All For What!

67

Pacing to and fro in front of the ward, Maryam couldn't stop worrying about her child. It had been almost two hours since the operation started and yet, neither the doctor nor the nurses had emerged from the room. She would never be able to forgive herself if something terrible happened to Manal, for she was the reason why everything happened to her. If she had listen to her husband and had not hired Nafisa, like he wanted, she would not have had the chance to steal from them and most importantly, maltreat their child in their absence.

Sa'eed on the other hand was sitting on a bench with both his arms wrapped around his bandaged head. Had it not been for Maryam's persistence, he wouldn't have had his would treated. He was in pain, yes, but compare to what his daughter must be going through, he knew his was nothing and endurable. He didn't care what happened to him. If his daughter was alright, then he would be as well.

"Are you alright?" Maryam asked, touching his shoulder.

"Yes." He replied. "Please sit down. You don't need all these stress, especially in your condition."

"I can't sit down, habibi." She shook her head, adamantly. "Why is the doctor taking so long? Why-"

"Just keep praying and in sha Allah, she will be alright." Sa'eed advised.

~~~~~~~~

Few minutes later, the doctor emerged. Maryam as well as Sa'eed rushed towards him.

"How's my daughter? Please tell me she's alright, doctor." Maryam beseeched.

"She's recuperating." He replied. "But it seems she is in shock. Can any of you tell me what exactly happened to her?"

"She was abducted." Sa'eed replied. "And when we found her, she was already unconscious. We really don't know what they did to her."

"That's unfortunate." The doctor remarked pitifully.

"Has she regained consciousness?" Maryam questioned.

"She did, but seeing how stressed out she was, we had to give her sleeping injection for her to rest properly. She will probably be awake within two - three hours." He explained.

"Can we see her now?" Sa'eed and Maryam inquired simultaneously.

"Of course you can, but you will have to promise not to make too much noise inside. She needs rest." He added.

"We will put that in mind." Sa'eed replied.

"If you have more enquires to make, you can meet me at the office."

"Alright. Thank you." He shook the doctor and he left afterwards.

~~~~~~~

Sauntering into the ward, Maryam couldn't control the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. In front of her, was her daughter, lying helplessly in pain and no one was to he blamed, but her. She caused this upon her and indubitably, she knew she was always going to feel guilty for the rest of her life.

Sa'eed sensed what was going on in her mind and placed a soothing hand over her shoulders. "Let's be grateful to Allah for sparing her life."

Maryam nodded. Indeed they ought to be grateful to Him for not taking their daughter from them so soon. She wiped away her tears and placed a tender kiss on her forehead. "I love you so much, Manal." She whispered.

Sa'eed also came forward and kissed her on the same spot as Maryam. He could not wait for her to wake up anymore. He missed her cheerful laughter, her smile - in fact, he missed every single thing about her. He missed her naughtiness at times as well. He averted his gaze to Maryam. "It's almost time for magrib prayer. I'm going to the masjid. You should come along as well. I think there is a section for females."