After the truth

~10~

"Here, have this." Zayn handed Marwa a brown shopping bag. "I had no idea what to bring for dinner."

Marwa let down Lisa and told her to go in. A tear rolled down her cheek as she accepted the small gift her brother was giving her. With eyes on him, too shocked to believe he was real, she brought out a cute round packaging that had a small paper tag hanging down the little hole constituting the handle.

This was her favourite snack while growing up. It wasn't sold around since it was something Zayn and his twin will ask the restaurant owner to make for her. Fluffy coconut cake cut in small circle, and placed in layers with pineapple flavoured ice cream and whipped cream in between every layer of cake. To top it off, they'd design her initials, MH with blended strawberry and chocolate.

She stared at the snack in her hand, her heart aching at the memories it triggered. When things were still going great for them. She held the paper in her hands, it was bigger than usual. She cut off the thin rope holding it to the hole and unfolded it. It was a familiar painting but a little note was at the bottom end. It read; I'm sorry I was late.

Marwa stared at her brother's face. The face that strongly resembled her father's, but was softer with kindness and if she was still right, the love of Allah. She whispered his name and when she saw the tears that was gathered in his eyes, she moved towards him and let her arm wrap around his torso, holding him tight to ensure it was real and he wasn't just a figment of a fragile mind.

"Zayn." She cried harder and she could hear him sniff.

"I'm sorry I was late. That you went through so much and I wasn't here." He kissed her forehead.

"You're here now. That's all that matters." Marwa sighed, silently whimpering. Her brother was here and everything was going to be okay. After the tight hug, she invited him in, a large grin on her face.

"We were about to have dinner. Join us."

"That was my intention." He grinned.

Mukhlisa already set the table, albeit sloppily. It was still something. She grabbed Zayn's hands and pulled him to sit. Although he looked awkward in the chair since he was so tall.

"Mummy, is this daddy?" Lisa asked, placing forks beside each plate.

"No, silly. This is my brother, Zayn."

"How many brothers do you have?" Lisa asked, frowning.

"Mummy has three brothers." Zayn answered, tapping Lisa's nose.

"Mummy I want a brother too." Lisa whined, taking her seat.

Marwa let out an awkward laughter as she began to dish out the meal. She felt absolute happiness seeing her brother. It had been 15 years since he was gone.

"We could adopt one." Marwa stated, staring at Mukhlisa.

"You don't want to get married?" Zayn asked, interrupting Lisa's little hum.

"I don't plan on." She replied with a sad smile. "No one wants a woman with a child, I won't leave Mukhlisa. Besides I have little trust in people these days."

Zayn wrapped his hands around his sister's small one. He smiled, a feeling of happiness warmed his heart to know she was still small and hadn't changed that much. He gave her hands a squeeze of comfort and said; "you're what now? 4'11?"

Marwa playful glared at him and stuck her chin up, a proud smile on her face. "I'm 5'1"

"Wow. That's growth." Zayn said sarcastically, snorting.

"You never changed." Marwa smiled. "How's Zachariah?"

"He's fine. Taking care of work and some other things."

"When is he coming back?" Marwa leaned over the table. "I missed you guys. I tried calling the numbers baba and Ami left and it never went through."

"Really?"

"One time after watching a movie, Zulfa and I, grabbed a knife and went to meet the driver threatening to stab him if he didn't take us to you guys." Marwa started.

"What?!" Zayn began laughing.

"Serious. Mind you, he was 6 foot something and we were still tiny despite being just 10, I mean I was still tiny." Marwa snorted. "Baba Sajid began laughing like a wild boar. He collected the knife like it was pencils in our hands and said 'i won't tell your father because I know him. Don't try this again. It's dangerous.' we were just overwhelmed."

"Baba Sajid didn't tell our father? That's hard to believe."

Marwa busted into laughter, clapping her hands on the table.
"Imagine zulfa and I squat with hands raised and shaking like jellies."

Zayn began howling with laughter as Mukhlisa's joined in. Marwa grinned seeing them laugh. She continued eating her meal like she didn't just let two people almost choke on their spit from laughing too much.

When it was time for Zayn to leave, her eyes welled up with tears. After years of being apart, he was back but they didn't live together. Marwa packed up some food for him to have and hugged him tight, making him promise to visit her again.

As he drove away, Marwa smiled sadly. She never felt as lonely as she was feeling in this moment. Yes, she had Zulfa, and Mukhlisa but she missed home so much.

Sometimes, she would lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of how life would have turned out for her. She had planned to attend Harvard to study business administration. The thought of starting her own empire pushed her to study hard only to become a mother.

She wasn't complaining because she couldn't have asked for any other thing. Mukhlisa was her blessing from Allah. Although the means at which she had her remains traumatic for her, she loved her daughter nonetheless.

That night, Marwa tucked a sleeping Mukhlisa. Her hands gently caressed the little girl's hair as she studied her features. She wondered who the girl resembled. One thing for sure was her intelligence had to be a wonderful mix because despite Marwa's intelligence, Mukhlisa's precociousness had to be from the father's genes.

She placed a kiss on Lisa's forehead, whispering a light goodnight. Marwa made way to the kitchen. She grabbed the snack her brother got her and pulled the top open. Monday was another day, but she needed to watch a little more episodes of the vampire diaries. She plopped on the comfy couch and began watching, a satisfied sigh leaving her lips.