Dastoor-e-Dil (ON HOLD)

1

Hayah POV

"Pressure cooker theek kara lou, silayi machine theek kara lou"

This is all I could hear ever since I fell asleep, well ever since I have been trying to fall asleep. Its been almost six years since I moved here but I will never understand how Lahore is always awake. Be it 3am or 3pm, you will always find hustle and bustle around the city. Currently, this noise won't stop bugging me and all I wanted was some sleep.

I had just come back from my shift in the hospital and it was exhausting, you can imagine a 34 hour shift in one go and that too in the emergency room.

I was actually born in Lahore but when I was two years old, my dad decided to move to Canada because he got an employment opportunity there, where I lived up until I was 18. So basically, I had no memories of my life in Pakistan. I did visit Pakistan once when I was eight years old, but then again, I just remember small glimpses of Pakistan.

Once I did move here, I decided to educate myself more on the culture and let me tell you I am absolutely obsessed. My outfits are almost incomplete without jhumkis and khussas. I cannot live without having gol gappay and dahi bhallay from Karim Block, especially when its almost walking distance from my hospital. Moving back to Pakistan was indeed one of the best decisions. 

Most of my family questioned me wanting to move back to Pakistan for medical school, telling me that its impractical to do so after growing up in the West, telling me I wouldn't fit in, or I'd remain sick for the entirety of my stay here, but I still did it. I always knew I wanted to be a doctor, medicine was always something that endlessly fascinated me and the idea of helping people heal always had me attracted to medicine like a magnetic force. 

Becoming a doctor in Canada meant for me to do a bachelors degree first and then go to medical school followed by years of residency before I could become an attending physician. Although the education system there is top notch, I just felt like I wanted to move back to Pakistan for medical school. After I finished high school, I told my parents my decision, they were initially a bit skeptical and they let everything depend on how I did my MDCAT, which was the medical school entry test in Pakistan.

Thankfully, I passed that with flying colors and I got into King Edward Medical University, which was one of the most prestigious medical schools in Pakistan. The day I got my acceptance letter, my parents immediately were on board with all of us moving to Pakistan, we told all of our relatives and family friends in Canada and they immediately threw us a farewell party to bid us off.  I still remember that day like yesterday, everyone who I met hugged me and congratulated me on this achievement.

It was overwhelming, I remember realizing that after this day, nothing would be the same anymore, the heavy decision was finally hitting me, I remember immediately feeling teary and looking for a place to go and cry. I excused myself to go to the restroom. As soon as I left the hall booked by my chachu, I burst out into tears, running towards the ladies room, when I bumped into something.

Initially, confused by the shock, I looked up to see him looking down at me, with unreadable emotions in his eyes. I was lost, staring into his beautiful grey eyes, when I immediately brought myself back into reality and apologized as I retreated back my footsteps when I was pulled back into a hug. I was shocked to say at the very least, although it felt amazing, I pulled back after 5 or so seconds and looked up into his eyes to see them glassy as well. I didn't know how to react, so I just ran away from there and that's when I last saw him. 

We moved to Pakistan in the following week, initially it was hard to adjust, but slowly and gradually we all got used to it, and we grew to love it. I had this idea of medical school in Pakistan being easy, but boy was that a misconception. Everyone here was the best of the best and you had to go through it. Thankfully, I had enough drive to keep me going through this.

Over the course of my five years at KEMU, I made tons of friends but I ended up making a best friend as well. Fatima and I met on our first day, we both looked equally lost on-campus, I approached her and we hit it off. From that day, up until now, we have been inseparable, from sitting in classes to crying in finals, we have been together. And maybe dua'as worked in our favor because the both of us were selected in the same hospital to do our house-job in. So we were literally together in most of our shifts. 

Fatima was like the sister I never had, she knew every single thing about me, she knew about my likes, my dislikes, my favorite spots in the city to hang out, and above all she knew about him. Over the years, I haven't even told my parents that I liked him, because I knew it would be an awkward conversation. Waisay bhi, I have no idea how he feels for me, its been years since I have last seen him and our interactions were always him being all cold and nonchalant towards me. I don't know what it is, its been six years but I can't get him out of my head, especially our last meeting. Just thinking about him makes my heart rate go up, Fatima likes to tease me saying that I'm in love but I feel as if its just minor infatuation which will go away on its own. 

Khair, I shouldn't really think about him that much right now, otherwise I won't be able to sleep and I need to be refreshed because Fatima is to pick me up in the evening to go nikkah dress shopping with her and I need to be well-rested to help her make a decision. Placing a pillow over my ears, I let the darkness engulf me into dreamland.

A/N: This marks the end of the first chapter of Dastoor-e-Dil. It was a little introductory chapter on our main girlie, Hayah. I hope you guys like the storyline, because ngl I have no idea where I'm going with it lol 💀🤌 let me know your thoughts in the comments!!

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