My Emir ✅

Chapter 44- The inevitable

Zayn slammed his fist on the steering wheel when the car came to a screeching halt because of traffic. More cars stopped behind them, and they were stuck in between rows of vehicles. There was no way out.
All Mariya could do was utter all the prayers she could think of. She dreaded what was to come.
She turned to look at Zayn. In just a couple of minutes, things have gone haywire in his life, again. The first two buttons of his shirt were undone and his suit tie rested somewhere on his lap, while his hand tapped the steering wheel impatiently, his eyes never leaving the road ahead of him.
She knew how he loved and looked up to his father. She wondered what would happen to Mama Aisha if they were to lose Sultan. She would be devastated.
Mariya quickly shut off her thoughts, telling herself that Sultan Lawal would be just fine. She placed her hand on his shoulder.
" Abba is going to be alright," she assured.
He stared at her for a while, a ghost of a smile slowly making its way onto his face, as if he believed her. Should he?
Nevertheless, he nodded.

"In Shaa Allah."
He set his eyes back on the road ahead of him and made a last turn to veer his car into the premises of the hospital through the eased traffic.
Throughout their rush into the building, he never let go of her hand. Mariya was too occupied to prod over it.
It was easy to spot Mama Aisha, Emraan, and Nazeera in the waiting room. Zayn didn't like the looks on their faces, especially, Nazeera who had witnessed the whole ordeal beforehand. He knew she was a woman with a scalpel who has seen more deaths than he had on the battlefield, and her dejected looks didn't speak well of his father's condition. He shared a glance with Emraan. He couldn't gaze at his mother for long because she looked broken, and it hurt him.

He let go of Mariya's hand and began to take steady steps toward his mother. Mariya was right behind him.
He crouched low in front of her and placed his hands on her knees. Her face was buried in her hands, and he knew she was weeping. It broke him to know that she was doing so silently. For long, she has been their pedestal of emotional support but that didn't mean that she wasn't allowed to cry in front of them.
He knew she wasn't crying only because of his father's condition, but because it was hidden from them. They didn't need to bother about that, because he had found out way long before Emraan did. He won't blame them for making such an attempt.

" Mama," he spoke softly, and he deserved an award for maintaining the flow in his voice. Having to see his mother cry was the worst sight ever. "Mama, look at me."

" Zayn, I'm sorry," she sobbed into her hands, still failing to look at him.

So Zayn was right after all.

He could feel a pair of eyes boring holes into his being, and he didn't need to be a genius to know that it was Emraan. He probably figured out that Zayn only feigned oblivion to their father's ailment all that while. He wondered how hard that must have been, considering it wasn't close to easy for him.

" It's okay, Mama." The doctors haven't come to a set conclusion yet, so it was hard to know their stance.
Zayn sat beside Mama Aisha on the three-sitter metal chair she sat on, and wrapped an arm around her.

She buried her face in his chest, and her shoulders quivered as she cried uncontrollably. It got worse when her cries filled the room.
Luckily, Nazeera had pulled enough strings to make sure that the issue remained in the private files of the hospital. They didn't want the news of Sultan's declining health to reach the public, as it could raise an undue uproar. Emraan had already handled that, especially, concerning the doctors and nurses. As it was, the extended part of the family knew better than to come to the hospital in the name of visiting Sultan Lawal.

Mariya made her way toward Mama Aisha and sat beside her. The older woman couldn't even meet her gaze. Mariya even wondered how she was able to make it that far without shedding a tear. She was too shocked to even talk of offering any form of support. She glanced at Nazeera who was standing with Emraan. Emraan shot her an assuring smile. Albeit, it was small.