THREADS OF LOVE

NEW FRIENDS

"Hey guys!", said Faruk. "This is Shahista and Zesmina", said he pointing at us.
"Shahista !,  Zesmina!, this is Maryam,", he said pointing to the women. I found her very cute with her curly black jet hair and he petite figure. She was smiling sweetly at us and waving. I waved back.
"This is Rehman.", he said pointing to a solemn looking young man sitting opposite maryam he just looked at us and smiled shortly nodding his head , then went back to do his work.
"He doesn't speak much!", Faruk whispered to us ,"but he is a great guy to be around." We just nodded.
"And this is..", Faruk continued pointing to the last man in the room, he was the same person we had met in the lift.
"No need Faruk," said he. "I think i will introduce myself to these beautiful ladies here. This is Abdul at your service  maam", he continued dramatically bowing down his head.
Zesmina laughed i just sighed, another flirt i had met enough like him.
"Abdul stop flirting with then, they are off limits !"warned Faruk.
"Relax brother!" said Abdul putting both his hands up , "i was just having fun."
Maryam laughed and looked at us, "don't mind him , he does that with every girl"
I smiled, "its okay , no issues."
"So you guys are from India huh?", said maryam.
"Yes we are,"Zesmina said. "And you?"
"I am from Dubai and so is Abdul here.", she said pointing at him. I nodded and then turned to Rehman , "and you are from?" . He stopped doing his work and looked up at me for sometime , "i am from India!", he said quickly and then got up and left the room.
I was confused , "did i said something , i shouldn't have?", i asked Maryam and Abdul.
"Oh!, don't worry", said Abdul waving his hands , "he is a bit shy , but eventually he will be okay."
"So you two , take your places, i will meet you guys at lunch.", said Faruk.
We waved him bye and Abdul said, "bye boss!" Faruk just rolled his eyes and left.
"Bye boss?", asked Zesmina curiously.
"Its just that whenever Abdul wants to irritate Faruk he calls him "boss" its his habit", said Maryam casually.
" Hey!, he is my boss practically he is my boss's son , hence he is my boss", said Abdul shrugging his shoulders.
Maryam rolled her eyes, "you know , Faruk hates it when we call him boss.", she said . She turned to us and said , "actually all four of us are friends since college so we are pretty close."
"Oh!,", said I and smiled back.
"Faruk's Indian na ?", said Zesmina .
"Ya he is ..", said Maryam. "But enough about us , tell me about yourself guys.", she said .
And we and Zesmina took turns to brief them about our career and life in India. I was extremely careful to avoid saying anything about my mother of my family much. Zesmina took my cue and she also didn't utter my real reason of coming to Dubai. We said we just wanted to try new opportunities.
"Wow !, so you guys live in Mleiah ,"said Abdul. "So why didn't you work at Mleiah, like i don't wanna sound rude but Mleiah also have great hospitals and its close to your home na, said Abdul looking at me.
"I .. I..," i stammered thinking of a good reason.
"It was my idea ,", jumped in Zesmina. "You see since i had visited Dubai , for the first time i wanted to work in Sharjah. So i also dragged Shahista with me. Can't help friends since school days", Zesmina said nudging me . I smiled at her thanking her mentally for saving me again.
They looked unconvinced but didn't say anything.
Suddenly the door burst open and Rehman walked in with a pile of papers and i was saved from further questioning.
"Let's see how efficient you are!" Said Rehman planning a pile of passers in-front of me and Zesmina.
"Don't scare them dude," said Maryam. "Since it's your first day and you don't understand Arabic much why don't we do you just assist us today.?", said Abdul.
I and Zesmina looked at each other as if we were talking without speaking, which we actually were because i knew that she was thinking exactly what i was. The pile in-front of me looked very thin, whereas we had the habit of seeing so many patients per dat and working overtime given the population of India.
We turned to them and said, "now we will manage, wherever we have language problem or anything else we will ask for your help."
"If so be it, then let's start!", said Maryam. Abdul pressed a red button on an intercom and said, "sent the patients in!".
And the door opened and patients started to move in one by one. I just smiled to myself finally i am back to doing something which defines who i am.
And for the next 6 hours we worked meticulously taking only a 30 mins lunch break from 1-1:30. I didn't had much problem since the cases where quite simple and most patients did understood English. Sometime if they didn't i would ask Maryam to help me which she happily would.
"Woah!," said Rehman looking at my work. "Not bad", he commented.
"Not bad?", said Abdul, "she was great it's her First day and she did almost as many patients as we if not more!"
Maryam said, "both of you have commendable speed!"
Zesmina laughed, "working in India has its i own perks!", said she "we do double these number of patient cases in half the time back in India.
Me and Zesmina high fives each other.
The door suddenly opened and in walked Faruk , "time to go guys , come-on!"
"Ya just give me a moment i will pack up!", said Maryam closing the cap of the pen.
They stood up and started rearranging things.
"Time to go where?", said I confused.
Maryam looked at me confusingly, "you are coming to the coaching class na ?, Faruk said you guys will also take the PG coaching."
Then it struck me , i had almost forgot about the coaching , "ya ! Ya! Of course, how can i forget.."
"Its okay , come with us we all are going together only".
Abdul said, "ya we have time , the coaching starts at 4:30."
"And when does it end ?", said Zesmina cautiously.
"7:30!", said Rehman causally folding his files and arranging them neatly on the table.
"7:30!", i exclaimed . "How can i stay till 7:30 ?, i need to go all the way back to Mleiah.!"
"Don't you worry!", said Faruk softly coming and standing next to me. "The last bus to Mleiah doesn't leave before 8. I myself will drive you to the bus stand," he reassured looking at me deeply.
I was really moved by his gratitude, that i kept standing there staring at him.
"Uh! Uh!," coughed Zesmina suddenly. "Faruk will you drive me to the bus stand also?", she asked innocently.
"Ya of course", said Faruk hurriedly.
"Come-on enough of this courtesy show we are getting late", said Rehman leaving the room.
"Its called basic etiquettes nerd!", said Abdul calling after Rehman and following him out of the room.
Maryam exasperated, "these boys will never stop fighting, Come in girls time to go."
We followed Maryam out of the door.
"So far is it?", I asked softly to Faruk who was walking beside me.
"Not much , its just the opposite building."
"Oh!", i nodded and we walked in silence.
We walked out of our room and took the lift for the ground floor. I observed that the hospital was still bustling with patients . We walked out of the hospital the sky was still lighted up and the streets was filled with cars.