~°°~The music that plays with pure delight~°°~

Cornerstone Specialist hospital, Wuse, Abuja, Nigeria. 26th February, 2022.

12:20am ~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ The two men who came to the hospital still sat on the chair just outside the OR waiting for the doctor to come out, they had been there for at least 5 hours.

Sayf got another call from Imran and he decided to pick it up because from his estimation, Imran should have already arrived at Abuja and if not he should in few minutes to come.

"Hello, I've been calling you for hours now and you haven't picked any of it, is there a problem?" Imran started immediately Sayf picked the call. "Are you back yet?" Sayf asked Imran, he didn't intend on telling Imran everything through the phone. "Not yet, but I'll be in few minutes" Imran replied.

"Okay, come directly to cornerstone Specialist hospital, no need to drop by your home" Sayf said with the hope that before he arrives, the surgery would be over. Imran replied with an okay before disconnecting the call.

The moment the call got ended, the door to the OR jerked open revealing the doctor and two nurses. Few seconds later, Tauhida was brought out of the OR on a stretcher to be taken to the Intensive care unit. The doctor asked the two to follow him up to his office again and they did just that.

"It was a success" The doctor declared when they settled in his office, it was just what they wanted to here until, "but"

That one word they didn't want to hear at all was said by the doctor. "She slipped into a coma, she could wake up any moment from now till the next ten years and also, she might get attacks from time to time until she wakes up, so try your best to keep your eyes on her all the time" The doctor explained.

The two were glad that she made it out alive but even so, seeing her in that situation broke their hearts every minute.

The two thanked the doctor and left the office towards the room Tauhida was kept. They stood by the door and looked through the glass frame as she laid down straight with no movement to prove that she was alive.

"I'll take my leave" Shafiq said, he had enough of the sight, It hurt him a lot to see her in that situation. "Okay, I'll see you around" Sayf said and Shafiq nodded even though he knew they would never meet again, he had things to deal with in his life.

After Shafiq walked away, Sayf gave a call to his home requesting for the presence of Layla and Amani there with him. He couldn't take care of both Tauhida and Humaira at the same time and he doesn't have any means to contact someone who could except his family.

Turning around to go find a place to seat, Sayf came eye to eye with the one person he hated so much, Iman.

"Sayf?" Iman stated in a question form, Sayf was very glad he wasn't in a good mood so his face would easily give her the signal to leave him alone. "What are you doing here?" She asked again and Sayf couldn't help but roll his eyeballs.

Why would anyone ask what a person is doing in a hospital when the answer was obvious. He ignored her and started to walk away.

"Are you going to give me the silent treatment? I know you still love me" Iman said making Sayf to stop on his track and scoff at the same time. He turned to her direction once again and glared at her, the glare that told her never to mess with him again and with that he walked away.

"What just happened?" Iman asked herself, what changed him so much that way. He always at least talks to her, she couldn't shrug the fact that he ignored her and also walked away wondering why it happened. Well maybe it's because of what she did to him.

Few minutes of waiting, Amani and Layla arrived at the hospital with some food. They noticed that Sayf didn't get to eat anything for breakfast so they brought it along.

"Ya Sayf you should come and eat a little" Amani said. "No Amani, I'll just go home and eat it there but you should keep the food with you, Incase any of them wakes up" Sayf replied. "Let's go show you the rooms, you unfortunately have to stay two rooms away from each other" Sayf said as he led them to the rooms.

"Treat them as though they're your sisters and keep a very close eye on them until I return, not that I'm leaving now but just to make sure" Sayf requested, he wouldn't want anything bad to happen again, at least not that day.

"Okay ya Sayf, but what will you wait to do here?" Layla asked. "Nothing, I'm just waiting for someone to come, take care okay?" He completed before leaving the two at the door to Tauhida's room.

Layla went to Humaira's room while Amani stayed back with Tauhida in her room, each engaging themselves with their phones.

The first person Sayf met when he was about to leave was Imran. Imran knew that look somewhere, that face showed problem. "Where's my family?" Imran asked.

"I'm sorry Imran, Allah ya musu rasuwa (They are dead?)" Sayf finally said, daring not to look into his eyes. Imran turned to the seat there and sat down before he was able to think straight.

Even before Sayf could say anything again, tears rolled down Imran's eyes blurring his vision. "Inna Lillahi wa'inna ilaihi raji'un" he kept muttering silently to himself. It took every guts in him not to collapse because of how much it pained.

Sayf sat beside him not knowing what to do, he couldn't have started to explain how it happened, or who survived, or even why he didn't tell him sooner so he just kept patting his back gently.

They spent more than 10 minutes before Imran raised his head to look at Sayf. Was that how he felt when I told him about his father's death? Imran wondered.

"Tauhida is alive" Sayf declared when he noticed the look Imran was sending his way. "You should go see her, I think you'll feel better" Sayf said, he believed Imran will feel encouraged after knowing he wasn't left all alone.

The two stood up as Sayf led them to the ICU, where Tauhida was kept. They entered the room with a salaam and Amani answered, she stood up from where she sat which was beside Tauhida and moved to the back a little. "She's my sister" Sayf mentioned incase Imran had that question in mind.

Imran occupied the chair Amani used to sit on and held his sister's hand into his before new set of tears rolled from his eyes. He couldn't say anything nor could he do anything but to just stare at her. It must have been difficult for her because she was alone Imran thought.

"Let's talk" Imran said after few minutes, he was finally ready to listen to it all. "Excuse us Amani, go join Layla" Sayf said to his sister when he realised that the room would be the best for their conversation.

"When we broke the door open, I and a person I don't know, we found your whole family in the parlour covered in blood. They were all slaughtered with sharp knives, except Tauhida but we found her unconscious" Sayf started to explain when Amani left the room.

"I contacted the police before rushing her here to the hospital and she underwent a surgery which was a success but she slipped into coma. The doctor assured that she might wake up any moment from now. The police officer called and briefed me about the murder case earlier and requested for your presence anytime soon to start the investigation" Sayf completed, Imran had never came across anything like that in his life and he couldn't tell how miserable he felt.

"Thank you, for everything" Imran said to Sayf, he was really thankful about everything he did for him.

"You're welcome. You can come with me to my house, Amani is here to take care of her" Sayf suggested. "No, I want to stay with her" Imran declined the offer and Sayf nodded at that. Even though Imran looked tired but Sayf wanted to give him what he wanted at the moment.

"I will come again" Sayf said, Imran nodded and Sayf exited the room to the other one. He asked the two to stay there and not worry about Tauhida until he returns back before leaving the hospital.

Meanwhile, Imran held Tauhida's hand tightly, as if he was afraid he would also loose her. "Insha Allah Tauhida, your brave soldier brother will get justice for you. He won't spare a single person who has his hand in everything that happened, that I promise" Imran said and he meant it.

Those type of people should never have peace in their lives and he ought to see that happen until he breathes life.

~°°~The music that plays with pure delight~°°~

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ How do you like the chapter?

Well I don't like it one bit, I just want everything to fine so Tauhida will smile again.

What do you think will happen next, especially now that there's strong competition between Sayf and Shafiq, it is clear that they both want Tauhida.

Whatever the case may be, we'll get to see it.

Please vote, comment and share my book to friends and family. Lots of love,

Deedi--❤️