For Our Love

Sixty

She looked at him, surprised. "Walaikum Assalam." She averted her gaze. 

"She should not have done that." He shook his head in disappointment. "I didn't know that Saira could be so heartless." 

Fatima instantly came to Saira's defence for a reason that was unknown to her as well. "No, Arif Bhai, it's not like that. Saira is just very attached to Fawad." 

He didn't say much after that, but a couple of days after Nilofar's Valima, Arif broke off his engagement to Saira.

"I'm sorry, Uncle, but I cannot marry a cruel woman." He declared in front of Mansoor Uncle. 

"She wouldn't treat her own children like that!" Ammi Jaan defended Saira, weakly. "She'll be a good mother, a good wife." 

"A good person doesn't need to be related to someone to treat them right." Arif argued. "Yet here, Saira is treated her own brother's wife and son like that. That little boy is a newborn, and Fatima Bhabi is the one person he needs right now, but this wasn't the only time I'd witnessed Saira behaving like this with them. She acted similarly on the Valima. She just snatched the little kid out of his mother's arms and walked away." 

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?" Ali asked his wife quietly.

"I didn't want to create problems, Ali." She replied, not looking at him.

After Arif left, Saira had thrown a full-on tantrum, screaming and shouting. She had started accusing Fatima of intentionally causing her engagement to end. 

"You don't even deserve to be a mother!" Saira pointed a finger at Fatima. "Today you ruined my life and tomorrow you'll ruin your own son's life. People like you can't see anyone else happy, even their own family." 

Nilofar, who had been visiting to bid her family farewell before she left for Canada, overheard her and instantly spoke up. "Who are you to decide who deserves to be a mother or not? Allah blessed Bhai and Bhabi with a child. Are you questioning His decision?!" 

"You stay out of this!" Saira turned on her. "This is none of your business anymore." She turned back to Fatima. "Fawad is the child of our family, and I don't think she should be raising him." 

"Wait a minute." Ali held up a finger. "How dare you say that my wife is an unfit mother for our own child? Who are you to judge her?" He turned to look at his parents. "I've made a decision, Baba Jaan, Ammi Jaan. I'm moving out of this house with my wife and son. I will not raise my son in this toxic environment." He glared at Saira again. "Have you considered that maybe it's your own attitude that messes things up for you? Instead of blaming others, look in the mirror first." 

Saira fumed in silence.

****

While Ali got estate agents to search for a house for his family, Saira and her mother made her life miserable for Fatima. While Ammi Jaan was not in favour of Fatima giving up her child for Saira to raise, she blamed her daughter-in-law for Saira's engagement being broken off.

Fatima was on maternity leave, and should have been looking after her child. Instead, she was cooking for the entire family- all the brothers lived together at that point, cleaning the house and going grocery shopping. Meanwhile Fawad remained in the 'care' of his Phupho. 

His mother was miserable, often finding herself crying from exhaustion and from not having her baby near her. Every time she heard him cry, which was a lot, because he was being kept away from his mother, she rushed up to him, but unless he needed to be fed, Saira sent her away. The constant crying of the baby had made Ammi Jaan cranky, and she just ignored all the drama around her, telling them all to shut up and let her watch TV.