After eight months

of moving away from her home. She got out of bed and gazed around her room. Then sometimes even slipped out of the room and wandered the corridor, reconciling with everything in her home. She couldn't believe that it was only a week until she was going to be in an entire different place where she was going to live the rest of her life with Shehryaar. No matter how many times she thought about this and tried to get accustomed to the coming change, it always appeared like a vague dream that faded in the dust.

Since she had been packing, she was done with most of her suitcases. Saliha told her to buy as many clothes as she could from Pakistan because after when she went to America, she wasn't going to come back again and again. So instead of only taking two big suitcases she also took two small suitcases in which there were some of Shehryaar's things too. Then when it was official that no more things could fit in, Shehryaar labeled them with California's home address and applied the combination locks.

The night before it was their flight, Yumna made a visit with her family to meet Zoha. She was happy, yet sad on her depart. She broke into tears saying when she was going to meet her again once she left. She even brought a small gift, a knitted sweater for her and for her future baby with incessant love. She wanted Zoha to remember her whenever she wore it and feel the essence of a mother in her life. Receiving the gift, Zoha's eyes filled with water and she cried hugging her khala. She wished she never had to leave them. She loved them from the bottom of her heart.

*****************

In the morning, after a restive sleep, Zoha woke up feeling little uneasy. She felt a sudden pang of pain in her head that came and went. She surmised it was because of anxiety about leaving. Once or twice she felt like she couldn't breathe; she had to draw the comforter aside and take deep breaths.

After using the bathroom and fixing her hair, she went to wake Shehryaar up.

"What time is it?" he asked, his eyes bleary.

"It's ten fifteen."

"Let me sleep little more. I will get up in fifteen twenty minutes." He hugged back to sleep.

"But I am going down for breakfast."

"Just wait a little more."

"Please, Shehryaar. I already don't feel that good."

Shehryaar turned over and looked at Zoha. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I have just been little anxious, and it is making me feel sick."

"Anxious about what?"

"All about leaving."

Shehryaar aroused on bed, still clinging onto the pillow in his right hand and rubbed his eyes like a petulant child. Then focused his attention on Zoha. "Sit here." He lightly took her hand and sat her down in front of him. "Why are you overthinking it?"

"I am trying not to." She casted her gaze downwards.

"Are you really trying?" He caressed her hand with his thumb to ease her.

"It's hard."

"Take all the negative feelings out of you. They are gonna drive you crazy."

Zoha got up and started to leave. But Shehryaar gripped her wrist. "Trust me everything is going to be alright," he assured. "This change will make you happy. I promise."

Zoha stood there until Shehryaar let go off her hand. He kept looking at her as she ambled to the wardrobe and pulled out her brand new pair of ironed shalwar kameez.

"Do you have your clothes out?" she asked, putting hers on the rocking chair back so they didn't get crinkled.

"Umm..no actually," he said. "I have one shirt that I don't wear much. It looks brand new. I will wear that." He scrambled out of bed and fixed his long sleeved pajama shirt from the shoulders.

"Take it out so I can press it."

He took it out and then straight headed to the bathroom.

Zoha first fixed the bed: tidily tucking in the sheet, spreading the comforter and heaping the pillows against the headboard. And then left the iron to heat up. When Shehryaar stepped out of the bathroom, he glanced in the mirror assuring his hair were fine and picked his phone from the bedside. Zoha unbuttoned the shirt hanging on the hanger and spread the sleeve on the iron board.

As she was ironing, her head began throbbing again. She stopped amid and touched her temples. It almost made her lightheaded. She blinked her eyes, perplexed and tried to shake away the pain.

"By the way where did you keep the tickets?" Shehryaar asked, still on his phone.

"They are in my purse."

"Make sure they are in a safe place."

"Don't worry, they are safe."

Shehryaar pulled his attention away from the phone and walked over to Zoha, who was crestfallen. He stood on the other side of the iron board and watched her as she ironed.

"Are you hungry?" she asked him, assuming that he was waiting for her.

"A little."

"I told you to wake up so we can eat breakfast first."

"You know let's go. Do this later." He took out the iron's plug. "I am hungry."

"Shehryaar, aap bhi na. One minute you want to do this and the other minute something else." Zoha retreated from the iron board.

"Let's go." He pulled her out of the room.

Downstairs, Manal was sitting alone at the table, cutting her french toast into pieces with the cutlery knife and popping bites in her mouth along with the sip of tea. Zoha pulled out a chair next to her and Shehryaar sat across from Zoha.

"Mummy is in the kitchen?" Shehryaar asked, placing his folded arms on the table.

"Yeah. She said she is making something special for you guys." Manal simpered.

"Really? What?"

"I don't know."

"I will go check it out. It smells good."

"No, bhai. She will bring it to the table," Manal said urgently. "You relax."

