Blaming the romantic movies in my head for luring me astray, I turn to her side.
"Catch me again if you can?" she exclaims triumphantly as she flees down the stairway.
"Don't challenge me," I say as I get in behind her.
Her lehenga is long enough for her to trip and fall down the stairwell.
"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I speed up my descent.
'Alhamdulillah,' I breathe a sigh of relief when I see she is conscious and there are no bloodstains on her sides.
Kneeling next to her, I inquire, "Are you all right?"
"Alhamdulillah, I'm alright," she grins, as usual, pretending to be normal. Look at me, nothing happened," she says, raising her hands and attempting to stand.
I check whether she had struck her head while helping her sit up in the chair, and she is inspecting her hands and legs.
"Does this indicate I'm some bad spirit because I remained unharmed even after tumbling down the stairs? Nothing can harm an evil spirit, some claim."
"Is it appropriate to crack a joke at this point? Seriously?" While looking over her head, I ask.
"Hey, it's painful, slow down Shahrul ji," she remark as I touch her left side of the head.
"You're a wicked spirit, so why are you in pain?" I make a sarcastic comment. "Let me keep some ice because it's bulging on your left side."
She straighten up and sit correctly when I return with ice in a bowl.
"Why is there so much ice? Are you going to dump everything on my head?"
"No, I'm going to shove it in your mouth because you're spouting nonsense."
"Hey, that's hilarious. Please remind me tomorrow so I can laugh."
I ignore her, place the bowl on a nearby teapoy, and begin to place ice over the bulged spot. She scream again, this time in agony. I motion for her to stay quiet and begin carefully massaging the area with ice. She takes my hands in hers as I completed melting down two more cubes.
"That'll do for now. It's a strange sensation, almost dizzy."
"Okay. Let me stop. Take some rest in the bedroom. Get up."
She springs up saying, "No, I want to play Holi."
"We'll play later; first, let's rest."
"Please, please, please, please. Let's get this party started." She extends her hands to show me that she is alright but swiftly retracts them as if she is trying to cover up something.
"What you've got in your hands?"
"No... nothing," she says with an awkward smile.
I'm confident there's something going on.
"All right, you won't tell me. That's fine. I'll keep this and come back, we'll play Holi," I say as I take the bowl.
She extends her left hand to show me the bloody cotton. "I hid it because you might rebuke me"
I ask, calmly, "Are you afraid of me?"
"I'm not afraid."
"All right, I'll just leave it. Tell me, what else have you kept hidden from me now?" I question as I apply an antiseptic to the wound in her knee.
Her silence, coupled with the fact that she is not looking at me, proves that she has kept something more hidden from me.
"I'm having significant abdominal discomfort," she finally admits, her gaze falling on me. "But that's perfectly natural," she continues when I raise my brow. "I get similar pains from time to time. That's something I can handle."
As I finish bandaging her wound, it occurs to me to inquire, "Since when have you been having this problem?"
"Two-three years maybe."
"Have you checked with a doctor?" I ask her even though I already know the answer.
"Don't you know I avoid doctors? This is something I'm used to; it'll pass on its own."
"All right, fine. Go get some rest."
"Holi?"
"I'll bring colour plates into the room."
Her phone rings as I step away; it is in her bedroom. "That's okay, I'll call back later," she says as I turn towards the stairs.
I see the shift in her expression but don't ask her about it; instead, I nod my head in agreement and proceed to the kitchen.
'Her expression shifted, indicating that she recognised who was calling and that the ringtone was personalised. I tried to figure out who it was because I recognised the ringtone. Miksha? Shravya? Nazia?' Then I remember, 'She was upset the last time she spoke with Sheraz. Yes, exactly. Sheraz is attempting to contact her. What's the issue between them?'
'You shouldn't get in the way of their friendship. They'll figure it out for themselves,' my mind gives me some advice.
'It appears to be something major; at the very least, see if you can assist,' my heart murmurs.
While eating evening tea and a snack prepared by Fathma, she was telling stories to Sana at the dining table.
"During the rainy season, a cat gave birth to four kittens. When a storm hit the next day, she needed to keep her children safe, so she took them to a house and kept them secure until the storm passed. The cat realised she needed to eat food to provide milk for the kittens the next day, so she abandoned them and went in quest of food. Kittens were terrified of being alone and started sobbing."
"So terrible, mami. We'll take those kittens to our house and feed them."
She smiled at Sana.
"Cat will look after her kittens." Fathma said, "Don't worry."
"Maa, shall we talk for a few minutes, if you are free?" Farhat asked while washing the teacups.
