"Hello, boy!" Thasneem called from the doorway and Mu'az looked up at her with a sudden alert running on his face. "Assalamu alaikkum!" Thasneem greeted him again with a wide smile spread on her face, and he just stared at her without showing any expressions. "wa alaikkum salam." He uttered a reply to her greeting in a low voice after a while and looked behind her to see if his mother was still sitting on the cushion in the living room. He started to feel anxious when he couldn't see her.
"That's my toy train station!" Maryam said bossily, showing up next to Thasneem. "But I'll let you play with it." She added after remembering what her mother had said earlier.
Mu'az got up, leaving the toy train down on the floor. "I'm sorry." He apologised to Maryam. "I didn't know that."
"That's alright!" Thasneem said in a cheery voice. "Let's play together!"
"No, I need to find my mother," Mu'az told her.
"Oh, is that your mother?" Thasneem moved aside from the doorway to let him see his mother reading a book.
"Yes." He said, feeling relieved.
"She is beautiful," Maryam said, looking at Noora with admiration.
"Yes, she is, Masha Allah." Thasneem agreed with her. "And she's wearing a nice blue scarf!"
"I'm the one who chose that scarf for my Mama!" Mu'az said with bright smile lit upon his face. "She always asks me to choose when she's gonna buy a new dress. She says that I've got a good colour sense. I don't know what a colour sense is. But, she looks very beautiful in that blue colour scarf, doesn't she? My Mama is like an angel!"
"My Mama is like a princess!" Maryam told him. "She is Snow White with long hair. Have you seen her?"
"Yes, I saw her when I came," Mu'az replied. "She's nice too."
"Yes, she's very nice and kind," Thasneem added. "Alright, shall we play the Station Master game now?"
"I don't know how to play that game," Mu'az said, feeling disappointed. He was looking forward to playing with these girls now. Somehow they both felt familiar to him. And he had started to like them already.
"Oh, come on!" Maryam said with a smile and pulled his arm to make him sit next to her on the floor. "We'll show you how to play! What is your name, boy?"
"My name is Mu'az." He introduced himself to them. "My name is Maryam." She said as she flashed him a friendly smile.
"And my name is Thasneem," Thasneem said, sitting on his other side. "Will you be our friend, Mu'az?" She asked him and stretched her hand towards him.
"Okay." He said with a bright smile and shook her hand.
"Now listen, Mu'az." Maryam started to explain the game to him. "This is how to play the Station Master game. Two of us would move the trains on the tracks. And the Station Master should switch the points to avoid them from hitting each other. We need another train to play this game! Neem, can you bring your train?"
"Alright," Thasneem said and went to take her train. "I have a toy train station just like this one too," Mu'az said when she came running back towards them with her train. "My train is green colour. One of my uncles brought it for me as a gift."
"Really?" Maryam asked. "We got this from our uncle too! He's a very nice man. We like him a lot!"
"Yes, he brings us a lot of gifts whenever he comes to visit us," Thasneem said cheerfully. And they started to play the game with lots of laughter and giggles.
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"Well, I didn't think that they'd become friends this soon," Noora said with a beam. She had slipped off downstairs while Mu'az was too engaged in the game. "My girls are capable of becoming friends with anyone quicker than we could imagine," Afra said, grinning at her. She had started to bake chocolate chip cookies for the kids as she had promised them earlier.
"Can I help?" Noora asked her. "No, no... I'm good at baking cookies faster than anyone in my neighbourhood." Afra told her with a wink. "It's because I happen to bake cookies almost every day."
"I see.." Noora said with a smile. "Mu'az loves cookies too! But I'm not good at baking them. So I order some cookies for him almost every day."
"I'll pack some cookies for Mu'az to take home later," Afra said, beating the melted butter and sugar with the electric mixer.
"Oh, thank you, dear," Noora said gladly. At the same time, they heard the sound of laughter coming from the upstairs which made both of them beam.
"Mu'az doesn't get along with anyone that easily," Noora said. "He usually feels shy to talk to other children. And he likes to play alone on his own. I even took him to see a psychologist once, wondering if he's having autism spectrum disorder. But he just asked me a few questions, and when I told him about Maryam, he advised me to keep him close to his sibling and see if I could see any positive changes in his behaviour. I can see a really good change in him now, Alhamdhulillah! It feels so hard to believe this."
"I feel so happy to see them together too!" Afra said with a big grin. "I wish three of them would always stay together like this. But, would it be possible?"