Shehryaar settled back in his seat. "Acha baba."

After sometime, Saliha came out of the kitchen, bringing two plates. She placed one in front of Zoha and the other one in front of Shehryaar.

"Look what I made," she said, clasping on her waist and smiling like a sun. "Does anything strike you, Shehryaar?"

Shehryaar looked at his plate and light bulb lit in his head. "Mummy, is this crepe?" he astonished.

"Yes!" Saliha said. "Isn't this what you eat in California?"

Zoha was lost already. She had no idea what crepe was.

"Sometimes. But how do you know about this?" Shehryaar inquired.

"You once mentioned this to me and I remembered."

"Really?"

"Yes. And I thought it would be nice to make this today, although I know they didn't come out the best," Saliha said.

"You surprised me this morning. I didn't know you could make crepe." Shehryaar sniggered.

"I tried two times to practice before I could make for you two." She mentioned Zoha too.

"How do you eat it?" Zoha wondered.

"This is amazing, mummy," Shehryaar said. "Thank you for making it a special one."

"I am glad you liked it. Not gonna lie I was little scared." Saliha laughed.

"Did you add chocolate too?" He peeked inside the stuffing.

"Yeah, but not too much."

"Well anyways let me take a first bite then I will tell you how it came out."

Zoha watched as Shehryaar picked the crepe wrapped in sealing wrap and took a bite, holding it with his both hands. Then tried to imitate his way.

After chewing on the bite, Shehryaar made a delightful-tasting sound. "This is good." He gave her a thumbs up.

Saliha grinned at his reaction.

"Mummy, can you make this for me too? I want to try." Manal whined. She took a bite of her french toast and sipped tea.

"Sure," Saliha said. "But you have already eaten your breakfast."

"I still have some space in my stomach left to try that," Manal said.

"I will actually make one and we can both eat from that. I don't know how it tastes yet."

"Okay." Manal was convinced.

Zoha took a bite of her crepe, hesitant yet imperceptibly excited. She thought if Shehryaar liked it then she might like it too. When she chewed on the strawberries filled stuffing, a burst of unique taste savored her mouth. It was so delicious that she couldn't keep herself from taking another bite, rather bigger than the first one.

"How you like it?" Shehryaar asked her.

"It's really good. What is it called?" Zoha said.

"It is called crepe. It's a french style breakfast."

"Wow."

Zoha was amazed after trying this brand new dish from another culture.

"You will get to eat more of this in California. They are everywhere." Shehryaar was so hungry that he was already done with the half of his crepe.

Manal was finished with her french toast. She rose from her seat and picked the empty plate.

"I want to learn how to cook this." Zoha took another bite of her crepe.

"You should."

Saliha was still in the kitchen. Manal headed there also.

After eating half of the crepe, Zoha put the rest of it in her plate. She couldn't eat more. It was a heavy food with butter, sugar, chocolate and topped off with bunch of strawberry slices. The queasy feeling in her stomach rose like a bile in her throat. She could sense the stirring sickness get worse after eating. Suddenly she got up, covering her mouth and rushed upstairs, leaving the table.

"Zoha?" Shehryaar called after her.

Zoha didn't answer. She hurried straight to her room and then to the bathroom.

From the time she woke up, she had been feeling nausea. She thought if she took medicine after breakfast, it would get better. But breakfast didn't even sit well in her stomach. As the food went down her throat, it came back up. She vomited whatever she had eaten.

"Zoha?" she heard Shehryaar's voice follow up to the room, but she ignored it. She couldn't control her vomiting. It started to make her feel weak and lightheaded, as her stomach emptied.

"Zoha?" Shehryaar concerned.

Zoha washed her mouth with the warm running water. The sink was filled with disgusting discharge that she just spewed. She couldn't stand leaning towards it anymore.

"Zoha?" There was a knock at the door.

"Shehryaar, I will be out there in a second," she said, in a calm voice as if everything was fine.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

There was no response.

Zoha cleaned the sink with the water, letting it all drain out and rinsed her mouth. Before stepping out of the bathroom, she grabbed the towel and dabbed her mouth with it. Even when she threw up everything she ate, her stomach was still slightly hurting. The queasy feeling wasn't entirely gone.

When she came out of the bathroom, she saw Shehryaar standing by the bed with his arms folded across his chest.

"Zoha? What happened to you?" he asked instantly.

Zoha's heart rate dropped. Her arms started shaking uncontrollably.

Shehryaar walked over to Zoha until there was a tiny space between them and softly held the sides of her shoulders.

"What happened?" he asked again, face to face.

"Shehryaar, I just threw up," she said in a low voice.

"Why?"

"I have been feeling nauseous since morning. I just don't feel well," she complained.

"Did you take any medicine?"

"No."

