If I Can Hate You, Why Can't You?

The morning breeze swept past her feets making her gown do a waltz with the wind. She should have listened to the warnings of her mother but instead she refused and decided to take a walk down to the bus station. Does she love it? Hell no! Was she regretting it? Hell yes. "Hey bestie!" Alia squealed, jumping on her. "Can't breathe" she managed to choke out. Finally as Alia let go of her, she rubbed her sore throat c*****g her head at her. "Sorry" she plastered a guilty smile on her face. "Hey look there" Alia pointed to a man lying on the floor motionless. They walked to him examining him with their eyes. "There is only one way to know if he is still breathing". Alia said, plucking out her stethoscope from her bag. "But how are we going to know that? I don't even have my stethoscope with me and I really don't want to..." "Why are you sounding so helpless? You could just call the ambulance, you know? Moreover, are you not a doctor, Kulthum?" Alia rolled her eyes going back to her feet. "Oh yeah! You have a point there I totally forgot about the ambulance thing". She said, fetching out her phone from her purse. As she dialed the number and explained everything in detail, five minutes later, the ambulance arrived attending to the man. "Ma'am!". Kulthum's head snapped to where the voice came from, a male doctor was standing in front of her with a short fitted lab coat and a stethoscope around his neck with a notepad on his hand. "Yes! How may I help you?" She asked, looking at him. Apparently they took the man to the same hospital they both were working at but maybe they didn't recognize the ladies. Kulthum was the owner of the hospital and Alia, her best friend, was working together with her as a senior professor. "If I am not mistaken, you were the one that brought the patient here right". He said, turning his head to the right where they kept him in the ICU. "Is he your relative or your...." "No" she cut him off. "He is not my relative,I saw him lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, so my friend and I brought him here". She said quickly and politely. "So you are not a relative?" He asked again. "No I am not, I just told you that" she said. "Okay" he said, jutting something on his notepad. "Can I leave now?" She asked, and just in time, she saw Alia coming towards them. "Let's leave now Kulthum" she stated flatly, without as much as glancing at the person she was talking to. You can excuse her behavior because, for now, she is totally exhausted. She had been in the OR for the whole day yesterday and she is currently dealing with a very stubborn fatigue. "Okay, but at least can't you say hi to him?". Kulthum reprimanded, murmuring to her and giving her a stern look. "Oh! Sorry I didn't notice you umm.... hi" She awkwardly said. Turning her head back to Kulthum, "I think our job here is done". She continued. "Okay I will take your leave now sir". Kulthum politely said, he nodded at her and left. "What the hell Alia? Is something wrong with you?". She asked as soon as they were out of the hospital. "What did I do? She asked, "I did nothing wrong, I truly did not notice him there, if not I would've said something am serious" She lied massaging her temples. "Okay" Kulthum said, not in the mood to say anything more. "Lets go to the emergency room, I have something to do there" Kulthum said walking ahead of Alia. By the time they arrived in the ER, it was bustling with patients so she had to lend them a helping hand to speed the process of her appointment with the person she wanted to see. By the time they were done it was way past lunch and she still hadn't seen the person she was supposed to talk to. "Are you done already? I feel like I'm floating on air Kulthum, I need rest, lots of rest. I have a scheduled surgery at 3 and what is the time now?" Alia glanced at her wristwatch, widening her eyes. "Damn Kulthum! It is 2pm already and I feel very drowsy, I can't perform any surgery like this. And it is all your fault" Alia shot her an accusing glare. Kulthum giggled softly, placing her hand on Alia's shoulder reassuring her. "Don't worry I've got you covered" she winked at her. "I love you so much" Alia whispered, smiling stupidly at her and running to her cabin to get some rest. By the time she woke up, Kulthum was already done with the surgery and removing her surgical scrubs off her body. "Are you done already?" Alia asked as soon as Kulthum walked into the cabin to wake her up, probably! "You are up I see, I came to wake you so we can head home, but I see you are already awake" "Yeah thanks, how was the surgery?" Alia asked, stretching her sleeping limbs "It went well, he's in ICU 2, he's all yours now," Kulthum said, going behind her desk to gather her stuff. When she was done, they both went home together chatting as if they had all the time in the world but in reality, Alia was expected to return to the hospital to check on her patient herself later in the evening. "We are home" they both said in unison knowing nobody was home, Kulthum just headed to her room and Alia followed suit. As she entered the room and flicked the light on, she threw her veil on the bed to let her hair have its freedom then headed to the washroom to perform ablution and offered asr prayer and so did Alia. After that, they went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. After much debate on what to cook, they ended up cooking Kulthum's dad's favorite dish. "Where are your parents?" Alia asked, passing her the already chopped onions "To meet a friend of theirs" she replied back, accepting the vegetable and thanking her for it. After that no one said a thing to each other as if they were on manual control. When they were almost done, they heard the living room door open and in came her worlds. Her role models, her lovely parents, and before she could say or do another thing she saw Alia hugging her parents. Sometimes she used to feel as if she's not a part of this lovely family whenever Alia comes over and for that she used to envy her a lot. But, that isn't a problem. She's just a little jealous at the moment. 'Childish' she thought. "Come here princess! Why are you standing over there?" Her dad asked and immediately she went to join the group hug. "So?" Her father asked with a smile as if he knew what was for dinner. "What do you have for dinner tonight? I really missed your cooking darling". She knows he Just said it just to make her mum angry but, who was he kidding? Her mother was an amazing cook. You won't believe it when she tells you until you taste a spoonful of her coconut rice. Lord so yummy she could already taste the delicious flavor melting in her mouth. "I made your favorite meal!" She exclaimed "So are you trying to tell me that you made fried rice and grilled chicken onions with my best salad and favorite fresh mango drink?". He asked happily and with a nod of their heads he continued. "Wow! Really? I love that! Are you done yet?"He asked with a huge smile marrying his face. "Yes dad! Let me just serve it to you now". She said and drew Alia to the kitchen to help serve the food on the dining table. "Mmmm! Smells really good I wonder how it tastes" he said, while she was serving him the food and Alia serving her mum. "Wow! Tastes great princess, I doubt if your mother has ever cooked a nice meal like this one" he said and glanced at her only to be face to face with a deathly glare from her "Thank you daddy, ah, before I forget Alia is spending the night here mom, she says she misses you two, and she's also returning to the hospital in the next couple of hours" Kulthum explained, she looked at Alia smirking at her. "It's okay! We also miss her a lot. She hasn't been visiting lately. But Is everything alright dear? Why do you need to go back to the hospital at night?" Kulthum's mother, Khadijah asked for the first time since they started eating their dinner together. "Everything is fine Mum, I just have a patient to observe through the night myself. Kulthum made sure I observe him myself because she helped to perform the surgery instead of me" she answered swiftly. "Really kulthum? Does she have to go back at night? Aren't there night shifts in your hospital?" Khadijah asked again. This time she kept her spoon poking Kulthum with her eyes for an answer "Mum, we made a deal, I help her with the surgery and she stays the night observing the patient or else she won't be suitable for the position she wants" "And what is that?" Her father asked "A senior professor in our department" "And what is that?" He asked again "Cardiovascular surgeon" Alia answered this time. "What?" Khadijah asked, clearly she had no idea what they were talking about. "Mum, don't worry, just eat your food" Kulthum laughed, shaking her head. "Rude" Alia mumbled under her breath. "I heard that," Kulthum said, smirking at her. Alia rolled her eyes playfully and focused on her food, she has less than three hours to go back to the hospital so she better make use of that flimsy time to rest.