Bahut ajeeb hain yeh bandishein mohabbat ki,
Na usne kaid mein rakha
na hum farar hue.
▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️
Qirat used her right hand to pick up a slice of apple. Bringing it closer to her mouth, she bit on it.
"That color looks great on you." Parishay said while looking at Qirat's legs' nails.
Both the women were at home, and had called two beauticians over for some self-pampering. One of them was massaging Parishay's face, while the other one was painting Qirat's nails.
"Yeah," Qirat said, admiring her blue nails.
Anisha came with four cups of tea for the ladies and beauticians.
"Wow, Parishay ma'am! Mahad sir might just lose his heart over you again." Anusha commented.
Parishay smirked. "He better. I've spent two hours sitting in this chair. My back is all numb."
Qirat smiled and continued eating her apple. She felt some cramps in her lower abdomen, and she placed her palm over her belly. Just two days left for her due date! She couldn't wait to meet her little one. The pain slowly subsided so she didn't pay much attention to it.
It was almost sunset when the beauticians left. Till this time, small episodes of similar cramps had come and gone a few times. Qirat suspected it to be labor pain, but before she could voice it out to anyone, the pain increased.
"Anusha," She shouted as loud as she could. Taking deep breaths, she tried to calm herself down.
She waited a few minutes, but when she realised that her voice had not reached downstairs, she picked up her phone and called Parishay.
Parishay was in the kitchen, going over the dinner menu when her phone rang.
Frowning, she picked up. "Qirat?"
"Ammi," Qirat gasped, tensing Parishay.
"Are you okay?" Parishay asked in a worried tone as she started to run towards the stairs.
She reached her room as fast as he could. She found her breathing fast while clutching the bedsheet.
"Qirat," Parishay held her, "Anusha, ask the driver to start the car."
A few househelps came running to help Qirat down the stairs and walk her to the car. Parishay sat with Qirat in the backseat and the driver pressed on the accelerator.
"Stay calm, you'll be fine." Parishay rubbed her back.
"Za.. Zar," Qirat said.
"Yes, I'm calling him." Parishay was already dialing Zaroon's number.
He didn't pick up. She tried again.
"He had a meeting today." Qirat spoke before a cry left her lips. "Ammi, it hurts so bad." The contractions were getting stronger.
"I know, my child. Stay strong, it will pass and you'll meet your child after all this." Parishay tried to calm her down while calling Zaroon's assistant, Rohit.
"Hello, ma'am." Rohit answered the call.
"Where is Zaroon?" Parishay asked.
"He's in a meeting." Rohit replied.
"Tell him that Qirat got into labor. I'm taking her to the hospital." Parishay ordered him before hanging up and calling Mahad who was out with some friends.
On the way, her water broke. They reached the hospital a few minutes later. A stretcher along with two nurses and three wardboys were waiting for them outside. Anusha had already called the hospital and asked them to stay ready.
Qirat was taken inside quickly, where a doctor checked her.
"How are you doing Qirat?" The doctor asked. She was a pleasant lady in her mid-forties.
"Terrible!" Qirat cried.
The doctor wore her gloves to check her dilation. "You're only two cm dilated. We have to wait before you can start pushing."
"What?" Qirat gasped, "How long do we have to wait?"
"Depends. It can be an hour or ten." The doctor informed her.
Tears leaked out of Qirat's eyes. "But it is hurting so much."
"I know, sweetheart. You've to be strong." The doctor said and left the room.
Qirat looked at Parishay and cried some more. "Where the hell is he?"
"He'll be here soon, sweetie." Parishay tried to comfort her, but she wanted Zaroon. And the fact that he wasn't here was making her so mad. And all that anger just made her cry more.
Naila and Armaan reached the hospital a while later. Mahad came as well, but there was no sign of Zaroon. No matter how much everyone tried, no one could calm Qirat down.
Then, finally, almost half an hour later, a very stressed Zaroon entered the room. Everyone's eyes snapped towards him.
"Qirat," He walked towards his wife but before he could speak anything else, Qirat picked up a magazine kept on the table beside her bed and threw it towards Zaroon. He ducked before it could hit him.
Mahad and Armaan chuckled but one glare from Parishay shut them up. Everyone got up and left the room without making any noise.
"Where the hell were you?" Qirat shouted.
Zaroon reached near her and held hand, but she jerked it away and started to hit him.
"Baby," He groaned and tried to stop her, but she was too mad to care.
"I've been dying in pain here while giving birth to your baby and you're out there doing meetings." She screamed again while still hitting him.
"Sweetheart," He managed to hold both her hands and rested them on his chest "I'm sorry I got late. There was traffic out there."
That was true. He had rushed out of the meeting as soon as Rohit had informed him about Parishay's call, but since it was late evening and everyone was coming back from the office, the traffic was crazy.
"It hurts so much," All her anger turned into tears and she started to sob again, "and you were not here to hold me."
"Shh," He sat close to her and hugged her. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
She leaned her body on his and kept complaining like a baby.
"Where does it hurt?" He asked.
"Everywhere."
He smiled at her cuteness and started to rub her lower back. "Does that make you feel better?"
As stupid and cliche as it sounded, but it actually lessened her pain. She nodded while wiping her tears. He continued to rub her back and abdomen.
After eight long hours, she was finally dilated enough to start pushing. And another two hours later, she gave birth to a baby boy.
The nurse cleaned the baby, wrapped it in a blue cloth and handed it over to Zaroon. His eyes were shining with unshed tears. Their family were shedding tears as well.
When Qirat woke up after resting for a few hours, Zaroon gave her the baby and asked, "Saifan?"
"Saifan Zaroon Hussain." She kissed her child's forehead. "My Saifu!"
🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸
I'm in love with the name Saifan. Adding it to me the list of names for my future kids.
Epilogue coming up tomorrow.