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He watched as the pendulum bulb of his parlour clock swinged from left to right, to a point he almost got hypnotized. He would have, except for the fact that his mind wasn't on the pendulum bulb, it was elsewhere.
Given that it has been two days since he had learnt about his son's disappearance, it didn't favour his mental health. All he worried about for two nights straight was that.
He had no idea that Zaeem's disappearance would take that much toll on him until he was experiencing it. There was nothing as hard as baring all the burden by himself without sharing, it ate every single energy left in him.
He was exhausted of the feeling, exactly why he decided he would just reveal it to his family, or at least his wife. That way they'll share the burden and console each other.
With that intention in mind, he pulled out of his thoughts and headed for Hajiya Khadija's room where he was sure he would find her.
Chatters of a happy mother and daughter duo filled the living room while they folded some of Mimi's pieces of clothing. Mimi believed that to be one of the best ways to bond with her family so they grew learning to fold clothes that didn't need ironing.
The two knew they haven't had a comforting and blissful conversation in a long while so they tried their best to live in the moment and had it engraved in their hearts.
"But honestly Mimi, you could have chose better. I am pretty sure Abbu wasn't rich when you married him neither was he handsome" Haifa remarked. "Sure you've heard about a thing called love" Mimi replied. "Sure I have but I thought everyone during your time was arranged?" Haifa asked. "Not everyone, we fell in love way before the wedding" Mimi replied as she kept another folded night gown beside her on the carpeted floor, the last one.
"Ah! Where pesin fit find dis kin love these days?" Haifa asked with a dreamy smile that lingered on her face, that got her a light smack on her shoulder.
"You can dream all you want but not in my presence" Mimi said. "Okay ma. I believe that's all the clothes" Haifa voiced. "I'll gladly escort them to your wardrobe and I shall commit a crime on my way back" Haifa announced picking up the pile of clothes and heading into the room.
Even without specifically revealing the crime, Mimi knew what it would be. Her wardrobe was always filled with chocolates and toffees, it gave her a reason to get constant visits from her children. Well except Zaeem, being a doctor made him a complete health freak. Gladly, he voluntarily stops by her room at least twice everyday to converse.
"That looks like you emptied the boxes" Mimi said when she saw Haifa walk out of the room with hands filled with chocolates.
"I promise I didn't. I just picked enough for today, that way I won't come back for more later" Haifa explained. "Do not finish all that today Haifa, your stomach will hurt" Mimi scolded. "Okay I'll share some of it with Hayma when she returns from school" Haifa assured then sighed.
"This house feels empty for no reason and I hate the vibes" She commented. "That's because there is a reason, it's just the two of us at home today" Mimi pointed out. "Three you mean, Abbu didn't go to work today" Haifa informed. "He didn't?"
"Assalamu Alaikum" Abbu said walking into the living room, that as much answered Mimi's previous question. "Wa'alaikum assalam. I just learned you didn't go to work, what's wrong?" Mimi replied and asked.
Haifa took that as her cue to leave the room for them. Every child of the house knew not to remain in a room where Mimi and Abbu had to converse so they leave without being told to. "Sannu Abbu" Haifa greeted before she walked past him as he didn't reply.
"There is something important about Zaeem that you should know of" Abbu started before Haifa could exit the territory.
Normally, she wouldn't pry but hearing them mention Zaeem's name, she just had to. That's because she had been trying to reach him for days but wouldn't get him and also because that was the second time she had seen her father that unorganized. The first was when Mimi was battling with her life to survive in the hospital after giving birth to Hayma.
"What about him? I was actually going to call your attention to it. He called only once since he left and that is just not like him" Mimi said.
"Yes about that, no one knows where he is" Abbu said. "I wish to get what you mean by that" Mimi said as she didn't understand his first sentence.
"Two days back, the chauffeur that attended to him and took him to the hotel called. Ya ce he hasn't seen him since he went out for a walk and when they checked his room, all his belongings except his phone and wallet were there. He also didn't check out of the hotel. I assigned people to look for him but nothing came out of it" Abbu explained.
