Fizah

Alvida

"اور کیا مانگوں مین خدا سی مجھے تو جو مل گیا"

"Kahan hai?"

Zahid grumbled as soon as the deafening beep cut off and the call connected to Ehan while the latter had the audacity to roll his eyes at his cribbing so early in the evening as he liked to put it and he so badly wished for Zahid to see the way his eyes rolled and understand that he was now a grown up.

"Layla ke ghar." Ehan grumbled back in the same tone Zahid used. Zahid frowned at the mention of Layla and looked down at his watch.

"Kya kar raha hai wahan?" Zahid probed further while having fun.

"Toh apni mangetar se milne tere ghar aaunga?" It cracked him up as he threw his head back and forth, laughing merrily at his cousin's expense. It conjured up the images of their teenage years when Ehan had come to Pakistan on break and the times Farasha, Ehan and him spent together.

Zahid Adnan changed so much in the last two years and slowly crawled back to his fetus self as Fizah liked to call it after Adnan sahb was put behind the bars for all the deeds he had done to others. He hadn't had an ounce of remorse when Waseem Adnan was sentenced with lifetime prison for fraudulence and murder of his family members. It took him time to get used to the fact that his father was now under lifetime prison and perhaps, a part of Zahid wanted his father to repent for the sins but when he was being shifted from custody to the prison, he was killed by one of his own men, it was hard for them to digest but in the end it was how the Almighty had willed, for Allah is Al-Adl. The most Just.

The world became the attestor of their love and relationship, yearning for what they had and blessing them for what they would have in the future. At first, it was a bit hard for them to digest this Zahid Adnan– all soft and all in love and he couldn't be blamed either because when he climbed up to the heights, he was bitter.

They said Fizah was his overrated blessing but only he knew that she was his only blessing as everything was going to reduce to ashes one day when they all would be gone. She was the only blessing who held his fingers and taught him to walk in the path of light again and she would be the only blessing who would wait for him near the gates of paradise to hold his hands and walk him into the gardens.

"Stop being a pain to him, Zahid." Fizah took his phone from his hands and glued it to her ears, "Kya haal hai dewar sahb, baaton se toh nahi lag raha ke coffee ka nasha utra hai." She, then, high-fived her husband. Her bond with his friends grew stronger as the time went by– so much that she had begun to call them bhai.

"Bring Layla over and be here before the event starts."

"I don't thi-"

"It's okay, I'll make sure Layla is comfortable here. Please, Ehan bhai." And there was no way he could deny her after this. Ehan and Fizah had grown to be the best of friends amongst all– sharing vibes of the same kind and they enjoyed the perks of being youngest to the entirety. They were pampered by Zahid's friends although they liked to pull a cover on Ehan so he wouldn't go around and gloat.

"Ah, I don't think Emaad is going to like that." Zahid twitched the corner of his lips to push her buttons.

"Get over it, it's not the first time I'm calling them bhai." Fizah patted his shoulder feigning tears as she tip-toed and kissed her husband on his temple.

"That's enough banter for now, I'll go look for my sister in law." Whispering to his frozen self, Fizah strutted away. No matter how intimate they were and had been, he could never get used to her touch.