With Love, Zayn✅

22.

Zayn rushed to the hospital. He doubt he had ever drove that fast in his entire twenty eight years of life. But even then, he feared that he wasn't fast enough.

The minute he parked the car, he jumped out of it and all but ran into the hospital. He didn't care one bit about the people that stared at him with curious looks masking their features. How could he care when the life of one of the most important people to him is on the line?

He headed directly to the ICU, where he saw a couple of people standing outside it whom no doubt the doctors inside sent them out. He spotted Sabrina there, along with Hanif, and quite surprisingly, Aasim and Hayra were there too with sullen looks.

But his attention was on them, it was solely on the person sitting on the waiting chairs with a bandaid covering a side on her temple.

The sound of his footsteps was what gained their attention all. Sabrina who had red, swollen eyes was the first to speak, "Zayn..." She croaked out, her voice cracking as if his sight brought back all the emotions she had been trying to keep at bay.

Hanif was quick to place his hand over her shoulder, pulling her into a warm embrace as she tried to sniff the tears back.

Zayn uttered no word to his sister, as he made his way over to the waiting chair and sat beside her. He eyed the bandaid with brows drawn in, noting how despite it being there, the area still looked a bit swollen and red which a a huge contrast to her light skin. He then blew out a low breath, "Are you okay?" He asked, his voice soft. "What happened to you?"

Batoulah offered him a small smile, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine" And that was the truth. Sure, the wound hurts but she had was alright. Her wound is nothing compared to the issue at hand. Intentionally, she refused to anwer his second question.

She didn't want to answer it in front of the four people who were undoubtedly staring at them.

Zayn didn't seemed convinced for a second, but he nodded eventually. He then looked up, his gaze falling on Hanif, "How is he? The doctor said..." He couldn't even repeat the words the man said. It was hard enough hearing it, but voicing it is harder.

Hanif released a small sigh. "They are preparing him for surgery, but nothing is certain yet" His voice came out low. All he did was to simply leave along with Sabrina to get food for Mama, and when they returned, the man was at the brink of dying.

Zayn's eyes moved round the place, searching for the one person he so desperately wanted to talk to. He needed to. The emotions he felt from what he discovered earlier were still there, heavy on his shoulders. "Where's..." He shifted his gaze from Sabrina to her husband, "...Mama?"

Sabrina sniffed, wiping some of the tears from her face but there was no use, more kept cascading. "We don't know..."

"When we came back, she wasn't there. Only Batoulah was" Hanif completed the sentence for his wife, knowing the way she trailed off, she could no longer talk.

Zayn shifted his gaze to Batoulah who was simply staring at space, a conflicted look masking her features. "Batoulah?" He called out, making her snap out of her chain of thoughts. Hearing him voice out her name like that felt weird, considering he always uses the 'Dr' prefix. "You sure you're alright?" For some reason, despite everything he is going through, she still wondered whether she's alright or not.

Maybe it's because she was the onethat called the other doctors when his father was at the brink of dying before Sabrina and Hanif arrived.

She swallowed thickly, "Can we talk? In private?" Her voice came out barely above a whisper, making sure only he heard her.