Fasaana

EPILOGUE

It's been occurring to me
I'd like to hang out with you for my whole life.

***********

Sehrish gasped when she saw her newborn baby brother, all wrapped up in a blue colored blanket.

"He's so cute." She whispered, still looking at him. He was lying in his cot. "I love him."

Zoya, who was resting on the hospital bed, smiled. "I thought you'd be upset since you didn't get a sister."

"Just look at him, mama. How can someone be upset at that cute face?" She was absolutely smitten by the hours old child and it was visible on her face.

"Do you want to hold him?" Shahveer asked.

Her eyes shone with excitement. "Yes, can I?"

"Of course, you can. He's your brother." He made Sehrish sit on the couch before carefully placing the baby in her lap. "There, always keep a hand below his neck."

Sehrish did just as instructed by her father. "Oh my God, I am going to love you so much."

Zoya had given birth last night, and all of her family members were there with her. Except for Rohit who stayed back with his two daughters and Sehrish. At the break of dawn, everyone had left to get some rest. And then after breakfast, Ziva and Saahir had brought Sehrish to the hospital.

She stayed more than an hour with her baby brother before Shahveer told her that it was time for her to go back home.

"Can't I stay a little longer?" She pouted.

"No, princess. You're a child yourself and hospital isn't very ideal for you. Come on, mama will come home tomorrow with your brother and then you can stay with him all the time." He told her.

Shahveer took Sehrish home himself, since he needed to take a quick shower before rushing back to his wife. Meanwhile, Saahir and Ziva stayed with Zoya.

"I think we should make one of these as well." Saahir commented, looking at the infant.

It made Ziva gasp. "It has hardly been a month to our wedding and you want a child?" Yes, they got married after just ten months of dating. The long distance relationship was just not his thing. He wanted her close to him, always. He wanted to wake up and fall asleep to her beautiful face everyday. So first, he asked her. And after she said yes, he told his parents to send a rishta to Mahmood. Since the families already had a set of children happily married, it was more than easy for the second pair as well.

"With you, I can have a million of these babies now." He honestly said.

"Gosh, I've married an insatiable man." She face-palmed herself.

__________________

The next day Zoya was discharged and Shahveer drove his wife and son home.

No, not the apartment they'd first met and fallen in love in.

When they found out that they're going to have another child, they knew that that apartment would not be enough for them. So they started house hunting. It didn't take them much time to find a three-story home(including the terrace) in a decent locality. It was a five bedroom house, with two master bedrooms on each floor. With a three car parking space and a small lawn, it felt perfect for them. Sure, the cost of the house was high, but Zoya and Shahveer together managed to afford it.

Everyone welcomed the newest member of the family and his mother when they arrived. The living room was decorated with flowers and a cake was sitting on the table.

A couple of hours later, Zoya went into the nursery (that Shahveer had painted all by himself), to feed his son. It was painted in neutral colors. A white cot was placed against the wall and it had the softest mattress, pillows and blanket Shahveer could find. But a new addition to that room, that even surprised Zoya, was three black and white photo frames that were hung on the wall. Those were the pictures that Shahveer had just clicked after their son was cleaned after birth. It was the close up shots of hands, legs and sleeping face.

Shahveer came into the room as well, looking for his wife.

"This is so beautiful." Zoya said, pointing at the pictures.

"Yeah," He grinned.

"How did you get them framed so soon?"

He dismissed it with a shrug.

It wasn't long before Sehrish joined them as well.

"I was missing him." She said and came closer to hold his tiny fingers.

"Mama, what will we call him?" She asked.

Zoya looked at Shahveer.

"You get to decide the name." He said to Zoya.

She thought for a while before whispering, "Sarafaraz Khan."

After Sarfaraz was asleep, she put him in the cot and turned on the baby monitor before the three of them left the room.

They came out and Shahveer announced the name to everyone. That resulted in a lot of excited gasps and shrieks.

Zoya watched everyone congratulating and feeding sweets to each other. It made her feel grateful for taking the one decision she took years ago. She was glad she chose herself over everyone else even though she had no idea what the future held for her. And she was sure that her twenty two year old self would be proud of the woman she had become today.

If she hadn't walked out of that toxic relationship and continued to sacrifice herself little by little, she'd have never gotten the chance to live the beautiful life that she was living today. And this thought made her believe that you can change your destiny. All you need is a lot of courage and hard work for it.

One bold step taken by just one woman had changed so many lives for the better. If Zoya hadn't stood up for herself, her sisters might have been married off to the same kind of bastards. And Sehrish would have always been treated like a burden in her own home.

And that is why, when you educate a woman, you educate an entire community. A result of her growth, we all do better.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

When Zoya was pregnant with Sehrish, she had told Aarti that Rizwan's family would not let her name her own child.

And today, Shahveer made Zoya name their son.

Life had indeed come a full circle.

PS: A few of you wanted Rizwan to see Zoya's life now. I had contemplated that idea as well, but then I realized that he isn't worth it. He isn’t worth it to even watch Zoya live a happy, healthy life with her husband and children. I won't let his evil eye fall on this family. His chapter was done and dusted when Zoya left his office.