BFFs: Match Made in Heaven

15. Reaching Out

Dr. Kwami shivers as he walks out of the emergency room. This is the reason why he doesn't like being on call, especially in the emergency unit. That's where the most gruesome and crazy cases come from.

He just injected someone with anti-rabies. According to the person who brought him, he stoned a dog and it chased him and bit him since last week. They saw the symptoms but never brought him to the hospital.

And now that he's full on dog mode, barking, growling, drooling and scratching his ears with his legs, they're threatening to take the hospital to court if he doesn't recover, as though the doctors have health and sickness in their hands.

"Dr. Kwami to the emergency unit." Dr. Kwami upon hearing that turns around and heads for the emergency unit, not before glaring at his pager as though he should smash it on the floor.

He takes two gloves the moment he enters the room.

"Doctor please help us, he put a divider into his ear, we tried removing it and while running he fell and it went into his ear." Dr. Kwami's face scrunches in a feeling he can't decipher. He turns to the shaken mother with the same expression.

"What?" The boy starts to shake again, like someone who is convulsing and Dr. Kwami sighs. He turns to the nurse.

"Give me the otoscope." The nurse passes him a torch like thingy. He flashes it in the boy's ear and his eyes widen. The divider has gone deep into the boys ear and it has cut him. Blood is oozing out of the wounds albeit slowly. If they let the blood clot, his ear might block and he'd be deaf.

This is a stage two emergency. He needs to be operated on.

"Get the ENT specialist on call today and Dr. Ibrahim. Meet me in the OR." She rushes out and the second nurse awaits the orders she knows are sure to come. He mentioned OR which means he'll have to perform surgery on the boy.

"Prepare him for surgery and wheel him into the OR."

"Doctor surgery? Is my son going to die?" More than anything, Dr kwami wants to tell her the boy will die. He needs to scare her a bit for giving him the most ridiculous first aid treatment. But she already looks distraught and he doesn't want to make matters worse for her.

"Nothing will happen to him. It's just a minor surgery. Go to the nurses station and ask for nurse Nana. Tell her you're the boy's mother. You'll have to settle some bills and sign some papers before we start." The woman nods and rushes out.

Dr. Kwami walks out too and rushes to the changing room. He changes into his surgical wears and heads out. A woman rushes to him but he ignores her and increases his pace.

The woman holds unto his knees and sighs. He sights a nurse listening aptly to a couple.

"Nurse Rose." She turns at the sight of Dr. Kwami's voice. She takes in his dressing and blushes. Definitely news for her. She has finally seen him in his surgical wears and damn he looks yummier than they described.

"Nurse Rose!" She flinches and walks towards him.

"I said attend to this woman. I'm going into surgery." She nods and pulls the woman away.

That is how his whole twenty four hours shift continues. It ends with three minor surgeries and one major neurosurgery. Thank goodness he only assisted in the neurosurgery.

He enters his car after changing and starts to drive home. He's too tired so he won't be able to cook. He stops by a lounge and buys shawarma and chicken. That should do him for the night.

He goes back home and immediately he enters he sighs. He pulls his phone and sends Afnan a quick message.

I'm going to call you now, please pick.

He has been calling and texting her but he's not getting any replies.

He sets his food on the plate and dials Afnan's number.

"The number you're trying to call is switched off. Please try again later. Thank you." Dr. Kwami furrows his brows. He would've gone to her place had her father not forbidden him from doing that. Moreover, the gate man won't let him in.

He sighs and twirls his phone his hand. He has lost his appetite. But he knows better than to not eat. He has a thirty six hour shift starting tomorrow evening. And he knows little things like missing his meals or not hydrating enough make him feel sick. So he pulls his plate and stuffs the food in his mouth ever so slowly.

When he's done, he washes the dishes, performs ablution and prays shaf'i and witr. He lays on the bed and aimlessly scrolls through his messages with Afnan. That's when he remembers that he has Amal's number, he dials it but ends it immediately remembering its improper to call a married woman so late.

She calls back and he picks skeptically.

"Hello?" A man's voice comes and Dr. Kwami sighs.

"Assalamu Alaikum." Dr. Kwami says and he hears Amal asking who it is in the background. It must be her husband that picked the call for her.

"Wai Doctor." He hears shuffling before Amal's voice comes.

"Hello doctor." He hears her husband grumbles about her not putting it on speaker.

"Babe don't be dramatic. It's Ammi's doctor. He hears more grumbling and Amal sighs.

"Kai wallahi kana abu kaman wani karamin yaro." Amal sighs.

"Yawwa. Doctor, sorry. My husband is being a big baby. How has work been going?"

"Alhamdulillah. I was wondering what happened to Farida. I've been calling her but she's not picking, and today when I called, her number was switched off." Amal chuckles.

"She didn't tell you?" Dr. Kwami furrows his brows.

"Tell me what?"

"Ai Afnan left Nigeria tun satin da ya wuce, gobe zatayi sati biyu a can. She's studying in Massachusetts." Dr. Kwami's brows fly up in surprise.

"Okay. Thank you." Dr. Kwami ends the call and sits there, thinking about nothing and everything.

Afnan left Nigeria without telling him. She could've at least sent him a text telling him that she's leaving. He understands that she's angry at him and he's totally okay with it. But she shouldn't have done that. He hasn't even asked for her foreign number. And now he'll feel weird calling Amal again. He sighs.