•••

•••

M A R I N A ♡ S H A H R O Z

She heard the cries of a newborn and her eyes opened immediately to see the hospital room again.

She looked to her right to see small hands moving up and down in the crib as the cries were heard.

'Our baby.' she thought and smiled through the pain.

Her belly had been hurting for a long time ever since they had cut it open to get the baby out. After all, twelve hours of active labour isn't easy at all for any woman.

A nurse came in and checked her drip intake and everything else when Marina asked.

"Can I please hold her?"

The nurse nodded with a 'sure' and then the baby was handed to her and she gasped.

Thinking about the fact that you're holding a child which has features both of you and the love of your life is one of the most fascinating things to ever experience.

The tiny being had the same skin colour as Marina, and the same button nose as hers too. Her hair colour was the same as Shahroz's, which was dark brown, and she could tell her eyes will develop into hazel-coloured soon.

"You're so beautiful, MashAllah." Marina whispered as the baby's cries subsided and she brought her forefinger for her to grasp in her tiny hand.

She did.

Marina's hands were shaking, her cheeks slightly reddening as she suddenly remembered she had vowed to never hold a child.

She knew she had a fear of holding and dealing with babies, but when it's your child, all of that vanishes away.

Because it's your child.

The door opened and Shahroz came in and stopped in his tracks, his hands on his mouth as he saw Marina give him a smile while cradling the baby.

"I love you." He saw his wife whisper to their baby and he quickly made his way to both of them, tears making their way to his eyes.

"Can I hold her?" Shahroz croaked while wiping his eyes and she nodded with a smile, his right hand being placed under her neck and his left hand under her bottom.

He layed a delicate kiss on the baby's forehead, his eyes glazed with pure adoration for the small being.

He looked up and searched for the arrow on the ceiling which indicates the direction of the Qiblah and faced the baby in that direction.

Marina knew what he was doing.

He was going to give athan and iqamah in her right and left ears.

He brought his mouth near the baby's right ear and started reciting athan, and she could've sworn that was the most beautiful thing she had heard in a long time.

Both of them saw a smile slowly appear on their daughter's face, their own smiles coming on their's.

He recited the iqamah in her left ear and then held her in front of him and whispered loud enough for Marina and her to hear.

"I've just met you and I already love you." He gave a soft smile to her who was already smiling since she heard the sounds of pure beauty in her ears.

He handed her back to Marina and pressed his lips on his wife's forehead.

"You're so strong, you know that?" He sat down next to her and placed his large hand on hers which was holding their daughter.

She turned to him and smiled as he placed another kiss, this time on her cheek.

"Two years ago, I thought I would die from an overdose. If anyone would've told me that by time, I'll be blessed with a woman who'd mean the world to me, and a child who I'd want to do nothing but protect, I would've laughed in their faces."

She wiped his stray tear with her right hand before he held it and pressed a lingering kiss on it, his eyes on hers the whole time.

He looked over to the tiny thing sleeping in her arms and and smiled before voicing out what was on his mind.

"We can call her Maria two because she has the same skin colour as yours."

She glared at him, "Shahroz if you do that I swear-"

"I'm just kidding, baby. Just kidding.."

"You better be." She huffed and turned around to face their child.

"What do you wanna name her then?"

His face was right beside hers as they both looked down at their daughter.

Their everything.

"Do you wanna call her Mahira?" She looked at him expectantly and he nodded with a grin.

"Mahira is a beautiful name." He sighed.

He was going to say more but the door slammed open.

"GUESS WHO'S HERE BITCHES-" Amira came in and both Marina and Shahroz glared at her for waking Mahira up as she started crying immediately.

Saad came in after, his head shaking in disappointment.

Marina kept rocking her until she finally calmed down. Mahira was pouting at her mother for her sleep being disturbed.

"Can I hold her?" Amira asked excitedly as Marina gave her a look to which she mouthed 'sorry' and got Mahira handed to her.

She smiled once she had her, as she finally looked serious for once.

"She's so innocent, MashAllah. I'm going to have to teach her all the curse words in the dictionary."

"Amira if you do that-"

"Chill, Rina." She looked up at her sister-in-law with a smile who was giving her a deathly glare.

"Already getting those motherly instincts, I see." Saad teased and even Shahroz started laughing too.

She turned to him, "I've had them for nine months now, Saad bhai."

He nodded with a smile.

He held Mahira for a while too, giving her some kisses before both of them bid goodbye and left as Marina and Shahroz's parents were coming in a while.

Both of them looked down at their daughter, Mahira, and thought of the same thing.

That they were blessed with a beautiful daughter.

•••

"Is her bath ready?" Marina asked as she rocked Mahira in her crib.

Marina stopped rocking the the crib for a while as she questioned Shahroz and Mahira started cooing loudly to keep rocking her. She didn't like it when her mother stopped.

"Yeah." Shahroz came and sat next to her on the edge of the bed, his arm around his wife and his eyes on his daughter.

Marina picked her up from her crib and placed her on her lap.

"It's time for a bath, hmm?" Marina said playfully to Mahira who grabbed her nose in her tiny hand, causing Shahroz to chuckle at the scene.

Shahroz and Marina had immediately prayed once they reached home, to thank Him for blessing them with a beautiful daughter, and to ask Him to protect her from what's bad and to grant her success in the future.

Marina placed half of her upper body on her own lap, and the rest of her on Shahroz's as he grabbed her tiny feet and kept kissing it, making her giggle.

"You had to buy that?" Marina pointed at her romper which said 'Daddy's Girl'.

"Yeah. After all, she is a daddy's girl." He gently tickled Mahira's feet.

"What about Mommy's girl?" She asked to which Shahroz smiled.

"I would've bought it if I would've found one, as it's only 'Mama's boy'."

"But we don't have a boy.." She trailed off and he smirked.

"We can make one." He whispered huskily in her ear and she gasped and hit his shoulder to which he laughed followed by Mahira's cute giggles as well.

His expressions soon got serious as he kissed his wife hard on the lips before pulling away and pecking her softly on her nose.

"What was that for?" She breathed to regain her composure.

He tucked a few strands behind her ear, "I wanted us to have a fresh start with our family."

"And you think kissing me helps us have a fresh start?" She asked disbelievingly and he grinned.

"No I just want an excuse to kiss you." He smirked and kissed her again to which she rolled her eyes afterwords.

Mahira's large eyes were watching her parents as her belly kept moving up and down due to her breathing.

Shahroz's left hand caressed the smooth skin on Mahira's cheek, and Marina smiled.

And at that moment, they both thanked Allah for blessing them in their arms with their pretty little thing.

•••

Hey there peeps! OMG I'm so sad I'm finally done with this book *cries hysterically*. I've grown so close to all of my main characters and it hurts to finally finish this but I had to :'(

I write in secret so none of my family members know I write. They think I'm texting lmao.

I'm so honoured to have 10K reads as I thought this was garbage when I first wrote this tbh, so thank you to whoever read this and enjoyed it.

This is the last time I'm saying this in this book, so take care and InshAllah He blesses you all abundantly! :)

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