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A yawn escaped her lips as she stretched her arms above her head. She sniffed and patted the expanse if the narrow bed beside her and was surprised when her hands met with nothing but air.
He was missing.
Alarmed, she tried to sit up hurriedly.
Her back groaned in protest.
"Aaram se." A voice came from the door.
She sighed in relief.
He was there.
"Good morning Princess." He said.
"Sixty years,Zain. Sixty years ho chuke mujhe janm liye hue. Abhi bhi Princess?"
"Meri liye toh abhi tak ho" he hobbled closer and kissed her forehead.
A smile unfurled on her face, and her eyes crinkled.
Suddenly the wrinkles on her face vanished, the greys in her hair seemed less prominent.
She watched him walk to the closet.
He had a limp now, his washboard abs,barely there.
His knees were knobbly and his hair grey.
When he had noticed that single strand of grey hair,he had panicked.
He plucked it and threw it out.
She had found the second one between sessions of love making.
She had laughed at him and had teased him mercilessly.
Until he pointed one on her head.
That had shut her up.
"Kya hua Mamu Ki Bhanji? Aise kya dekh rai ho?"
"Kitne budde ho gaye na hum Zain?"
He laughed but winced when he found himself wheezing.
"Any regrets Mamu Ki Bhanji?"
"Yeah."
He cocked one eyebrow.
"I have never been able to beat you at the crosswords."
He smiled, the twinkle in his eyes making him look years younger.
He came and sat beside her.
"And you never will."
"We'll see. We have forever no?"
His smile was a bit understanding for her liking.
He interwined her hands with hers.
"With you, yes. We have forever."
They remained silent for a moment, as they sat together hearing the world yawn.
The birds chirped and the day, a virgin.
It had yet to experience the busy streets and noisy schools.
"I cannot live without you Zain." She said, finally letting out her worry.
He rubbed circles inside of her palm.
"I don't want this forever to end. She whispered.
"It won't."
She tilted her head and was surprised at the intensity in his eyes.
"It will always be forever with you. And I promise, wherever you go,I'll be right behind.
You remember how they said- Zain and Aliya-Aliya and Zain are only minutes apart."
****
She recieved a call one early morning.
And when the matron of the Old Age Home came to do her daily rounds, she found Aliya Zain Abdullah sleeping in a slumber from which she will never wake, on the narrow,rickety bead, a smile on her face.
A completed Wednesday crossword puzzle lay beside.
"It will always be forever with you. And I promise, wherever you go, I'll be right behind."
The promise was from both sides.
After all, they were only minutes apart.
*****
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-Sanika :)
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