Another Forever

9 | r e m i n d e r

• f a a r i s •

Eight months ago, we left Pakistan after losing someone so dear to us to this place and now, eight months later, we were back here.

As soon as the flight landed, I searched for a cab and told it the address to the hotel. Mom was standing to my left, staring around with tears in her eyes, and Dad holding her shoulders to support her. Since Usama's death, anything that remotely reminds her of Usama makes her cry.

For me, I will say that time proved to be a great healer. It still hurts a lot but each day, it hurts a little less. Besides, my work has been keeping me busy. With Dad retired and Usama gone, all the burden had fallen upon me and I hardly have time to think about our loss, which was probably a blessing in disguise.

Mom wanted to visit Usama's grave and she had been crying for it for months now. In fact, she had been saying that she wanted to move to Pakistan permanently because her heart belonged here, to her son that was buried here. So I decided to take a one-week break from work and bring both of them here before they actually decide to move permanently.

The hotel was at fifteen minutes drive from the airport. Uncle Asghar had offered us to stay with them but after what happened, it didn't seem like the right thing to do.

After checking in, I went straight to my room to take some rest and call Hayat to inform her that we have landed safely. Cozying myself under the blanket, I clicked on her name on my iPhone and waited for her to answer the call.

After few seconds, her face appeared on the screen. "Hey, we just checked in." I said.

"Great. I am on my way to work now." She replied. She was dressed in a blue business suit, her hair straightened and falling on her shoulders. "Send my regards to Noor. Even though we have never met, I feel so bad for that poor girl." She said.

"I'll try. We will be visiting their house tomorrow." I said and she nodded.

"It's strange.  I mean, if things went right, we would have been sister in laws one day." She said.

"Hmm." I replied. In the last month, Hayat had drop many hints that she was ready to get married but I subtly ignored all of them. It was not like I didn't want to marry her. I do, but I am not mentally ready to get committed to anyone right now. I was planning on explaining this to her once I go back to states.

"Okay. My driver is here. Gotta go." She passed me a smile and then cut the call.

Once she cut the call, I put the mobile aside and thought about everything that had happened in the last year. A year ago, my biggest worry was to finish all my projects on time. But now, I have a family to hold together that had shattered because of one unfortunate accident. How do we go back from this?

°°°°°°°°°°

The next day, after visiting the graveyard, we went straight to Uncle Asghar's house. It was Fatima Aunty who opened the door and let us in. Both women hugged briefly and men exchanged pleasantries, while I stood there awkwardly. The house still looked the same, except the mahogany walls were painted beige now.

My eyes searched around the house on our way to the lounge, until we finally seated ourselves on the couches. Uncle was asking Mom and Dad about the flight and if there was any difficulty in the hotel. Everybody was carefully avoiding the topic of Usama and I understood why. Both families went through hell eight months ago and reliving those memories would only bring pain.

"Where is Noor?" Mama asked and I got attentive all of sudden.

"She will be back soon. She teaches arts in a tution centre nearby." Aunty replied.