Ishq Kinara[Love Ashore] Complete

35. Losing Grip

Hejab Alvi was never the life of a party kind of person. Sure, she was easy to approach and easy to converse with but that was for her social life and mostly the life outside of the family.

In her home, she was the ice breaker, starting conversations and keeping them going and now that she had settled in with her husband, this fact was glaringly evident to her remaining family who were getting familiarized with her absence and the silent affair which were the meal times. They all would just simply focus on their food. Saima and Tabrez would find a topic or two to discuss, and then they'd also fall silent. Zonish would never say a word and Taimoor would look around bored because meal times felt more like a chore than anything else.

The dinner was almost over when Zonish cleaned her hands and turned to her father.

"Baba."

Tabrez was immediately attentive. It wasn't part of the norm for Zonish to call him like that. She preferred not conversing with him at the most. If he thought that the father daughter bonding moment on Hejab's Nikkah day would be the beginning of something new, he was proven wrong. Starting from the next day Zonish was back in her shell and zone, more distant than ever and silent.

So, this was unexpected.

"Yes, Beta?"

He asked with his whole attention towards her. Her glasses were set a bit low on her nose, a classic expression that she was deep in thoughts and contemplation.

"Do you miss my Mama?"

Complete silence followed after her question. Saima drowned the last of her water and got up.

"Taimoor, let's go for a walk, honey. You said the other day that it gets stuffy for you after dinner. Let's go to the backyard lawn."

Taimoor might be just a teenager but he knew his mother was trying to give the father daughter duo the needed space and privacy for something this personal. He made a face because he wanted to know but followed after his mother nonetheless.

Tabrez rested his face on his palms looking at his daughter.

"Let's go to my study? Are you finished with your meal?"

She nodded and pushed her chair behind. His study was at the end of the hallway. Zonish settled on the couch looking at her hands. Good thing she'd washed those before coming here. It would be weird sitting through a serious conversation with sticky hands. Or maybe she was just preparing herself for his response, buying some time after she'd blurted that question without thinking much.

"I thought this question would come ten years earlier."

"It means you used to miss her ten years back but not now?"

Tabrez Alvi smiled. His fireball of a daughter. She'd make a good journalist. Good thing she was becoming one only.

"Do you know the flowers that you can always find in our house?"

Zonish grimaced.

"Calla Lilies."

She never knew why that particular flower was always littering around some corner of their house. She didn't exactly hate it but she found it pretty bizarre.

"Your mother's favourite."

Zonish's eyes widened.

"Yeah, it wasn't a known fact about her. Something between us. Like a secret. I always found her choice of flowers comical and somewhat absurd but she laughed it off. So it was decided that on every dinner date, even without a dinner date I'll bring her Calla Lilies. "