Heaven From Here

epilogue

Three and a half years later

"Bhai, how do you know if what you are feeling is love?" Saif frowned at Syaffiq's words as he pressed his phone closer to his ears.

"Are you having second thoughts?" he asked, crossing his legs as he leaned against his car, watching the automatic doors at the arrival side like a hawk.

"No, I just...I want to know. Please?" Syaffiq pleaded from the other side.

"As pussy whipped as this is going to sound, Hanna makes me feel safe. There is no power trip, no manipulation, no gaslighting. She comforts me over the smallest things. And most of the time she doesn't even know that she is doing it. Her presence is enough for me."

"Yeah, you do sound pussy whipped."

"Shut the fuck up, yaar," Saif chuckled. "You okay though?"

"...Yeah I am okay," Syaffiq said in a quiet voice. "I'm scared you know, it's a whole load of responsibility being a husband, taking care of someone."

"But if you are married to the right person, then it's one helluva ride. The best one," Saif smiled as he watched the doors open and Hanna walk out in her nude hijab, grey loungewear set, pulling along a carry on. She beamed the moment she set eyes on Saif and something clicked back in his chest. And he could finally breathe easier.

"She's more than just a person I love, she's my best friend. And I am scared, of how Mummy-ji is with her. How that could taint our relationship," Syaffiq continued worriedly.

"Look, we can't control Mummy-ji but you can control how you react to things. Don't be like me, Syaffiq," Saif continued as he watched Hanna hawklike as she crossed the street to come to him.

"So, basically do everything the opposite of what you have done, got it. Bhabhi here yet?" he asked.

"Yeah, she just got here," he said with a sigh of relief as she walked over to Saif with a big smile.

"Send her my salaams. See you all later," Syaffiq said as he hung up with a click.

"And why is my husband, who I've missed so very much, glaring into the phone instead of running up to me and professing his undying," Hanna said dramatically as she walked into Saif's embrace and sighed happily as she nestled against his shoulder.

"Syaffiq is having cold feet I think. He was asking me what love is," he murmured into her hijab. The familiar smell of the detergent spreading warmth in his chest.

"Wallahi, he better freaking propose. I can't bear hearing Layla whine about it anymore!" she chuckled against his coat.

"In more important news; welcome home Dr. Hanna!" Saif exclaimed happily, peppering kisses on Hanna's temple.

"Stop," Hanna giggled. "Don't jinx it. I still have to work on the thesis corrections."

"Well, you already passed and it's only minor corrections," he said kissing the tip of her nose lovingly.

"And I couldn't have done it without you," she said sweetly gazing up to him.

He felt overwhelmed with emotion as he studied his wife. How she had managed to turn his bleak life into something so dreamlike. How her presence made everything feel like heaven from then on.

"Come on, Dr. Hanna," Saif said as he cleared her throat. "Let's go home, Bunty and Babli are waiting you for you."

"Hey Saif, it's Dr. Paari to you," she said with a raised eyebrow as she stepped away from her husband, her lips curved up in a cheeky smile.