𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟏

ARZO

“Surprise!”

As soon as I step into the house, api jumps out of nowhere with wide arms.

I blink several times thinking I'm hallucinating but when she doesn’t disappear, I throw myself in her arms, almost knocking her over.

After the day, I just had, being in api’s arms is the one of the best kinds of comfort I could get.

“I see I’ve been missed,” she says, chuckling.

I pull away and sign, “you couldn’t text me that you were coming?”

“But that would’ve ruined the surprise,”

I roll my eyes and she lets out a soft laugh.

“How did Zahid bhai let you out of his loving sight?”

Her smile widens, “he had to go to work so I asked him to drop me off here,”

I nod, “that makes sense,”

“Shut up.”

I grin then interlock my arm with hers. We walk into the kitchen where we find Abbu trying to help Ammi cook.

Keyword being trying.

“Careful- You’ll burn yourself!” Ammi scolds.

“Meri jaan, I haven’t done anything.” he laughs and ammi rolls her eyes.

“Acha, acha, khayal se,”

Abbu smiles and carefully pours the chopped onions into the oil. As soon as the oil starts sizzling, ammi pulls abbu back by his sleeves making him laugh. She hits his arm then covers the pot.

I elbow api and she clears her throat loud enough for our parents to acknowledge our existence.

“Assalamu Alaikum,” I sign,

“Wale Kum Assalam, beta.” Ammi and abbu greet back.

Abbu comes towards me and gives me a warm hug, I smile and hug back.

“How was your day, beta?” he asks.

My smile dims a little at the reminder of my day but I look at abbu and give him thumbs up, signing, “Alhumdulillah, it was good.”

Yes, the day wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t the worst. Bill’s words and insult may be a test for me to see what I’d do. His words may force me to give up my internship and crawl back into my shell that I created when I was young. Go back to the days where I believed every word of the society.

But I learnt to not listen to people’s negative insights. I learnt that in this cruel world, I will succeed as long as I walk on the path of my Deen. As long as I turn to my Allah for every problem, every sadness, every hardship I face.

He is the best of planners.

After we pull away from the hug, ammi tells us to rest while the food cooks. So api and I go upstairs- after sneaking some snacks with us.

Api waits for me on the bed with our snacks while I go in the bathroom to shower and change.

I change into some comfortable sweats and hoodie and dry off my hair. I plop on the bed and grab a bag of chips.

“So, what did I miss?” my sister asks and I point at me, she rolls her eyes, “aside from that. Tell me about the internship.”

I pause halfway putting a chip in my mouth. Api raises an eyebrow, I pop the chip in my mouth and smile.

“Come on, tell me. I didn’t ask ammi abbu because I wanted to hear it from you.”

When I still don’t answer and stare at the bag of chips as if it really interests me, api sighs and snatches the bag from me, my head snaps up and she keeps the bag of chips out of my reach.

“Speak.”

I frown, “I can’t speak!” I sign.

“You know what I mean,”

“I got the internship at my dream company. Now, hand me back the bag of chips.”

“Which company?”

My head falls between my shoulders and I drag my hands across my face. I remove my hands from my face and look at her with a serious face as I sign, “I’m going to tell you the name of the company but you will not think something else of it, understand?”

“Okay…?”

“F&F Innovation.” I pause, “Faizan’s company,”

Api stares at me for a moment before her lips form a smile, “really?”

As soon as she lowers the bag of chips, I grab them and keep them close to my chest while she grins at me.

“Your dream was to work at Faizan’s company?” She says, teasingly.

“I didn’t know he was the owner.”

“Uh huh.”

“I really didn’t!”

“Sure.”

I roll my eyes and gesture to her to leave before I lay my head down on my pillow. Api only laughs and takes away my bag of chips- even though there's another pack of it.

“Okay, I won’t say anything.” I squint my eyes at her, “I promise. On a serious note, how is it working there?”

I shrug before sitting up, “if you ask about today then it was fine but other than today, it’s great working at the company.”

“What happened today?”

“Just people not being able to swallow the fact that I’m not deaf, just mute.”

“Who said what?”

I wave my hand, “doesn’t matter.”

“Arzo, tell me.”

“Api, I’m not a kid anymore. I can handle these comments.” I sign, “it does sting for a while but I’ve learnt to get over it. You can’t always be there to give a piece of mind to someone who insults me.”

“But when I am around-"

“I can’t always rely on other people to fight my battles.” I sign, “You’re not just my sister anymore or ammi abbu’s daughter. You’re a wife and later you’ll be a mother, In Sha Allah. You can’t always worry about me. I promise I can handle myself. There are times where I might break down but I’ll break down in sujood. I know how to cope with my problems and how to solve them.”

When I’m done, api smiles at me softly, “I know you can handle yourself. But I’m your sister and will always be your sister, it’s my job to be worried and make sure you’re okay. Yes, I do have other priorities in my life now and I will start a family but that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me about your problems. It’s okay to be vulnerable sometimes and if, in the future, you don’t feel like talking to me, I hope there’s someone else who would hold you whenever you need a pair of arms for comfort, Ameen.”

I scrunch my nose at the last sentence then end up chuckling with api.

“Share chips with me.” api says and I hand her the bag of chips.

My phone dings with a notification and I grab it from the side table. I click on the recent email and my jaw drops as I read it.

No way..

“What happened?” api asks.

I look up at her, put down my phone and sign, “the person who ruined my day, his name is Bill Wagner. Faizan caught him redhanded today and called him into the office. We thought he'd get a warning notice”

“Oh,”

"But look,”

I turn my phone so that she can read the email. Her eyes go wide as she reads through it then looks at me.

Bill’s internship got terminated.