Yaar-e-Bereham

Chapter Seven

زندگی کس طرح بسر ہو گی
دل نہیں لگ رہا محبت میں

Zindagi kis tara basar ho gi
Dil nahi lag raha muhabat mein
~Jaun Eliya

I was right. He didn't address me for the rest of the drive and I was fine with that. He can take his attitude and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. I wasn't going to let him be mean to me and get to say what he did.

We reached home around seven a.m. and his mother was waiting for us in the living room having her morning tea. She placed her cup on the table when she saw us entering.

"Kal raat toh tum dono nay dara he diya tha, nah tumhara phone chal raha tha nah Mariam ka," Ma said making me sit beside her.

"Bus rastay mein teez barish shuru ho gai thi or usski waja se signal nahi aa rahay thay phir gari bhi band ho gai thi, ap pereshan nah howa keray ab hum bharay ho gaye hain." Zain explained to his mother coming to her side on the other side, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Beta ji ap apnay abu keh umer keh ho jaye beshak meray leye ab meray chotay betay he rahay ge," She pulled on his cheek, earning a fake angry look from him.

I smiled at the interaction.

She laughed in return, "Acha yeh choro, Mariam apni bili toh dekhao." She said pointing to the carrier.

"Yeh dekhay, yeh hai Coal, mera chota sa pyara sa baby," I cooed picking him up and holding him in front of Ma.

"Haye yeh toh bohat cute hai," She took him in her arms.

Coal rubbed his head on Ma's shoulder taking an instant liking to her but when his eyes landed on Zain beside her his mouth formed into a hiss and he tried to claw him, making Zain frown at him, standing up he left for the room.

Ma and I snickered turning our attention to Coal who was making cute gestures at Ma to pet him which she did to his heart's content and he slept in her lap as we both continued talking.

______________

Zain left for the office soon after without resting or eating breakfast. It was as if he was avoiding me and I didn't think more about it.

After talking to Ma for some time, she told me to rest for a few hours and I nodded, knowing I was extremely tired from the extra long journey from Islamabad to Lahore.

I took the sleeping coal from her lap and went to our bedroom. Soon after Coal and I had made ourselves comfortable on the bed, sleep taking over me for the next few hours.

When I woke up it was already time for lunch and I quickly got dressed in a plain white shalwar kameez with a white chikankari over it, applied light makeup, and pulled my hair in a loose bun. Set up the litterbox for Coal who was sniffing around everything taking in the new surroundings and once again set my clothes in the cupboard. I set my makeup and perfumes neatly on the dressing table and added my toiletries in the shower. Now the room had a feminine touch to it and looked as if a woman lived there too.

Good. He should know that it is not only his room now.

My books were still in the boxes that the maids had now moved from the car to our room while I was sleeping and deciding on setting them up later I went down, finding the house empty except for Armeena Api, who the maid told me was in her room.

I knocked on her open door, finding her playing with her son on the bed. She looked up at the sound and smiled, waving me to come in.

"Sab kaha hain?" I asked sitting down beside her son on the bed.