" Because Hamza is my husband"

Emaan choked on her water causing a series of coughs to erupt. Both Yamama and Sidra came to her side and started rubbing her back. Emaan looked at Yamama in between her coughs ,she didn't looked shocked like her but rather relaxed .

She already knows?

Emaan had series of questions to fire at Sidra but couldn't because of her incessant coughs .As she was trying to control her coughs ,she heard,

" Dr Emaan ,are you alright?"

Emaan looked up to come across Khaled standing before her with a furrowed expression ,he looked different with his changed attire from that of his routine at hospital. Emaan looked immediately down trying to succumb her violent coughing spasm while thinking,

Ya Allah !Why am I always fainting or coughing around him? What do I have to embarrass myself when he is around?

Emaan came out of her thoughts when she again heard Hamza's voice asking Sidra  about her, but before Sidra could reply ,Emaan replied,

" I am .....fine ....just choked on water".

Sidra looked at Emaan apologetically while rubbing her back ,she was apologising to her when they heard Albert,

" Oh Christ....I never thought this will happen so soon ..Dr Emaan you are down on your knees proposing me "

Giving Albert an annoyed look Emaan quickly stood up feeling embarassed by his words.

" Dr Albert you need to get your brain transplanted....because the way it is working now... you are surely gonna receive rain of sandals and sneakers on you soon " Sidra said  haughtily.

Albert raised his both hands in surrender and placatingly smiled as he said,

" Dr Sidra you don't have to become She Hulk ...I was just kidding "

" But I am not " Sidra replied angrily.The anger that surged halfly cause Albert flirted with her friend and halfly cause her stupid husband had brought Dr Dracula with him.

Albert  awkwardly chuckled scratching his head and looked towards Khaled and Hamza, who were looking at him with an annoyed expression.

" What guys...I said I was just joking...it's good to joke " . Albert said

" Dr Albert for joking one needs sense of humour ...and sadly your jokes have neither sense nor humour ..so it's better you stop joking because it's not at all good to make bad jokes" Khaled said nonchalantly causing others to snigger while Albert embarrassingly looked here and there .

" Balmnasb hal tamakanat min aleuthur ealaa makan liwuquf alsayarat? " ( By the way were you able to find a parking spot ) asked Hamza , to which Albert started his rant about the difficulty he faced finding a parking spot.

Meanwhile Sidra gestured with her eyes to Hamza to come aside but Hamza couldn't  comprehend what she was saying ,he cocked his eyebrows.Curbing her urge to strangle her husband right there ,she gestured him covertly with her hands to come aside but still Hamza couldn't understand and only furrowed his eyebrows. At that moment Sidra felt like to rip off Hamza's eyebrows ,but gulping down her anger she finally spoke ,

" Hamza ,min fadlik tanhaa janibana?" ( would you please come aside ) .

Hamza not getting good vibes from the over sugary coated address by Sidra just only nodded and followed her ,praying for his well being.

While Emaan finally relieved of her coughing spasms quickly took a glance at everyone trying to gauge their reaction of seeing Sidra and Hamza walking away to talk privately but to her amazement everyone looked indifferent & relaxed .

  Does everyone knows ?

Seeing Khaled and Albert engaged in a conversation ,she whispered to Yamama,

"Does everyone  knows about Sidra and Hamza ?"

Yamama looked at her and replied,
" Not everyone, just our team doctors "

Seeing Emaan was going to ask more questions Yamama interrupted ,

" Just patient ...Sidra will tell you everything .....by the way don't you think Dr Khaled looks more handsome in this casual attire "

Emaan unconsciously looked at him ,with brown hoody jacket, grey coloured flannel shirt ,white chinos and black boots ,he really looked good, feeling someone's eyes Khaled turned ,Emaan panicked & instantly pretended  to look at the shop behind him and asking about it to Yamama ,while praying that her acting is believable along with asking her Rab's forgiveness. As Khaled went back talking to Albert ,Emaan sighed in relief and looked at Yamama who was still looking at Khaled , Emaan poked Yamama's arm lightly as she said,

" You know he is non mahram and gawking at him like that is wrong "

" Well first look is allowed " Yamama replied sheepishly.

