Life as a Hijabi

Chapter 9 - LFW

Zahra's POV

The work experience at the hospital was exhausting but still really interesting; if anything it only amplified me wanting to become a doctor just by seeing how much doctors do to help vulnerable people. I weirdly enjoyed the hustle and bustle of running around wards and tending to different patients. In fact, there was one particular patient in the terminal cancer ward who I just seemed to have struck a bond with. Her name was Margaret Whilmstone and she was ninety six years old. She reminded me of my grandmother in her quaint little ways.

"Did you manage to sneak me some more of those chocolate mousse cups dearie?" asked Margaret as I entered the ward to update her records.

"Not quite, the coast wasn't clear," I joked, as I placed her clipboard down, and changed the drip sack attached to her arm.

"Oh dear. Maybe I'll look forward to having some tomorrow then," laughed Margaret. She was such a loveable person with the kindest heart. When I had the time, she would show me pictures of her late husband Ronald who also had cancer and had passed away ten years ago. 

As I headed out of the ward to the staff room downstairs to try and sneak Margaret some mousse cups, I passed the theatre rooms where all the major surgeries were performed when a familiar face turned towards me in the long corridor.

"Having an early break I see?" joked none other than the Mr Motorbike dude.

" Erm, I just left my watch in the staff room," I replied, not quite knowing how to treat the weird stranger.

"Oh I'm heading there too for my break. Let's go together," he gestured.

Not being able to say no, I complied with the guy and headed towards the staff room together with me walking slightly behind him. Sensing how uncomfortable I was, Mr Motorbike guy remained silent until we got to the room at the end of the corridor.

" So how exactly did you meet Edward?" he asked.

Completely taken aback by his abrupt question I decided to reply with as little detail as possible, "erm at the university,"

"Do you like him?" he continued.

"Well, uh, he's a great friend," I mumbled, not wanting to continue pursuing the conversation any further as my cheeks flamed from the embarrassment. I grabbed a handful of the chocolate mousse cups for Mrs Whilmstone and dashed out the staff room leaving Mr Motorbike to choke on his bottle of water.

-

That evening as I finished my shift at the book store, I managed to grab a fashion magazine that I thought would be of interest to Rosaline and made my way home. My dad spent more and more time with his friends as I wasn't home most of the time anyway and I was not indifferent to it. If anything, I treasured some alone time because it was so rare for me to have some time to myself given my hectic schedule. As I lay in bed to watch some Netflix on my laptop, I could feel my phone vibrate.

EDDY: Hey, WUU2? 

I smiled reading Edward's message feeling sorry for the poor guy who was probably stuck in some boring family dinner of sorts. Edward, like most other people at the university came from an aristocratic background so most of his weekends was spent at charity dinners or galas.

ME: Nothing much, just watching some Netflix. U?

Within seconds, I could feel my phone vibrate again so I decided to pause Netflix and engage in a conversation with the dude.

EDDY: Still stuck at my grandfather's place in the Hamptons but I'm going to try and sneak out back to Boston later! I'll try bribing the pilot to fly me home on my dad's jet XD My uncles are harassing me to become a politician LOL.