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The siren sound was heard clearly as they drove the ambulance in full speed to the location of the incidence. The moment they arrived, they placed the patient on a gulley and wheeled him into the ambulance.
Yusra did the needful of checking the pulse and heart beat rate of the patient to detect how critical his condition was and when she figured it wasn't very serious, she heaved a sigh of relief.
Yusra went ahead and gave the patient a first aid service by placing him on IV and some injections before she ordered the driver to drive them to the nearest hospital.
His condition wasn't critical and the location they picked him up from looked like he wasn't doing well so she decided they shouldn't take him to their hospital. It was a very far location from there.
As soon as they arrived, a doctor and two nurses approached them so Yusra started to explain just as protocols required her to.
"Age 36, blood pressure is 110 by 82, pulse rate is 51 and item is 20. There's a mild concussion but nothing else apart from that, I've administered an IV to him and also ESOI (Epidural Saline Oxygen injection)" Yusra explained.
"Toh, zamuyi maneji daga nan (we'll manage from here)" The doctor said before the nurses wheeled the patient into the hospital.
"That was rude!" One of the ambulance officials said looking at the way the nurses disappeared with the patient. "My thoughts exactly, you literally did most of the hard work for them but they didn't even acknowledge it" The other one said.
"Yeah I mean a thank you should do" The first one commented again.
But Yusra couldn't care less, she was used to not saying thank you and definitely not hearing other people say it to her so it was totally okay that they didn't show some appreciation. Besides, it's not like they'll meet again miraculously. Even if they did, they might not recognise each other.
"Let's go" Yusra said before she hopped into the ambulance. The officials also did the same before they drove out of the hospital.
They were halfway to the hospital when their driver received a call. He requested for one of the officials to pick it instead as he didn't want to pick a call while driving, he could easily get distracted.
The one who picked the call talked for a while with the person on the other line before he passed the phone to Yusra who collected unsure of what that meant.
"The call is for you" He said after noticing the confused expression on her face.
Yusra couldn't exactly understand why someone would look for her through the driver's phone but she very much knew it was possible because ever since she received the unfortunate news of Zaeem's disappearance, she had her phone off. She wanted to cut off everyone for the while and she did, being an ambulance official helped with that.
"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.
"Thank you Haifa" Yusra said, not that she was planning to listen to her advises. Zaeem knew her to be stubborn and she would make sure not to prove him wrong.
"I'll be on my way then. Daman I was going to see my aunt so I decided to check on you" Haifa said.
"Ya jikinta?" Yusra asked. "Heard it got worse just yesterday, they might consider transferring her to a hospital" Haifa replied.
"Wishing her quick recovery" Yusra said before the two stood up and walked out of the room.
Haifa headed outside while Yusra headed to the changing room, she needed to change out of the suffocating uniform worn by ambulance official as ordered by the hospital management.
She made up her mind that when everything falls back to place, she would make sure they get a lighter uniform or none at all. It was too suffocating to roam about in it all day long.
Haifa left the hospital immediately she walked out as she already had a driver waiting for her. The driver did as ordered and drove them to Reshma's four bedroom bungalow.
Haifa got off the car and walked into the house as the door was already opened but she stopped before reaching the room when she heard her phone ring. She stood on one position and tried until she brought the phone out of the bag.
Seeing the name that displayed on her screen, she decided to go pick the call first before going back into the house to meet her aunt.
She walked in long strides so as to reach her destination soon before the call ends. And as a result, she bumped into someone making her phone to drop on the floor.
"Hell no!" Haifa said in a high pitched voice noticing how hard her phone fell to the ground. She bent down and picked the phone up then examined it before turning to look at the reason behind her current predicament.
"Are you blind or something? I mean didn't you see me coming? Couldn't you have moved a bit or waited till I'm gone? Come on, this is a limit!" Haifa asked all in one breath to a total stranger whom she believed she'd never seen before.
Raoul stared, dumbstruck at how she dared to say those words to him. Like he thought he had that scary look that could silence anyone upon eye contact but she didn't even budge. "Seriously I'm not ready to part with my phone, we had a connection and..."
