Dear Shumail..

Chapter 26

14th January, 2020

Eram was lost in her thoughts, pondering over what Haya had told her. Her words had began to make sense and she somewhat was feeling confident that she could do it. She wanted to apologise to Shumail and have him forgive her, for such a long time. The whole year long she had just waited for him to return back and now that he was back, she wanted to say out all those words to him that she had been planning to say to him the whole year. She didn't had the courage to do so though, but now after having a conversation with Haya, she seemed to have got the confidence that she needed.

Her chain of thoughts was broken when the door opened and in ran her brother Zain. A smile spread across Eram's face looking at him.

"Aapi how can you be so careless!" Zain complained, coming to her side.

"I'm so sorry for scaring you." Eram apologised, placing her free hand on his cheek and lightly caressed it.

"You should apologise to Shumail bhai as well. He was the most scared. How can you do this aapi!" Zaid exclaimed lightly.

"Shumail was scared?" Eram asked surprised, looking at Zain with raised eyebrows.

"Of course he was! How else should you expect him to react when you were in the operation theatre getting treated?" Zain spoke. Eram gave him a nod and looked at her lap, feeling a bit happy that he was scared and worried for her. Her lips eventually curved up in a smile making Zain's forehead to wrinkle in a frown as he asked, "Why are you smiling?"

"Nothing." Eram quickly dismissed the question, shaking her head at him. "You tell me. You didn't miss your school, did you? What about homework?" Eram asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Didn't attend today but from tomorrow I'll be regular, and I've done my homework already."

"Good."

"Aapi?" Zain began and Eram looked at him in question. "Now that Shumail bhai is back, we will go to bhai's house or we will stay at our home?" Zain asked and Eram went silent, clearly at a loss of words to answer that question. The exact moment Shumail seemed to have opened the door and he happened to hear the question, as his gaze went to look at Eram, who happened to look who had entered, and their eyes met. Eram looked at Shumail for the answer and unable to look at her, he broke his gaze away from her and walked in the room, holding a tray in his hands. Eram felt hurt when Shumail looked away from her and she thought that he didn't wanted to have her back in his house, as she looked at her lap and tried to control her tears which threatened to spill.

"Of course your aapi will be staying with me!" Shumail answered placing the tray on the side table beside her bed, and his answer made Eram's head snap in his direction as she looked at him surprised. "And you, young man, will also stay with us." He smiled at Zain.

"Can I have my own room please?" Zain pleaded and Shumail chuckled at the teenager's enthusiasm.

"Sure you can."

"Then can I invite my friends for a sleepover? Please just once?"

"Zain!" Eram shook her head in no.

"You can." Shumail said, and Zain's face immediately lit up as he ran to Shumail and hugged him tightly, and Shumail wrapped his hand around him too.

"Aapi, you're so lucky to have bhai." He said looking back at Eram who just looked at Shumail and then back at him and gave a small smile.

"We should let your aapi rest. Come, let's go and have our dinner, shall we?" Shumail asked Zain and the young boy nodded his head. "There's soup for you. Drink it, then you have to eat your medicines." With that said, Shumail headed out with Zain. Eram looked over at the tray and slowly tried to reach it and removed the lid from the bowl with her free hand. Her right hand which was in a cast wasn't much of a help to her. She took hold of the tray with her left hand and placed it on her lap. Taking hold of the spoon, she took a spoonful of the soup and drank. She wasn't much of a fan of veggies from the start but considering her health, she silently kept drinking it and finished it whole. She took the medicines that Shumail had placed on the tray and placed the tray back in its place.