Family!

One year ago

They had been roaming the mall for two hours now.

“Mom, you know I love shopping, but I have to go meet my friends. We can come again some other day,” she complained, making a face.

“Ameerah, give me five more minutes. I don’t have anything good to wear whenever I have to go meet my friends,” her mom clarified.

“Mom, you have tons of dresses. My friends are waiting for me for half an hour now,” she argued back, getting annoyed.

“I told your dad, that we need a new car and a driver, so that I can go wherever I want to, in peace, but does he ever listen? You take the car now; I’ll ask Aabira to pick me from here on her way back from university.”

“We have three cars already, mom, and Aabira won’t be free for another two hours.”

“Yes, but I need my own car now, that you have started college and go out with your friends more often. And, I think I will need two more hours here,” her mom replied sheepishly.

“Mom!” Ameerah shook her head disbelievingly. At the same moment, she received a text message, “I am waiting, Ameerah.”

“Okay fine. Have fun mom. I am going to go now. I’ll call and tell you when I’ll be back,” she said quickly, and left.

Ameerah hated that she had to lie to her mother concerning Zarak. She had kept it a secret for a whole year and had no plan to reveal it anytime soon. Ameerah knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t help it. Loving Zarak had made her cross some boundaries that her mother had set for her. Her family was never strict on her concerning Islam, but born in a Muslim family, they did have some rules. One of them was not to have a boyfriend. Whenever she talked about her parents, it mostly involved her mother, because her father was pretty much always busy at work. Growing up, she had spent a lot of time with her father too, but now it was different. Her mom also never complained about it now. Ameerah believed that she had gotten used to it, and had found her own happy times alone. This situation made Ameerah sad. There was a time when she had seen her parents really happy in each other’s company but now, they mostly argued whenever they were together. At times, Ameerah found herself wishing, that her dad wouldn’t come home at all. She felt her chest tighten at such thoughts.

Ameerah’s mom, Sadaf was a lady in her mid-fifties, with average height and a lean figure. She had beautiful green eyes, on a rather plain looking face. She looked at herself in the mirror, in the changing room of the next shop she went to, and sighed sadly. She wished she was more beautiful. She remembered the argument she had with Abdul Rehman last night about a new car. In the beginning of her marriage, she had been really happy with him, but as years passed, they had discussions that led to arguments and fights more frequently. He argued that she needed to spend more time at home with her kids and not with her friends at the mall and parties. In her defense, she at least spent more time with them than him. He couldn’t come home every day, as his business was a little outside the city, but when he was home, he demanded her to be there. She argued that the charity parties that she went to didn’t follow his schedule. Distance had only increased between them after that. Abdul Rehman had even discussed with her about starting a business closer to home. It wouldn’t be that profitable, but at least he would be able to spend more time with her and the kids, but she had not agreed to it. She believed that money was the key to a successful life. More money meant a better future for their children. A successful life demanded more time, hard work, and sacrifices even if it meant spending time away from family. In her point of view, it was for the betterment of the family after all. She had even asked Abdul Rehman to let her start a job as well, but he had straight away disagreed, and said that she needed to give her utmost attention to the kids.

What Sadaf didn’t understand was that Ameerah and Aabira had tiny wishes in their hearts growing up; to get to see their father more often. Ameerah loved the time, when she would sit on his lap, and he would ask her what her name meant.

“It means princess,”she would reply with twinkle in her eyes.

“Yes, and you are my beautiful princess.” He would hug her and kiss her and play with her, but such moments were limited to the early years of Ameerah’s childhood. As time passed, she got to see less and less of him, and she developed increasing resentment towards him. When her parents fought, she had decided it in her heart that her dad was the reason behind it.