Shehnaaz stood there, watching him drive away. Those moments when only her eyes could see, but her head, Oh! That was dead. She kept looking at the distant end as the car took a right turn to move away from her sight. "Huhhh!" A sigh left her lips, that felt weird. Seeing him leave felt weird this time, they had a journey spanned years for now, she had known him for about three years and there had never been a silence more awkward than this.
"You look pathetic!" She heard the voice of the man standing next to her. " Soi nahi kya?", she heard.
She turned around to look at Mayank, " Hey, how was Sabrina Aggrwal?", she asked about the Judge on his case proceeding.
"Don't even ask. She didn't just chew me up!" Mayank joked, as the duo turned around towards the building.
"Gureet?"
"She's been sleeping upstairs. I came to.drop the garbage!" Shehnaaz answered, very discreetly keeping Siddharth out of the discussion.
"I saw him, Shehnaaz. I saw him leave. " Mayank spoke looking at her, she was more like a sister to him.
"Yeah! We bumped into each other later this evening!" Shehnaaz replied. What was she supposed to say otherwise. She had a daughter, she was herself young and an association with a man would obviously raise questions.
Mayank did not reply but kept looking at her and then the door of the elevator. "Shehnaaz, you know that you can't have him in your house. The building management will have objections. !"
It had been tough, getting an apartment in a society where she lived. Her earlier residence in Mumbai was a society mostly used by corporate employees or doctors in the hospitals across the region, hence the issue of her being a woman who had male visiting friend had never been raised. But this time as she moved to the newer locality she had a bunch of rules to follow by. Like she had submitted her marriage certificate to get an accommodation for her family in the city, she was a single mother of course, but her accommodation was subject to the document. And hence having any men visiting her in the building would cause her trouble. "Gureet" The words fell out of her mouth as she opnened the door to her house, only to hear her daughter crying.
Shehnaaz didn't form a thought, but rushed to her child, taking her up in her arms. She was a single mother with no support system, nothing at all. But she was glad, atleast her daughter would not be raised amidst toxicity. "Hey, baby! What happened?", she cooed her she held her daugter to her shoulder, softy moving her fingers over the girl's head.
"Dar gyi baby? Did something scare you. Huh? See, Mama ' s here. Look at mama, she's here. I am here, nothing happened, you are safe. See you are safe. You are in my arms, baby. " Shehnaaz kept speaking to the baby, but she cried. Cried and cried only louder. This would happen at times, the girl would probably wake from.sleeep and not finding her mother around she would cry. Maybe nature's way.
Shehnaaz carried the baby away from.the room, gently moving her her, making sure the rocking movement was gentle just as the pediatrician had taught her. "Ki ho gya baache. Mama aithe aa!' She spoke getling speaking to the baby, as the the cries began to become less frantic, she picked up a small soft toy, showing that to baby. "See, your softy is also here. Look at it. Softy is asking, why is the big baby crying?" Huh!" She spoke to the girl, looking at her, gently smiling, her fingers brushing her cheeks, wiping the tears as the baby making the baby look at her with big round eyes of her.
Just the girl quietened for a few moments Shehnaaz took a deep breath, as she inclined a little to support her back, while the girl suckled on her. Her eyes heavy with sleep tried to close, for a few seconds she felt nothing absolutely nothing. The dead of silence so strong that she could hear the sound of her daughter sulking, she could hear the tick tick of the wall clock. That thick cover of silence wanted her to sleep. She could take a pillow and sleep for an hour, her head slowly wandering to the man who had been here less than an hour ago.
