Zeeshan left the office quite late in the evening. He had a few clients wanting to prepone their meetings and had to deal with a fussy client personally. Sometimes he wondered why he paid so many employees if he was the one doing all the toiling. Zeeshan rolled his eyes when he remembered the fuss was just so that the company would be obliged to work on his terms. Too bad Zeeshan already knew about such schemes and set the guy in his lane. He boarded his car and sighed when he realized he would miss dinner. His mother had warned him once about the issue of missing dinner and Zeeshan was sure the only thing he was to digest that night was lectures.
Once Zeeshan parked in the driveway, he noticed that only the light in the living room was lit. He winced at the thought of his mother waiting until the wee hours of the night for her son to arrive. He used his own key to open the main door, the silver key looking new despite having bought it years ago. Zeeshan hardly ever used his key. His mother opened the door in the morning, he wasn't there the rest of the day, and the ladies locked the door once everyone had gone to sleep.
"Assalamu aleikum Ammi. (Mother)" He greeted the huddled figure of his mother on the luxurious couch.
"Waleikum salaam. Do you have any idea how late you're arriving?" She chastised.
"Sorry, mum. I had to finish up with a few of my clients so that I'd have time for shopping with the youngsters tomorrow. Eid is in a few days and I'm pretty sure they'd sacrifice me if they aren't satisfied with their attires."
"Well, if you were married, your wife would worry aboutsuch things. Leaving you, with enough timeto professionally become a workaholic." His mother nagged.
Zeeshan raised an eyebrow at his mother's unsubtle subtlety. Zeeshan's mother only chuckled and got up to heat dinner as Zeeshan freshened up in the nearby guest room. He didn't have the energy to walk up to his room, freshen up, and walk back down. He was sure he would collapse somewhere along the way. Sitting on the dining table, he watched as his mother brought up a warm plate of rice and curry, along with some pickles and a tall glass of freshly squeezed juice.
Zeeshan thanked his mother softly as she placed the plate before him. His mother just smiled and responded with a small kiss on his forehead. Zeeshan then began eating as his mother ranted about the entire day and how much she adored Zeeshan when compared to the rest of the mischief-makers in the house.
"Oh, and about the shopping," He heard her say, "Ayesha and her brother will accompany you. They hardly know the city and your grandmother isn't comfortable sending them all alone."
Zeeshan just nodded at her, his gaze fixed on the food in front of him. He was starting to feel the exhaustion creep in. His shoulders sagged with the burden of the day as Zeeshan concentrated on finishing his food before falling asleep. His mother had made an effort to stay up for his sake and he'd be damned if he didn't show appreciation.
His mother continued to chatter, but eventually watched her son silently wondering when he had begun starving throughout the day, in order for the rest of the house to eat peacefully. There was a time when Zeeshan would pester her for snacks and drinks. She ran a hand over his hair fondly.
Luckily, Zeeshan was done with his food before he had to listen to sappy comments about how he had grown up too fast for his mother's liking. He helped his mother clear up before retreating to his den. There, he undressed and plopped onto his bed without the intention for freshening for the night.
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Ayesha woke up at eight the next morning. She was assigned with lunch duty along with the other girls since she was so adamant on helping to do something. The first time they refused to let her help, Ayesha coaxed the house-help into letting her clean all the rooms on her floor. Imagine her aunt's horror when she found her beloved late sister's daughter on her knees, scrubbing the floor with a rag to remove stains.
Not like they minded. They had just moved on from the ideology that families bore children to make them toil. Her aunt had picked her off the floor and dragged her to her brother, thinking that he was the only one who would knock some sense into Ayesha. Parvaiz however, was worse. He just chuckled at his aunt before replying with: "Then you'd better give her something to do before she raids this place." Her aunt almost fainted.
The ladies had then given in and ordered her to do nothing but cleaning her own mess and some cooking for the lunch time meal. Ayesha stretched and proceeded to make her bed and clean up her room before making it into the shower. She sighed as the warm water poured over her being, her body melting into that of a relaxed person. She then dressed into a loose dress with black tights underneath (a habit she had not let go of yet) when her stomach growled in a feral manner. She blushed at her reflection before raiding the kitchen for some left overs.
Once she was done eating, she went to look for her brother in his room. Not finding him there reminded her that since he worked from home for the moment. Reaching the living room, she found him working on something that had his forehead in lines. She had a sad moment then, when she was reminded of how her father looked similar, yet older.
Grimacing at her thought process, she forced herself between her brother's arm and chest, so he was sort of embracing her without his consent. He chuckled at her when she failed and asked what she was trying to do. In response, Ayesha just pouted at him and widened her eyes.
Parvaiz laughed at her, along with another person. Turning her gaze to the other person in the room, which apparently she hadn't noticed until then, she was shocked to find Zeeshan staring at her with his eyebrows raised and amusement in his eyes.
"WASN'T HE SUPPOSED TO BE AT WORK?!!!!" was her only thought process for a while.