Hisham slammed his already injured hand against his mansion's sturdy wooden door due to frustration. He just could not believe it. He had been ringing the door bell like a crazy maniac for the past ten minutes but his lazy wife was not at all bothered to even check who it was.

Or was she not at home?

Well that would not be much of a surprise either!

He pulled out his phone from his pocket and dialled her number only for her to decline it.

"Where are you Zulekha?" he whispered to himself as he dialled her number once again, only for her to decline it a second time.

Wow.

Or was she in a place where she was unable to pick calls? He raked his hand through his hair not knowing what to do. Should he text her? Would she reply? Damn, why was everything always so complicated when it came to his wife?

He rang the doorbell for a few more minutes afterwhich he decided to text her, hoping against hope that she was at home because he needed to talk to her. Urgently.

"Asalam aleikum Zulekha...are you at home?"

And within seconds his phone beeped...

"What the hell Hisham, are you dying or what? How many times do you plan on calling me?"

He let out a sigh as he shook his head in disbelief. She could have at least replied to his Salam. And yes, what if he was dying? Wouldn't she have cared? Guess somethings would never change but as for him, he had had enough. It was high time he confronted her and that is why he was here.

"I asked you a question. WHERE ARE YOU ZULEKHA?"

"At my mother's house!"

"So can't you pick your HUSBAND'S call at your mother's house?"

"Im busy!"

He tightly gripped his phone the urge to smash it against the wall strongly coursing through him.

"Well too bad because I want you to come home right this instant."

"Why?"

He once again sighed. What was wrong with this woman? She had the time to text but did not have the time to talk on the phone? Some "busy" that was.

"I forgot my house keys back at the office so I am stranded outside and secondly, I really need to talk to you. URGENTLY..."

"Why don't you go over to Hosseini Mansion and kill time? I am sure your Stupid Yusra will be overly delighted to see you. And as for talking, it can wait."

He passed his hand over his tired eyes totally disgusted with her reply. His "Stupid Yusra? How could his brother's wife be his? Is that what his own wife really thought of him? Did she really think of him as a womaniser? Well, enough was enough and it was time he put her in her rightful place.

He angrily held on to his phone and typed...

"Now listen up Zulekha. I have had enough and I mean enough of your nonsense. You better show up at home within the next hour or you can continue staying with your mother and that too, forever. Makes no damn difference to me. And remember Zulekha...NEXT ONE HOUR..."

And with that, he switched off his phone and shoved it into his pocket but immediately winced when parts of his broken skin touched his trouser's material.

His hand.

He had totally forgotten about it. He needed to get it stitched and that too as soon as possible. He had nothing to do for the next one hour anyway, so that left him with only one place to go...

The one place that would change everything.

***

If there was one thing Yasir absolutely loved after getting married, then that would be coming back home. Coming back home to his wife. Coming back home to his Yumnah.

His heart would soar every single time she would run to him and engulf him in a tight hug and at times if he got lucky, she would rain him down with kisses as well. It was always as if she had longed to be with him the entire day and the moment he would grace her with his prescence, she would not let go of him. Not even for a single second.

And he simply adored it every single time she did that because just that simple mere act of hers, made him feel like a wanted man. It made him feel flawless. It made him more and more confident about himself every single day. And all that was thanks to his wife...Yumnah Saeed.

But today, unlike other days, his heart had not at all warmed up when she had hugged him. He had felt numb. He had felt emotionless but worst of all he felt guilty. Guilty because, he had not even pretended to hug her back and his Yumnah had been too excited to even notice.

"Oh Habibi, you will fall in love with what I bought today," she said as she made him sit on the bed.

"What did you buy?" he asked in a disinterested way.

"Wait, let me show you."

Yumnah ran to their closet and while pulling out a shopping bag, her eyes landed on her pink umbrella. The one umbrella her husband had safely kept for so many years. Blush crept up her cheeks when she remembered when had professed his love for her for the very first time. It had been on the same day that he had come to know that the pink umbrella belonged to her.

And boy was she glad that she had helped him out on that one rainy day...

"Yumnah?"

No answer.

"Yumnah?"

No answer.

"Yumnaaaah," he shouted, his voice a bit too stern for his liking but luckily for him, his wife once again did not notice the change in his tone.

"Oh sorry Habibi. I got distracted," she said blush still evident on her cheeks.

"But look at these Yasir. Feel them Habibi. Aren't they just adorable?" she asked as she placed a set of baby clothes on his lap.

"What are these?" he asked barely brushing his hands through them.

"Onesies and it gets even better. Guess what is written on them?"

"What?"

Yumnah gently took his hand and helped him pass his it over the writing on one of the onesies which said...

"But Yumnah...."

"Oh and the next one is even better my love. Look," she said as she once again took his hand and helped him graze his fingers over the writing.

"This next one says..."

"

"Aren't they just cute?" she asked as she excitedlyy hugged him from his side.

