Wabasta | Complete ✔

Chapter 26 [Last]

That night, she tried to sleep on the uncomfortable chair that was placed in one corner of the room. But sleep wouldn't come that easy. It didn't take her long to realise that. Her back was hurting and she didn't even remember the last time she had a meal, but there was no way she could move from his side. What if he woke up when she was not around? She should be the first one he sees when he opens his eyes, and she was going to make sure that happened.

A while passed before something dawned upon Firdaus. She hadn't informed his family yet. How would they react to such a news, especially when she, out of the all the people, would be the one giving it to them? No. There was no way she was going to call Sidra aunty. She didn't have the heart to. She could try the landline but what if she or Asad uncle picked up? He would probably hang up before she could begin. 

There was only one person who would actually listen to her.

She took out her phone and looked through her contact list. Found his number and called Adil. It was late in the night, which meant it was early in the morning in Pakistan but she decided to go ahead with the call anyway.

He picked up after 5 or 6 rings.

"Hello?" his groggy voice was a clear giveaway that her call woke him up.

"Adil? Main Firdaus baat kar rahi hoon."

On the other end of the call, Adil sat up with a jerk. He never expected her to call again.

"Firdaus? Aap? Iss waqt? Kya baat, sab theek hai na?"

"Actually main London mein hoon. Um, Aman ke saath hoon."

She didn't know how to put it across, but it came out much more blunt than she had hoped. She had no intention of sugar-coating so might as well be blunt.

"Aman....Aman. Usey goli lagi hai.  Iss waqt ICU mein hai. Pehle se behtar hai lekin abhi muqammal taur pe khatre se bahir nahi hai."

There was a long silence on the other end.

"Hello? Adil?"

"Haan, main sun raha hoon." She finally heard his voice. She could also hear the sound of keys and other background commotion.

"Firdaus mujhe please poori tafsilat batayie ke kya hua."

She began to tell him, skipping the details of their meeting and keeping it as short and straight as possible.

"Main nahi jaanta main kitni jaldi aa paunga, lekin I'll try to book a ticket on the earliest flight possible. Aap zyada pareshaan mat ho, aur bhai ke saath hi rahe. And please keep updating me throughout."

"I will." She sniffed back her tears and dropped the phone on her lap. The weight in her heart had lifted further.

*****

The next morning she woke up with a startle. Exhaustion took the better of her and she ended up falling asleep in an uncomfortable position eventually. Her eyes instinctively darted towards Aman, who was in the same position as he was the last night, except one minor change. His oxygen mask came off. After looking even closely she realised his blood transfusion had also stopped and was now replaced with an IV glucose drip.

A thousand questions started racing in her mind. Did he wake up while she was asleep? If so, when? And how did she sleep through all of it?

She muttered a few things in anger to herself under her breath and quickly got up. She went to the nearest bathroom, washed up and tied her hair back into a tight ponytail. Her appearance had been a mess since yesterday but she didn't want to look like that anymore. When she came out she headed straight to the nurse station and asked for the nurse that was on duty the previous night.