Love.. against all the odds

Chapter 2: The first time he 'saw' her.

 When Ali came out of the operation theater after three hours he felt like all the energy had been sapped out of his body, leaning against the wall he slipped down to the ground. The hands with which he had held that tiny life still trembled.

It was not an experience he would or could ever forget, he had been the second person who had touched that baby. That pure life who knew nothing of the ugliness of life, A little girl , a tiny tiny person. He had come too close to tears for his own liking. When she cried , he thought she was right to cry, this world was not a place for pure souls and tiny angels.

A few moments later Umer and two other students came out of the room too. Umer came and sat beside him on the floor, while the two girls took off their gowns and washed. Maha and Aleena, he watched them talking in hushed voices. Maha was taller than Aleena, with black hair and black eyes. He didn't know what color Aleena's hair were cause he had never seen her without a scarf. It seemed like Aleena was trembling too.

Umer laid his head on Ali's shoulder "ohhhhhh Goodddd,, ohhh" he heaved a long drawn out sigh mixed with a groan and a smile spread across Ali's face.

"Well you faced your first delivery, how are you feeling now?" he asked with a smirk in his voice.

"Oh God, I have never seen so much blood in my whole life, and I don't know but Allah will have a special section for sir inam in hell, every moment I tried to move away for a minute and take my eyes off that baby coming out , he shoot  daggers at me with his eyes, and the blood and tissue and arghh.. And that woman screaming like she was being torn limb from limb, " he hid his face in his hands. Theatrics were in Umer's nature , sometimes Ali thought he had missed his true calling " And how am I FEELING NOW, like .. Like.."

  now he straightened and sat directly facing him, pointing to his heart, " like this guy, this delicate heart of mine has worked so much in the last hours to break out of my chest"

 then pointing to his abdomen "and my intestines are all crammed in a place thats too small for them, and are sweating, like when a person runs too fast and too long  and is out of breath and sweating,, that's how my intestines are feeling right now.. And my kidneys,, they are feeling like they have been squeezed and are hurting"

Ali laughed despite the exhaustion , umer could always do that. "so my bro, your intestines are sweating and your kidneys are feeling like they are being squeezed, I think we should ask Dr. Inam to take you to the ICU now"

Maha chuckled behind umer, and he swiveled to smile at her. "I am so glad that I could entertain both of you this evening.. " Ali smiled and his gaze travelled to Aleena, they had ward duties together but he seldom had any conversation with her, she liked to keep to herself. A private person.

 At the moment she looked like she had run a thousand miles too, though exhausted, she was smiling, and he was kind of mesmerized because it was...beautiful, no.. angelic. Like a sacred ceremony had been performed in the operation theatre, beginning of a new life.. And the angels had come down to attend and when they left, they forgot one of their companions behind. He felt his surroundings fade as he looked at her, her eyes were sparkling like stars. He felt his breath catching.

He was shaken , none too gently as sir Inam and the other gynecologist came out of the room. He tried to shake out of his condition, induced, no doubt by extreme exhaustion, but still there was some thing wrong with his chest.

  Both of them stood up hastily , and all gathered around him.

"I hope all of you have learned from watching today, being doctors it is your responsibility to be as vigilant as humanly possible, remember that you are playing with human life, a slight mistake can have very grave consequences. Now I want every one of you to be ready for all and any question on labor procedure in the class tomorrow.. " he looked at them from above his gold rimmed glasses, giving his usual stern look.

" Ali! Aleena! You two come with me."

 both of them went out after him. Ali heard loud groans behind him and he smiled. Umer detested questioning sessions by sir Inam who also liked very much to ask him questions in every interactive session.

Outside in the corridor, sir inam turned to them "It is not the norm to let third year students into the operation theatre and watch the whole procedure.  But I have high hopes for you two, Aleena especially you being a girl can have a very bright career in gynea. And you too Ali, though in Pakistan there are still difficulties for male gynecologists but let me tell you, " and now he smiled at aleena, which was a rare sight

"no offence, but at the moment the top gynecologists in Pakistan are, all males, so the point I am trying to make here is that I want you two to experience as much as you can even during your ward duties. And make me proud" he had returned to his usual stern self. 

They both nodded and smiled "yes sir, Thankyou sir."

At that moment they heard noise in the corridor , all of them looked in that direction.