THE HEART THAT NEVER FORGIVES

EPISODE 2

A HEART WORTH WAITING FOR

Silence filled the waiting room.

From Dad Zadeen to Ammar, everyone remained quiet, reconsidering Mahir's suggestion.

Mahir himself was still thinking.

He did not believe in allowing unnecessary complications to enter his work.

Whether he was handling business or a family matter, he disliked uncertainty.

He always preferred to study a situation from every possible direction before making a decision.

He would look.

He would observe.

He would calculate.

And only after he had considered every possible outcome would he speak.

That was why he was often the most trusted person when the family needed someone to make a difficult decision.

Dad Zadeen usually followed Mahir's judgment because Mahir was calmer than almost all of them.

He knew how to approach things carefully.

But tonight, Dad was beginning to feel as though his patience would not allow him to wait for the period Mahir was suggesting.

There was too much at stake.

What if they lost the heart?

What if something happened to the donor before she gave birth?

What if she died?

They had already lost count of how many people had been separated from their hearts in their desperate search for a heart for Jannah.

They had searched through hidden channels.

They had tried again and again.

Yet none of the hearts they had found had been suitable.

Now, after years of searching, they had finally found one.

And Mahir wanted them to wait.

Mahir noticed the thoughts moving through his father's mind.

He slowly raised his head.

“Waiting until she gives birth means we will have an opportunity to deal with everything properly,” he explained.

Dad looked at him.

Mahir continued.

“It will give us a reason for her death in front of her relatives and other people around her. That is why we need to wait until the delivery.”

He paused.

“The time of the birth is already getting close. If we wait until then, everything can be handled neatly—from removing the heart, to putting it into Jannah, and then covering everything afterward.”

Ammar's heart began beating faster.

His head felt as though it were spinning.

His eyes were already red.

He could not imagine waiting that long.

Inside him, he felt as though he wanted to take the heart immediately.

He wanted to bring it to the hospital that very night and place it inside Jannah's chest.

His obsession with Jannah's illness had reached a dangerous level.

Whenever he looked at another person, a terrible thought sometimes crossed his mind.

If he could open their chest and take their heart, he might do it.

If destroying another person's life meant Jannah would survive, he was capable of convincing himself that it was worth it.

He did not care about the stranger's life.

He did not care about their family.

He did not care where the heart came from.

He cared about one person.

Jannah.

Mahir watched him carefully.

He recognized the look in Ammar's eyes.

He also noticed the silence from Dad Zadeen.

It was enough to tell him that his father was leaning toward accepting the plan.

Mahir looked between Dad and Ammar.

He knew Ammar was always the most difficult person to control when Jannah's illness became severe.

Ammar did not listen.

He did not want explanations.

He did not care about anyone else's opinion.

All he wanted was Jannah's heart to keep beating.

Dad finally spoke.

“Ammar.”

Ammar raised his head.

“Let us do it this way.”

Dad's voice was calm.

“There is no need to rush. If we handle everything without haste, it will be better for Jannah and the operation itself.”

Ammar remained silent.

Dad continued.

“Since we have already found her, she will not escape what is waiting for her.”

His eyes hardened.

“The heart that is beating inside her chest now will eventually belong to Jannah. Nothing will stop that.”

Ammar released a long breath.

His chest still felt tight.

But he knew his father's decision had been made.

He nodded slowly.

“All right.”

That did not mean he was satisfied.

It only meant he had accepted the decision.

They would wait.

But they would not leave the donor alone.

The family would put people on her.

They would investigate her carefully.

They would monitor her health.

They would monitor her movements.

They would monitor the pregnancy.

They would know everything about her.

Not because they cared about her.

Not because they cared about where she came from.

Not because they cared who her relatives were.

None of that mattered to them.

All that mattered was the heart inside her chest.

The heart they believed would one day belong to Jannah.

Once the decision was made, the room slowly became quieter.

Nobody knew that while they were sitting there planning the future, the story of the donor had already begun long before they knew her name.

A story connected to the very family whose wealth and power had made them believe that almost everything in life could be controlled.

To understand why the Zadeens had become so desperate for Jannah, one had to go back many years.

Back to the beginning.

Back to the family before Jannah.

Back to the story of a woman named Zayneb.

---

YEARS EARLIER

Professor Zaharadden Zaaden was the original father of three children.

Two boys and one girl.

The eldest was Boukhar Zadeen.

The second was Mahmoud Zadeen.

Their youngest was their sister, Zayneb.

The three siblings loved one another deeply.

Their biological mother had died while they were still young.

After her death, they were raised by their father's second wife.

But she never treated them as stepchildren.

She had never had a child with their father.

