Transcendence (A Muslim-Christian Story)

Chapter 9: Changes

2 years later...

"Ameerah, could you please check on Bed no. 3?"

"Sure, Sally!"

I never imagined I'd shift to a foreign country, leaving my family behind. But after all the criticism I was facing back at home, my parents encouraged me to try for PLAB, which I had no difficulty clearing.

Though it was very difficult to get into the core surgical training, the competition was very tough.

Luckily, my dedication to workplace, served a great distraction from my troubles back at home.

I missed Isa terribly. He was 2 years old and had started speaking 2-3 word sentences. Mama looked after him. After all the troubles they went through while supporting my decision to keep the baby, Isa was like a bundle of joy. He brought back happiness into the lives of my parents.

Allah had blessed Isa so much that even with just a look, people would fall in love with him.

He had strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked nothing like me, quite unfortunately for me.

I had expected him to have green or brown eyes since both run in my family, but I guess I was wrong.

It's funny how mama managed to feed him breast milk till date. Of course I made sure to express as much as I could and deep freeze it. I had last visited home 3 months back. I don't know why but I still expressed milk here as well and stored it in deep freezers. It was a lot of trouble but it was worth it.

Since a lot of mothers here in the UK couldn't breastfeed their babies, due to work or other problems, I felt it was my duty to donate the milk.

Since Isa had completed 2 years of breast milk, I was planning to ask Mama to stop giving it to him.

I also was contemplating to stop pumping. It was difficult with all the workload.

I had a cordial relationship with all my colleagues, but kept them all at a distance. I never shared my personal matters with anyone.

They had tried initially, but I was too different, in every sense, to fit in. So they eventually gave up.

They all supported me though, since I was reliable and never fussed if anyone wanted to adjust duty hours.
I think I probably worked much more than everyone else, which is why all the seniors knew me.

For the first time in my life, I felt worthy of something. I loved my escape.

My unit was headed by Dr. Sebastian McArdle. He was quite authoritative, but very calm and collected at the same time. He would never raise his voice, but a single glare from him could make a person pee in his pants.

Nothing could faze him while he was in surgery. I was sort of in awe of him. Whenever there was an emergency case, and if we were lucky enough to be granted permission to watch him operate, we'd be left speechless with how well versed he was with the anatomy, even after so long.

He was very reserved, and always chose his words carefully.

Whenever he opened his mouth, if he did, everyone turned to pay attention to him.

No student ever wanted to skip his lectures.

He'd throw questions at us whenever we were at rounds, but I never answered unless he specifically pointed me out.

He was a mystery, a puzzle who needed to be solved, and all the ladies of the staff swooned over him.
Maybe the fact that he hailed from one of the richest and most influential families also added to his enigma.

But even then, no one ever saw a woman in his arms. He maintained a good distance between his personal and professional life.

I sometimes wondered if he even had a life outside of his profession.