"Of course, it'd be possible if we stayed here in Sri Lanka," Noora said. But Afra noticed her face becoming gloomy while saying this. 'Why does she become upset at the thought of this?' She wondered.
Noora let out a sigh and looked at her as if she had heard her mind. "I don't think Ahsan would be able to come and stay with us here." She answered to her unsaid question.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that," Afra said almost immediately, wondering if she had read her mind. "But I'm sure he'll be able to join in a company here soon if he tired."
"Yes, I know," Noora said. "But he recently got promoted as an executive manager of the D & D construction company. Also, he's currently working on an important project. So it won't be easy to convince him to leave his job and come to live with us here."
"I can understand your situation, dear," Afra said with empathy. "So what will be your decision?"
"Both me and Ahsan had already made our decision about this," Noora said with a tight smile. "And that's why I came here with him. It's rare to see Mu'az being comfortable with others like this. He didn't even notice me coming out of the living room earlier. He's too engaged with playing with your girls. I feel so happy and relieved to see him this way. Ahsan will be happy to hear this too."
" Mu'az is lucky to have both of you in his life," Afra said with admiration. "You both truly love him and care for him very much!"
"Do you think so?" Afra asked her with widened eyes as if she couldn't believe what she had heard. "Of course, I do believe that both of you are being such good parents to him, Masha Allah," Afra said as she placed the cookies inside the oven.
"We are both doing our best to be good parents to him," Noora said thoughtfully. "But I don't know if our efforts are enough."
"Hey, why would you think so, dear?" Afra asked as she washed her hands, and went to sit next to her in the grey colour sofa which had been placed in a corner of the kitchen.
"I always think that he would have had a better life if Shazina had been alive," Noora said with a sigh. "He would have had his real family with him then. But his real family has been shattered in each direction now. And I always feel guilty about it, because they would have been together if I hadn't asked Shazina to give her son to me."
"But you only intended to help her," Afra said quickly, noticing the sadness that had clouded her face. "We all knew that Shazina was in her last moments. We understood that she wouldn't survive. And Fahad was desperately worried. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her. What would have happened to their children if we hadn't made that decision at that time? You knew that I already had a two months old baby at home. So you couldn't let me take responsibility for two more newborn babies. Also, you didn't know how to handle both of them on your own, because you were not used to being around babies. So you said and did the right thing at the right time. And it saved Shazina from her worries too. She knew that her babies were in safe hands. So please, don't feel guilty about what you did, Noora."
"I'm trying," Noora said as she wiped her tears. "But I still think that I should have waited till Fahad makes a decision about his children. I think that he would have liked to keep them with him if he had a choice. He could have used some servants to help him out with the children, right?"
"No, listen to me, Noora," Afra said firmly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He did have a choice back then. We both didn't force him to give his children to us, did we? No. He has never disagreed with us about this decision, nor he has asked us to give them back to him. It only means that he accepts our help willingly. Also, he wouldn't have been able to care for both of them even with the help of all the servants he could have hired. Because he wasn't in the right state of his mind then. He was so worried and depressed after her loss."
"Yes, you are right," Noora said, remembering everything that had happened after her cousin's death. "I knew that her farewell wasn't easy for him. He had refused to come out of his room for many days after her funeral, he refused to see anyone other than his mother. May Allah make them together in his paradise!"
"Aameen," Afra said with tears gleaming in her dark eyes. "Certainly, her farewell wasn't easy for any of us. She was such a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart."
"Yes, she has always been good for everyone," Noora said and pulled her into a hug. "Thanks a lot for making me feel at ease, Afra! All these years, I've been worried by the thought of keeping Mu'az away from his family. I love him a lot. But I felt like I've betrayed him by separating him from Fahad and Maryam. But now I've realised that I've been helping him by caring for him. I've become free of my guilt and regrets now. Thanks a lot!"
"you should have talked to me about this earlier, Noora," Afra said, taking her hands with empathy. "I would have been able to help you already if you had talked. I can't bear to think that you've been living with guilt all these years."
"I counselled a few years ago," Noora said with a sigh and smiled at her. "But it makes me feel better to hear all this from you."
"Please, feel free to talk to me anytime if you feel like it." Afra requested her. "You are like a sister to me. I'll be there for you whenever you need me, okay?"
"Okay." She said with a beam. At that moment she realised that it's not just Mu'az who has benefited from their long journey. She felt like she has found a sister whom she had never known as a sister before.