Enwrapped

Chapter 18

Tick. Tock.

Tick. Tock.

Ten hours left.

In ten hours, Saboor would finally be on her way back home. Ten grueling days of representing her father's company were over already, but somehow she was still stuck in them. She had sent her reports, images, and revenue charts to her father's team, and while she had received acknowledgment from them, she was waiting patiently, perhaps for something more.

Perhaps a phone call from her father.

Or a message.

Keeping the phone on the bedside table, she finally stood up to see the mess that her hotel room had become. While she could have roamed around Singapore, done some shopping, bought trinkets and accessories, and all the wonderful things she had heard about this place, she had been stuck in this room for the past two days, doing almost nothing. The last thing she remembered eating was a sweet bread roll at the breakfast buffet.

From the window, she could see the lights shining all around the city, animating the nightlife for young tourists. The dark room around her was the exact opposite. The sheets were pristine, for room service had changed them earlier, but they were crumpled. A suitcase lay on the floor, waiting to be packed and taken back home. The chair was buried under used shirts, pants, and shawls. The bathroom door had been open forever.

She ran to the bathroom, covering her mouth, stumbling over the suitcase in her way, and sat on the cold floor. Her head bowed over the toilet bowl, but nothing came out except water. Coughing and sputtering, she rubbed a hand over her chest, trying to soothe the pain, but nothing helped. Everything spiraled around her.

"Why?" she could only croak. Whimper after whimper, sob after sob raked through her body. This pain was something else. It wasn't just physical.

~

"Ma'am, are you okay?" asked the young air hostess. She was smiling a little but terribly worried, looking at this passenger.

Saboor only nodded, then barely managed to ask for a glass of water.

She had spent most of the flight asleep, but now, it was time to fight her demons and hopefully put them to sleep again. She was trying hard to stay awake, trying hard not to escape, but the exhaustion had seeped into her bones.

It had become too much.

~

By the time she caught a taxi and came home, it was already late afternoon. Standing outside the main door of what she so dearly called her home, tears brimmed in her eyes. She wanted to rush in and run away at the same time. It was already a miracle how she could pretend to be normal for so long, and with such loving people beside her...

Fishing out the keys from her handbag, she opened the main door.

The house was silent, and yet, as always, like its inhabitants, it came to embrace her. Warm sunlight passed through the colorful mosaic of window panes, creating a rainbow at her feet. Saboor sighed, taking off her shoes and socks. Leaving her luggage behind by the staircase, she walked to the kitchen.

"Saboor, meri jaan? You're back!" Israa exclaimed aloud, abandoning her gloves and tools and running towards her.

"You should've called any of us—in fact, Mazhar was simply wasting his time watching TV; he could have come to pick you up at the airport..."

Israa went on and on about how the flight must have tired her and how she should have food and sleep, but also how she would call Muzammil and let him know so he could come early.