Dua-e-Khair - Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Gladly they took refuge behind the sliding door so were saved.
"What the hell was that?" Saba said to herself on the first fire.
"Ahil!!!!" Saba shouted as soon as she heard the continuous gunshots. Pacing towards the deck she tripped over because of her dress. She hurt her knee, as well as got a nice big scratch on her palm. Nevertheless, she got on her feet real quick and made her way towards the deck. To her surprise, no one was there, few of the crew members came running from behind to check what had happened.
Two more gunshots.
Everyone on the deck freaked out. Saba's face went white with fear. Towards the exit, she ran. She didn't even realize the stress she had on her mind just then, as if she was going to lose, for once and for all.
When they came towards the lobby, they saw an unconscious man laying on the floor. To Saba's relief, that man was Mark. Whereas, Ahil was sitting on his knees a few meters away, applying pressure on his colleague's stomach with both of his hands. Unfortunately, the second fire had hit the officer in his belly making him lose consciousness. The crew members paged for help, a stretcher was called and the officer was taken away towards the paramedic room. Saba stood there with numb hands and feet, she couldn't function, there was so much blood on the floor that it was hard for her to digest the past few seconds.
"Saba come let's go" Ahil cried out, motioning her to tag along.
Saba came back to her senses when she heard her name from his mouth. He was alive, Ahil was okay, things were alright for now. She thought to herself as she marched towards him.
Mark went unconscious because Ahil had hit him with his own revolver during the fight. He was under arrest. The other suspect had some how managed to escape through a life boat so Mark was all for now. On the other hand, the team waited outside the medical room as their colleague was being stabilized inside. Later the doctors informed them that though he was out of danger yet he needed complete medical assistance which was only possible in a hospital. For that purpose, a chopper was called in to get the patient out of there.
"Ahil.... Blood" Saba partially choked.
"Hmm?" Ahil who was standing in the hallway, faced her now.
"Tumharay haath sy khoon nikal raha hai Ahil" she said while coming closer to him. She reached for his hand and said:
"You're hurt.... Take off your blazer" She sort of ordered him.
"Kuch nahi hai.... I am fi-" He tried to counter but in vain.
"I don't want to know if you are fine or not.... Just take it off" She emphasized. Saba was standing in front of him, how could he argue with her on this one, he could never, nor did he try to so he simply took off his coat.
"Yeh tum theek ho?" Saba furiously said.
"You've been shot aur keh rahay ho 'I am fine'.... Good job Mr. Hussain.... Guess some things stay the same no matter what" She continued in anger, while looking deep into his eyes. She wanted to cry so bad but had to keep herself together. This is not what she expected things to turn out.
"Go sit in the other room while I'll look for another doctor or a nurse" She said to him, not caring for an answer she left the premises.
Soon the doctor attended Ahil as well. Luckily, the bullet had hit him on his arm without causing a severe damage so the doctor stitched him up, covered the wound and gave him an IV.
Ahil waited for his IV to finish while Saba came outside of the medical room to breath in fresh air. Minutes later, Ahil joined her. Acknowledging his presence, she looked at him and passed a small warm smile.
"Happening night, right?" he said.
"Quite much" She responded.
"You okay?" He asked with much compassion this time. Saba kept looking at him because what she just witnessed was the 'old Ahil', she wanted to take that in a little.
The wind blew her hair onto her face.
"Hmm" She nodded while tucking her hair behind her ear with one hand and holding on to her blazer with the other one.
"Mujhe keh rahi thi na tum.... Jhoot toh tum bhi acha bol leti ho" Ahil confronted her.
"Kiya?" She asked in confusion.
The very next moment Ahil grabbed her hand and looked onto her palms which had bruises on them from the previous fall.
"Oh yeh.... Haan I fell earlier today" She looked down at her palms too. It looked painful yet something was soothing in that very moment, maybe it was the touch his hand beneath hers. He gently caressed her palm with his thumb as if to make her pain go away, little did he know that her hand didn't even hurt now because the pain went away the very second he took her hand in his. She couldn't think of anything else except how soft his touch was against her skin. She wanted him that very second, she knew she always did.
"Come" Ahil said as he griped her hand more firmly this time and lead towards the medical room.
The doctor wasn't available so Ahil grabbed the first aid kit himself.
"Aik bandage toh kar he sakta hun mein.... Hopefully it won't hurt that much" He addressed as he sat beside her on the visitors bench.
Saba let out a small laugh.
Ahil opened the first aid box and took out few of the things he needed.
"Hand please" He politely extended his hand in order to ask for hers. On this, Saba looked at him in the eyes first, her smile turned into nervousness somehow. Then she looked down at his extended hand and softly placed hers right in between his palm. Her heart was racing.