"Oh really Yamama ...I think since last year you would have seen him enough to count it under first look.....and if you like him so much send your proposal to him " Emaan said .

" Well wouldn't it be weird I sending him proposal " Yamama replied back.

" So what even Khadeja R.A also sended her proposal to our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)..if you find him someone with whom you can spend your entire life and who can bring you closer to Allah ...then do it ...Islam doesn't place any such boundaries of who can propose first ..man or woman...but only implies that everything is done in a halal way" Emaan ended with a smile.

Yamama smiled back and holding Emaan's hands said,

" Emaan you made it so easy for me to understand ...you are the best and very special too"

"You mean my idea is best and special"  Emaan said wiggling her eyebrows making Yamama giggle. As Emaan also giggled back ,her eyes fell behind Yamama where Sidra and Hamza were standing a bit far away from them talking to each other, making her think ,

Why did Sidra hide her marriage from me ?

___________________________________________

As they were out of earshot , Sidra keeping her hands on her waist asked,

" Limadha ahdarat Dr Dracula w Dr Albert maeak "(Why did you brought Dr Dracula and Dr Albert with you ?).

" Wamadha fi dhalik? Kan yjb 'an ati wahidi? "( So what? I should have come alone ?)Hamza replied back.

" La ,kan yjb ealayk iihdar muzaffi Al Firdous balkaml "( No you should have brought entire staff of Al Firdous).Sidra said sarcastically.

Seeing passerby listening to their conversation Hamza switched to speaking English as he said,

" If I have would have come alone and followed three women all around the Aleppo ..people would have taken me for a stalker and would have probably beaten me and you being you would have enjoyed watching me getting thrashed "

" Yeah that would.." Sidra amusingly was saying but when she looked at Hamza 's raised eyebrows she instantly changed her words as she said,

" That would be so not me.... you think so low of me and....and more importantly how come all of our team doctors are on day off"

" No they are not...Khaled will leave after few hours it's on my insistence he came while Albert has night duty ,I have done my half day duty and only Dr Emaan and Dr Yamama have day off while you took the leave .....anything more you want to interrogate me about or we can go back .."

Sidra twisting her lips moved to leave when Hamza stopped her by holding her wrist ,with the mere touch Sidra felt her turtle like heartbeat was suddenly running like a rabbit desperate to win the race of coming out of her rib cage .She came out of her reverie when she heard Hamza say ,

" Please don't call Khaled Dr Dracula here ..he is my friend atleast respect him for that"

All the wit and courage of Sidra of doing a repartee was long gone and lost ,thus she only nodded. Getting a no comeback from Sidra ,Hamza quirked his eyebrows while slightly tilting his face but grinned when he saw face of Sidra as he said ,

" Are you blushing ?"

" WHAT ...NO....it's beetroot juice effect ....my haemoglobin has increased " Sidra replied and quickly freeing her wrist she moved towards her gang while thinking ,

Beetroot juice ..haemoglobin...are you serious Sidra ? Why my brain doesn't works when it's NEEDED ?

__________________________________________

It was decided since Sidra and Hamza were only mahram to eachother, the men and women group will be seperate but remain close by to ensure safety and security of women group. Seeing questioning gazes of Emaan from time to time ,Sidra announced that they should eat Hetaliye ( traditional ice cream )before they go excursing Aleppo. The men and women group sat on different tables and it is after the Hetaliye was served ,Sidra began her story ,

" Hamza is my aunt son ..in our early teenage years we got to know that our parents desired us to get married and as a result hatred for eachother developed in our hearts. Seeing our bickering ,fights and hatred for each other our parents decided to drop the idea .But later when I was in my fourth year of medical college and he in his fifth ,his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease ,wanting to see her son to get married before she starts forgetting everything she requested me and ..I couldn't deny and neither could he ...so we got married but I had placed one condition that I will live at my home until I become a doctor ,& my aunt agreed since we were neighbours so she had no problem with that....well now I have become a doctor ,they have been bugging me & Hamza to shift  together.. so it's decided after six months I have to shift with him..and that's why my mother wants that we spent time together after hospital so we build our relationship as husband & wife apart from just colleagues and cousins...so that my aunt can also see her grandchild as she has already reached Alzheimer's stage 5th of moderately severe decline " Sidra said face palming herself.