"Inna lillahi wa'inna ilaihi raji'un" Mimi and Haifa whispered almost at the same time. "Abbun Zaeem Amma maybe he left himself" Mimi said.
"Perhaps, I thought as much. But you know Zaeem, he is never one to abandon his work. The hospital deal papers were found in his belongings and his chauffeur made sure to ask, he didn't go through with the deal. Something must be wrong somewhere" Abbu explained.
"Insha Allah nothing is wrong" Mimi said and that was the last of their conversation that Haifa heard. Not because she zoned out but because she walked away to her room. Her body slanted gently as though touched by overwhelming emotions.
Instantly, she felt her eyes fill with tears as she thought of the worst things that could happen to her brother. If anything was to happen to him, she had no idea how she would be able to live with it so she cried. She cried in silent sobs into her pillow so no one could hear her.
She regretted the moment she decided to untangle the barrier of privacy and eavesdrop on her parents. Only then could she have been in a happier situation than she was.
Haifa couldn't remember for how long she cried but when she stopped, there was only one thing she told herself to do. She decided to call Yusra. Yes, she was the only one except Zaeem and Na'eel that knew of her feelings for Zaeem and she owned up to it.
She searched for her phone, picked it and dialled Yusra's number. She picked up almost immediately after the call went through.
"Hey Haifa, ya kike?" Yusra asked. "Uhmm hey, fine" Haifa replied. "Great, what made you remember me today?" Yusra asked again. "There is something important I want to discuss with you, or rather tell you" Haifa replied. "Okay"
Yusra knew something was wrong from Haifa's voice, she knew what Haifa was about to tell her would get her worried. Just when Haifa was about to start talking, the hospital telephone started ringing. It does only when there's an emergency in the hospital.
"Sorry Haifa, I'll hold the call for a while" Yusra informed and placed the call on hold before she picked the other call.
"An emergency patient was just brought in, Dr. Marcus thinks he'll need a surgery so he asked me to contact you" The other person said.
"Okay, I'll be there in a few" Yusra assured before placing the telephone back to its position causing it to disconnect.
"Uhmm Haifa, an emergency surgery just came up. I'll make sure to contact you as soon as it is over, I promise" Yusra said after she reconnected the call. "Sure" Haifa replied before disconnecting the call completely.
Yusra sighed and tried to clear her mind from everything before she rushed out of her office to the elevator.
The moment Yusra entered the emergency room and moved towards the patient that came in, Dr. Marcus started explaining the situation.
"He was driving in the rain and he drove into a tree which caused an impact on his chest. We carried an echocardiograph and It is a myocardial infarction but we are not sure whether it's in the right or left ventricle" Dr. Marcus explained.
"Hope you got the OR ready?" Yusra asked. "Yes, I asked them to. We should be able to start the surgery instantly" Dr. Marcus replied. "Let's get ready then" Yusra ordered. The two doctors and some of the assisting nurses headed for each gender's dressing room to change into surgery gowns.
After they did, they went in for surgery.
"Which fool among you reported the patient otherwise to me?" Yusra asked frustrated at what she saw on the patient's chest. "I asked you all a question I expect a damn reply!" Yusra shouted.
"It's me ma'am" Dr. Marcus replied. "You said he has myocardial infarction but this is clearly cardiac tamponade. As a doctor if you cannot differentiate between the two then do not be one! Now get out of my surgery and get Dr. Franklin to join me" Yusra shouted, frustration could be an understatement for what she was going through.
"Sorry ma'am" Dr. Marcus apologized. "You know, I hate people who do things they have to be sorry for. Just go and do as I said" Yusra voiced glaring at him. Allah forbade if she was also a dumb doctor, then they could have killed the patient while trying to save him.
No one said anything again, they remained quiet and waited until Dr. Franklin came into the OR fully dressed in the surgery gown. He wore the gloves and surgical mask before he stood by the surgery table.
