FROM NEVER TO HAPPILY EVER!

5.

Amyra Sadaf.

"Yesterday was the first time he came home early. I have never seen him come before his working hours, in fact he used to do overtime most times." Mamijaan chirps happily as she puts the pan on the stove.

"Why Mamijaan? When Saniya and him were newly married, he didn't come hone early?" I ask in confusion.

She stops her work as if this thought never struck her before. Then shakes her head, "No. He never took a day off."  She looks like she is holding back something. I decide not to probe more. Quickly pouring the boiling hot coffee in his mug, I tread towards our room. Faizu has already woken up and is playing enthusiastically with his plushie. The noor on my baby's face is something worth watching.

I can never get over his cuteness. I place the coffee on the tea table rushing towards my munchkin. He squeals looking at me. I pick him up twirling as he giggles.

"Shhh...dheere bolen Faiz. Aapke papa jaag jayenge. Hamein unhe jagana thodi hai, hamein to unhe darana hai. Okay? Now follow my lead." I say and he blinks his eyes as if he understood.

We slowly crawl towards Aman listening to his light snores. Just as we reach his side, there is pin drop silence in the room except for his snores.

"Okay. Faiz jaani now I am going to throw you in the air like a volleyball and you will make the loudest sound. Plan clear?" I whisper in his ear and his curious eyes sweeping my actions blinking twice.

I bend slightly over Aman, then as his snores gets louder I swing Faizu in the  air and the next moment two shrilled noises resonates in the room. One, of my baby who I swiftly catch back in my arms, and the second of Aman who is now panting heavily with a startled look trying to make out what happened. He shrieked like a girl on periods.

I laughed loudly at his cute expressions, like a deer caught in headlight. And my baby copies me, giggling hard. That's when Aman's eyes land on me, realisation sinking into his bones as his eyes harden.

"What the fu.....furring hell jass?" He screeches. And I laugh again at his poor attempt to cover up the cuss.
Faizu is glancing at the exchange with bated breath, as if fire will erupt any moment. My guys are so cute.

"Will you stop giggling like a hippo and tell me what on earth are you high on? Can't you see a man sleeping peacefully? My teenage theory of you having a strange fetish of needing all my attention seems to be true after all." He says composing himself.

"Huh? In your dreams, you ass. Who needs your attention when I have such a handsome gentleman at my service?" I squeak embedding my head in Faizu's stomach. My baby kisses my cheeks the moment I raise my head

Aman rolls his eyes at our public display of affection.

"And that was payback for what you did with my son yesterday. Don't feed him anything spicy, sour or bitter if you want to go without a heart stroke for a few more years." I state sternly playing with my baby's fingers. They are so soft, milky and delicate. Can I please put a tag of 'Handle with care. Delicate goods' on my baby.

"No, you can't. He is a kid, not a fancy piece of jewellery." An annoying Aman is not a very pleasing sight. I sigh now getting irritated with this jerk. Who asked his opinion anyway?

" Go get freshened up. It's the weekend, let's do something productive" I settle Faizu in his crib and get to work changing the bed sheets and cleaning the room.

After breakfast, the three of us decided to decorate Faizu's would be room. Mamijaan told me it was actually the room where Aman and Saniya lived, now Aman wants to convert it into Faizu's when he is old enough to stay alone. So we set on the journey of converting this black and white room into an interesting colourful place for a kid's residence.

I was afraid, to be honest. If something triggered him from the room, I was not sure how he will react. But so far things have been normal, considering we have been here for over an hour now.

We had laid Faizu on the bed securing his sides with pillows, and he was strangely peaceful. Not his active self.

Just then I hear a thud. I turn around to see Aman standing before the cupboard. On the floor lay a broken frame. I move two steps ahead, and just stop myself from gasping. It had a picture of him and another woman both in wedding outfits posing at the camera. The woman had a soft smile playing on her lips while Aman was blankly staring at the camera. So that's what Saniya looks like. She is a beauty I could never match, her elegance clearly visible in just one picture and the happiness in her eyes depicts she was more than happy for their marriage.

What caught my attention more was, there were no broken pieces of the frame as Aly picked it up. Does that mean the frame was already broken a long time ago? But why would it be broken before this? And if it was broken, why would they still keep it.

Before I can ask Aly, he is out of the room in a jiffy clutching the frame to his chest like a prised possession. I didn't miss the lone tear that slipped his eye. Allah, he is still so much in love with her. I don't think he will ever get over her. Very honestly, I admire that in him, how he is still devoted to her after months of the end of their close to two year marriage.

Chahe wo mard ho ya aurat,
Pehle ke agar wo pure nai hosakte,
Ham to phir bhi dusre hain.

I quickly assemble all the things that we planned on setting up today, and keep them in a safe corner covering them with a cloth so they don't catch dust.

I pick up my baby hugging him close to me, he is quiet as we stride towards our room.

"Mera baby kyun sad hai? Hamara mall ka plan cancel hogaya isliye? Koi baat nai, ham kisi aur din chalenge. Abhi papa thode sad hain, ham pehle unka mood theek karenge phir ghumne chalenge." I lie down on my back placing Faizu on my stomach.

The rest of the day passes painfully slow as we wait for the man of the hour but seems like he doesn't plan on showing up. I sigh as I settle a sleeping Faiz on the bed beside me as I rake my fingers through his hair. He was quiet all day and didn't even drink his regular fill of milk.

Tonight, it's just you and me baby. Just hope we will not face anymore of these nights. I miss my best friend, he is lost in the maze of loneliness.

Come back already Aly, I am waiting for you.