Her Abbujaan had a concussion and Fatima could not bear the thought of not being by his side as he inched closer to his end.
She had not seen her father for the last 10 years,not even when she lost Nouman,her husband in an unfortunate road accident.
For the last 8 years,Fatima had single handedly raised Ahmed in the once foreign land which she now called home;Birmingham.
Gayathri had always been just a house away for Fatima.
Fatima made a quick dash and filled her in on the situation.
The only thing Gayathri asked Fatima to pack in Ahmed's bag was his asthma inhaler,the rest as she said would be taken care of.
A tight hug later,Fatima was gone.
Ahmed who was all of 9 was more than happy to spend the next few days at his best friend;Raghu’s home,the cherry on the cake being Gayathi Aunty's crispy dosas for breakfast every morning.
Ahmed and Raghu were waiting with bated breath for the weekend.They were going to watch a live cricket match for the first time in their lives at Edgbaston and that too,India Vs Pakistan.
Preparations were on in full swing at the Prasad household...Venkat and Gayathri radiated with enthusiasm,dressed in Blue with a tricolour headgear.
Gayathri teased Ahmed that it would be better if he also dressed in blue,which Ahmed vehemently refused.
Raghu who was missing in action for sometime suddenly appeared from his room.
He looked like a perfect brand ambassador for Team India in his blue jersey with number 18 and Virat Kohli inscribed on it.
He was carrying something in his hand,it was a green tee shirt and a hand made flag of Pakistan.
"Ahmed,I stop at this okay,now we go out there and cheer for our own teams."
The two kids hopped out of their house,Ahmed in green and Arjun in blue,loudly cheering for their own country trying to drown out the other’s voice,
their faces beaming with pride and hands wrapped around each other's shoulders.
Gayathri could not get her eyes off them,
She whispered to Ventak,"I don't know who will win the match today but from where I see it,Friendship just won hands down."