"I was briefed about the case" Dr. Franklin informed.
"Let's start then. Scalpel!" Yusra demanded before beginning the surgery and it was handed to her by one of the assisting nurses. "It is an open-heart surgery, we have to be careful" Yusra said to Dr. Franklin.
Using the scalpel, she started the procedures by cutting the patient's chest. She used the bovie, retractor and sternal saw to reveal the hearty part of the patient's chest. Then she used a tweezer to pierce into the flesh which caused blood to flow out.
"Make sure he gets enough substitute blood so the blood pressure doesn't drop" Yusra said to the nurse monitoring the blood intake and blood pressure machine. "Yes ma'am" the nurse replied before she continued the procedure.
Soon enough, she was able to complete the surgical procedure and the patient was in a stable condition.
"Finish up Dr. Franklin. Make sure they send him to the recovery room and contact his family" Yusra said before she walked out of the room and allowed Dr. Franklin to do the stitches and cover up everything.
Yusra went back to her office and got herself a cup of coffee from her coffee maker and started to got through some e-files concerning the hospital forgetting to call Haifa.
The fact that Zaeem left her in charge was so much stressful than she expected it to be, she had to do twice the size of her normal work at the hospital. She liked it at first but it was beginning to get more and more troubling by each passing day.
After she was done going through the files and found herself with nothing to do, she remembered she had to give Haifa a call.
She searched for her phone in her table drawers and found it in the top drawer. She dialled Haifa's number and waited till she picked the call.
"Sorry it took me long to call back" Yusra apologized. She didn't want to admit that she forgot even after finishing the emergency surgery.
"It's okay" Haifa said. "What did you want to discuss about?" Yusra asked. "Oh it's about Ya Zaeem" Haifa started. "Don't say it Haifa. After he left, he didn't feel the need to call me once to apologize. Now he feels it is right to send you to pacify me?" Yusra asked as all the frustration she held in resurfaced.
"No that's not it. He is gone, no one knows where he is" Haifa sobbed.
"I'm not in the mood for jokes Haifa, what do you mean by he is gone?" Yusra asked and Haifa did the needful of narrating to her all that she heard.
Yusra was speechless. It was at those times that she felt like she should cry but she was not able to. Her heart constricted within her chest, her eyes heavy as she felt a sudden dizziness envelope her mind wellbeing.
Even as she disconnected the call, she regretted ever letting Haifa inform her about that. It was better to live with the thought that he didn't care than to live with the thought that he was no where to be found. She couldn't help but feel like she heard the news of his death as all hopes crushed to the beholder of weaknesses.
Yusra picked her phone and bag before sauntering out of her office. She walked through the hallways and stairs mindlessly in the surgical gown trying to get herself out of the hospital. It was suddenly suffocating her.
"Dr. Yusra everything alright?" Dr. Mahira who saw her from a distance approached her with a question. Anyone who saw her at that moment could tell she wasn't okay. "Yes! I just need to leave right now" Yusra replied.
"Okay then" Dr. Mahira said and Yusra started to walk away again. On a second thought, she turned back to Dr. Mahira and said. "I shall work with the ambulance service henceforth, I leave Dr. Franklin in charge, do inform him"
She made Dr. Mahira speechless. Even as she walked out of the hospital, there were murmurs everywhere concerning what she just said to Dr. Mahira. Every employee of the hospital was surprised, they knew Yusra to be more than who walked out on them just that moment. She used to be cheerful and had the aura that made everyone notice her.
What surprised them the most was that she was going to start working with the ambulance service. It meant she won't console any patient nor perform a surgery on one. She'd spend 22 hours of her day attending to emergency calls and giving first aid treatments to emergency patients.
That left everyone thinking about just one thing!
What the hell is happening to this hospital?
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God knows I have nothing to say about this particular chapter so I'll pass.
Question of the day: what's the one thing you want for Yusra?
Lots of love,
Deedi--❤️