Of Broken Hearts and Tears

Chapter 15

Two weeks had passed since Areesha had come home from the hospital and there had been guests coming in and out of her house congratulating them for the baby.

Maya had taken some holidays from the hospital and still hadn't been there after that day. She thought she would lose her job but at this point she really didn't care. She had been very busy to help her mother around to even spare any thought to what had happened.

At night however when she was alone she couldn't sleep. She just laid awake staring at the dark ceiling willing for sleep to come.

She had even lost interest in reading novels and watching movies, two of her favourite past times. She felt like she was losing interest in life itself. From the cheerful and bubbly girl she had turned into a depressed girl and she didn't know how to fix herself, how to pick up her broken pieces and no one in her family knew what she was going through.

She was startled out of her thoughts when someone snapped fingers in her face.

She looked up in surprise to see her mother standing over her.

"Maya? Where are you lost? Uzair has been crying for so long. Go see what's wrong." Her mother chided her.

She nodded and quickly left to see what was wrong. For the past time she had been taking care of the baby as Areesha still wasn't well from the surgery.

"Aww my baby. What's wrong?" She asked baby Uzair who was crying in his cot non stop. She had given Areesha medicine so she was fast asleep. Not that she minded. She understood how hard it was for her to cope with everything. 

Fawad was being distant to her again.Whenever she talked to him he would cut her off with a glare. And she didn't have the courage to go and tell him the real thing.

She shook her head to get rid of all the thoughts and quietly picked up Uzair and walked put of the room. She took him to the lounge. He was a bundle of joy. He helped her keep her mind away from unwanted thoughts. Fawad had named him Uzair Ali.

"Uzair baby what's wrong? Are you hungry?" She asked him but he wouldn't stop crying.

"Come on tell your phops what's wrong." She said but he refused to listen to her. She had little experience with newborns in the hospital so she really didn't know how to manage with him. She remembered the first time she had been to the hospital nursery as an intern and she had almost lost her head with all the noise of crying.  But she didn't mind Uzair.

She removed the shirt from his stomach and started blowing raspberries on it. That was one thing he enjoyed. He looked at her with his little brownish eyes and started giggling. Maya tickled him near the stimach and there were more giggles. She enjoyed that sound. It made her smile unconsciously.

After a while of playing with him, he started crying again and Maya groaned.

"What's wrong? Are you sleepy? Hungry? Thirsty?" She found it so amazing how mothers would understand what the baby wanted but she had no clue at all.

She put the baby against her shoulder and started rocking him. She was feeling so tired herself that she lied on the sofa with Uzair on the top of her.

Soon she fell asleep too with Uzair her arms around Uzair protectively.

***

"Assalam-o-Alaikum auntie." Zayan said to Areesha's mother-in-law and bent his head a little as a sign of respect. His mother had sent him to Areesha's house to give her the soup she had made for her. 

"Walaikum salam beta." She replied patting his head a little.

"Mama sent this for Areesha." He said handing over the boxes to her.

"Oh really? There was no need really. But why don't you come in?"

"Uh no I should really get going. Some other time maybe."

"No no I am not letting you go like this. Areesha will be very happy to see you. She hasn't been eating properly."

Zayan complied and followed her inside to the drawing room. That's why he never wanted to go anywhere. It was a desi rule that the guest came with his own choice but left with the host's choice.

"Where's Uzair?" He asked her as he sat down.

"He's outside with Maya. Why don't you go and see him and I'll go call Areesha."

Zayan nodded and left the drawing room. He entered the tv lounge and saw Uzair lying on top of Maya and she had circled her hands around him. Her mouth was open a little and he could clearly see the dark circles around her eyes. Clearly she was neglecting her sleep. Her face showed the ghost of a smile. He was happy that Uzair was keeping her happy. 

He had been observing her for the past five mintues. He looked away muttering a astaghfirallah. It was a good thing that she was wearing a hijab otherwise it would have been so embarrassing.

He left the tv lounge and went back to the other room. He stood in the hallway and started looking at the picture on the wall.

It was a family picture and Areesha was in it too. What caught his attention the most was Maya. She was smiling and it was a genuine smile. His heart ached knowing how such an incident had flipped her life around. It was just for the sake of humanity and maybe the fact that he was a lawyer fighting for women rights that he couldn't see someone in his family suffering from the same cruelty.

"Oh you are here. Uzair is sleeping right now and Areesha just went to take a shower." He turned around to see Maya's mother standing.

"Oh it's fine. I can come some other time." He smiled.

"You can wait for Areesha, she won't take long."

"No its fine. I am actually running very late." He said apologetically.

"Okay. As it suits you then."

"Khuda Hafiz."

"Allah hafiz. Give your mother my salam."

"Inshallah I will." He said and left the house.

***

Just a filler chapter...

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