Finally, we are back from Canada. We had arrived two days back. Sameer was very much upset with me coming here, but he has work and as it is I have to come back sooner or later. I had completed unpacking, and was now setting everything in place.

"Hanya" he knocked on my door.

"Come in" I replied stuffing the suitcase on the top shelf.

"Busy?" He asked.

"Not much!!" I glanced back.

"Wanted to talk to you about Adeel" he said leaning on the wardrobe door.

"What about Adeel? Is he alright? What happened? Where is he??" While I was blurting, My feet slip and I'm falling. I can't open my voice to scream, fear, paralysing my body. I'm falling down. The expected thump of the ground doesn't come. A small gasp left my lips when I opened my eyes.

Instead of falling on the ground, I was in his arms. He had caught me. We both kept on staring for a while, but soon I averted my gaze and stood up. He awkwardly cleared his throat, while I straightened my dress.

"Umm, you were saying something about Adeel" I asked.

"Uhh, yeah!! Tomorrow is his routine checkup as well as his vaccination" he said.

"Yeah, I know that."

"So can you take him to the hospital tomorrow and I'll meet you directly over there?" He asked

"Yeah sure. No problem." I smiled

"Thanks"

"For what?"

"Just like that" he shrugged and left!!

I feel like I've learned a lot in these last five months, but that I'm also completely clueless. In some ways, doing a work of mother is not nearly as complicated as everyone made it out to be...but in other ways, it's more complicated than I thought possible.

Our day starts after he leave for office with Adeel's morning feed. After he's done with feeding I pick him up from his Rock n Play, flip on my back and lay him on my chest.
We go into the nursery for a diaper change and to get him dressed for the day. He won't stay in that outfit for long, though.

After those 30-45 minutes of activity, he starts yawning which means it's time to put him down for a nap before he gets too tired and starts belting out.
During that time, I try to get as many chores done as possible.

After his mid-afternoon feeding, he is usually pretty conked out. He will nap for about two hours. I also take a nap with him. This nap marks the end of good naps for the day, usually, but sometimes we get lucky. Since I'm home with him during the day, when Zain comes home around 8:30pm, it's daddy time.. After dinner, they both either go on a walk or play. I treasure these couple of hours to myself. Even a mom needs to take care of herself to be able to take care of her baby.

But a father also needs to do his duty...it's 9:00pm and he's still not home. I put Adeel in his cot, and called him.

"Hello" he answered

"Hi..umm..it's 9:00, where are you?" I asked

"Uhh...actually, I have a meeting at eleven, so most probably I'll be late" he replied softly.

"Eleven in the night??" I shrieked.

"It is night...so yeah, night!!" He chuckled.

"Umm...then, you must be hungry?" I asked awkwardly.

"A bit...don't worry, I'll eat something" he replied in a tired tone.

"No, you'll not eat something...I'm bringing you dinner." I said without thinking.

"What?? But why?? And it's cold today...Adeel might catch cold" he replied instantly.

"Samya can take care of Adeel for sometime. Now, no more questions...I'm coming!!" I said and hung up.

I quickly made Adeel ready for the bed and told Samya, to see him for few hours. I'm this much sure that he won't need feeder or a diaper change. After kissing him and again giving a bunch of lecture to Samya, I left the house. Driver was already waiting for me with the back gate open. I quickly slid in, while the driver started the car.

10-15 stories building are quite common in our town but this 75 storied building is really different. Not only it is higher than most other buildings but it also possesses an eye-catchy architectural design which is bound to absorb any one's attention. If you observe the building from nearby, you will see the real beauty of it.

It looks like every inch of it has been drawn before building it. When I looked at the top of this building after I got out of the car, I got the impression that it is endless and has made its way over the sky. A cluster of four high tech buildings, each one joined to the next by a covered walkway. It's just a huge glass tower, but it definitely stands out. After I had admired the outer side of his company, I decided to go inside.

"Miss, you must have come to see Mr.Abdullah?" A young lady came from the opposite direction.

"Yes" I nodded

"This way, Miss" she said showing me the way. She was wearing a pink colored maxi skirt, white blouse with a cream colored cardigan and a white hijab.

"You work here?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm his secretary" she replied smiling. I smiled back but internally, I was screaming at him...he has a secretary and he didn't even told me?? But, wait!! Why would he tell me...I'm being nosy, just like that. I huffed!!

"What? I'm sorry did you said something?" She asked.

"No" I shrugged.

"For how long, you've been working here?" I asked

"It's been a year" she smiled and the elevator made a ding sound.

I didn't knew the elevator opened directly into his private office, a huge room occupying the corner of the building with floor-to-ceiling windows giving awesome views of the city. The two remaining walls contained a door, and a low bookshelf.

The black glass surface of his desk was equally uncluttered: a computer, a leather notebook, mac book pro and a framed photograph of a fourteen year old boy. But the floor was filled by several stacks of paperwork, pens in a tin and half on the floor.

"Excuse me, Sir" she spoke.

"Yes?" He said turning towards us in his swivel chair. When he saw me, he quickly got up and walked towards me.

"Thank you, Meesha" he said. Oh! So her name is Meesha, nice name. I liked her...she's sweet.

"You're Welcome, Sir " she said and left. He then turned towards me.