They proceeded towards the garden area once she agreed.
"I understand how much you adore Saba didi and Shahrul ji. But, from the perspective of a young child, you abandoned his hand when he most needed you. I know you had your reasons, but he was a child, and he couldn't comprehend them. You provided him with food, education, and shelter, but you took away his mother and her love. His rage at you stemmed from the fact that you failed to wipe away his tears. It is more painful for a kid than an adult to have someone you love in front of you and not receive their love back. He'd never gotten over the shock and hurt he'd experienced as a child. I'm wondering as to how you missed his yearning for his mother's love. I apologise if what I just said made you feel bad. Even though you tried to keep your distance from me at first, I sensed your love in the last few days I was here. That gave me the confidence to approach you, maa."
Fathma remained silent throughout and calmly listened to everything.
Fathma was moved by her words, and she approached me to try to repair our connection. It didn't happen quickly, but with Fathma's consistent efforts to express her motherly love, our bond was restored over time. I overheard Fathma telling Saba about this chat she had with Farhat and how much she loves Farhat, and that's when I realised how she managed to persuade her. I was proud of myself for loving her.
As the thoughts consume me. "Shahrul ji," she calls out
She takes the colors in her hands and throws them all over my hair as soon as I return to her room with color plates, "Happy Holi Shahrul ji.
"You ruined my hair, so I'm going to do the same," I say as I set the color tray aside and grab the colors in my hand.
She starts sprinting around the room, and we start throwing colors at each other as we rush around. I take the water jug as soon as the first color tray is empty.
"Don't waste water, especially drinking water," she yells as she flees.
"Is that it? Then okay," I say as I dash into the restroom, keeping the water jug on the table.
"No cheating, Shahrul ji," she yells from behind me.
I toss the mug of water over her after filling it.
"Shahrul," she exclaims.
"This is a fantastic idea; if I had known about it before, I would have thrown water sooner."
"Shahrul, let me throw some water on you," she says as we wrestle for the mug. "One for the other. Completed."
"Give it your all," I challenge.
She grabs the bucket of water and pours it over me while I am concentrated on filling the mug with water. I'm completely soaked and staring at her. She drops the bucket and dashes out the door.
"Hey, don't run; you'll fall again; it'll be slick."
"Shahrul, don't cheat again," she says as she comes to a halt outside the washroom. "You're stopping me so you can dump water on me?"
"No... I give up," I say as I put the mug away.
She ecstatically leaps to her feet and sits down.
I walk out. I toss a few colors onto her from another plate.
She sneezes and locks her gaze on me.
"Have a happy Holi, Hitler. Oops." I pinch her cheeks and say, "Happy Holi, My Hitler."
She's chasing me all over the place. Within minutes, we've thrown color at each other and emptied another plate.
"Time please," she says as she gets exhausted and sits down. I sit close to her because I am tired as well.
Flashback:
"Mami, do you mind if I spend the night with you?" Sana asked.
"You are welcome to stay as long as you wish. You don't have to ask. Okay?"
"Okay, mami," Sana said with a smile.
She fixed her gaze on me. I understood what she wanna say. I smiled and walked over to the balcony, nodding to her.
I called Saba to let her know that Sana would be staying with us for the weekend. She enthusiastically agreed.
Sana was watching television after dinner. I was standing on the balcony when she approached me, "Shahrul ji."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to yell at you for entering the bedroom. The bedroom can be shared," I said even before she started the conversation.
"Okay," she said with a smile. "Thank you, ji."
At 11 p.m., we went to bed; I was on the right side of the bed, she was on the left, and Sana was in the middle.
"Could you tell me a story, Mami?"
"Certainly. Do you like lion stories?"
"Absolutely."
Sana and I both fell asleep as soon as she started telling a story. She stopped her story and retired to her bed.
********************************
When I return from changing my wet clothing, I notice she is straining to comb her hair after drying it; whatever she claims, rolling down the stairs may harm the bones or at the very least cause us discomfort. I approach her and grab the comb from her grip. After giving me a nice smile, she lets go of the comb and sits up straight. I've never had any experience combing a woman's hair, but I've seen Saba do it. I treat her hair with additional attention because she is already suffering from a head injury. I can't say it's a great braid, but I managed to braid her hair somehow.
"Okay?"
"Thank you," she says as she nods and takes the comb from me.
I take the hairdryer from the dressing table in front of her. She's looking at me in the mirror while I'm drying my hair. I notice, but I know that if I turn to face her, she would immediately turn away, so I pretend I didn't notice. She gets up to go in a few minutes, and I move aside to make room for her.