Philophobia

TWENTY-FOURTH 1

AssalamoAlaikum.

No more hindrances.

No more SARAH-ING.

No more wait.

I know you wanna kill me right away.

Okay, okay.

Allah Hafiz.

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The white bandages with tiniest of the blood patches, behind his ear.

The oxygen mask with the nanoscopic bubbles.

The needle of drip transporting fluid in his body.

The tears absorbing in the mask on her face and his light breaths with little stress on cheekbones!

"You have won the battle, Irtiza, I am proud of you." Whispering in his ear, Sataish traced her finger on his eyelashes that were not thick anymore. One fell on her other finger and she felt as if after many years in prison she was released.

That man had captivated her since long ago; even since when she did not know that they were meant to be together. The transition from an attendant of his patient to being his wife had taken place merely within a week but they both knew well that the toil that week had asked for was the heaviest.

And when he was breathing then his missus was busy in finding new plots in her mind to write her own stories at.

He was not that expressive. He was not that reserved too.

He was not very open to ask her for all his needs.

He was not the man believing in compulsion for their relationship.

He was the true interpretation of that fragmented dream in that winter night when Alizey had told her that the most beautiful girl of their class was abused by the hands of her lover. Sataish had suffered from interrupted sleep but when the birds started chirping for the first then she had seen the back of this man in her eyes. He was walking ahead and she was blindly following him; without even knowing his name and the paths he was leading her to. Those sleeves covering his arms and that transformation of neck into shoulders were same; same as the day when she saw him after signing the Nikkah papers while declaring her love for mountains. Her eyeballs were wading in the buttons of his neckline that night and she was just staring blankly at his handsome face, wondering that how many stories of broken hearts, by that breathtaking smile, she would have to listen to.

Caressing his cheek, her eyes caught the nurse calling her out and she crossed the threshold of his room.

...

"We are amazed at this miracle." The female surgeon said while patting her back.

A generous smile covered her lips and she mumbled thankfulness to Allah.

"You both are married?" And it drizzled in the fields of her mind.

"Yeah."

"Since when?"

"Two months, to be precise." Sataish said and her heart laughed at the redness sparkling on her cheeks.

"You know what, when I saw you first then the only thing in my mind was to do my best. I cannot see you in tears and I do not know why I am right now behaving so unprofessionally; maybe because I am a woman too. I am a wife too. I have kids. And I believe that a woman is the only one to understand another woman. When I saw you prostrating then I was glad that all our efforts and your tears were worth it. We have won, together." Cupping her face in the well of her hands the doctor said and she nodded.