August 2019
Omar
I turned to confront her, with my heart pounding against my ribs and mouth completely parched. Words escaped me for a moment. Still I somehow willed myself to take the name I had avoided for over a year.
"Hi...Noor", I whispered.
A myriad of emotions flooded me. From anger and betrayal to longing and a deep-seated ache in my chest, I felt it all. But nothing I felt could change history. Or the fact that the woman who stood in front of me now was a stranger whose laughter I would never forget.
Madi was right. She really did look absolutely radiant. Is this what being in love does to you? I questioned myself. But then scoffed as well.
I was in love once, and look what it did to me.
"Hey", she replied.
Her voice was soft and hesitant as if she was searching for appropriate words and found none. We may be strangers now but we had a shared past even if it was as just friends. Her nervousness was proof that she hadn't forgotten all those years spent in each other's company. She bit her lower lip and I saw her hand move over abdomen. That's when I realized why she looked so different, and so radiant.
She was pregnant, with his child.
Dr Ahmed, who was clearly oblivious to our history, spoke excitedly, "Aren't you two from the same medical school in Pakistan?"
A slight smile graced Noor's lips. She looked at her best friend, and then at me, "Yes, we know each other"
That's it? We know each other? I wanted to scream out.
How about, he was in love with me and I broke his heart, betraying years of friendship for a man I barely knew.
This was the straw that broke the camel's back. I couldn't stand it anymore. I had never been a man to react intensely to anything. Maybe that's why I had just walked away from Noor. And right now I needed to put distance between us again, immediately.
"I am getting late for clinic", I mumbled.
"Of course, it was good to see you, Omar", her voice trailed off as I walked away as fast as I could towards the adult hospital, away from the pediatric one that held the people my nightmares were made of.
It was tough seeing Noor, but seeing her pregnant had hit me a lot harder than I ever expected it to. As I literally ran away from her, I realized why. She was happy, so happy that she had started a new family last year. While I had spent that year wallowing in pain.
Suddenly, the depression I had gone into which resulted in me delaying my PhD and the butterfly effect that had on me missing the deadline for surgery residency and landed me in this God forsaken institution seemed so pointless. I had paused my life, and let hurt consume me, while the world went on as if nothing had changed at all.
My existence was nothing but an insignificant blip in the life of the woman I had cared about more than anyone else.
What did that say about me?
Madiha
"I have to go too. It was nice running in to you, Madi", Noor said, as she turned on her heels and walked off quickly in the opposite direction to Omar, towards the children's hospital.
Huh? What just happened here? I stood still in the middle of the food court that was now emptying out as lunch break ended.
I thought about going after my friend, but Omar had looked so distraught at seeing her I bought a Tuna sandwich from the nearest shop and jogged after him. By the time I reached him he was in the foyer standing in front of the elevators, repeatedly stabbing the 'up' button.
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