A/N: Did you read chapter 31? Make sure you do that first.
June 2020
Omar
The door opened and shut, footsteps shuffled closer. I heard Kylie talk to someone.
"We had to give him some pretty heavy painkillers so he may be a little groggy when he wakes up. But the good news is that nothing seems to be broken, and with pain control he has been able to take normal breaths."
I kept my eyes closed until the sound of someone sniffing reached my ears. Then, that beloved soft and sweet voice, which I cherished, spoke with a tremor as if she were attempting to restrain her tears, "Thank you, Kylie, for looking after him."
She was here? Of course, she was. I blinked my eyes open and attempted to rise. Both Kylie and she offered their hands to support me, but it was her gaze that held mine captive. Her eyes, moist and filled with sorrow, carefully scanned my face. Though a mask concealed most of her face, I imagined her lower lip would be slightly pouting, the edges turned down with a subtle quiver pulsating through them. She didn't have to speak for me to understand the thoughts racing through her mind.
"It's not your fault," I told her.
"How is it not? You were there because of me, I yelled back at the cop..." her voice cracked, breaking my heart.
"He deserved to be yelled at."
"I should have been more careful, I am so sorry," she wiped her eyes.
I reached my hand out and she walked closer, "That cop was out of mind, he would have shot at us even if you stayed quiet." The image of his deranged eyes just as he lifted his gun would be etched in my mind forever. Anger had completely taken over his senses and no amount of cajoling would have mattered. Its nearly impossible to reason with a man so far gone anyway.
Kylie had walked over to me by now as well. "Omar, while I am here let me take a quick listen to you and make sure your bandages don't need to be changed," she said and lifted my shirt from the back.
Madi gasped.
"Come here," I turned to grasp her hand, pulling her in front of me. "You don't need to see that. I am fine, seriously. The pain meds are working. It looks a lot worse than it is."
"Your entire back is black and blue with bruises and cuts, how are you fine?" she asked, the horror in her dark brown eyes morphing into rage.
Kylie changed one of the bandages and walked out of the room soon after, leaving me alone to confront Madi. Meanwhile, she was pacing up and down the room, like she always did when she was angry but couldn't decide what to do about it.
"I swear, I am going to sue the hell out of that cop," her finger waved in the air, before she abruptly stopped, "No, you know what, I am going to sue the entire police department. How dare they? How dare they do this you? We both had our badges and we told him we were waiting for a patient and..."
The moisture in her eyes had evaporated by the fire lit within her. To anyone else, she might have looked like a woman on a mission, full of grit and unwavering strength. To me she looked so adorable, like one of those anime warrior princesses.
Despite my mask she must have noticed me smile. "What are you smiling about?" her brows furrowed. "And why didn't you tell me you were in so much pain? I could have taken care of you, or brought you to the ER."
"Madi, I am ok. I didn't tell you because I needed to get you into my apartment safely. And if I had told you, you would not have listened to me. Besides, remember the paramedic said no extra people in the ambulance, COVID protocol."
Her pacing started again, "No, Omar, this is not ok. This is so unfair. Right after we get married, Abu said he knows of a lawyer and that we should sue the cop..."
I didn't hear the rest of that sentence. My mind got stuck on the part about us getting married. "Madi, what did you say about us getting married?" I tried to clarify.
Without hesitation or even looking at me, she said, "Abu is probably ok with us getting married." Then she went right back to pacing the room, "But as soon as we are married, I am going to hire the best lawyer..."
I had zoned out again. Her dad is ok with us getting married, probably?
After months of waiting to hear those words, I was convinced that it was just the drugs talking. Could her father really have given in? I couldn't even bring myself to believe it.
"Madi..." I tried to ask her what exactly she meant by 'probably ok', but she seemed to be in another world, mumbling something about healthcare workers being off-limits, no matter the conflict. And with her mask on I could barely make out her facial expression.
"Dr. Madiha. Ahmed," I repeated loudly, finally catching her attention.
"What?" She stood still in front of me.
"Come here," I reached out to take her hand, pulling her a bit nearer until I could catch a whiff of her floral scent even through my mask, and notice the smudged eyeliner around her captivating brown eyes.
Her eyes had always held a certain allure. Yet, at that moment gazing into them was not enough. I longed to see more of her face - witness her smile as I broached the question that lingered between us. So, I gently reached behind her ears and took off her mask, then removed my own.
"Omar, we shouldn't..." she whispered.
"It's alright, Madi. We're in a closed room, and I'm so sick and tired of talking through masks," I told her honestly.
The pandemic had already taken so much from us. With her recent recovery from COVID and me being convinced that I had the real vaccine given how much my arm had hurt after the second dose, I felt confident we weren't posing any additional risk to ourselves or our patients.
"I want to see your pretty face when I ask you this," I smiled, causing her to blush. "Did you talk to your father last night, about us?"
She nodded slowly, and then that heartwarming smile graced her lips as she spoke softly, "I think he's okay with us getting married... he mentioned talking to Ami this morning. But I know he only says that to avoid Ami's scolding for making decisions unilaterally."
