For Our Love

Eighteen

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Original: 28th July 2020

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Fariha's POV

I'd married Umair despite my brother warning me not to. And because Fawad Bhai didn't trust him enough, my parents didn't either.

But I'd married him.

I got married at nineteen, but I continued my education, even though my mother-in-law, Zeenat Aunty, always taunted me that I couldn't manage a household and was needlessly studying.

I got pregnant with Omar, but I continued my education. I didn't want to give up on my dream of being a doctor; that was one sacrifice that I was not willing to make. 

I struggled a lot. I was a girl who was born and raised in a mansion, with all the luxuries of the world, and I ended up living in a house where around twenty people lived together, and there wasn't even a generator for when there was load shedding. I wouldn't mind, but I was always used to it being just me, my parents and Bhai. And since Bhai had been abroad for his studies a lot, it had recently been just me and my parents in our home. I had to take a rickshaw to my college and university every day, even while pregnant, and I always ended up silently shedding tears in the back. 

I know I sounded like a snob, but I would have happily accepted all of that if Umair was a good husband. I married him thinking that our life would be filled with love and respect, but after a few weeks of marriage, 'the honeymoon phase', he started showing his true colours. My friends used to say that he had an inferiority complex; they said that I was an intelligent, well brought-up girl, with a bright career ahead of her, and he couldn't stand the idea of me being more successful.

However, Umair and his family never convinced me to give up my education. At first, I thought that maybe that was the only decent thing about them, but then I overheard his mother saying that I'll make more money as a doctor, which I will use to fund a luxurious lifestyle for them.

Throughout all this, my brother kept reminding me that I could leave if I wanted, and that he would fully support me, but I kept reassuring him that Umair will change. Maybe I was overly optimistic, or just completely delusional, I don't know.

I studied hard, even when I was heavily pregnant. Even as a new mother, I caught up with my work, even while nursing a newborn. Fortunately, my mother helped me a lot during the first few months, as I spent a lot of time there when Omar was born.

When I was pregnant with Saad, it was much harder, because I also had a toddler to look after, as well as study. Umair spent most of the day lying on the bed, watching TV, while occasionally going to the shop for an hour or so, to 'help out'. When I was seven months pregnant with Saad, I had enough, so I went to my parents' house until a month after Saad's birth. My parents were amazing. They looked after Omar when they could, and when Bhai was around, I barely saw my older child, because Fawad Bhai took full responsibility for him when he wasn't working.

Add to all this, I was also expected to do housework. My mother-in-law said that I had to do housework, tired or not. 

From a carefree girl, who had a bright future ahead of her, I became a wife and a mother of two children before I even became a doctor.

I don't regret Saad and Omar; in fact, they are the only part of my marriage to Umair that I don't regret. My sons are my whole world, and I wouldn't give them up for anything.