~°°~ I'm praying that I'll make it out alive ~°°~

Cornerstone Specialist hospital, Wuse Abuja, Nigeria. 28th February, 2022. 12:15pm. ~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ Opening her eyes, she shut them back due to the sudden light. Her head started throbbing because of how bright it was for her eyes. She then tried to adjust to the light by opening her eyes again before closing it back in a second, she tried one more time and succeeded to keep her eyes open to the room.

Tauhida scanned the room only to find an unidentified person by her side. Is this a dream? She wondered. " Masha Allah, you're awake " Amani said with a smile, she had been with her for the two days she was unconscious, but sometimes changes position with Tauhida's cousin who came from Gombe.

" Let me get the doctor okay?" Amani added before exiting the room to do what she said. Tauhida kept on wondering what was going on but hearing the lady mention the doctor made her to think hard about what was going on. Suddenly, she remembered everything and how she found herself in the hospital making her to start shedding tears.

The doctor came in shortly after that with some nurses and Amani. " Hi there, how do you feel?" The doctor asked and Tauhida attempted to talk but she couldn't say anything to him. " Are you in pain anywhere?" He asked again but she didn't reply him even though she attempted for the second time again. "Talk to me" He said again then Tauhida shook her head indicating a no. The doctor started to wonder why she didn't say a word and asked " Is it your voice?" The doctor asked and she nodded quickly, tears still rolling from her eyes.

" Run a test nurse, now" The doctor ordered before leaving the room. The nurses got a stretcher, placing her on it, they wheeled her to the observation room to run a test.

Meanwhile, Imran and Sayf were in a room at Imran's place with the police talking about the case. " Thank you for your cooperation, we will also like to ask your sister some few questions" A police officer said to them after they had an interrogation session with them.

" She's at the hospital at the moment, in a coma so you can't interrogate her" Imran replied the officer. " Okay then, but let us know when she's ready for the interrogation I think we'll find more information about the case from her, she might have witnessed something you didn't" The officer said and Imran nodded. "We'll take our leave" The officer added. "Okay safe trip officer" Sayf replied and they exchanged handshakes before the officers left.

The two were about to go out back to where they receive the greetings when Sayf got a call, it was Amani. She informed them about Tauhida waking up and how she was in the observation room as they spoke. " We'll go together" Imran declared when he heard the reason for the call.

" But who will be here to meet with people?" Sayf asked him. "I can't just sit here accepting greetings for the people who are already gone when there are chances I might loose another, I cannot do that" Imran replied. " My cousins and uncles are here, they'll take care of everything" Imran added. "okay, let's go" Sayf agreed and the two went out through the back to Sayf's car before leaving for the hospital.

Arriving at the hospital, they saw Tauhida unconscious again, being wheeled back to her room and they followed. The nurses explained that the result will come in 10 minutes and they sat there waiting for the time to arrive.

As for Humaira, she left for her home that morning as she was discharged and asked to take rest. None of her squad knew what the situation was because when they arrived at Gombe the other day, they were told that there was a barbecue that will take place the next day so they stayed back. But everyone was on their way back that very day.

Eleven minutes later, the doctor knocked at the door and came in with a nurse behind him. " Oh, you're here" the doctor said when he saw Sayf. He didn't know Imran was the one with the closest relationship with the patient. " Yes" Sayf replied.

" Okay. Our result showed us that she has laryngitis. It is an inflammation of the voice box and in her case, it is because of overuse. She might have shouted to a point she got tired before she fell unconscious the other time so she got this illness " The doctor mentioned, all the three of them didn't understand what he meant exactly because they were all not aware of medical terms. " I don't understand" Sayf said.

" She has temporary loss of the voice, it might take a while to recover from" The doctor explained. " Inna Lillahi wa'inna ilaihi raji'un" Imran muttered again not knowing what to do. He immediately left the room and Sayf knew why he did that so he didn't bother following him, he needed time to himself.

" I'll prescribe medications for both her situations and hope for the best, she will be fine insha Allah" The doctor completed before writing down the prescription. " Buy these from the hospital pharmacy, I'll sign the discharge papers tomorrow so you'll take her home with you" the doctor completed. " Thank you doctor" Sayf said before the doctor exited the room.

Sayf moved to where Tauhida laid and sat on the chair beside her, he looked at her for some seconds before whispering "May Allah give you the ability to pass the test Tauhida". He stood up after that to also leave the room and also find Imran " keep looking after her" Sayf said to Amani and she nodded before he left the room too.

Sayf found Imran where he expected him to be. He sat beside him and heaved a sigh before voicing " will you stay back?" Sayf asked. " I should" Imran replied. " Okay, let's stay back together. He said she'll be discharged tomorrow" Sayf stated "insha Allah she'll be fine" Sayf stated again. " You'll all be fine" He added.

Everything Imran have heard until then were all words of advice, it was only Sayf who said something he actually needed, words of consolation and Imran was really thankful for that, to a point words can't express how thankful he was.

" I have something to say Imran, I know it might not be the right time but I want to say it. I want to say it to you as a friend, not a fellow soldier or Tauhida's brother" Sayf said after minutes of silence. "I'll hear it" Imran said making Sayf to exhale. " I love Tauhida. I do and I want to make her mine" Sayf confessed, he decided to say it because it was getting hard to keep it within him.

" I expected it" Imran said smiling a bit. It was the first time he smiled ever since he received the news of his parent's demise. "What do you mean?" Sayf asked in surprise. " Anyone who knows you and sees how you look at her would know. What you said is the only justification for how you look at her " Imran replied.

"How do I look at her?" Sayf asked again. "Like she is the reason you live, like there's no one else as important as she is to you, like she is dear to your heart" Imran replied rendering Sayf speechless, there was nothing he could say again.

" You should not give up on her no matter what. That's an order from a fellow soldier, a request from a brother and an advice from a friend" Imran said when he noticed that Sayf wouldn't talk. "Thank you, it was all I needed to hear" Sayf said and truly, it was all he needed before he tells Tauhida himself. He would make sure to make her his now that he has someone who supports him.

" We meet again Sayf" Sayf heard and within a second, his smiling face disappeared, she seemed to be around him those days. He raised his head to look at her and saw her wearing the nurses dress, that was when he realised why he always see her there, she was working as a nurse in the hospital.

" I'm leaving Imran" Sayf said ignoring Iman, the least she could do was say the salaam since she definitely knew they were not Christians. " You can't keep on ignoring me Sayf" She added. "Stay away from me. I dare you to do otherwise" Sayf said warning her in the former while daring her in the latter. And with that, he walked away leaving behind Iman who couldn't say anything to him again after his sentence.

"Wait for me Sayf" Imran said before also leaving the place , Iman dumbstruck. She pouted deeply stumping her feets as she also moved out of the place.

" That was my ex, the reason I didn't visit home for two years until I received my father's death" Sayf said, he thought he needed to say it. " Not that I asked but I see why you acted that way" Imran replied him. They kept walking not knowing where to go exactly until they decided to go back to Tauhida's room.

After a while, Tauhida regained consciousness again and the first person she saw when she opened her eyes was Imran, sitting right beside her with her hand in his. That made her calm a little even though she instantly started shedding tears again. " Let it all out, you'll be fine afterwards" Imran said rubbing her hand gently.

That moment continued until Tauhida fell asleep. That was how the day ended for all of them, Sayf decided to take Amani home to rest before she comes back to spend the night with Tauhida.

~°°~ I'm praying that I'll make it out alive ~°°~

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ Well, let's just meet in the next chapter shall we? Bye bye. Lots of love

Deedi--❤️