It had been a few days since Sulaiha had left their place and went to stay at her friend's house. And everything had turned back to normal ever since she had left.
Hisham had gone to his office and kids had gone to the nursery. And Afra was preparing lunch when she heard the doorbell ringing. She quickly turned off the gas cooker and went to check the door.
Her dark eyes became wide with surprise when she saw who it was. But she managed to smile, quickly hiding her shock.
"Assalamu alaikkum, Noora!" She said in a welcoming tone. "What a pleasant surprise! After a very long time. Come inside."
"Wa alaikkum salam, dear," Noora said as she stepped inside the house, and it was when Afra noticed the little boy with dark brown hair and luminous brown eyes who was hiding behind his mother's long flared abaya walking inside as well. "Yeah, it's been such a long time since we saw each other last time," Noora said with a tired smile and sat on the sofa. The little boy sat beside her clutching a piece of her sleeve and looking nervous. "It's been almost five years now."
"Isn't this Mu'az?" Afra asked looking at the kid with awe. He looked like a boy version of Maryam with his curly dark brown hair and luminous brown eyes.
"Yes, this is Mu'az Ahsan Ibrahim," Noora said, putting her hand over his shoulder and he smiled at Afra shyly without meeting her eyes.
"Masha Allah! He has grown so much since you went to Dubai." Afra said with admiration.
"yes, he has," Noora said with a smile.
"So, are you here for the vacation?" Afra asked her.
"Well... We are going to stay here for a while." Noora said with a little bit hesitant, and Afra smiled at her brightly. She felt so happy to hear that and felt like wanting to jump up and down like her little girls. Now all three of her kids would be able to spend some time together and get to know each other after all these times. She had waited for that moment for so long and thought it wouldn't happen anytime soon.
"How long are you gonna stay here?" She asked. "Um... I don't know." Noora said with uncertainty. "We thought it'd be better for Mu'az if we lived here for some time."
"Any particular reasons for that?" Afra asked, unable to contain her curiosity. "Because... Don't get me wrong, but you never came here within the last five years. Not even for visiting."
"Yeah, we didn't," Noora said, feeling slightly awkward. "It was because Ahsan was always busy with his works. He didn't come with us even now. We had to come here because of Mu'az." Noora paused for a moment and looked at Mu'az before saying, "Mu'az, dear! Why don't you go and have a look around the house? They have nice things in here, see."
Mu'az just shook his head in answer feeling shy. "He just takes a little while to get comfortable," Noora said with a smile. "Oh, okay," Afra said as she understood. "Hmm... We have a playroom in the upstairs. Would you like to go and play there?"
Mu'az hid his face in his mother's sleeve feeling shyer that Afra had addressed him directly now. "Oh, it's okay," Noora said to him. "Come on. I'll come with you."
Three of them went upstairs to the playroom, Mu'az clutching a piece of his mother's material all the while. Afra took them to the playroom and showed him the toy train station. He looked at it with awe and sat down to play with it.
"Mama, don't go!" He pleaded before starting to play with the train. "No, dear," Noora told him assuringly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be sitting in the living room upstairs and talk with this aunty, okay? You can call me if you want any help. I'll be right here, sitting in that couch. You can see me here."
"Okay," Mu'az mumbled and settled to play, connecting the railroads around the toy station and keeping the trains on the tracks.
Noora went to sit on the couch and Afra brought her a glass of cooled drink. She took a sip from it and looked at Afra, who had sat across from her in a blue colour cushioned armchair. Noora admired the types of furniture in their living room. They were made of oak woods and had light colour cushions. Each room in the house had a different shade of light, cool colour, like light purple, light blue, light pink and light yellow which gave her a warm feeling.
"So, what is it with Mu'az?" Afra asked her.
"As you can see, he feels uncomfortable when he's around unfamiliar people," Noora explained. "Because he's so used to living with only me and Ahsan. We used to take him outside to the park to play whenever the weather is not much hot in Dubai. But still, he prefers to stick only with us. Well... We didn't think it'd be a problem until we enrolled him to a nursery early at this year. He didn't get along with other kids much and he would start to cry if I left the place for a while, thinking I'm gonna leave him there. So I and Ahsan were worried about this behaviour and we wanted to come up with a solution. Then I met a friend of mine who has twins, and she said that it could be because he's missing his twin even if he's not aware of having her. Also, a psychologist advised me that it'd be good for him if he spent some time with his sister and cousin. So I took him here to see them."
" Masha Allah, you've made a good decision," Afra said with an approving smile. "Yeah, I think it would help him if he spent some time with them too. They are both very friendly. It'd be easy for him to bond with them, in shaa Allah."
"Yeah, I hope so too." Noora sighed. "But, will you promise me that you won't tell them the truth?"
Afra looked at her for a moment and saw the worry in her brown eyes. She looked so much like Mu'az with her looks. And there's no way he'd ever think that she's not his mother. Unless someone told him. And even then he wouldn't believe it. Because they both looked so much alike with those beautiful brown eyes and pointed nose. And Maryam looked like them too.
"No, I won't tell them anything that happened" Afra assured her. "I know how you are feeling. Because I'm feeling the same way about Maryam too. But you should know that truth can't be kept hidden for a long time. I have a feeling that someday they will find out the truth by themselves. And then I'm not going to deny it. But until then I won't tell them anything. I promise."
"Okay, thank you," Noora said with a smile, feeling relieved. "Mu'az has become my son after my cousin passed away. I love him as much as she would have loved him if she's still here. And I'm afraid he might get distant from me and Ahsan if he knew we've adopted him."
"No, dear," Afra said, looking at her kindly. "I don't think, he would ever get distant from you even if he comes to know the truth. I can see that he loves you as much as you love him. You are his mother now. You don't have to worry about anything."
"I hope so too," Noora said with a smile and took a sip from her drink while looking at Mu'az who was playing with the train.
"So where are your girls? " Noora asked as she remembered that she hadn't seen them in the house.
"Oh, they've gone to the nursery," Afra said. "They'll be back soon. Our driver went to—" She was cut by the ringing sound of the telephone in the living room. "I'll be back soon," Afra said and hurried to get the call.
"Hello!" She said as she answered. "Hello, good afternoon, Mrs Sulaiman." Mrs Jane Miller, Headteacher from The Silver Stars nursery, greeted from the other end.