Therefore, Boukhar, Mahmoud, and Zayneb were the only children she had.

She raised them with genuine love.

She cared for them as if she had given birth to them herself.

That affection remained even after they grew into adults.

Professor Zaharadden was a highly educated man.

He possessed an impressive Western education as well as deep knowledge of Islamic studies.

He was also extremely wealthy.

For many years, he lived outside the country.

He eventually settled in Malaysia with his entire family.

That was where the three siblings grew up.

They studied there.

They received their education there.

They built their early lives there.

Later, all three returned to Nigeria with their father as he grew older.

Eventually, Zayneb married another professor.

Her husband lived in Port Harcourt.

Boukhar and Mahmoud, meanwhile, spent time in different countries pursuing their studies.

Mahmoud married before Boukhar.

But neither Mahmoud nor Zayneb had children.

It was only after Boukhar married that the first child was born among the three siblings.

The Zadeens were already extremely wealthy.

Their father's fortune was so vast that even the family sometimes did not know what to do with it.

But the three siblings had also accumulated substantial wealth of their own.

Even Zayneb, the only woman among them, possessed considerable personal wealth.

Their love for one another was just as great as their wealth.

They were extremely close.

That closeness extended to their spouses and children.

Even though all three siblings eventually lived in different countries, their families remained tightly connected.

Mahir was Boukhar's eldest son.

He was born in Greece.

But shortly after Mahir's birth, tragedy struck.

Professor Zaharadden died.

His death caused the family to gather together and return to Nigeria.

Their father had left behind enormous properties and assets.

There were so many that they could not manage all of them at once.

Mahmoud eventually returned abroad to handle some of the family affairs.

Boukhar, however, had to remain in Nigeria with his family.

Their stepmother returned with Boukhar.

To the younger generation, she was simply their grandmother.

They did not know that she had not been their parents' biological mother.

There was no reason for them to know.

The relationship between them was already one of genuine love.

She had raised their parents.

She had loved them.

And they loved her in return.

Then Mahir turned five.

Around that time, Zayneb became pregnant.

The pregnancy brought serious complications.

Because of her age and the long period she had spent without having a child, her pregnancy became increasingly difficult.

As her belly grew, so did the complications.

Eventually, doctors discovered something the family had never known.

Zayneb had heart disease.

The diagnosis terrified everyone.

The family's attention shifted completely toward her.

Her brothers refused to accept the possibility of losing their sister.

They began searching for medical solutions.

After extensive examinations, doctors reached a devastating conclusion.

Zayneb needed a heart transplant.

The family's fear was not because they lacked money.

Money was the one thing they had plenty of.

They possessed enough wealth to obtain almost anything they wanted.

Their problem was not the cost.

Their problem was finding the right heart.

The pregnancy continued.

As Zayneb approached nine months, the entire family gathered in Greece.

Nobody wanted to take a chance with her delivery.

Boukhar came with his wife.

Mahir was there.

Mahmoud came with his family.

Their grandmother came too.

They all waited for the birth with fear and hope.

Eventually, Zayneb underwent a cesarean section.

She gave birth to a baby boy.

Boukhar gave him the name Ammar.

At the time, Zayneb's husband had still not arrived.

He was in Port Harcourt with his other wife.

The family eventually came to understand that they could not depend on him.

They gathered around Zayneb and the newborn themselves.

From the moment Zayneb gave birth, however, she never truly recovered.

Her health continued to decline.

She became thinner.

Her body became weaker.

Her face began to lose its former fullness.

The woman who had once been strong was slowly becoming fragile.

The sight broke the hearts of everyone in the family.

Her brothers immediately intensified their search for a donor.

They searched everywhere.

They used their connections.

They used their wealth.

They searched through hospitals and private channels.

But no suitable heart was found.

The only thing that gave them a little comfort was the doctors' assurance that they still had time.

Her heart had not completely failed.

There was still a chance.

There was still time to find a suitable donor.

So the Zadeens continued searching.

They spent money without hesitation.

They searched secretly.

They searched desperately.

They refused to accept defeat.

Meanwhile, little Ammar was growing up in the middle of all this.

His biological mother was suffering.

And the person who became his true caregiver was Mimi—the wife of Boukhar and Mahir's mother.

From the day Ammar was born, Mimi practically became his mother.

Zayneb could not breastfeed him for long.

After only a few months, her condition became too severe.

Her milk dried up.

She became too weak.

Mimi took Ammar and cared for him.

She fed him.

She raised him.

She loved him.

The boy became deeply attached to her.

Yet he continued to grow up seeing his biological mother in terrible condition.

And those memories would remain inside him for years.