Khudgarzi

14

Rooh nu vasaja seene loun waliye
Ik waari aaja door jaan waliye
Tenu hokah marda phiran
Tenu hokah marda phiran

Three weeks later

Baba was slowly and gradually getting better. He tried to skip out medications, saying he hated them but he had to deal with me, who would literally force him to take them. Aunty hadn't visited once in the past three weeks, she had called twice though and didn't mention her coming back. Baba was heartbroken as to when he found out that Saima baaji never called up and Shehryar never visited except after the day of the incident. Sania baaji, on the other hand, would call up from the UK, whatever chance she got and tried to keep baba company via FaceTime. But, I could see the longing in baba's eyes of actually having his kids beside him.

Henna and her family have been a sweetheart in all of this. They have helped us out by freshly cooked meals when I couldn't cook. Henna was a little suspicious about aunty's absence  but I assured her that she was at Saima baaji's because she was having an extremely difficult pregnancy. To my surprise, she believed it and didn't question any further. Henna driving me to the grocery store. She has also been teaching me how to drive, because if God forbid, something like this happens to baba, I'd know how to get around. I had learnt how to drive back in Pakistan so I was a little rusty but I soon got the hang of it and was driving around smoothly. I had applied for an International Driving Permit, two weeks ago, and it was due to arrive any day now. 

I had one week left till it was my first day to university, so I needed to do some first day of school shopping. I needed some basic stationary, like pens and a few notebooks, so I asked baba to tag along. We went to the nearby store and got all my essentials. Baba was looking a bit gloomy so I decided to surprise him by taking him to a Starbucks. He immediately looked a lot better, I grabbed us a table and ordered our drinks. Baba started telling me about how much he loved Starbucks and how twice a week he'd bring Sania baaji here to get something. 

Baba and I then started talking about how life is. He told me how before aunty announced her being pregnant with Sania baaji, baba was going to divorce her, but he didn't because he had a little bundle of joy coming alongwith the hope that aunty's attitude would get better. He told me, how throughout the nine months of the pregnancy, aunty would mentally torture uncle and when he would retaliate back, she would through a fit and then spread rumors about how baba would hit her in his friend circle. Baba fell into a deep depression then and was almost going to end his life, when he heard a little cry, he focused more on the sound and found out that Sania baaji was wailing and aunty was ignoring her. Baba immediately ran to her and picked her up and she instantly calmed down. He then realized the source of her discomfort and found out that her diaper hadn't been changed. He asked aunty to do it, but she said, "she's your daughter, I don't want to do anything with her" and with that she had left the room. 

From that day onwards, it was just Sania baaji and baba. They would spend every single moment together, hence why Sania baaji and baba are the closest. One day, when Sania baaji, was around five years old, uncle came back from work, when he heard her crying loudly, he traced the sound back to find aunty slapping her again and again, why? Because she spilled some water on the ground. Baba scooped her up in her arms and consoled her and looked towards aunty with hatred and told her to pack up her stuff and leave. Baba wanted sole custody of Sania baaji and send aunty back home. But of course, life isn't as easy as it seems because aunty was pregnant with Saima baaji and you can't divorce a woman when she's pregnant. This is when baba lost hope and started spending more time at work and less time at home, but he'd always find time to spend with his kids. Sania baaji is still the closest to his heart. Baba then proceeded to say, that when aunty had slapped me and he had stepped in, he saw the scared five year old Sania baaji in me.