Thankyou everyone for waiting so patiently! Enjoy InshaAllah🥰♥️🤞🏻

"Dr. Hajra—Your 'shohar' is here for you." The nurse announced with emphasis on Shohar (husband). Hajra's brows rose ever so slightly at this, but she only sufficed to nod at her before resuming with her duty.

She walked into the Resident's room, which was deserted, safe for his presence. He sat on one end of the room with a bored look plastered on his face while he casually scrolled through his phone. Hajra sighed internally at the sight of him and the huge bouquet of roses placed on the chair by his side.

His gaze immediately shot up at the sound of door opening; eyes widening in glee, as he stood up with a bright smile.

"Assalamualaikum. Sorry to have kept you waiting." She spoke with a small smile, while crossing the room to make way towards him.

"I can wait a lifetime for you—This was just a matter of few minutes." He retorted cheekily and Hajra maintained her smile while taking the bouquet from his outstretched hand. She knew she could never get used to his blatant display of affection through words and actions.

Hardly anything had changed between the two of them in the past half year in comparison to before. And even though Hajra smiled at him now and then—that smile somehow never managed to reach the corner of her eyes.

"Thankyou. They are beautiful."

"I thought of you and rushed over immediately, before I risked collapsing from intense pain due to my longing for you. And anyways, if our relationship was left to your kind disposal, then we might just about—" He teased through a toothy grin and Hajra continued to listen to him go on with half an ear, while making way towards the back end of the table with the bouquet in her hands. Despite her best efforts she couldn't manage to safely tuck it out of everyone's sight.

"—Let's go out for dinner tonight!" He suggested out of the blue and unintentionally Hajra flinched at his words. She slowly turned to face him with a fake smile plastered on her lips.

"Uh....I have to get back in a bit, so..." She could only manage to utter this with an apologetic face and the scoff escaping his lips didn't escape her as he tore his gaze from her. Slowly shaking his head, as if to ward off the distressing thoughts haunting him; he crossed the distance separating them in few steps. His hands itching to take hold of her, but knew better than doing that.

"Are you still stuck on what happened last time? It's been more than a week Hajra since we last talked. Even now, I am the one who has taken the initiative. Can't you atleast—" Hashim continued with knitted brows and Hajra glanced up at him through a frown herself.

Before either of them could go on, her pager went off.

Simultaneously both of their gaze trailed towards the source of sound coming from her lab coat's pocket.

Exhaling an exhausted sigh, she turned it off and glanced up at him with a tired look; which seemed to be permanently plastered on her face these days. As if housejob wasn't draining enough, she had to juggle this too.

"Sorry. I've gotta go—" She returned curtly, before brushing past him and making a hasty exit from the room.

————————————

"Uff—Mateen!"

"It's bhai for you." Mateen shook his head in annoyance; resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"I came all this way to see you and this is how you treat me? See, I even got you your favourite bagels!" Shanzay whined, trailing after Mateen who barely took any notice of her, while doing his patients work up.

"This place is out of bounds for you. It's not your playground where you can come and go as you please." He returned without any hint of anger but the coldness in his tone was biting. Yet, it didn't faze his 19 year old cousin in the least.

"What else am I supposed to do? You're never home. You don't pick my calls—How else am I supposed to know your schedule, if you don't tell me—" She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. If it were some other guy, he would have killed for the slightest attention from her, but Mateen Abbasi wasn't fazed in the least.

"That should be enough for you to take a hint. Get a clue, Shanzay. I am a busy man, I can't play with you." He returned pointedly to his Maternal Uncle's only child, who was spoiled to perfection.

"Oh, is she your little sister Maty? She is so pretty!" Nurse Chloe beamed at her sight, while coming to take her seat behind the Nurse's station.

"Yes."

"NO!!"

They both returned simultaneously, leaving Chloe bewildered and Shanzay fuming at Mateen.

"I am getting you a cab."

"I am not leaving unless you promise to go with me on a date—"

"Shanzay. This is as far I am going to put up with your childish fits. Stop pushing my buttons, or I'll get angry for real this time."

She gaped at him stunned through an open mouth, but Mateen took no notice of it and brushed past her.

"Go wait in the cafeteria. I'll text you when the cab's here." He added blankly without tearing his gaze away from the patients file in his hand.

"Can you stop treating me like a child!"

"How do you expect me to do that when you can't stop acting like one." He returned unfazed by her outburst, who could do nothing but glare at him through a pout.

"Say whatever you want. But in the end we will end up together anyways—" She returned smugly and awaited his reaction but Mateen appeared to have completely ignored her words.

"—have you looked at this patient's stats?" He turned to his colleague, dismissing Shanzay; who kept on watching him with a loving smile plastered on her face.

'If you think, I am going to get affected by the cold exterior hiding your kind and warm heart, then you're highly mistaken, Dr. Mateen. You can run away as much and as far as you like—but Shanzay Ibrahim will get you in the end. My love is going to melt away the coldness surrounding your heart—and I am willing to do whatever and wait however long it takes to achieve that—'

———————————

Mateen stepped into his apartment after an exhausting 48-hour shift and even before he could put away his bag, he'd turned on the TV to let the sound of news echo throughout his condo. It was owned by Mateen's father, but was currently in his use.

His usual routine comprised of spending long hours and at rare times a whole week at the Hospital; only to come home to deafening silence.

