The Ends of Love

7

"Today has been tiring," Asma confessed, lying flat on the bed. Her legs were left hanging on the bedside.

"I feel the same too," Sadaf replied, blow-drying her hair. Her eyes moved to Asma's legs, "Do you want me to put them in place?"

"No, I am okay," Asma replied, closing her eyes, "I will lift them later. Waise bhi, I am glad they don't feel anything."

Hearing that Sadaf stared at her for a second, "How do you say such harsh words so casually?"

"Come again?"

"Stop saying such things, Asma," Sadaf switched off the dryer and walked up to the bed, all the while her hands working in spinning her hair into a bun. "They are not funny."

"At least let me make use of them in some way. They don't work anyway."

"Asma!" Sadaf glared, putting a hand on her hip.

"Okay! I will stop. Happy?"

"Hmm," she hummed, motioning Asma to move a little behind. Begrudgingly, Asma obeyed her.

"How was the day?" Sadaf asked lifting Asma's legs and putting them on the bed and then she moved across the room to fetch the olive oil bottle from her bag.

"It was wonderful," Asma gleamed, looking at the ceiling. The fan was spinning in circles drifting her into old memories. Each stroke rekindled the days she ran stretching her hands in the air, the visits to the terrace to soak in the sunlight even though it was strictly prohibited by her mother, cooking imaginary dishes with Sadaf in their kitchen toys, stealing her mother's stethoscope to hear Sadaf's heartbeats. For Asma, Sadaf had been her entire childhood. She was not just a friend, she was a sister Asma never had.

"Mine too," Sadaf's dreamy sigh brought Asma out of her thought cycle. "I didn't know I was signing up for this."

"You signed up for a good future, Sadaf," Asma grinned. Going to marry Samad would be Sadaf's best choice. He was a good guy after all. "But my feelings are mixed. I am happy and sad about it," Asma looked into her best friend's eyes, "You are going to stay here while I will have to leave you."

Sadaf's radiance slowly started to disappear as she took a seat beside Asma, "Do you not know how much I will miss you?" She asked, slowly lifting Asma's pants to her knees. She poured a handful of the oil into her palm and first started to massage it on Asma's legs. Even though Asma couldn't feel Sadaf's hands working on her legs, she smiled looking at Sadaf's determined face. The spinal injury Asma went through paralyzed her legs, initially, it broke Asma completely but with her family's support, she regained her strength. She started accepting the changes in her life, to the fact that she learned how to live with her disability. In a way, she accepted that what was gone cannot be retained but her family didn't. They always hoped, prayed, and cared for her every day. Sadaf always said that olive oil has shifa in it.