DAY-3

"Hajra! I am so, so, so—sorry! Thankyou! Thankyou so much!! You're a lifesaver!"

Hajra let Bisma hug the life out of her with a small smile caressing her lips. Bisma had brought her some confectionery as an apology, which Hajra had shared with the rest of her friends.

"God, still Hajra—! You shouldn't become a pushover. As much as I oppose Mateen, I stand with him on this. Maybe, he has turned over a new leaf, after all—" Aymen continued thoughtfully, while Hajra sitting beside her only sighed in response. They were sitting in the demonstration room, waiting for their supervisor to come and start the lecture.

"Anyways, did you manage to get some sleep? You look like the walking dead. You two do realise that you guys are still students and there are house-officers and residents available, who are far more answerable than you guys—" Aymen interrupted her yawning and Hajra rested her head on top of the desk.

"A few hours—" She exclaimed tired, but the truth was that she couldn't even get a proper shut eye in those hours. The female on-call room remained abuzz with residents, who kept going in and out for their calls. Hajra had decided to ask Bisma to take over for a few hours later, while she napped in the on-call room. Or else, she feared she would actually collapse, like that jerk Mateen had foreseen—

She was unable to finish the thought, because her gaze accidentally met his, from across the room. Hajra was slumped with her face directed in his direction, when Mateen who was sitting in the next row, caught her gaze and froze in his place, not daring to blink and break the trance.

Hajra unconsciously kept on holding his gaze. Her mind reeling with flashbacks of yesterday and his display of faux concern. She didn't wish to spare him a second thought, despite the outbursts he'd exhibited yesterday. But—it was those eyes. Something about the look in his eyes had changed. She knew better than to assume otherwise of Mateen Abbasi, but she could almost—almost mistake him for being sincere last night.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, an old memory crept over her and she sucked in a sharp breath, before turning her face away from him.

"—oh please! Mateen has standards, okay? He wouldn't go after charity cases like Hajra Sajjad—She is just some poor, lower-class girl, who came here with hopes in her eyes to get into upper class. Mateen has made a bet with me, that he could show her true colours before the year was over—There's no way, he could fall for a cheap, low-bred girl like Hajra—who only goes after money—"

The eye contact had barely lasted for a few moments, but in that one moment Hajra was given a reminder of everything she needed to not lose sight of.

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"IT'S YOU! YOU WERE THERE! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO MY MOM!!"

They had just entered the ward, a while ago; when a hysterical patient jumped on Mateen and started screaming while holding him by his collar. Everyone had turned around to watch the commotion, while a few residents and staff members came in to hold back the patient's attendant; who had managed to deliver a punch across Mateen's jaw.

While his friends jumped in to protect him from the berserk attendant and threw slurs at him; Mateen kept standing in his place silently with a coldblooded look on his face; rubbing off the blood dripping from the corner of his lips with the back of his cuff.

"If you don't get a hold of yourself, I'll need to call in the security. You can't come in and attack our students without any accountability—" A first year resident, Dr. Hashim from Internal Medicine came in and stood menacingly between Mateen and the attendant. Just a glare from him was enough to get him to stop struggling against his captors and he pulled away from their clutches with a final grunt, before walking away enraged. But not without throwing a spiteful glance towards Mateen, who displayed no reaction whatsoever.

"Are you okay?" Dr Hashim turned towards Mateen and checked his jaw for any serious trauma. In response, Mateen only slightly nodded his head.

"Don't worry. We'll get to the bottom of it. Don't let him get to you—" He advised, giving Mateen a pat on his shoulder before leaving him be. Mateen turned away from the inquiries of his friends and batch mates, as he made way towards the doctors room only to abruptly stop in his tracks on spotting her standing to a side, watching him with concern filled eyes. On catching his eye, Hajra opened her mouth to say something but when nothing came out, Mateen averted his gaze. The muscles of his neck tightening as he tried hard to maintain a stoic face, while continuing on his way and leaving the room.

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"—Apparently, last night Mateen was on duty for his mother's bed. She underwent by-pass surgery 2 days ago and suffered from cardiac arrest during end hours of last night, but no doctor came in until 10 minutes later. They continued CPR but she didn't respond, so they took her into emergency surgery—She is still in ICU." Saiqa continued her reports, while the girls from their batch sat around the doctors room, gossiping about the most hot topic on today's agenda.

Hajra had come in just a while ago to have a quick lunch break, but her mind had been preoccupied by his thoughts as well.

"But do you guys think it's Mateen's fault? I heard Ammar say that Mateen had left only after the house-officer on duty took over and yet Mateen was the first one to respond to the call. Also, I think it's kinda unfair, putting all the blame on us students. Afterall, there's only so much we can do—" Muzna interjected and got a few nods of encouragement around her.

"Of course Ammar would say that—! Why wouldn't he?! He and Mateen are one and the same!" Rafia exclaimed with a scoff.

