The Mechanic

14

Faizal woke up to somebody talking in his kitchen and for a minute, he was dazed. As he slowly became aware of his surroundings, he suddenly remembered last night and touched his lips, a smile gracing his face. His green eyes twinkled anew as he got out of bed.

"What do you want to eat?" he heard Sebina's voice asking. "Oh! Alright. Yes. This one looks delicious."

As he walked into the kitchen,  he stopped shocked at the sight before him.

Sebina had Vinter on her waist, stirring something in a bowl for him. She kept talking to him and kissing his cheek, making him gurgle and make excited sounds, clapping his chubby hands and gazing at Sebina like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

He must have been dreaming. He rubbed his eyes and Sebina was indeed standing in the kitchen with his son on her hip, talking to him. He frowned. Vinter was supposed to be at his grandmother's...what was going on?

"Good morning," he said.

Sebina looked at him. "Morning. We're making this little guy some food. Some lady just dropped him off with his diaper bag and she said she lived downstairs...old lady with grey hair?"

Faizal got angry. He had literally dropped Vinter off yesterday in the morning with a week's worth of diapers and food including 300 bucks in compensation for his mother.  And the family had the audacity to drop the child in the arms of a neighbor who was still a stranger nonetheless! He would deal with his family but right now he wanted to make sure that Vinter was alright.

"And you were ok with holding him?" he asked. "You freaked out last time."

"I didn't have much of a choice. The lady said this was the third time someone dropped Vinter off with her and she was fed up so she thrust the baby in my arms and I had to carry him. You were sleeping so peacefully and I did not want to wake you so..."

She grabbed the bowl she had been stirring  and sat down on the couch with the baby on her lap, fixing his bib as the baby's green eyes stared at her in wonder.  He tried to grab her face again with his fat fingers and she patted them away before feeding him.

Vinter ate like he was starving and when he was done, Sebina did something that seemed to come naturally to her; she burped him before rocking him to sleep and when she came back, she was surprised when Faizal pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

"You'd make an amazing mother," he said, holding her against his chest.

Sebina swallowed. "I don't want to have kids," she said, getting out of his arms. She was feeling weird and a bit awkward because of what had happened between her and Faizal. He was literally her little brother's age and this would be scandalous if anyone found out about it. "Look...I think I should change and leave."

Faizal stared at her. He could clearly read the regret on her face. He chuckled humorlessly to himself. "I understand," he said. He walked to his bedroom and almost shut the door before remembering that Vinter was asleep. He slowly closed it.

Sebina simply walked out, dressed in her tank top and Faizal's sweatpants and slides. She had found some money in the pocket of the pants and she just needed to get back to her workplace to take a bath and change..

.

A week passed without her talking to Faizal and it wasn't a nice week. Truth was, she missed him but the two of them had too much pride to call each other and Sebina had promised herself that she was not going down that road with someone younger than her. Maybe it was for the best that she stayed away from him.

Her office phone rang and surprised, she answered it.

The panicked voice of Faizal came on. "We're at the gate! Please help me!"