Letters to Him#Wattys2016

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

It is rightly said that, 'You don't know the worth of something till it is gone far away from you, and it's too late to bring it back.' As we go on in life, we are blessed with a lot of blessings from Allah without even asking for it. Those are the types of blessings which are taken for granted. Those are the type of blessings whose value and worth are both lost to us. But that doesn't mean it has no worth or value, because when we think we don't need something it means that we haven't realized its worth, for everything that exists in this world has its own value. One such blessing that Ameer had gotten without asking for it was Qamar. But he never really knew her value. If he did then he wouldn't have been here now. His mind was reeling with the days they had spent together. He remembered that one specific point where he had snapped at her.

*

It had been a long day today and he was drained completely. He just wanted to go home and cuddle up with his daughter and sleep, but he had to see his parents first and Qamar too. His mom had told him that she wasn't keeping well these days. He sighed and took a turn, heading towards his parents' house. He reached there in five minutes, shut his car down, and got down the car and rung the bell. The door opened a few seconds, he couldn't see who was behind the door so he knew it was Qamar.

"Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh." He said loudly.

"Walaikumasalam warahmatullahi wabarakatuh." Came her frail voice. Ameer stopped, sure she was down most of the times these days but she never sounded this frail. So he turned to look at her. But what he when he turned was not something he was prepared to see. She had lost a lot of weight, her hair was cut short, and where she had waist length hair before her hair now only came up just above her shoulders. Her face looked gaunt and she had black circles underneath her eyes. What was wrong with Qamar? She squirmed in her place and tried to hide her hair with a shawl that was draped on her shoulders.

That snapped him out of his trance. He moved forward and held her hands which were burning hot to stop her from doing it. He didn't want her getting bothered with that scarf since she had a fever and that scarf would just make her feel itchy and hot.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Alhumdulillah Alaa kulli haal." She said with a weak smile on her face. Even in that state she looked beautiful with that smile. It felt like her whole face beamed and glowed when she smiled. That was what he admired in her, no matter how big or small the calamity was, she always smiled and tried to look at the bright side of the situation. No matter what the problem was she would never complain. Her lips would always utter a silent Alhumdulillah. He smiled back at her and helped her walk for she seemed to be having a difficulty walking.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" he asked after helping her sit down on one of the couches.

"They have gone to my parents' house." He asked.

"Your parent's house? Why?" he asked.

"I don't know I was sleeping when they left." She replied hastily turning her head towards the other side. He felt something was amiss. For these days his mother seemed to be having tears in her eyes always and now he knew Qamar was hiding something from him. Sure what she said was the truth for Qamar never lied, she just hid half of the truth. She was having trouble looking at him and started squirming in her place. That confirmed his thoughts; she was indeed hiding something from him. It seemed everybody was hiding something, which was about her, from him. He shrugged it off to show her he dropped it. But he would find it out, whatever it was, he promised himself.

He made dinner with her for she was adamant that she would be the one to make dinner so he thought he would help for she looked like she would collapse the very minute. His parents had come home and when he asked why they went there they didn't give him a clear answer.