He couldn't sleep that night and by morning, he woke up with a severe headache. It was only the will of Allah that had taken him to the mosque for fajr prayer and after he was back, he took some pills and slept. Even though his sleep was disturbed with dreams and nightmares, he was feeling much better by the time he woke up.

He sat down on the bed for some time, reminiscing the conversation he had with Hajia and wondered how that was possible. And it was, since Hajia would never have lied to him. He didn't know what was going to happen now, what he would say, what he would do or how he would even be able to live after this. It would be difficult, he knew, but he would live through it. Just like he had lived through Hassan's death, he was sure he would be fine with this too.

He got up after thinking so hard and while trying to walk to Hajia's chamber for his breakfast, he heard Baby H crying non stop. As much as Hussain wanted to go on and leave them for he didn't know in what situation he would find the money, he couldn't. Baby H was someone so close to his heart that ignoring his cry could even cause him pain.

He walked into the room and found that she wasn't there and the cry was coming from the bathroom. He found the door opened and when he managed to force himself to peak through, there she was, trying so hard to bathe him and it seemed like she had no idea what she was going to do. He rushed into the bathroom and stared at how she kept on sweating and trying to keep her focus, so she couldn't let loose of her hold on Baby H.

He smiled at how cute she looked even though she was struggling. "What are you trying to do, Nadia?" He asked, and that was when she noticed him in the bathroom.

She looked up at him and for a moment, she thought he was Hassan but Nadia knew it was high time her heart accepted the reality and knew that whenever she saw him, it was Hussain and not her husband. "The woman that usually bathes him called and told me something came up, she'll be here for the evening bath, rather. I don't want to bother Hajia because I know she's busy now."

He crouched down to the level of the huge bathing tube for the baby and smiled up at her. "This isn't how you do it, Nadia. At this rate you can suffocate him or he can easily slip off your hand and fall." He stood up, "Here, let me help you."

"Can you do it?" She asked as she placed Baby H that was crying on her laps.

"I can't do it either, but we can at least try, right?" She nodded her head at him, looking a bit relieved. "You shouldn't even be in the bathroom without your scarf, I'll get you one now." She kept staring at the door after he walked out and thought to herself, maybe Hussain meant it when he said she wasn't in this alone.

He walked back to the bathroom with a scarf in her hands, "Let me..." She tried to collect it from his hands but he stood.

"I'll tie it on you, stay still." With Baby H acting as innocent as ever, as though he wasn't the one that was crying his chest out, Nadia felt the way Hussain carefully tied the scarf on her until it was done.  "There, you look better. Let's try bathing him one more time."

She watched as he collected him from her hands with a wide smile on his lips, "Hey, Baby H, it's shower time. Ammi is already tired as it is, okay? Let's not give her a hard time." She watched, with eyes earnestly fixed on his face and her heart being swayed at how careful he handled the baby and how lovingly he spoke to him while he tried all he could to make sure the shower was a success. That was when she saw it, the sadness lingering in his eyes.

But this wasn't the usual sadness they all had on they faces and their heart being weighed down by it, it was something new. "Hand me the that," he called out, bringing her out of her reverie. She handed it to him and together, holding the baby sometimes with both their hands to avoid it from slipping down, they finished bathing him and walked into the room.

"You did a great job in there, Second Baba." She smiled at him and he smiled back, bringing the baby's items he had seen on the mirror. "Oh come on, I can do this myself." She chuckled and he fixed his eyes on her. He noticed that Baby H was crying and from the looks of things he was hungry and Nadia wanted him out of the room.

"Hungry already, Baby H?" He asked as he picked him from her laps. Nadia watched him with a soft smile as he began to apply the lotion on his body until he was done and she handed him the baby's clothes.

"What about the diaper? Can you put that on?" She asked with a teasing and daring smile and he wanted to take up the challenge already.

"Do you want to try me on that too? Come on, I'm already better than you at this parenting of a thing." He collected the diaper from her hands and as much as he tried to put it on him, he failed.

Nadia threw her head back and laughed, "Give it to me here. You've done a very good job already, Second Baba. We appreciate you and we can even give you the father of the year." She put the diaper on him as Hussain watched her with an eye that spoke something different that had never been portrayed in his eyes.

She put on her hijab after that, seeing that Hussain wasn't ready to leave the room and she began feeding Baby H. They were silent for sometime before she spoke, "Is something wrong from your side?" She asked carefully and when their eyes met, she noticed how the dark circles under his eyes had darkened. "Are you sick, Hussain?"

