Sisters torn apart by the fragility of the heart, how can love possibly hurt so much?
Hana Junaid decided two years ago, distance would make her younger sister Hanaan more independent but Hanaan's love and yearning for Hana during this time has drow...
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~ f i v e y e a r s l a t e r ~
Time flies by as though it has wings but the reflection in our mirror morphs into another ever so subtly, makes you wonder when and how it changed.
I'm still Hana Junaid after all these years but I wear a lab coat now and I usually stand in the OPD of a renowned hospital, file in my hands, stethoscope around my collar, checking on a patient that looks at me with all the trust in their eyes. I'm in the residency phase of my doctor's degree and today — today was a glorious day.
Stepping through the double doors, I pin my niqab back in place. I took it off to wear a surgical mask and now my heart still palpitates in my chest, blood rushes to my ears, I owe myself a treat for today. My feet halt at the sight of the congregation awaiting me in the corridor right outside the operation theatre.
What is the zoo doing here?
Nashwa and Hanaan sit on top of what looks like a coffin? praying. The twins Uzair and Huzair now thirteen years old hold a spade in each hand. Seventeen year old Zaid, taller and more sombre, hair flicked up in spikes, paces back and forth. My Dadi is sitting on a prayer mat while Ahmad Mamu flips through a file.
The twins go first. "We'll hide the body."
Nashwa nods. "My father will be your lawyer."
Hanaan raises her chin high. "I'll deal with any foreign intelligence agencies that come your way. English, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and soon French too. I can fluently converse, convince, coerce and curse in all."
Dadi turns her head sideways completing her prayer with the two salaams. She scrambles to her feet, reaching for my shoulders. "Is your soul burdened with guilt, Hana?" She blows a prayer all over my face. "I have prayed for you. Worry you not."
I blink many times. My eyes find Zaid, the sanest of them all.
He runs a finger through his spikes. "Makes you wonder how the two of us got born in such a crazy family, right?"
I grace him with a fond smile. "You and me both, Zaidi."
He smirks at that. "I could put up a vlog in your favour though. You'd have to ugly cry but make it look realistic. For that, you can take drama classes from Nashwa Aapi. I get ten percent profit for the sponsorship."
"But first of all—" Ahmad Mamu steps forward, handing me a plastic bag. "Puke your guts out, Care Bear!"
I do just that because some things never change. To this day, Hana Junaid gets light headed at the sight of blood and gore but she's slowly overcoming it even though there's no idiot around to hand her a chocolate bar to regain her colour.
I smile hypnotically despite the twinge in my heart. "Complete success!"
My very first surgery, even if it was under guidance and I only provided minor assistance and mostly observed it but it was my first surgery nonetheless.
