Yakeen Ka Safar: A Sequel

Chapter 9

                       

Asfandyar and Zubia's lives had completely gotten in sync with each other. The ease with which they had settled into their routines sometimes surprised her. She remembered how the nights leading up to their wedding had driven her wild with worry at the thought of starting this new chapter in her life. She had spent hours thinking about how she would live up to the title of being Asfandyar Ali Khan's wife. It was a very prestigious title and she had been terrified at the thought of doing something to mess things up. 

But life had finally started being kind to her. Right from the beginning Asfandyar had made this journey so easy. Helping her, guiding her, having her back. He had been with her every step of the way. Now a year and a half later, she felt like she had been his all her life.

Everything before Asfandyar seemed hazy, like a bad dream that she had finally woken up from. Like she had been underwater for the longest time and was just now learning how to breathe again. Now everytime he wasn't near her she would feel the gasping loss of him. It was like she could never get enough of him.

All of these thoughts had started flooding her mind when she found their wedding album in one of the drawers. She was slowly rifling through it, soaking in each picture. When her eyes fell on the clock she realised she had spent way too long looking at it. Feeling distressed, she quickly closed it with a snap and returned it to its place.

She was in a bit of a dilemma that morning. All the doctors and other specialists working at the hospital were scheduled to have their photos taken that day for the official website of the hospital which had finally started functioning again, thanks to Asfandyar's efforts. 

She normally didn't spend too long getting ready and was usually not concerned about her appearance that much but that day nothing seemed good enough. The past few days had been both emotionally and physically rough, for reasons she didn't quite understand herself. She had been feeling unusually tired and unwell and all her insecurities were kicking in.

She really wanted to look her best. Asfandyar's picture would probably be at the top, right next to Dr. Shehroze. And when people would get to her picture and read the name under it 'Dr. Zubia Asfandyar Ali Khan', they would realise she was his wife. And she wanted to look that part. The rational part of her knew this was silly but that day she couldn't help it. She started rummaging around in the closet, throwing out one piece of clothing after the other, liking nothing.

–

Asfandyar walked inside the room fresh from the shower and dressed in a grey shirt and black pants. He stared at the sight before him in amusement. His normally neat and tidy room looked like someone had blasted something in there. Brightly coloured dupattas littered the bed and as he moved further inside the room he stepped on a blue kameez.

"Yeh kya horaha hai yahan?" He asked her, picking it up and placing it on the chair. Zubia, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, looked up from the pile of clothes she had been staring at and took in the sight of him. He looked effortlessly handsome all the time and Zubia, who was already in a bad mood, got even more irritated at that. 

"Kuch nahi!" She snapped, returning to her struggle. Asfandyar, now even more confused at his wife's behaviour, was wondering whether to continue questioning her or let her be. He was no expert on wives and their mood swings and since Zubia very rarely acted like this it was still a relatively new and unexplored territory in their marital life.  And he wasn't really sure if he wanted to explore it. 

"Okay..." He said, putting his hands in his pockets. After a few seconds he went and sat down next to her. 

"Zubia kia masla hai? Batao mujhe" He asked her, taking her hand. She sighed, not really sure how to explain herself.