The Nearest Heaven

Part 18 - Progress

Part 18 – Progress

Mulan was playing on Faraaz's sleek TV, yet Fadiyah's attention was stuck on the two men next to her. Aaban was curled into her side, one of his hands were carelessly thrown over her thighs while he snored into the pillows. Faraaz, however, was in the only position that his body allowed – flat on his back. His normally smooth forehead was creased with wrinkles, marring his peaceful sleep and his eyebrows were furrowed. To Fadiyah, it was evident that he was not sleeping fitfully. Unable to help herself, she twisted into a more comfortable position where she was able to stretch and run her hands through Faraaz's silky chocolate locks. She knew that if he had been awake he would have surely fallen asleep, but since he was already asleep, Fadiyah prayed that it soothed him and ease his worries.

The rhythmic motion of running her fingers through his long hair and the gentle scraping of her nails against his head nearly lulled her into a sleep, but her fear was stronger. Fadiyah could not sleep knowing that her family was in danger. Her entire life at the moment in time seemed to be suspended between two horrible and equally terrifying sorts of evil. Ilham Ali and Rasheed Afzal.

In a heartbeat, Fadiyah knew that she would sacrifice her life for Faraaz and Aaban. Living did not seem particularly appealing to her without her parents and her Nana. After his death, her grandmother had become unbearably malicious and malevolent to Fadiyah without any reason. Her heart hurt and weighed heavily under the burden of suddenly being orphaned and then immediately unloved with the death of her beloved grandfather. In her mind, losing her life for Aaban and Faraaz seemed to be the only rational decision when considering how much she has lost already. There was a part of her that was afraid for how they might hurt after her death because she knew that undoubtedly, both Aaban and Faraaz had grown fond of her. Yet, she comforted herself with the idea that that they had only known her for a few months, there was no way that the attachment could be very deep.

However, Fadiyah seemed to be forgetting that one does not need to know someone for a long period of time for the attachment to be very deep. Love does not need to be known for long, it just needs to be true. Looking at Faraaz sleeping nearly beside her, her heart swelled – and in that moment, Fadiyah knew that she was in love with Faraaz. From the way that he looked at her and with a soft smile, to the way he greeted her when she first came to see him, and he easily waved away her folly of thinking that he was old with a laugh, to the way that he saved her nearly tatted reputation by marrying her in haste. Another quality that she loved of Faraaz was his massively generous heart, he was eager to help someone who was in trouble, eager to assist in any possible manner that he could. Faraaz was just the kindest person she had the pleasure of meeting and she adored the way that he had taken Aaban as his own and looked after him in every possible way.

There was no one singular reason that Fadiyah loved Faraaz, she eventually realized. She could not pinpoint it, because she found that it all led back to who he was as a person. She loved him because he was himself. He didn't pretend to be something that he was not, he did not hide behind some façade. He was unapologetically authentic.

Unable to help herself, Fadiyah smiled. Despite how their marriage began, she was glad that the challenges that life had thrown her way had led her to Faraaz and Aaban. They were the glittering gems, her guiding light now that everything seemed to be dark in her world.

As the song 'Be A Man' in the movie played, Aaban then turned to lie on his side with his arms stretched out widely, and while still asleep, he began singing along. Watching him, Fadiyah giggled as quietly as she could, but the vibrations of her laugh rocked the bed and woke Faraaz up. Groggily, he turned his head as much as he was able to and caught Fadiyah's smiling face. Her eyes were firmly fixated on Aaban as he sang and danced in his sleep, putting on a performance worthy of Broadway. "He is a character, is he not?" Faraaz questioned Fadiyah quietly regarding Aaban's little impromptu performance, his voice barely audible over Aaban's off-key singing.