham and Hooriya.

The sofa on the other side dipped, Arham had taken a seat beside Meher. Meher looked up from her book to meet his eyes.

"Hi." He said softly.

Meher looked at him for a second longer before replying.
"Do you need something ?"

"Yes. I need you to come with me."

"Huh ?"

"Come with me." he said getting up from the sofa and walked out of the room. Meher wrapped the shawl around her shoulder and hesitantly followed him.

She made sure to maintain a distance of a few steps between their bodies as she walked, walking down the flight of stairs they reached the ground floor and she followed him as he lead her towards the cafeteria.

Even at 1 in the morning the cafeteria was bustling with nurses and doctors and a few families of the patients. Arham stopped at a small table meant for two and motioned Meher to take a seat with his hand.

"I'll be back." He said and walked towards the counter.

Meher looked around to see so many people, some trying to fight their sleep with the caffeine and some passing time. She didn't know why Arham had brought her here, he hadn't spoken to her since the last 7 days and neither had she, she wasn't angry at him anymore, she wasn't, she had seen how much the man loved Hooriya, she knew he was in pain, she didn't want to add on to his problems, she did love him, she still did. Watching him with Hoor was difficult, it killed her a little everyday, those who said that wounds heal with time clearly needed to step in her shoes.