“That’s a high possibility.” Samar pulled her head back and stared into her eyes — “He has lots of things motivating him.”
“Like?”
“His practice, your mother, you, our wedding, our children.”
“This is the second time you’ve mentioned it. What’s going on? Your end dateis ending early?”
Samar smiled. “Right now, do you want to think about all that?”
She shook her head.
“Then let’s get out for breakfast. I will make this one video call until you shower and then you are taking me to your favourite place to eat here before we go to the hospital.”
————————————————————
Eating after getting the biggest relief of your life was the best eating in the whole wide world. The Lounge Cafe was as full and lively as ever for brunch but they had managed to snag a table for two by the window, basking under the summer sun before it rained.
“Your soup, luv.” The waitress set a bowl of cheddar broccoli soup on their table with a fresh, steaming bread roll.
“Thanks but we didn’t order…”
“Thank you.” Samar smiled at her, pulling the soup plate between them. “Soup for breakfast opens all sinuses.”
She chuckled. Amaal looked at the table between them, already groaning with her breakfast burrito that was too big for her to finish and his sandwich that she had just discovered, was his first meal in twenty hours.
“Their soup of the day is this one, they didn’t have tomato or minestrone.” He tested the perfectly browned, bubbling cheese surface, breaking the mozzarella and spooning the creamy emerald soup under it. “Do you want to add pepper?” He blew on a spoonful and just when she thought he’d try it for pepper, he pushed the spoon into her mouth. “Umm…” she nodded.
He tore open a sachet and sprinkled some in. Amaal gazed at him as he mixed her soup, blew another spoonful and held it out to her, without even realising he was doing it. She opened her mouth and accepted it, nodding.
“Hmm.” He spooned some again and tasted it. “Nice.”
“Samar.”
“Hmm?” He stirred the soup and pushed it towards her, setting aside her half-eaten burrito that she knew she was done with but god knew how he knew.
“Thank you for coming.”
He sat back, and a smile formed on his mouth — “It is my fault that you did not immediately expect me to come.”
“No…”
“Amaal,” he nodded. “It is. I have given you the impression, knowingly and unknowingly, that I am the fragile one here. I was. But I am not now. And even if I am at any given point in our lives, it will not be at your expense. But this is a conversation for later. Tell me, how are you surviving without working, and who has taken the weight of Jammu-Kashmir government’s press?”
“Fahad must be managing. And frankly, I don’t even care. I didn’t care about work exactly like this when you were in the ICU. I have to call Qureshi and see if it’s ok if I don’t work remotely for the next week…”
“Wait a minute,” Samar sat forward. “He asked you to work remotely while you were here?”
“He didn’t ask me to work, he offered that if it goes on longer I was free to work remotely.”
“Amaal, you understand the implication behind it, right? Tell me you do.”
“I do.”
“He is not supposed to make you work when you are on a family emergency.” Samar bit out. “Even expecting it is inhuman.”
She shook her head — “I am thinking about not continuing as his Press Secretary in the next term,ifthere is a next term.”
“Has something happened?”