"Let's go down and ask mummy for the medicine. You should take it now before the flight so you feel better."

Zoha nodded.

Shehryaar held Zoha's hand as they went down. They headed to the kitchen, since Saliha was there.

"Mummy,"Shehryaar said as he saw her.

Saliha's back was turned to them. She was clasping the spatula in her hand, standing in a professional cook style posture.

"You want one more?" Saliha said, without turning around.

"Mummy, Zoha is not feeling well," Shehryaar said in a serious tone. "Do you know what medicine she can take?"

Zoha didn't have the strength to stand. She felt like she would collapse at anytime.

Saliha flipped the crepe in the pan and turned around. "What happened?" she asked, concerned.

"She vomited while eating."

Zoha drew her hand from Shehryaar's clasp and started to leave.

"Zoha, where are you going?" he said.

"I can't stand. I am feeling dizzy. I will go upstairs," she said. Her face was pallid and sickly.

"Give me a second," Saliha said. "I will be right there."

"Okay," Shehryaar said. "I will go upstairs with Zoha."

***************

There was a knock and Shehryaar immediately opened the door. Saliha walked in and noticed Zoha resting on bed.

"Is it really serious?" she asked.

Zoha was half asleep. Her eyes were bleary.

"She told me in the morning that she wasn't feeling well. I thought it was probably because we were moving away. But then after eating breakfast she threw up. And now she is feeling weak and dizzy."

Saliha gave an assuring nod to Shehryaar and looked over to Zoha. She sat at the edge of the bed beside her and patted her head.

"Zoha beta?" she said in a soothing voice, closer to her face.

Zoha tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn't fully open.

"How are you feeling?" Saliha asked, caressing her forehead.

"My head is hurting," Zoha muttered.

"Since when?"

"I have been getting this type of headache from couple of days. Maybe it's happening because of cold."

"And vomiting?"

"It just happened today." Zoha managed to open her drowsy eyes.

Saliha looked at her for a while, as if figuring something out. Shehryaar, who was previously standing by the dressing table, moved over to the bed and sat next to Zoha.

"What are you thinking, mummy?" he asked.

"I am just seeing.." Saliha paused.

"What medicine should she take?"

"No, it's not that." She fell thinking.

"Then?"

"Judging from what she is telling, it could mean she is expecting."

Shehryaar was puzzled. "She is what?"

Saliha dumped her worry and smiled widely. "Zoha is pregnant."

Hearing that, Zoha became little conscious.

"She is not sick. She is just feeling the symptoms of her starting pregnancy."

"Really?" Shehryaar was part at disbelief.

Saliha nodded in assurance. "Yes. These are obvious signs."

"This is a really good news then." Shehryaar looked at Zoha, who was stunned at the news herself.

"Mubarak ho tum dono ko," Saliha congratulated.

"Aapko bhi."

Saliha's eyes shone radiantly. She kissed Zoha's forehead and said, "if you gave us this good news before then I would have been able to see my grandchildren. But look at the fate, we learned about it the day you both are leaving."

"Can't it happen that you can come to America too?" Zoha asked, innocently.

"I wish."

"Why can't you?"

"Because we can't sell this house at any cost. If I went there, then who would take care of this place?" Saliha explained.

Zoha looked at Saliha and then dropped her gaze.

"Mummy, why are you sad? We will come and visit you every year." Shehryaar grinned.

"I know, beta." Saliha pondered. "But it won't be same as having my grandchildren against my chest and raising them. I want them with me at every moment."

"Mummy." Shehryaar went over to Saliha and effusively hugged her from the back. "If you get sad then I will get sad too."

"Beta, you don't know how empty the house feels without children."

"Mummy, please." Shehryaar rested his head on her mother's back. "I know how you might feel, but.."

"Khair hai. What can you do? You have your tickets are booked for this afternoon. I don't want you to leave thinking that I was sad or anything. I want both of you to go happily." Saliha smiled.

"I promise that we will keep coming."

"In Shaa Allah," Saliha said.

"And I don't want to see you sad," Shehryaar said. "Okay?"

"I am really happy for both of you."

Shehryaar gave Saliha a squeezing hug. "I love you."

"Let me go down and tell this to Manal. She is gonna go crazy from excitement." Saliha laughed.

Zoha spread a honey sweet smile across her dusty pink lips. She was laying down, with her hands resting on her upper abdomen.

"Why wouldn't she? She is gonna be an aunt," Shehryaar said.

"Zoha, do you feel like eating anything? Something light?" Saliha asked, as she got up from the bed.

"I don't feel like eating anything," Zoha said.

"Are you sure?"

Zoha nodded. She knew it wasn't worth it. Her stomach wasn't feeling well.

"If you do feel like it, just tell me. Okay, beta?"

"Jee."

Addressing the last words, Saliha deserted the room.

*******************************************