From which country are you? 😍

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"What's happening to him, doctor? Why isn't he moving?" Maryam panicked, tears leaking from the sides of her eyes. She dreaded what his brusque reply would be. She would never be able to forgive herself if something awful happened to her baby, for she felt it was all her fault for not paying sufficient attention at him. She vowed not to repeat the same mistake she did with Manal, but apparently she failed.

Sa'eed attempted to console her by squeezing her hand soothingly, but she scooted his hand away and continued crying intermittently.

"I need you both to please step out for some minutes while we do our work." The doctor in charge remarked, gesturing towards the exit.

"No!" Maryam raised her voice, invidiously. "I still don't know what's wrong with my baby and you're asking us to leave? I'm going nowhere and in case you don't know, I also worked -"

"I'm sorry about that." Sa'eed apologized to the doctor, cutting her off abruptly. "We will let you do your work now." He finished and practically dragged Maryam out of the room.

"Why did you do that?" She yelled, yanking her arm away from his grip. "Why?"

"Listen, habibty. I understand what you must be feeling right now, bu-"

"You understand nothing!" She interjected. "Had it been you do, you would have talked to that stupid doctor to let me stay by my baby's side. He needs me." She cried.

Sa'eed hugged and kept on muttering reassuring and soothing words in her ears. He was just as scared for the baby as she was, but the difference between the both of them, was that he could control his emotions while Maryam couldn't. "Stop worrying too much. In shaa Allah, he will be just fine."

As if being possessed by an evil spirit, Maryam abruptly pushed him away and cupped his face in her hands. With glassy eyes, she fixed her gaze in the depths of his eyes and begged; "please, talk to him. Talk to him and make him understand I need to be with my baby. Please! Please!"

Sa'eed stretched his hands on both of her shoulders. "Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" She yelled, obviously forgetting where she was.

"Please lower you voice. Remember where we are at." He reminded.

"I don't care. I just want to see my baby." She cried. "why aren't you doing anything? Why didn't you say anything to the doctor when you had the chance to? I was a nurse before. I have come across these kinds of situation with other patients countless number of times and the mothers of the children are always welcome to stay by their sides. I would have been able to convince the doctor, but what did you do? You just had to ruin my chance and..." She trailed immediately she realised she was rambling instead of praying to Allah for her baby's safety.

"I just wanted them to attend to him quickly and I knew for a fact, you will have a hard time watching him in that state and you know I can't bear to see you in pain. I'm sorry." He apologized.

All of a sudden, a feeling of remorse washed over her. She had indeed overreacted when he had their best interest at heart - he only wanted what was best for both her and their baby. She parted her lips to say something. Anything. But she found herself closing them due to not being able to form any coherent word, even in her mind.

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Emerging from the room, Maryam, as well as Sa'eed rushed towards him. They had been waiting for approximately an hour and with each second that passed by, the state of their disquietude grew bigger.

"How is he?" Sa'eed inquired.

In spite of trying so hard to hide his apprehension, it didn't go unnoticed by Maryam and that didn't help her uneasiness.

"He had troubles breathing, but for now, he's stable. We've placed him on oxygen and hopefully, he will be able to recuperate soon." He explained, succinctly.

Maryam let out a short intake of breath. "Are you sure he is going to be fine?"

"Like I said seconds ago, we can only hope and pray. I can't really tell at this stage." He replied, laconically.

"Can we see him right now?" Sa'eed inquired.

"Yes, you can." He replied with a small smile. "You can ask the nurse to direct you to my office if you have more questions regarding his health."

"Alright. Thank you." Sa'eed extended his hand to him for a handshake.

Muttering duas underneath her breath, Maryam mustered her courage and walked into the room.

Shortly later, Sa'eed walked in.

The sight of her baby lying motionlessly and helplessly on the bed, had Maryam weak to the knees. Her hand flew over her lips and hot tears brimmed up in her eyes. How could Nafisa be so flagitious, even to a little baby?! She didn't even want to imagine what would have happened if Sa'eed had not caught him.

"Let's keep praying to Allah for him." Sa'eed advised. "HE is never faraway. In shaa Allah, he will be alright."

Maryam walked closer to his bed and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Get well soon, baby. Ummi loves you." She wiped her tears away and rushed out of the room.

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"You look exhausted." Sa'eed voice, caressing the side of her face as she rested her head on his shoulder.

Maryam's eyes were shut, but she wasn't sleeping. She couldn't, even if she wanted. Her heart was filled with worry for her poor baby.