"I hope you didn't found any difficulty in coming here?" He asked.

"Umm...No" I replied.

"Come...sit" he said motioning towards the chair.

"Your cabin is very neat and clean!!" I commented.

"Well usually it is but today due to this sudden meeting, it's all cluttered!!" He said

"I konw.." I smiled.

"Adeel?"

"He's sleeping...and Samya is with him." I said and he nodded. "You must be hungry, shall I serve?"

"Yeah sure" he said. I bet, this is very awkward. I walked towards the sofa at the side of his cabin, which also had a center table. I took out the casserole which had Grilled chicken Pasta and I brought Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies for the desert.

"You made this?" He asked taking a mouth
spoonful Grilled Chicken Pasta. I didn't knew why I felt so shy to answer him. Maybe, because this was the first time, I cooked something for him.

"Yes" I said looking down.

"Masha Allah, It's amazing" he said.

"JazakAllahu khair" I said.

"So how was your day?" He asked.

"Busy with Adeel, yours?" I asked.

"Busy with paperwork" he replied. We both laughed.

"It's been a longtime, we should visit Mom" I said.

"Now only you came back" he asked bewildered.

"When did we went?" I asked confused.

"We did came back from Canada few days before" he said.

"But I was talking about you-" and we both realized that for the first time I said Mom instead of Aunty. He cleared his throat and I gave him a glass of water.

"Here" I said handing him over the Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies.

"Mmm...this is so so delicious" he said devouring the taste of the Brownies, in his mouth. But something flashed beneath the surface of his hardened expression and I hurried to investigate the sudden shift. It was too late, the emotion disappeared before I could identify it, like reaching desperately for an escaped balloon; the string dangling so tantalizingly close but the wind pushed it away and it's lost forever.

"What happened??" I asked at the sudden change of his expression.

"Hareem use to make this, actually it's the exact brownie and the taste is same. How can it be so similar??" He asked with confusion.

"Because, I use to always make it for you!!" I said softly and then raised my eyes to look at him.

"But Hareem??"

"She didn't knew how to bake or to make these type of stuffs. She only knew the basics but she was never pro in this." I said.

"What?? That means Hareem lied to me about making this?"

"No, she didn't. When she told me that you love this Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownie and how she wished to make it for you. So I just helped my sister. And from day one she wanted to tell you about this, but I made her promise to me, that she'll not say this to you!!" I said.

"But-"

"I loved my her alot and still do...I couldn't see her upset.. I hope you're not angry with her or me?" I hesitated in asking him this.

"So that means all this while, I was by chance in love with you" he blurted taking another bite of the brownie.

Blush seared through my cheeks and for a minute I thought my face was on fire. I suddenly felt awkward, demure, and coy; even going as far as attempting to hide my rosy features behind my slim fingers. I turned my head to the side to avert his gaze, but the sudden rosiness of my cheeks gave him away.

"Umm...I, I meant, I was in love with your hand made brownies!!" He said with very much awkwardness.

Beneath the talk was the love, the gentle gaze of their eyes, the relaxed nature of their faces. Whatever they talked of never mattered, only that they were talking, connected. And in that way their talk was a salve to one another.

"It's late, I guess, I should leave now" I said looking at my wrist watch.

"Yeah" he said standing up and helping me in putting the stuffs inside.

I then started walking towards the gate when he stopped me.

"Hanya"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you, for cooking, only for me!!" He said. My heartbeat increased as I kept staring down. He said coming closer towards me, making my heart beat go wild!!

"No, I wanted to cook, for you!!" I said the last part slowly and quickly turned away, but he caught my wrist.

"I was so busy in everything that I didn't even noticed you wearing the ring, which I gave you on the first night of our marriage!!" He said wrapping my fingers in his, making my cheeks go red!!

We both were now staring at each other, I was sure that he could easily hear my heartbeat. He took a step closer and I closed my eyes. But soon, a sudden knock on the door made us jumped apart.

"Sir?"

"Ten minutes" he said.

We were walking when someone stopped him.

"Hello" a man in his forties said coming forward and shaking a hand with him.

"Hello...how are you?"

"I'm doing good and you?"he asked.

"Me too. Hanya, he is Mr.Faraz Ahmed, C.E.O of Ahmed group of industries" he said introducing him to me. I nodded.

"And Mr.Ahmed, She is Hanya Abdullah, my wife" he said making me shock.

"Ohh..so she's your Second wife?? I heard about Hareem...may her soul rest in peace. She was truly a gem and you both did complemented each other well" Mr.Faraz said.

His statement made my heart screamed in pain. I suddenly started feeling suffocated. But thanks to God, that their talk was over and again we were walking towards the main gate.

I kept on biting my lower lip as my eyes turned glossy with tears. I tried to blink them away and when I realized that I can't, I pulled up the hood of my jacket and stared at the ground. I easily hid my tears, and with it all the pain I've been through.

And when I look at him, he was already looking at me. I manage to fake a smile that buries a pain deep inside my heart. But my eyes remained cold, like nothing in this world could melt them. His facial expression was one of absolute disdain. He abhorred me. To him I was not more less than the mud on his over-shined shoes.

If he would have adored me then he would have said something to that man.

This is such an irony...
I'll might be his Second...but he'll always be my first and last!!