Throwing the remote control on the couch, he walked to his room and returned after freshening up. It had been more than half a year since he'd moved here and despite having the comfort of this luxury apartment at Fifth Avenue, Mateen could do nothing to ease the  nervousness he felt upon being here by himself. Because once he escaped the noisy and busy routine of Hospital, the piercing stillness of his present life seeped into his senses, numbing him senseless—and Mateen could at times almost feel himself close to losing his mind.

"Assalamualaikum, Dad—" Shahid picked his son's call at third ring. His quiet and restrained greeting resounded on the other end of Mateen's phone.

"—Did you just get back?"

"Yeah. How are you? How's Mom—" A lot of things had changed for Mateen Abbasi in the past 2 years; one most striking variation was that after his continued; albeit small efforts, the ice between him and his parents was slowly melting away. They still had long ways to go, but it was better than nothing.

"Should be fine—Did you meet Shanzay today?"

"She dropped by, yes—"

"Treat her nicely. Ibrahim was telling me that she has taken a liking to you. If all goes well—"

"Dad. Please—" Mateen could barely keep the weariness from his tone, as he inched forward on the couch and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"How can you still be hung up over that one girl? She has moved on—So, should you!" Mateen's response came in a long sigh.

"When are you visiting? I'll take off that day—" He said finally, in efforts to steer Shahid's attention from the topic.

—————————

Her lips quivered from restrained anger while gawking at the shopping bags heaped up on her bed.

"—Hashim came in the afternoon. He dropped by these things for you. He said you both are going to his friends engagement party?" Hajra could hear the words leaving her mother's mouth, but barely managed to register them in that moment.

1 Week ago

They were sitting together for tea in the Hospital cafeteria during Hajra's break. Due to her housejob she barely had any time to remain in touch with Hashim. This was the second time they were meeting here, like this.

"I can't go, Hashim. It's not right—" Her eyes shifted towards the paper tea cup in her grip, which was still letting off wafts of steam.

"Why not? I am your Shohar—What's 'not right' about that?" He snickered caustically, at the word 'shohar', deliberately using it for Hajra's ears.

"—To be." She left the word hanging between them and felt the air around them getting tense.

"And who's fault is that? I wasn't the one who asked for an engagement ceremony half a year ago—" His voice was laced with acid and restrained rage.

Hajra didn't dare look up. This wasn't like her. She wasn't the one to cower infront of anyone—least of all, when she wasn't at fault, in the first place.

"Hashim—" She finally mustered some courage and looked up at him.

"You knew this. You agreed to it yourself. I didn't—not even once, pressed you for it. You willing agreed to my reasons—" She couldn't finish, because he'd brutally cut her off.

"I don't understand?! Why are you the only one always making sacrifices?" Hashim cried out enraged, leaving Hajra to gape at him stunned at this sudden outburst. But then again, Hajra had seen it coming for a while now.

"Hashim—" Her voice trembled with restrained anger; while Hashim himself was barely containing his rage.

"Every.single.damn.time—! It's YOU putting YOUR life on hold for them—! First for your brothers and now your Mom—Has anyone else done that for you?! HUH? Wake up, Hajra!! No one in your house gives a damn about your happiness!" He exploded and Hajra barely held herself from physically lashing out at him.

A few months before Hajra and Hashim's engagement ceremony; Hassan, who was a tech genius had went to MIT on a full scholarship. Hussain had applied for PAF during the same time and got accepted for training. Hence, they had decided that it was best to get engaged for a year, until Hussain returned from his training and Hajra finished her housejob.

At that time, Hashim had happily agreed to it all. But not long after that Hajra had started to notice Hashim's dissatisfaction regarding Hajra. And now, it had come down to her family, as well—

"I will suggest you to stop right here, Hashim. You're crossing the line. This is my family you are talking about—" Hajra managed to utter through clenched teeth. Heat radiating from her cheeks as she tried to keep her anger in check; only to earn a scoff from Hashim at that.

"You know what? You're right. The problem isn't your family, Hajra. The problem is 'you'. YOU have no place in your life for me. I am just extra baggage to you!"

"Why would you—" She tried saying, but he didn't let her finish. By now, they had captured the attention of people around them, too.

"I have put up with so much! I am fighting against my family, my values—I didn't care about your background, your single parent household, or your social status—I have disregarded my parents wishes—I have done everything—!! Sacrificed so much—compromised on everything—! just to make you a part of my life—! But all of it means nothing to you, huh?!"

Hajra could do nothing except gape at him stunned, as he screamed at her and left without waiting to hear her response. But then again, it would've taken a while for the shock of his words to wear off.

With an exhausted sigh, Hajra turned to her Mamma and managed to give her a small smile.

"Yeah. Sorry, I should've checked with you first Mamma—" Hajra returned apologetically, but that did nothing to ease the worry etched on Humera's face.

"But Hajra—" Humera made an attempt to protest but Hajra somehow managed to convince her.

'It's only a one time thing—Just one time, Hajra—He isn't a bad person. He is trying. He deserves a chance—He isn't—' She kept chanting it to herself over and over again, like a mantra; but it's magic wasn't taking affect in the slightest.

Assalamualaikum!!!
How was the long awaited update? 🙈
Hope you guys liked it?🥴 The book is almost towards the end. Only a few updates left, InshaAllah! (Alhumdulillah 😌🥲)
Awaiting your comments🤞🏻🙈♥️