Her gaze dropped, and she stood there, quietly nibbling on her lower lip, as if suddenly feeling shy in my presence. It almost made me want to laugh out loud, considering that just seconds ago, she was pacing the room ready to take on the entire Chicago Police Department.
She had so many personalities and I adored every single one of them.
Before I could respond though, her pager went off, breaking the nervous silence that had enveloped us both.
"I need to answer this, but here is your phone and apartment key," she said handing me both things. "And Sehr called a few times last night while I was asleep. I just saw her missed calls this morning."
Of course, that struck me as odd but I was too enamored by the thought of finally seeing a light at the end of the harrowingly long and dark tunnel we had been in. "I'll call her but you make sure to call your dad as soon as you are done with rounds, please." I couldn't bear to waste another minute if we had her parent's permission to get married.
"I will," she smiled once more, just before securing her mask back in place.
"I hope your back pain is completely gone soon... and Omar, again, I am so sorry that I didn't realize how badly you were hurt last night," she said, and a look of sorrow returned to her eyes.
"Hey, don't do that. None of this is your fault, and honestly, being with you makes me forget that physical pain anyway. So, hurry up, finish rounds and come back to me."
Was I acting like a clingy toddler? Yes. Did I care? No.
I simply wanted to be with her.
After she left promising to return as soon as she could, I attempted to recline on my uninjured side, hoping that after the next dose of IV pain meds I could be discharged with some potent oral pain medication. Meanwhile, I glanced at my phone and noticed that my sister had called three times between 2 - 3 am.
That's strange. Why would she call so late? Her being pregnant in the middle of a pandemic made all sorts of unfortunate circumstances run through my mind. But just as I was about to dial her number, Ahmed Uncle's number lit up on my screen.
"Asalaam Alaikum Uncle. This is Omar. Madiha just went on rounds. But I can give her a message if you'd like," I blurted out. Talking to a future father-in-law was intimidating no matter how confident one is.
He paused but only for a second. "Walaikum Asalaam Omar. How are you? Madiha told me about what happened at the protest last night. Are you doing ok?" he asked, his voice brimming with genuine concern.
It took only a mention of the ER for him to loudly and passionately suggested that we sue everyone involved. "Pata nahi kya samjhte hain yeh apne aap ko. We pay their salaries, and yet they act like they own the city." (I don't know what they think of themselves)
Like father, like daughter - I couldn't help smiling.
"Anyway," he said after a while. "I did have a message for Madi. But maybe its best she hears it from you."
Oh? Despite the pain, I sat up quickly. Like my whole life's verdict was about to be delivered.
"Ji Uncle, of course."
He chuckled, "Well, there is this young man who I've had some reservations about for some time. But as she pointed out repeatedly last night, Madiha is also an adult who is quite capable of making her own choices, especially when she comes to marriage."
"Yes, yes she is." I said quickly, my heart racing.
I swear I heard a muffled laugh, "Could you tell my daughter then, that her mother and I would like to set up a wedding date for her with this young man."
He is actually saying this, right? My mind questioned. Its not just the drugs making me hallucinate.
"Uh Uncle, this young man's name is Omar, right? Omar Khan?"
Now there was full blown laughter in the background, and a woman's voice came online, "Oh Omar bhai, you are so funny. Of course, it is you. Madi would rather jump off a cliff that marry anyone else."
Maliha. Madi's younger sister. Of course she would have something to do with this.
Another woman's voice spoke, "Omar beta, mein Madiha ki Ami houn. Tum hamare ghar kissi din chai per aao na please. Shaadi ki date bhi phir pakki kar lein ge." (I am Madiha's mother. Come to our house someday for tea, please. We'll set the wedding date then too)
To say that I was in seventh heaven was an understatement of the century. My fortune had transformed overnight, from being tasked with convincing Madi to marry someone else, to now receiving an invitation to visit her family home for tea and discuss setting our wedding date. The surreal shift in circumstances left me feeling grateful, exhilarated, and unbelieving all at the same time.
A few laughs later, all at my expense but in good nature nonetheless, Uncle hung up. And I sunk back into the hospital bed. Awash with relief and smiling from ear to ear, I thought about paging Madi, but this wasn't the kind of news you'd want the paging operator to read.
Instead, I held up my phone again and decided to call my sister for a second time. Unfortunately, the phone rang again before I could make that call. But this time the call was from a number I never thought I would see on my phone.
"Ami?"
I didn't hear anything for the first few seconds, but then I heard audible sobbing.
"Ami, what happened?" I asked her again, my instincts telling me that something was very wrong back home.
Finally, she spoke in a hoarse voice as if she had been crying for hours, "Your father has COVID, and the doctors are very worried about him. Omar beta, I know you don't want to have anything to do with us...but you're a doctor and right now, your father needs you. Please come home."
He needs me now? After making me go through hell for the last few months, and ridiculing me for years before that about my choice to go into medicine, now he needs me? Just, when I no longer need their approval, somehow I am supposed to drop everything and rush home?
How twisted could my family get?
*******
A twist for sure!
Should Omar go back to Pakistan, to his family? Or stay in the US and get married to Madi?
Let me know what you think.
Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote and let me know your thoughts about this chapter.