UNCONDITIONAL

XIII

Prem sat frozen as he watched them disappear around the corner. All of Noor's employees followed them out except for Harleen. She slowly walked over to Prem and placed a hand over his shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asked softly.

He looked up at her in blurred eyes. "Yeah." He nodded as he came out of the trance and wiped his cheeks. Harleen spotted a folder lying in the rubble with his company logo on it, she picked it up and offered Prem a hand. Hesitant at first, Prem eventually took it and got up. Harleen led him out of the restricted area and handed him the folder.

"You should go to the hospital in the ambulance with Noor." She urged him.

"I..." Prem looked down unable to think straight to form his answer. "Yeah." He ended up agreeing.

The paramedics were allowing two people to accompany Noor to the hospital. Harleen decided she would join Prem as well. On the ride to the hospital, Harleen watched as a deeply hurt Prem stared down at Noor. He cried silently, his tears falling onto Noor's hand he was holding.

"She'll be fine." Harleen told him in a hopeful tone.

"Yeah." He nodded as he clutched onto her hand with both of his.

The ambulance ride to the hospital was short and Noor was admitted into the emergency room as soon as they arrived. The doctors worked on her but were unsuccessful in bringing her back to consciousness. Harleen watched Prem hold the same hand he had been in the ambulance next to Noor's bed tirelessly all night until the sun rose in the morning. He left her side only when the doctors required his presence for a meeting to discuss her condition. While Prem was gone, Noor woke up, the medications the doctors had put into her overnight had shown their effect. Harleen prayed gratefully as she ran over to Noor to check up on her. Noor asked for a nurse so Harleen left the room to call one when she ran into Prem in the hallway. He was on his way back to Noor's room.

"She woke up!" Harleen told him excitedly.

Prem froze in his tracks. His let out a sigh of relief and a small grateful smile made way to his face as he looked upwards. This was the first time she had ever seen him genuinely smile. "Take care of her. The doctors said there was some internal bleeding, but she should be fine in a few days." He told her as he handed her the reports he received from the doctors.

"What do you mean?" Harleen was confused. "You're not gonna go in there?"

"No." Prem told her quite firmly. "And you will lose your job if she finds out I was ever here."

"Wow." Harleen couldn't believe she was saying this to the most powerful person she knew. "I don't understand you guys. What are you two even doing?" There were traces of anger in her voice. "You know what Mr. Dhaliwal? I think I've had enough and I'm not afraid of losing my job, okay? But what I am afraid of, is letting you two think there is even an inkling of hate that exists between you two."

Prem stared at her in disbelief. "Excuse me?" He asked as if giving her a chance to take back and clean up her previous statements.

"I'm sorry. I know you guys are much older than me and I have no right to speak to you guys in that tone. But I can't help it. I don't understand what I'm seeing when it comes to you two. Obviously, what exists between you two is far beyond the comprehension of a regular mind, but I think if you're blessed with this divine connection, your life shouldn't look the way it does." Harleen reasoned.

"What exactly do you know about our life? Who even are you to be saying all this? You met Noor a little over a month ago!" Prem snapped at her.

"You're right I don't know much, but what I do know is that both of you guys are suffering. Suffering silently every day and suffering is never good." Harleen pointed out.

"You know what, I don't know why I'm wasting my time standing here with you. What we do and how we live is none of your business. You come to work for Noor, so stay within your professional boundaries. If you've earned yourself this opportunity to be learning from the best of the best, don't destroy it by getting into our personal lives." Prem advised her before walking away.