"Exactly my thoughts! What difference does it make, if he was at fault or not—We all know the one in trouble is going to be that attendant who attacked Mateen—Money can buy justice and Mateen has lots of it to compensate for any mishap—" Shumayla broke in acidly and one or more cheered in her support.

"—What do you think, Hajra? You were there too." Asma suddenly pulled her into conversation, who was quietly sitting to a side nibbling on her sandwich. On getting called out, she slowly looked up and quietly gawked around her for a moment. She noticed the anticipating and hawk like gaze of these people, who were waiting on Hajra's words to add fuel to the fire.

"I don't know. You should directly ask Mateen. He will be best able to address your queries." Her tone was placid and non-threatening. It was devoid of emotions, when she returned her attention to her lunch. But only Hajra could feel the nameless burning in the pits of her heart, while she made desperate attempts to get rid of that unjustified anger building within her.

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"Can you check on this patient for me? She wants a female doctor—" Hajra was sitting in her place, going through some notes, when Mateen came upto her.

For a moment, she looked up at him surprised. She wasn't anticipating this interaction with him, after everything she had said to him yesterday. Yet, he had come up to find her rather than other girls in their batch. She could only watch him dazed for a long while, who was looking down at her with a warm but tired look in his eyes. It was as she had thought, he really didn't have that coldblooded look in his eyes anymore. Almost, as if he had decided to bring down his defences, which he always held up, to put on a cold and uncaring look for everyone to see.

"Hajra? If you don't want to then—" He had started saying, when she got up and shook her head, before taking the patients' notes from his hands.

"—Mateen, come to my office after this patient." He was standing to a side waiting, while Hajra did the patient's work up. That's when Doctor Khaleel came up to remind him and Mateen only nodded his head in response. He looked away from him to catch Hajra gaping at him with a worried look on her face. On getting caught staring like this, she abruptly turned her face away and became seemingly immersed in her work. Following a painfully long moment of silence, Mateen broke the quiet in a small voice.

"You must be thinking, serves him right." He remarked in a light tone with a sad smile etched on his face, but his voice was low and laced with such dejection that Hajra forgot to exhale the breath she had taken in. She didn't know why, but in that moment she felt immense anger upon seeing him get caught up in a helpless situation that wasn't his doing.

Hajra wanted to believe that it was only because she knew he was innocent. No matter how much she hated him, Hajra had seen him diligently work on his patients and knew he was earnestly working round the clock for the last 2 days.

"I have no need to harbour such ill feelings towards someone who's caught up in a misunderstanding...." She returned slowly, without meeting his gaze.

"Does this mean you believe me?!" His tone was laced with surprise and unexpected delight, that's why Hajra couldn't help but turn and look at him directly. Her heart skipped a beat when she caught the look of immense relief on Mateen's face. So, she could do nothing except nod her head and look away, but not before catching the contented smile erupting across his face.

"Okay. That's good enough for me—" He finally said, with apparent smile in his voice but Hajra didn't look up this time. She kept her gaze fixated to the vital signs monitor and gulped down the bizarre emotions bubbling up inside her.

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'God. I feel so tired.'

She thought with a long sigh, while standing in front of the scrub sink and counting down her strokes.

The whole day, she had been busy running around doing labs for this patient. Hence, when she was asked to assist in the Whipple Procedure, she couldn't refuse.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear Mateen's call, who had come to stand beside her and was now scrubbing in.

"—I'd been calling you." She heard him say, upon looking up. The corners of his mouth had extended up in a smile as he looked down at her softly, who could only look back at him in a daze, before turning away with a frown.

"Thanks for vouching for me, with Sir Khaleel." Hajra heard him say softly and sighed in response. She had lost count of her strokes by now and would need to redo the whole thing, all over.

"I only did what I thought to be the right thing. Everyone on duty was inquired." She returned slowly feeling her headache worsening by every passing moment.

"Still—Thankyou. I owe you one." At his words, Hajra finally looked up to find a genuine smile plastered on his face and without saying anything, she turned her face towards the water running in the sink. Mateen himself returned his attention to scrubbing but when he caught Hajra staring blankly ahead, he almost called out to her, until she slowly began without meeting his gaze.

"I don't wish to have anything to do with you, even as a joke. So, spare me the inconvenience—" She remarked in a placid tone and quickly finishing up, left the scrub room.

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'How long has it been?' Hajra turned her gaze towards the digital clock, showing close to 4 hours had passed.

'Maybe I should sit down—' She could hear the surgeons conversing between themselves, but couldn't make out their conversation anymore.

"Hajra? Suction—" She turned her neck to notice Mateen standing beside her, saying something. But all she could see were those eyes visible through the surgical mask.

She opened her mouth to say something but before she knew it the room was spinning around her and after that everything became a blur.

Assalamualaikum! Thankyou for waiting, as always! Hope you enjoyed InshaAllah!
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