If only, I saw the light..

Epilogue

Six months later:

AINA

I woke up to the smell of pancakes. This is why I loved my husband. One of the reasons anyway. He always knew what I wanted for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. Pretty much every meal. I sighed and rolled over to see a cardboard box on the bed. I had always been a curious person and I instantly sat up to check what was in it. As if he was spying on me from somewhere, Amaan and Sheru entered the room as soon as I rose.

"Good morning, birthday girl. Breakfast is ready," he said.

"What's this?" I asked. He first looked at the box, then at Sheru and then back at me. 

"Umm..that..uh...I got you something. Yeah..yes.. It's for you," he said, nervously looking everywhere but at me. 

"O-kay," I said and lifted the lid off the box. And I stared. At the dozing ball of fur in the box. It was a Labrador puppy about five weeks old. I gently picked it up and held it close to my chest. The pup opened its eyes and stared right back at me. My eyes were burning and my voice had become raspy with emotions.

"You..you got me a puppy?"

He nodded and said, "I didn't know what to get you. You don't like gifts, in general. But this one is so cute. I figured you couldn't say no to him. Also, Sheru really likes him. They had a good time at the park today. Didn't you?" Sheru started thumping his tail.

"D-Do you like him?" he asked.

"I...I...love him. Thank you." I set the puppy down and almost flung myself at him. He caught me easily, wrapped me in an embrace and kissed the top of my head saying, "Happy birthday!" I lifted my head to look into his eyes. I could honestly get lost in them. His eyes were the mirror to him and I had been fortunate to see his cold, distant gaze change into a warm, compassionate one over the years. 

"What are we naming him?" he asked. "Simba," I said immediately and turned to see the two fur babies pawing at each other. "I really need to kiss you now," I told him. Amaan laughed and said, "I am all yours." I pressed my lips against his and kissed the hell out of him saying, "Yes, you absolutely are."

**********

Life had been busy in the last six months. I had to take over as CEO of Zaman Industries after dad's death. Learning on the job while balancing a healing home life was tough, but I managed. We managed. Dad's suicide hadn't shocked me but it had hurt me a lot. I knew that an egoist, proud, status conscious man like my father would never be able to face the humiliation and I had often wondered why he had waited so long to kill himself. I understood that he was a coward hiding behind power but, I still missed him. The legal case was still being prosecuted in court. According to the lawyers, there would be no pardon for any of those imprisoned; in fact, Ali Baksh and a few others who had been directly involved in mom's and Amaan's family's murders would be hanged. I still thought it was strange that I didn't know what reality was for most of my life.

I started my own cafe 15 days ago; I had always dreamt of it but never really knew how to go about doing things. Amaan really pushed me to face my fears and today I was really proud of what I had achieved. My husband insisted that I name the cafe "Nilofer's" and he designed the logo too - a water lily. He also initiated a chain of orphanages in the city because of his past and named them "Safar" to commemorate Sahira and Farhana aunty. Amaan never admitted to it but he liked taking care of people who meant something to him. So, it didn't surprise me when he contacted Abdul Rehman baba and offered him a job as a caretaker of our houses in Daryabagh. We also decided to visit the place regularly every summer.