Written Among The Stars.

Chapter 32 - Testing times

A few weeks later

As she folded her prayer mat after Isha prayer, her phone rang. She got up and received it but the next thing she heard made the earth slip from underneath her feet.

She collapsed on the floor as she felt her whole world crashing in front of her eyes. Aaban quickly came to her side and picked her up.

"Haneen? What happened?" He asked worriedly.

"Aaban, Baba." She cried hysterically, clutching his shirt tightly.

"What happened, jaan? [Love] Say something. You are scaring me."

"He collapsed." She managed to stutter as he hugged her tightly.

Her father was her only strength and pillar of support. She was so vulnerable right now. She felt like she was standing in a vacuum and someone was constricting all the tissues of her body.

"Come on. Let's go." He picked her up and rushed towards the hospital emergency where he was taken to.

As she reached there, she came to know that the doctors had stabilized him for now but he needed a valve replacement surgery as soon as possible.

Haneen was not in her senses at that time. Her mother had asked Aaban to take her home right now because she wasn't in a stable condition. She had begged him to let her stay there but he had to take her back.

Ever since she was home, she had been sitting on her prayer mat, crying her heart out to the most merciful, to the most beneficent, begging Him for mercy. She knew that atleast there was someone who'd never leave her hand, who'd never let her wander alone in the darkness, who knew what she had been going through in her married life since the start. Her married life of eight months was nothing more than just being acquaintances. Aaban never talked to her like a true companion, like a life partner. She knew it was Allah's test for her, for Allah Always tests his dearest soldiers. She knew that she had to prove her mettle. She still had a slight hope that maybe someday, everything would turn upside down.

She bowed before her lord, the one and only, her forehead touching the ground and her tears soaking the prayer mat.

Aaban felt his heart twitching into a million knots at the sight in front of him. He just wanted to kneel down before her and make for every mistake of his.
He wanted to go to her and console her that everything was going to be okay. But his limbs weren't cooperating with him. He was watching her with glassy eyes. He knew he had to be there for her at this difficult time. He knew whatever he had done in the past few months with her was unforgivable.

Haneen sat in an upright position, moving her hands in front of her face, she cried hysterically for the health and life of her father. She begged, she pleaded. That was the most she could do. Her father was the only support she had in her life. Yousaf had been supportive as well but nothing could compare to a father when it comes to his daughter.

And now her only pillar of strength and bravery, who had taught her to face every challenge of the world, was in the hospital fighting the battle of life.

Why was life so unfair to her? She didn't know the answer. Any girl of her age would have given up under such circumstances. She was married yet they were strangers to each other. She had him by her side but not more than just a symbol of her marriage. She had faced every problem, every test with strength, bravery and courage alone. But now, she couldn't handle it anymore. Everything was falling apart like a house of cards. She could see her life finishing in front of her eyes.
She was trying not to complain to Allah about her hardships but she couldn't help it.

Eventually, she ended up asking Him, "Why me, Allah? Why always me?"

She was begging Him for mercy, for His blessings. Suddenly, a pair of strong arms held her by her shoulders from behind. She looked back to find Aaban kneeling on the mat beside her with thousands of regrets in his golden-blue pools. She was not thinking about anything else right now, she just buried herself in him. She had been wanting to do this, all this time. She wanted someone to hold her right now and save her from breaking apart. She always had a smile plastered on her face but she was falling apart from inside. She soaked his shirt with her precious tears and mumbled prayers for her father followed by Aaban's Ameen after every prayer. All the while, he kept holding her as if she would shatter like delicate glass if he left her even for a split second.