"Do you want me to drive you to your friend's? Hmm?" He asked. "You badly need to freshen up and take a long nap."

She shook her head adamantly. "No, habibi, I don't want to go anywhere. I can't leave Imran behind."

"But I will be here with him." He goaded.

"Still." She heaved a sigh. "I can't leave, because even if I do, I won't be able to 'freshen up and take a long nap'." She quoted.

Sa'eed was about to say something, but Maryam beat him to it.

"Please don't make me leave, habibi." She sat up straight, fixing her glistening eyes in his. "I want to be here."

"Alright. Fine. You can stay." He replied.

"Thanks." She said and rested her head back on his shoulder.

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For the umpteenth time, Sa'eed heaved a sigh. It had been more than an hour and he still hadn't gotten a call from the security men at home. He had absolutely no idea what was going on in his house. He decided to give them a call.

"Are you okay?" Maryam inquired, raising her gaze to meet his.

"Yes. I just need to make a quick call. I will be right back." He replied.

"Okay." Maryam raised her head from his shoulder.

He gave a small smile before ambling out of the room.

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Dialing his number, he pocked up at the fourth ring. "Hello." Came his voice from the other side of the phone.

"What's going on there?" He questioned, a tad bit angrily. "I have been expecting your call for a while now."

"I'm sorry. I thought you wouldn't be interested in anything here, because your son is at the hospital. That's the reason I didn't call. I hope he is alright now."

"He's recovering. Thank you for your concern."

"It's nothing, Sir."

"About the woman that was shot, what happened to her?" He questioned, mentally cringing at the image of her lying in the pool of her own blood. He knew she probably must have died, but he still wanted some more information.

"She died on the spot." He replied. "And her body has already been taken by the officers, either to the hospital or to the cemetery. I'm not sure."

"Alright. Thanks for the information. Please get someone to clean up the whole house, before we return tomorrow."

"Okay, Sir."

Ending the call, Sa'eed couldn't help, but feel extremely bad for Nafisa's parents - that was if she even had them. They had no idea what happened to their child. No matter how bad of a child she was, he knew her death must surely be felt by them. He was a parent as well and he wouldn't want to be in oblivion in this type of situation.

Sauntering back into the room, he met Maryam by Imran's bed, probably praying for his quick recovery. He walked towards the couch and had his seat.

She averted her gaze towards him and as usual, she could tell something was bothering him. She went and sat beside him on the couch. "What's bothering you, habibi? Is this about Imran?"

"No... No, it isn't about him. He will be fine in sha Allah. I'm worried about something else." He voiced.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked with a closed lip smile.

"It's about Nafisa." He started.

Maryam's demeanor contorted in fury. She spoke through gritted teeth; "what about her? Why are you even worried about her? She's dead already."

"I am not worried about her. I'm worried about about her parents." He replied, taking her hand in his. "I know she did many terrible, vile, vicious, nefarious... You name it." He sighed. "She has done so many terrible things to our family in the past. She's the reason why we had to send Manal away to some other country. She's also the reason why our son is lying here, fighting for his life, but in spite of all she's done, don't you think it's only fair we travel down to wherever she came from and inform her parents of what happened to their daughter?"

Maryam's brows twitched. She obviously didn't like the idea and wasn't ready to embrace it. "You can travel to her village if you want, but I definitely don't want to go there with you. I will never forgive her for everything she did to our family. Because of her, my daughter does not only see me as a strict person, but as an enemy." She swallowed. "I'm not going."

"She's dead, habibty." He reminded. "The best we can do right now is to inform her parents of her demise. Don't you feel even a little bit of pity for the poor people?"

"Pity?" Maryam asked, gnashing her teeth. "Did she feel pity for Manal when she was torturing her? Did she feel pity for her when she was starving her in her own house? Did she feel pity for me when I went down on my knees, begging her to spare her life? Did she feel pity for me when she raised her hand and slapped me across the face? Did she feel pity for me when I cried and begged her for mercy? Did she feel pity for me when she attempted to kill both of my children? Did she?!"

"She didn't and that's because you both are entirely different. She was a heartless person, while you're not and that's why you need to do the right thing." He goaded.

"And I'm very sorry; I'm not as nice as you are." She remarked and stormed out of the room angrily.

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Assalamu'alaykum wa rahmatulah wa barakatuh/ hello!

Is Sa'eed making the right decision by wanting to visit Nafisa's mother?

Or

Maryam is right by not wanting to go there?

deey_jah
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