"You're going to be my present and my future. You're going to hold all my babies because I'm going to be the lucky man to marry you. You're going to love me again, Maryam Khan. Slowly and then all together. And I will watch you as you do."
Imran and...
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I was running. From someone or to reach somewhere I didn't know. But, I was running down a dark hallway that reeked of something familiar. Chemicals and Lysol.
A sheen of sweat covered my forehead but I didn't stop until I see a ray of light falling on a brown door in the darkness that has me skid to a halt. I was panting as a result of the sprint and my heart only picked up pace when I push the door open. Baba layed there on the stretcher, oxygen mask covering half of his face.
"Mera bahadur bacha." He whispered in the quiet room as I stood at the door, not moving a muscle. I watch him raise his arm into the air for me to take. Like a child taking his first step, I place my wobbly feet one after the other in his direction, reaching for his extended arm.
Suddenly, a shrill sound coming from the monitor grabs my attention. The green line on the screen had now gone red and flat. Confused, I glance back at the stretcher where baba lay, only to find a corpse in his place wrapped in a spotless white shroud.
I tremble awake, blinking my eyes to clear the vivid scene.
"It was a dream," I mumble to myself, after moving to sit up and panting for air while rubbing my face. "It was just a dream."
I throw the duet off me, noticing that I was back in our room and that I'd slept on our bed. Turning to my right, I frown when I see Imran's side of the bed empty. Did he leave for work? From the bright sunlight seeping in through the curtains, I could tell it was probably around 10. But I had no sense of what it was today.
The door to our room flies open and Imran steps in with a tray in his hands. His face legit transforms into a bright smiling one when his eyes land on me. Setting the tray on the dressing table, he makes his way over and instantly wraps his arms around me.
"Assalam alaikum, meri jaan." He greets into my hair. "I missed you."
Unwarranted tears brim my eyes at that sentence and I bury my face in his neck, fisting his t-shirt in my hands. "I missed you too," I whisper because that is the truth. I was in a dark place these past couple of weeks, away from myself, away from him. It feels as though finally, Allah has sent me back to where I belong. In his strong arms that is my home.
"Slept well?" Imran inquires, pulling away slightly so he could glance at me. I nod my head in return, offering him a meek smile. Imran gazes deep into my eyes, as though reading the partial lie I just fed him. Leaning down, he pecks both my eyes and my nose. Taking my ear lobe between his teeth, he makes sure his beard is more than grazing my cheek and bites on it earning a giggle from me.
And he doesn't just stop there but continues to rub his cheek against mine. I go from giggling to chuckling to full-blown laughter. "Imran, stop!"
