Be-shumaar

TWO

Apni shaamon mein hissa phir kisi ko na diya,
Ishq tere bagair bhi maine tere se hi kiya

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Mehr landed in Delhi a few hours after sunrise. A car was waiting for her to take her to the hospital. During the drive, her eyes kept looking out of the window. Delhi hadn't changed much in the past years, but still it looked different to her. Maybe because she had changed.

It took her almost an hour to reach the hospital, and by that time, Tahir was already awake. When Mehr entered the room, Tahir had his eyes widened in surprise.

"Baba?" Mehr's eyes filled with tears. He looked so weak, lying on the hospital bed.

"Mehr, beta? Aap yaha?" Tahir could barely get his words out.

"Shhh. Mat bolein," She held his hands. "Aaram karein. Main kahi nahi jaa rahi hoon."

Tahir was so happy to see his daughter back home. He obliged to her and closed his eyes to rest. Mehr then noticed her brother, who was standing in one corner of the room with a subtle smile on his face.

"Bhai," She rushed towards him and he took her in a bone-crushing hug. They were a typical sibling pair, always fighting and hitting one another. They never showed affection to each other, but today was different. Maybe because they were meeting after so long, or because their father's health had taken a toll on both of them.

"I missed you," He kissed her forehead.

"I know right." She chuckled with a heavy heart. "I'm too good to not to be missed."

"Where is Ammi?" She asked.

"She was here the whole night, so I sent her home in the morning to freshen up." He informed her. He had asked his driver to get a few of his clothes to the hospital and had taken a shower in the small bathroom of the hospital room.

He then suggested to Mehr to go back home since she had travelled and needed some rest. She resisted at first because she didn't want to leave Tahir, but eventually Mahad convinced her.

An hour later, she was walking inside her home. Her mother, Faiza, was over the moon to see her daughter back. She hugged her for a long time.

After a prolonged reunion, Mehr went to shower while Faiza went to the kitchen to make her daughter her favorite aloo paratha. Mehr used to love the parathas that her mother used to cook for her, and never used to share them with Mahad.

"So good," Mehr moaned to the taste of the paratha. She had missed them so much.

After getting her tummy full, Faiza left for the hospital while Mehr went to get some sleep. She had stayed up the previous night as she was too stressed.

It was past lunchtime when she woke up from her nap. And after waking up, she was hungry again. It was something about coming back home, you are always hungry.

She went to the kitchen to look for something to eat. While shuffling through the cabinets, a maid interrupted her. "Ma'am, do you want anything?"

Mehr turned to look at her and recognized her immediately. "Rekha?"

Rekha was a woman in her mid-fifties and had worked with the Hussains for over a decade now.

"Yes, ma'am. How are you?" Rekha was pleased by the fact that Mehr remembered her after all these years.

"I'm fine. And don't call me ma'am, just Mehr." Mehr replied.

Rekha nodded her head in shock and asked her again if she wanted anything. The Mehr that Rekha knew would never enter the kitchen.

Mehr told her that she was hungry, so Rekha offered to set the dining table and serve her food. But Mehr shrugged it off saying it would be too much effort for one person and just took out a plate and served herself lunch. As Mehr walked out of the kitchen casually with her plate, Rekha stared at her back in utter surprise.

Mehr had been pampered by her family a lot, especially her mother. And that pampering had spoilt her. She was used to having servants at her beck and call, luxurious things at her disposal with absolutely no value for money. All her stuff had to be perfect, she had so many tantrums about everything and if she found anything that wasn't according to her preference, she'd scream at the servants. The old Mehr was also self-absorbed and proud, who thought she could have anything she wanted. She just had to tell her mother, and she'd convince her father to buy it for her. But it all changed when Mehr realised that not everything could be bought off money; when she realised that she couldn't have the one that she had desired the most in this world despite all the money she had.

After having lunch, she got dressed and left for the hospital. There Mahad told her that the doctors checked on Tahir and he was making a really good recovery. And that if everything went well, he'd be discharged in a few days. A few of their relatives came to meet Tahir as well. They were also excited to meet Mehr after so long. Mehr prayed for all of them to leave soon while fake smiling at all of them.

Fake. That was what all of her smiles had been in the last four years. It wasn't that she never tried to be happy, she did. God knew she really did. But it was like her soul was not capable of happiness anymore. That was the reason why she had buried herself under work, so that she could not listen to the cries of her heart; not feel the pain that had been bubbling inside her for such a long time now.

Mehr sat near Tahir and was making him eat his dinner with her own hands. The relatives had finally left a while ago, while Mahad and Faiza had gone to the canteen to get coffee.

"Will you go back to Mumbai again?" Tahir asked her.

She looked into his eyes, filled with the hope that she'd say no. She didn't want to make her sick father upset, but she also couldn't give him false hope. "I don't know." She replied.

Tahir sighed and nodded. He wanted her to stay with him, but he didn't want to force her to do so.

That night, Mehr applied for a month-long leave in her office. Her boss asked for the reason and she told him about her father's condition. The leave was approved quickly since she was one of the most dedicated employees of the company and she had barely taken any holiday in the last four years.

She hoped that in a month Tahir would start to feel better and then she could leave again.

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And yes, the shayari at the top, if anyone knows who has written it then please let me know.