"Yumnah i think its too early to be buying baby clothes."

"I know but I just couldn't stop myself. And its only these two. I promise i wont buy any more clothes. I think."

Yasir sighed as he rubbed his temples. His migraine was killing him and all he wanted was to sleep.

"And about the first onesie. We still don't know if we are expecting a boy or a girl. You shouldn't have bought it Yumnah."

"But its soo adorable Yasir. And we will have other kids right? In Sha Allah, out of our twelve kids, maybe one will be a boy. Il pray for that. Don't worry Habibi."

"Hmmm."

Yumnah quickly picked up the second onesie and smiled widely.

"And i had thought that you would be jealous of the second one. It says our baby will love me only. Which is true because im awesome and not a bore like you but you didn't even react Yasir. Are you inwardly burning with jealousy as we speak?" she asked as she buried her nose in his short hair at the same time pretending to inhale.

"Yumnah please..."

"Its okay Yasir. Don't be jealous. But you know what Yasir?"

"What?"

"Il be totally jealous if our baby is born with hazel eyes like yours. Il pray to Allah that at least one of our children has your eye colour Habibi. You know why?" she asked a longing look on her face.

"Why?"

"Because I think that you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. I always longed for a chance to look deeply into your eyes and now see, not only can I look into them but I also can do this," she said as she placed light kisses on both of his eyes.

Something she knew very well, her husband loved because he would always force her to give him some more kisses but today, he just sat there in an almost frozen state. And that is when Yumnah realised that something was terribly wrong.

"Yasir?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah!"

"Yasiiiiiiir," she said as she entwined their hands.

Her husband was bad at one thing and that was lying.

"I know that something is wrong. Please tell me."

"There is nothing wrong."

"Yasir..."

"Ya Rabb, Yumnah, when I say nothing is wrong that means nothing is wrong, what on earth is wrong with you?" he shouted and Yumnah immediately froze.

"But i thought..."

"Well you thought wrong. And what is this? A man comes back home from work expecting to get some rest but no, I have no such luck. All that I get is to listen to your nonsensical chatter. Give me a break. Please."

"I just thought you would be excited...,"she stuttered, tears staining her eyes.

For the few months they had been married, Yasir had never ever shouted or raised his voice at her.

"What is there to be excited about? You are not the first woman to be expecting Yumnah. There is a limit and I have had enough okay?" he continued shouting and Yumnah immediately choked on her tears.

But Yasir was too overwhelmed and numb to even realise that he was hurting her.

"And not everything in life is exciting okay? Not everything is a joke. There are times when things get messed up. There are times when things dont make sense. Will you still be excited and happy then? No you will not, okay. So please," he continued as his voice got higher and higher by the minute.

By now, tears were continuously streaming down poor Yumnah's face. She had never felt this hurt and never had she expected that Yasir would be the one to emotionally hurt her out of all people.

"I am sorry..." she began but he immediately cut her off.

"Sorry for what? You have already caused me a migraine Yumnah and now I would really appreciate it if you could leave. I want to sleep," he said.

A very upset Yumnah immediately stood up and headed towards the door but then stopped.

"Yasir?"

"What?" he snapped.

"I am really very very sorry for being excited but please don't blame me. This is my very first pregnancy," she said as she choked on her tears and Yasir's heart immediately went out to her.

"Yumnah."

"No, listen. I am sorry once again for being excited but this is just but my very first step into motherhood. My life will never be the same again Yasir. So i'm really really sorry that you think that my excitemement is annoying."

"And you know what else Yasir?"

But he didn't answer and neither did Yumnah wait for him to answer.

"You know what is making me excited the most?"

"Its the fact that I am expecting your child, Yasir. I loved you with all of my heart for such a long time and today when I am finally pregnant with your child, I am very sorry if I am excited..."

Tears stained Yasir's eyes as well as soon as he heard her last words

"Habibty listen, I am so sorry. Please forgive me?"

But the only answer he got from his Habibty, was the loud slamming of their bedroom door.

***

Yumnah wiped her tears as she slowly made her way down the stairs. She consciously placed her hand of her stomach as a fresh set of tears stained her eyes.

How could she not be excited?

She was going to have a baby soon. Someone who would call her Mama...something she was yearning to hear just from now.

Then how could she not be excited?

Her thoughts were cut short when the front door opened with a very loud bang and a very furious Baba walked in.

"YASIR! YASIR," he shouted and Yumnah quickly made her way to the bottom of the stairs and Yasmin too, ran out from the kitchen.

"Where is Yasir?" he asked or rather shouted.

"He is sleeping Baba."

"Sleeping? The hell, go tell him I am calling him right this minute. Sleeping my foot."

"Hussein what is wrong? Why are you shouting so loudly. Please calm down," pleaded Yasmin.

"Wallah Yasmin, if I don't 'kill' one of your sons today, then my name is not Hussein Hosseini!"

*****

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