Only You

eleven

I went to the room the noise had come from, knocking on the door. When I saw Zahra standing there with her hands fisted. What on earth happened?

"What's going on?" I uttered my thoughts.

"THIS CHEAP LADY STOLE MY PURSE!, OF COURSE, WHAT MORE CAN I EXCEPT OF YOU MUSLIMS!"

Zahra flinched just like me, I went up and held Zahra's hand. Stopping her from saying anything.

'Truly! We will suffice you against the scoffers.' I repeated the Quran verse to myself to calm myself down.

"I didn't steal anything from you," Zahra said clearly word by word.

"YOU BITCH!, QUIT LYIN-" The mannerless woman continued to yell until I heard Dr. Khan's voice cut her off.

"Enough!, this is a hospital. Keep your voice down, and with adult behavior let's settle this matter."

He said standing by the door with a deadly expression. He walked towards us and stood next to me. His enchanting fragrance filling my nose, making my heart do several flips.

"If you claim that Dr. Illias has stolen your purse- we can check the CCTV footage of the hallway. Then we can get the police involved." He said, his words holding immense power and determination.

"Yes, let's check the cameras. If I indeed haven't stolen anything, I think we can get the police involved for another reason too then." Zahra said confidently letting go of my hand.

"Camera?" She scoffed.

"There won't be any need-." She said before I cut her off.

"Nurse Nancy? contact the security team please." I said in a soft voice to the nurses behind us at the door.

"You don't get to cut me off! Are you trying to accuse me of lying?!" The lady said as she stomped towards me putting her hands out to shove me, but before she could someone pulled me back and stood in front of me.

Someone as in- him.

"Until the matter is determined, I would keep as calm and quiet to refrain from further trouble." He said.

"Everyone get back to work." He said, talking to the many nurses that stood by the door. They quickly went back to their initial places.

I was going to also leave, to get back to the reception when Zahra grabbed my hand.

"Stay with me, until the footage comes in." She said.

I nodded at her, caressing her arm. I looked back at the churlish woman who looked too nervous to not be guilty. She sat on the empty hospital bed and rubbed her foot against her leg her eyes wandering around.

A knock on the door interrupted the silence, as the security guard came in with a laptop.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom." The lady said as she stood up and walked towards the door.

"The restroom is there." The guard said pointing to the other side of the ward, that comes with a bathroom.

She went inside rolling her eyes. A minute later she came out and sat at the bed once again.

The guard played the video as we all diverted our eyes paying close attention to the screen. An empty hallway could be seen until the door opened to display Zahra coming out and writing on her clipboard- completely clueless of a purse. She walked down the hallway, and still no sign of a purse in her coat, arm, hand, or head could be seen.

"Well, I think you are going to have to come with me to the station." The guard said as he paused the video.

The women glared at no one in particular and got up to follow the guard.

Zahra and I began to leave as well, Zahra looked relaxed. On the other hand, I was love-struck. The way he had handled the situation, and how he stood in front of me. I can't even mention the fact he touched my wrist, because I feel like my heart will just pop out.

"So, how does that wrist feel huh?" Zahra said merrily.

"You noticed!" I said.

"Duh, you should've seen his face when she was about to push you,"

"Why?"

"He glared at her before plunging forward to save you, he looked so protective." She said smiling.

I blushed thinking of him being protective over me. Just imagining him being mine, made me feel like I was flying.

"This is dangerous, what if I fall for him too hard and it just can't happen," I said.

" I told you, it'll happen if it's written for you," Zahra said.

"Plus, it's only been a while since you've met him. Wait some more time and observe him a little."

"I know, and I will. Maybe I'll do Istikhara to know if he's the one." I said.

"Yeah, you can't ever go wrong with Istikhara," Zahra said.

-

The day was finally over, and when I came home I was met with the aroma of my mother's scrumptious biryani- one of the many delectable meals she cooks. I went to go wash my hands and soon after us three began to dig in.

"One of the best things to come home to," I said as I took the first bite.

"I say, kiss the cook," My father said gleefully.

"Abbu!" I said laughing, as my mom glared at him in the same playfulness.

I loved my parents more than anything in this world, it was one of my biggest blessings to be born into such a loving family. Though I wasn't the only child, my parents raised my brother and me fairly, with endless love and care.

"Huzaifa FaceTimed me today." My dad spoke.

"Oh really! How is he doing?" I said, being very enthusiastic about my only brother.

My brother and I were very close. We were three years apart, but we knew each other inside out. He got married last year and seeing him fall in love was the most beautiful thing. He used to tell me how gorgeous Maheen Bhabi looked all the time, and how he couldn't stop thinking of her.

Wallah, this man even told me how his first kiss went- to which Bhabi had hit him for. There weren't any barriers between us siblings and we teased and loved each other limitlessly.

Even when Bhabi came into our lives we didn't drift apart, Bhabi was like the elder sister I never had- though not literally.

As of now, he was currently in Pakistan with his wife. He went for 35 days and was supposed to come back next week.

"He said his flight got delayed, and it'll take two weeks for the second one," Abbu said

"Aw no, I feel like it's been 30 years since I've seen him," I said.

"Inshallah, they'll get here safely," Ammi said as she ate.

-

Once I helped my mom clean up, I finally went up to my room. Going into my closet, I saw my laundry full, so I decided to put it to wash. I picked up my scrubs from last night, and my socks when my eyes landed on the black winter coat that was on the floor.

I went to go pick it up when I noticed the familiarness of it.

'No, it can't be.' I said to myself as I recalled where I saw this coat before.

Dr. Khan.

This is his coat, why do I have it? , I had returned it the day his daughter was hospitalized then how is it back?.

I sat on my bed and tried to identify where I could've possibly received this.

I had fallen asleep by the waiting room only in my scrubs, but when Ma called I left putting on a coat.

Did Dr. Khan put it on me?- it surely smelt like him.

Or was it someone else's coat?- but who would that be?