"Ma'am don't...." Raajih started but was instantly cut off by Raoul's hands indicating for him to stop.
"Why don't you mind your business Mr. cause I tend to love people who do. Unless your friend is mute that is" Haifa said to Raajih. Raajih was confused as he knew if someone else was to talk to Raoul in that manner, he would be dead at the very first sentence.
"Nevermind, total waste of my damn time!" Haifa hissed before walking away to pick the call that came again.
The phone was terribly broken but she could still press it so she did. One thing she was sure about was getting a new phone because that one might die on her any moment.
Raoul stood there, surprise turned into amusement as he watched until she disappeared.
"We might be taking a parcel home Raajih" Raoul smirked before the two walked further into the house. They arrived at Reshma's room and found her sitting on her bed trying to eat the food that was served to her.
"I'm home Madre!" Raoul announced and Reshma could swear she heard her heart beat trice at a time within her ribcage. She could recognise that voice anywhere and of course, there was only one person in the world who calls her Madre.
"Not another step closer to me Raoul" Reshma said turning to look at him with toxic warning eyes.
"Come on, you should know by now it doesn't work on me" Raoul said referring to her threatening eyes. He was never afraid of her and she undoubtedly knew that.
"Stai facenso qui Raoul? (What are you doing here Raoul?)" Reshma asked feeling all the anger in the world surfacing.
"Per controllare la tua salute (to check your health). Isn't that obvious? Mi sei mancato (I missed you)" Raoul replied with a smirk.
"Get out Raoul, Vai fuori da casa mia! (Get out of my house!)" Reshma shouted. By that time, she was already finding some difficulties in breathing. "Easy Madre, we don't want you dying do we?" Raoul asked but that only worsen her situation.
That was when Haifa walked into the room.
The situation she saw her aunt scared her as she rushed to her side to help her regain her breathing. She looked up to see the faces of the intruders only to get angered by the smirk on the others face. Someone was struggling right in front of them and they didn't have the heart to help?
"What the hell do you think you're doing letting her be in this situation?" Haifa asked.
"Get out!" Reshma shouted again with the little energy remained in her.
Haifa laid her down on her bed before she walked closer to the men that stood tall and broad against her. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave" Haifa said showing the door to them, her eyes never leaving Raoul's.
"Yes Amore mio, sure will" Raoul said making Haifa to scoff and roll her eyes, the guts!
"We'll leave now Madre but I'll come back soon as I'll be around for while. Reason being I saw a rose I'm not leaving without plucking" Raoul said.
Haifa could swear he said it while looking right into her soul. And for some reason, slapping the smirk off his face instantly became a strong wish of hers.
"I repeat again, leave!" Haifa said. "Till we see again Amore mio" Raoul said before finally walking out of the room.
Haifa ignored him and walked back to the bed to sit close to her aunt. She took her hands into hers rubbing gently in circles which Reshma found soothing.
"Who was that Aunt Reshma?" Haifa asked after being curious for the first time since she saw him. It never occurred to her before that she had no idea who he was despite seeing him in her aunt's abode. And the way her aunt reacted to it, he probably was a big deal.
"An evil person Haifa, you have to stay away from him at all cost" Reshma warned in a very low and weak tone.
"Stay away from him?" Haifa asked. "Yes Haifa, he's my son and I know his capabilities so promise you'll stay away from him" Reshma requested.
"Raoul that is?" Haifa asked again remembering that name to be of her only son whom she heard few stories about. "Yes! promise me" Reshma said again.
"I promise Aunt Reshma, I promise I'll stay away from him"
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See the twist coming?
It's going to be rough!
Hey everyone! It's been like a billion days since I updated. And the reason being laziness, nothing else.
I wanted to bribe you with these three updates so I hope it works.
I promise another tomorrow insha Allah as I sincerely want to make it up to you before the lazy devils return.
I genuinely feel like I'm battling with demons sometimes because I would always come on Wattpad and not type a single word.
Sha, hope you enjoyed the chapters!
They turned out pretty much easy to type!
Question of the day: What's the one thing you're curious about me?
Lots of love,
Deedi--❤️