HEAL

Chapter Ten

(unedited)

"Doctor!" She heard a deep voice call her name as she starts to unlock her office door. She followed the direction of the voice with her eyes and it was Hassan just as she guessed, he was the only staff in the hospital who do not call her Dr. Aaisha, he only calls her Aaisha when they were out of the hospital or having a session otherwise it is Doctor.

"Good morning" He said calmly as one would do to someone you did not walk out on and ignored through the weekend.
I don't pray

"I won't be able to attend today's session; I'm visiting a friend in the city."
I don't pray

He was about to leave her when he didn't get any reply or acknowledgement from her but he stopped on a second thought and said; "I'm sorry about the other time, I shouldn't have walked out on you. I'm sorry"
I don't pray

She moved her lips but no sound came out her mouth, so instead she nodded.

He walked away while she was still fiddling with the door and he couldn't help but to admit he deserves the silent treatment she was giving him. No matter how badly his words and actions were, she would still remain calm and tell him it's only a part in healing process while waving off his apologies, maybe he had really push her to the wall this time. How much he wished he had control of his thoughts and behaviors!

All day, he keeps thinking of ways to reduce his constant irritability which is like his second skin whilst he was around her, even though it's her job as a Doctor to see that he gets better, she would still hear his rants, talk to him, ask him about his medications just as one would do to a friend or even a family and not to just another patient.

He would give her something big, bigger than a sorry. Hopefully if he hadn't lost her yet.
***
She entered her office with hasty feet. She gripped the chair handle tightly to steady her breathing; her signatory body reaction to the aftermath of an awkward situation. She had been deliberately avoiding him since the day Baba died and she had been keeping her cool quite well but on seeing him two days later, memories of their last encounter flooded into her mind that she didn't even hear a single word of what he said.

The fact that Hassan said he doesn't pray baffled her throughout the weekend and no matter how much she tried to welcome the thought about how everybody was having their personal struggles, she still couldn't fathom why Hassan would not pray. She had been spiritually conscious all her life and it was somehow tied to her mother strong inclination to religion and so even as a Christian she was always with her Bible, going to church services and singing in choirs. When she reverted to Islam, she found more meanings to her spirituality and she still kept the rigid religion devoutness. To Aaisha; there is no compromise when it comes to practicing religion.

She was well acquainted with many people; Christians and Muslims alike who were only nominal believers and those class of people to her looked unreal to no matter how close she was to them and doesn't fit in the kind of world she lives in, except for times when they are willing to learn more about their religion and start practicing it; her friendship with those kind of people were always shallow.

Maybe coupled with responsibility imposed on her by her profession to improve his psychological wellbeing, it was also her responsibility as a Muslim to help him grow spiritually and influence him to adjust his lifestyle.

She reached for her phone and found four missed call from someone that she least expected; Sister Sarah.

"Salam Alaykum," Sister Sarah's cheerful voice came through immediately she dialed back.

After their graduation, they both maintained regular contact for the first few months and would always talk about all things, from talking about Islam to Sarah feeding her sumptuous gist and tales. Overtime the calls reduced as they were both consumed with in their own separate worlds. Nowadays, their talk spaced to only "Hi's and How are you's" on WhatsApp once a while and that is if the internet connection is a little bit not extremely weak like it usually was.