He bent a little, taking a nice thorough glimpse of her bruise. He took a cotton ball, applied some disinfectant on it and look at her saying:
"It will sting a little" giving her a heads up. Saba nodded.
As he gently patted the cotton ball over her bruise he looked at her again as if he wanted to check in if it hurts or not. Saba who kept staring at him, couldn't believe that he was taking care of her like olden days, it was truly a Deja vu.
"He still cares" She thought.
He then took a pea size ointment on his index finger and carefully massaged it on the affected area. Later he secured the palm with a bandage and during all this process she never flinched once. Her pain was long gone, it was just his care that meant the most to her.
"Does it hurt?" He asked keeping his attention on her hand.
"Umhm...You didn't let it hurt" She responded with gratitude. Ahil peeked at her face for a little while and shifted his gaze to what he was doing before.
After he was done, he put back the first aid box and returned to his seat. They both were silent yet it wasn't awkward at all. Gradually Saba placed her head on his shoulder at which he wasn't startled. He knew that this was her easing out a little after being traumatised.
"I'm tired Ahil" She exhaled a deep breath.
"We'll be home soon Saba" He assured.
Shortly after, they came back to the port. Mark was taken in for further investigation and the injured doctor was on his way to recovery. Ahil drove Saba home. She slept the whole way. When they reached Ahil said:
"Saba.... We're here uth jao"
She didn't even move.
"Sound sleeper as always" he smiled looking at her, he mumbled under his breath.
He then gently patted her shoulder saying:
"Saba.... We're home.... Uth jao"
She opened her eyes, rubbed them and looked out of the window and realized that she was back home.
"We're home" she said as she yawned like a cat.
"Hmm" he nodded.
"Come inside.... For coffee?" She humbly asked.
"Nope.... I really need to sleep right now.... But thank you for inviting" He smiled.
"Waisay Nano would have been happy to see you" She said as she gathered her belongings from his car.
"Phir kabhi sahi" He replied.
"Acha rest well then" She responded, shutting the door from behind, she left Ahil to ponder alone. He looked at her as she went inside her house and eventually drove away.
On the other hand, Saba unlocked the door and found Nano (her grandma) standing in the hallway. Saba pulled her in for a tight hug.
"Tum job chor do Saba" Nano seemed annoyed.
"Mujhe itna support karny keh baad aap keh mu sy yeh sunna thora ajeeb lagta hai" She replied.
"Phir thore kam cases liya karo bete.... It will effect your health" Nano spoke as she caressed her hair.
"Kuch nahi hota mujhe.... Apki duaein haina.... Acha yeh chorein ap sunein how have you been?" She question while moving towards the living room.
"Yeh mein tumhein baad mein bataoun gi.... First tell me.... Who dropped you home?" Nano inquired.
"A friend" Saba answered.
"Konsa friend?.... I know every friend of yours Saba" Nano motioned a glass of water towards her.
"Ahil" She said in a rather low tone.
"Ahil!.... Shehla ka beta Ahil?" Nano asked, it felt like a shock to her.
Saba affirmed.
"Tum ny ussy andar kiyoun nahi bulaya?.... Itny saal ho gaye usski shakal dekhe hoye" Nano was getting emotional, Shehla Hussain was a brilliant student and a quite good friend of hers. She often consulted Nano in many of her life affairs so Nano was well aware with the Hussains in general.
"Kaha tha.... He said he wanted to rest" Saba replied.
"Tum sy abhi bhi naraz hai woh?" Nano interrogated.
"Pata nahi" Saba spoke while opening the fridge.
"Ussko ghar bulao.... Mein uss sy baat karoun gi.... Tumhein maaf kar dy ga woh" Nano assured her.
Grabbing some grapes from the fridge, she turned around and said:
"Shayad maaf kar dia ho uss ny" Saba stopped.
"Phir?" Nano responded.
"Laikin jo uss ny suffer kiya hoga meri waja sy woh bhool jaye ga?.... Ahil nahi bhole ga Nano"
"Das saal ho gaye hain Saba, tum ussy keh kar toh dekho.... Warna mein keh deti houn" She added.
"Nano.... Woh badal giya hai.... Usski priorities have changed.... Aap jo chahti hain woh nahi ho sakta" She started eating the grapes now.
"Mein jo chahti hun woh hoga.... Zaroor hoga.... Woh meri bohat respect karta hai, I am sure woh meri baat ko samjhe ga" Nano guaranteed.
"Aap bhi kiya baatein ly kar beth gayein Nano.... I need to freshen up.... Dinner par milte hain" Saba planted a peck on her granny's cheek before heading towards her bedroom.
"Mein bhooloun gi nhi Saba.... We'll talk later" Nano yelled from the kitchen.
"Sure Nano!" Saba shouted as she climbed up the stairs.