He shook his head at her and no matter how much he wanted to stay strong, his shoulders sagged in defeat. "It's Hajia. She did something without consulting me and it's not something I can do."

Nadia grinned playfully at him, she knew it was only one thing that could make him look this heartbroken; marriage. "Did she get you married? Engaged or what? Or is Mufeeda following you back to America?" She was giggling at how he looked sad. "Come on, marriage isn't as bad as you make it look. And you can't stay stay forever, can you?"

He shook his head, "I can't, but..." She softly cut him off, pulling a now sleeping Baby H out as she carefully laid him on his crib before she sat back and faced him.

"Look, I know you feel heartbroken and you probably haven't healed yet from the pain of loosing your twin brother but life doesn't go on this way. You have to move on no matter how hard you think it is. Your life shouldn't end because Hassan is no more, he'd love to see you become even more successful and be the person you've always wanted to be, and marriage is something he would kill to see you walk into someday."

Sometimes when she spoke, she spoke as though Hassan wrote the words for her. He knew this would've been his exact words if he was the one he came to with his complain. Maybe all this while he had hated her when she wasn't even so bad. "How did you know it was about marriage?"

She chuckled, "I know I haven't known you like I've known Hassan but you both are like one person just a few differences here and there. And for you, to see you looking all forlorn, it has to be either about our loss or marriage. And you made mention of Hajia, I'm sure it's marriage." He sighed out of exasperation and she chuckled, "Tell me, married already? Or engaged?"

"She got me married, the day you gave birth to Baby H." Oh wow, that felt like a blow to her heart and she didn't know how his words made her feel sad a bit. Was it because now that Hassan was no more she would find it so hard to see him with another woman and with that face without feeling somehow?

"Oh my god! For real?! When will the ceremony take place? And I know for sure it's Mufeeda, did Sohila knew? She would have told me, that I'm sure of."

He looked sad when he said, "You look excited, Nadia. Won't it look somehow to celebrate in this house when we've lost Hassan?"

She chuckled and waved dismissively at his words, "Of course I'm excited because I'm sure Hassan would've been excited too about this. You have no idea the days he daydreams about your marriage and he would love it if you settle down." She smiled at him, pushing away all those disturbing thoughts she was feeling. "I was thinking of going back home a week after the naming ceremony but I think I'd have to extend it until after everything is over. When will be the wedding ceremony? I have to make sure Mufeeda feels welcome before I leave."

He ignored what she had said, it wasn't what he wanted to talk about. "Can't you stay?" He mumbled and she stared at him for a minute before she shook her head.

"Had it been Baba was alive, I wouldn't have stayed for all this while. I have to go back home, Hussain. To move on, have a life and maybe if I get another chance at love again, I'd get married."

"What about Baby H?"

She softly glanced at the innocent baby sleeping with a sad smile on her lips, "What about him? I'd keep him with me, or I can't?"

He shook his head almost immediately, "I'm sorry, but you can't. I mean, I'm alive, Nadia. I can't have his child living in another man's house, it will haunt me forever."

He thought she'd look sad at that but she was smiling ever so calmly, "That too is fine by me, I know you'd never agree that's why I want you to have a good wife that will take care of him for me. Mufeeda will do the right job."

He scrunched up his face and she chuckled because he looked so cute as though he were a baby, "But I don't love her."

"You'll learn to love her, trust me."

"Why can't you just stay here, and I won't get married too. Let's just keep on living as we are."

"We need companionship, partners to love and take care of. We have to get married along the path of our lives, Hussain. I get that we're sentimental about each other because somehow we're connected by the grief we share, but as time goes on, we'll realize it wasn't real and everything will be back to its original place."

"Then let's get married." Everything stopped, the time, the wind, just as their hearts did when he let this words slipped out of his lips.

She chuckled to shake off the awkwardness, "We can't. First, you have a wife already and I'm in no way interested in polygamy, that too with someone that has the face of my Twin. Second, I can't get married to you. Third, we hate each other from the beginning and I'm quite sure that hatred will resurface if we keep on getting involved with each other."

He dramatically held his heart, "You just turned down my proposal and you're so bitter about it, Singleton." He whined and she chuckled.

Even my confusion is confused and I'm slightly heartbroken 😩💔 Hajia why nah?