" Do you still hate him Sidra ?" Emaan asked hesitatingly fearing that question might be too personal .

Removing her hands ,Sidra smiled but her eyes twinkled with tears as she said,

" You know Emaan, when I was in college I used to make fun of girls who used to run around the guys ,sighing & wishing they would look at them and love them, I laughed at their unrequitted love....and now twist of fate I am same like them......waiting for my love story to happen....I...I couldn't realize when my hate for him changed to love ...an unrequitted love ..."

Emaan holded  Sidra's hand lovingly as she said to her ,

" You can't compare your love with theirs....theirs were haram while yours is halal placed by Allah SWT in your heart for him and he too will feel same for you as in Quran Allah says : "And among HIS signs is that HE created for you from yourselves your mates that you may find tranquility in them, and HE placed between you love and affection [Surah Ar Rum 30:21]" So if Allah says that how could it be not true ...just give time and trust HIM ..."

Sidra smiled at her and side hugged her but before she could say anything Yamama spoke up,

" Of course there is something...it is the spark that I felt between them ..made me guess that something is between them and when I asked, it is then she told me that they are married"

" I am not good at noticing these things thats why I couldn't guess " Emaan said pouting while eating her ice cream.

" Well I am thinking Emaan if you can't see theirs how will you recognise your sparks" Yamama said grinning.

Emaan furrowed her eyebrows, then changing the topic she said ,

" Why didn't you told me about your marriage"?

" You see I wanted to be sure that you are not among those who end up crushing on my husband because most of the female staffs crushes on Dr Khaled and others left on Hamza  and Dr Albert ....so I wanted to be sure that I am making a friend who is not going to become my rival "Sidra said sheepishly .

" And it took you so long to realize that " Emaan said horrified.

" No I realised that very earlier only but you see, me and Hamza had decided we will not let anyone know about our marriage in hospital to keep it professional...we had even decided we will address eachother as Dr Sidra and Dr Hamza in the hospital but when I joined Dr Albert like always started flirting with me and Hamza blurted out our secret and that's how Albert knew and Hamza told Dr Khaled himself...so you see I never told anybody myself so I felt awkward and I was afraid how will you react " . Sidra clarified.

" My reaction is and would have been happiness & Sidra why would I judge you ...it's stupid of you to think like that" Emaan said smiling at Sidra.

As they finished their Hetaliye ,Yamama said sheepishly ,

" You see I noticed something....our team's women doctors have something unrequitted....Sidra unrequitted love , mine unrequitted crush, only Emaan you left...so how and when would you join this group "

" Love and crush is not my cup of tea ....so sorry never "  Emaan said standing up.

While at the same time Khaled also stood up replying to something Albert said,

" We will see about that ".

Emaan overheard this & was shocked at the coincidence that how his reply seemed  a counter reply to hers. But shunning her overthinking mode ,she walked out with her friends to enjoy her day at Aleppo.

___________________________________________

Bismillah

I feel like it's sleep season because the sleepiness I am feeling is just uncontrollable ( while my mind saying you feel like that in all season # mymind myenemy continues). Khair so I wrote this chapter after fighting with my love # sleep.....so I  hope the fight was worth it...🙃

And this chapter is dedicated to three sweethearts🧡 ...amasdt1997,Akshiyaislove
& @sparklingstar146

Please do recite Surah Al Masad / Lahab before you end the chapter.

Do remember me and entire ummah in your precious duas.

Faqat abd e AR Rahman
Sadaf

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu🌸