EXPLICIT BLOOM

17• Perilous storm

"Hello" Yusra said. "Hello Ma'am, Cassie speaking" Cassie; the hospital receptionist said. "Oh Cassie, do you need anything?" Yusra asked not wanting to exchange any informal greetings with her.

"Not really, someone wants to speak to you" Cassie replied. "I'm busy" Yusra said already making up her mind to press the call button. But before she could end the call, she heard a voice she instantly recognised which made her to forfeit all plans and talk to that person.

"Ni ceh adda Yusra" Haifa said with a raised voice through the phone. "Haifa anganshi ne? (Did they find him?)" Yusra asked almost immediately, that could be the only justification of Haifa looking for her.

"No, I came here to meet you" Haifa replied.

That was exactly the same reason why Yusra tuned out on everyone, she didn't want to meet them. Yet there was Haifa going to the hospital personally to meet her, something she'd never done before.

"Meet me at the emergency centre by the garage, I don't want to bump into any of the doctors" Yusra said and Haifa nodded as though she was right in front of her. When the silence reigned, Yusra disconnected the call.

"Exempt me from any emergency that might come up in the next hour, I have a visitor" Yusra said to the officials there while passing the phone to one of them.

"Okay ma'am, and you need rest. You haven't rested since you joined the team" One of them said.

"I wish I could rest like you wish me to, but it can never be if I don't know he's fine" Yusra wanted saying but just nodded instead. Her sentence would have confused them and they would have asked questions to which she had no answers for.

So, she remained quiet.

The rest of the journey to the hospital wasn't a quiet one as the three other occupants of the ambulance chatted, Yusra chose not to join because her thoughts were not ones to be discussed.

The moment the driver parked alongside two other ambulances of the hospital in front of the emergency centre, Yusra climbed off the bus and walked into the building.

She sighted Haifa almost immediately after her eyes started to search for her.

Haifa walked towards her and fell into her embrace. She wasn't crying no! She was just trying to give Yusra some sort of assurance which turned out pretty terrible as she didn't buy it.

"Come with me" Yusra said before they walked to the storage room few steps away from where they stood. They found a lengthy chair there and settled on it making sure that no one else was with them in the room.

"Anything wrong at home?" Yusra asked. "Everything is wrong, everything" Haifa replied. "No news about him?" Yusra asked again.

"I haven't had the chance to eavesdrop on them again but I'm sure nothing has changed. And because Mimi has no idea I know about it, I cannot ask her" Haifa replied and Yusra nodded.

"Why do you punish yourself for this?"

"This is not punishment Haifa" Yusra answered. "Of course it is. You look so worn out and stressed, you don't look any different from a patient awaiting admission. You have changed completely and you have shut everyone out, why?" Haifa asked finding it hard to understand why Yusra would choose to do that.

"Let's just say this is my way of avoiding life" Yusra shrugged. "But doing this doesn't stop you from thinking about him does it? And it definitely will not bring him back" Haifa reasoned.

"At least I wouldn't have to face people who would look at me with pity in their eyes, I hate it" Yusra voiced.

"Look Adda Yusra, I won't stop you from doing this or thinking about my brother but please, look after yourself. Remember, you always come first, not even my brother comes before you. And you have to stay alive to meet him again so eat. Also take care of your body so that when he returns, he'll swoon over the beauty you added and not the ugliness you suddenly possess" Haifa said making Yusra chuckle.