Selfless Love [Completed]

Chapter 14

Rudaba had woken up for Fajar and was going to do ablution when she found Zain in the kitchen making breakfast. She was confused at why he was preparing such an early breakfast. It was only 5:30 in the morning. She was going to speak to him first but then went for ablution instead. After completing her namaz, she returned to the kitchen and Zain was still making breakfast. The visuals in front of her were telling enough that he was struggling. She slightly shook her head and went over to his side.

"Mein help kardun?"

Zain was trying to turn the side of the pancake but was failing miserably when he looked up at her question.

"Tum itni jaldi kaise uth gai?"

"Roz uthati hun namaz ke liye but roz tum aise nashta nai bana rae hotey. Khairiyat? Itna jaldi uthe ho?"

"Haan woh ek meeting hai. New York se 2 hours ki drive per hai tu jaldi nikalna tha isliye."

"Mujhe utha dete mein help... khair lao mein bana deti hun."

"Nahi Rudaba, ho gaya bas..."

"Kia hogaya? Its burning and you haven't turned the side yet. Move let me do it!"

Zain nodded and moved to the side while Rudaba took control of the pancake and managed to just save it from complete burn. It took her less than five minutes to make two more pancakes when Zain asked her if she wanted help.

"Coffee mein bana leta hun. Tumhari help hojaegi and time save. Tumhare liye bhi banaoun?"

Rudaba smiled a little and nodded and Zain took it as her answer. Meanwhile she made two more pancakes for herself. A part of her wanted to have breakfast with him because she knew all day long, she will be home alone and if now she gets to sit with someone else and have her food then what's better. Her university holidays were still not over, she was going to start again in a week.

Their conversations were usually simple. Not too frequent and not very long but everyday their number of conversations went up just like their comfort level with each other. It had been a month to Shahroze's death and slowly and gradually, Rudaba learnt to move on. There came days when she missed him, there were also days when she cried for him alone in her room but there were also days when she smiled thinking about the time she had spent with him.

Since, Zain had told her that Shahroze wanted her to happy and satisfied and that this was his last wish, Rudaba made extra effort to keep herself occupied. She would go out for walks, sometimes alone and sometimes with Zain. She started to learn cooking with the help of internet and some from her mother and at times Zain also helped her cook a new dish she hadn't heard of before. Once a week she also went to a children's hospital where she would spend time with children who had diseases like Cancer, diabetes or an illness that needed them to stay in hospital continuously.

Keeping herself busy was a way of keeping herself happy. And out of everything else she had started to do, visiting the children in hospital made her the happiest. She loved spending time with them. She loved playing with them with their toys and she loved colouring their books with them. Seeing those kids happy around her in a high spirit despite the life-threatening illnesses they were fighting, she would feel content and happy. She felt encouraged, inspired and motivated to move on seeing the children live with such high spirits and confidence. And in all this, she would also remember that man who taught her to become like this.

------------

After Zain left for work, she also headed out to the hospital. It was the day of the week she would go and visit the kids. She was going in way early today. Most of the times she went in the afternoon but today she was going early to spend longer with the kids. She entered inside and found the nurse and doctor outside the children's ward. They greeted Rudaba with a smile on their faces and she reciprocated.