BROKEN HALVES

1: STRANDED

Eyes were locked, and hearts were being pounded beneath their enclosures. Her hands were still in the grip of her two little soldiers, and she couldn't wait to hear their answers in whatever way it is they could. She didn't know the time they had spent with their eyes locked until Meeno moved towards her and tapped her shoulder.

"Be patient, Aisha. His mother is with you, don't act up please." She hushed into her ears and the moment Ummi's eyes fell from his face, they landed on their entwined hands. Laila had now made an appearance into the room, and she had her eyes fixed unshaken on the two bundles of joy.

Arwa smiled at Ummi and walked towards her, "You did a great job, Ummi. Congratulations," she said, as she side hugged her and pinched both their cheeks.

Ummi could feel it, they were doing all they can to put a knife into the stomach of this awkwardness, because they knew what Al-amin had done from the looks Ummi and Maami herself were flashing him.

"Thank you, Ya Arwa. How's my boy doing?" Ummi asked casually and lay back on the bed, handing Meeno and Arwa the babies. She was too exhausted to give this a thought, too exhausted to let this sink into her, too exhausted to conclude about what she wanted and why she wanted it.

"Are you staying there, forever?" Maami growled at Al-amin that was still standing by the room, shooting him a look that made his intestines churned. He knew he had taken a turn to the bitter side of her, and it wouldn't be easy on him.

Slowly, their hands peeled off from each others' and they made their ways to the bed where Ummi had her eyes closed, but they all knew she wasn't sleeping. Al-amin looked at Ya Husna and felt he had no words to say to her. Is he going to act casually as if nothing had happened? Even if no one of them said something, he knew something had happened. He was the one that did it after all.

"Good morning, Ya Husna," he greeted, smiling nervously. He had been avoiding an eye contact with Maami, lest he lost his mind.

"Good morning, Al-amin, congratulations on your babies." She was smiling at him as if she wasn't pained about what he had been doing to her little sister and how he was not there for her when she was at the phase she needed him the most in her life. He felt disgusted of himself.

As much as he was eager to set his eyes on his kids, he had to stay rooted there and said his pleasantries with all the people present in the room. The knowing and disappointed look Meeno flashed him made him cringed to his skin. Maami didn't looked at him when he greeted her, and she did the same to Laila. He knew he was in for it. Laila excused herself and went out to make a call. Al-amin got suspicious of whom she was to call.

On his rescue, as Ibrahim always did, he moved close to Maami and whispered into her ears, "Maami, he needs sometime alone with her, should we excuse them?" Softly, as though afraid she would lit up a volcano the moment she spoke.

Maami hardly spoke, but whenever she was angry, they all knew not to get on her bad terms. He was acting all soft on her as if she was one of the new babies laying peacefully on their cribs.

"What is he going to tell her? What time alone do they want to have? Get out of my sight, Ibrahim, before I lose it on you." She was furiously tapping her right feet on the hospital floor, her eyes fixed on Ummi's babies and herself, guarding her for whatever it is that was to intrude in their lives again.

"Maami please, just for five minutes and I'll tell him to make it snappy, please, Maami." He begged, he wasn't going to give up just yet. He could see that Al-amin was at the verge of bursting into tears, and he couldn't let that happen when he was in the midst of his inlaws and his wife's friend. Even Arwa isn't in the right place to see his broken side.