Salman rested his head on the door with his eyes shut, hands by his side.

Umaymah had transformed back to how she was three months ago. She didn't utter a word to Salman their entire ride home, nor did she cry. She simply stared straight ahead at the road in front of her with her mind obviously far away from earth.
She just blinked with a straight face.

Once they arrived home from the hospital, she bolted up the stairs to her room and immediately turned the locks.

A worried Salman followed her and gently knocked on the door but she didn't respond. He placed his ear on the door to see if he could make out a cry or something , but there was nothing.

She had been in there since their hospital visit.

"Ummi?" Salman sighed as his eyes flickered open and he raised his head from the door. "Please unlock the door." He said for the millionth time.

No response.

Running out of options, he turned his back and rested it against the door before sliding down to the floor. His hands rummaged through his messy hair while letting out long, tiring sighs. He barely slept throughout the night.

Salman pulled out his phone, unlocked it and sled into his chats with Umaymah. The last three messages he had sent some minutes ago, were still showing delivered. His head fell in between his connected arms  on his knees. He let out another long sigh before he began typing another message. He set down his phone beside him then ran his hand down the length of his face.

"Ummi, I'm really worried," he murmured loud enough for his words to go beyond the thickness of the door he was resting on. "Please at least let's talk."

No response.

Not hearing a single word from Umaymah made his heart tangle in different knots. He wanted to know if she was alright.

She obviously wasn't alright.

Curled up into a ball on the rumpled sheets, Umaymah hugged tight to her legs making her knuckles a pale colour.

"It's fine, no need to be nervous."

She heard his husky voice repeat the sentence in her head non-stop.

Why? Why did he say all those seemingly soothing words when none of it was true? Why did he say that when there were a million and one things to be nervous , worried and paranoid about?

She should have trusted her intuitions. Something didn't seem right but Salman waved it away and replaced it with his sweet words. Words that only held her together for sometime before the overwhelming nerves took over her again.

Umaymah's eyes stared into space. Her face  held no single trace of her crying nor sobbing.

"Ummi." Her husband's voice called again for who knows how long.

When the notification sound went off on her phone again, she blankly grabbed the device from the nightstand by the headboard and held on long on the power button. She pulled out the top drawer of the stand, shoved in her phone then closed it.

Nothing's going to be fine. You lied Salman, you lied.

Umaymah released an exasperated breath after  a long time of holding her breath. The stench smell of the hospital still clinged to her clothing. She dove deeper into the duvet, before pulling it over her head.

Would I really not be able to conceive naturally?

Then Salman's laughter alongside his words interrupted her thoughts.

"You're just overthinking this, it's definitely nothing to worry about."

Umaymah brought her hands to cover her ears and shut her eyes close. She squeezed her eyes tight as if doing so would ward off the voice. She didn't want to hear those words. At all.

A lone tears travelled down her cheek from her left eye. Was she crying or was it because of how tight she closed her eyes? Salman's voice in her head still muffled some words. She just wanted the voices to fade away and disappear into thin air.