Stairway to Heaven

27. Standstill

Thankyou everyone for waiting so patiently! Enjoy InshaAllah🥰♥️🤞🏻

"Dr. Hajra—Your 'shohar' is here for you." The nurse announced with emphasis on Shohar (husband). Hajra's brows rose ever so slightly at this, but she only sufficed to nod at her before resuming with her duty.

She walked into the Resident's room, which was deserted, safe for his presence. He sat on one end of the room with a bored look plastered on his face while he casually scrolled through his phone. Hajra sighed internally at the sight of him and the huge bouquet of roses placed on the chair by his side.

His gaze immediately shot up at the sound of door opening; eyes widening in glee, as he stood up with a bright smile.

"Assalamualaikum. Sorry to have kept you waiting." She spoke with a small smile, while crossing the room to make way towards him.

"I can wait a lifetime for you—This was just a matter of few minutes." He retorted cheekily and Hajra maintained her smile while taking the bouquet from his outstretched hand. She knew she could never get used to his blatant display of affection through words and actions.

Hardly anything had changed between the two of them in the past half year in comparison to before. And even though Hajra smiled at him now and then—that smile somehow never managed to reach the corner of her eyes.

"Thankyou. They are beautiful."

"I thought of you and rushed over immediately, before I risked collapsing from intense pain due to my longing for you. And anyways, if our relationship was left to your kind disposal, then we might just about—" He teased through a toothy grin and Hajra continued to listen to him go on with half an ear, while making way towards the back end of the table with the bouquet in her hands. Despite her best efforts she couldn't manage to safely tuck it out of everyone's sight.

"—Let's go out for dinner tonight!" He suggested out of the blue and unintentionally Hajra flinched at his words. She slowly turned to face him with a fake smile plastered on her lips.

"Uh....I have to get back in a bit, so..." She could only manage to utter this with an apologetic face and the scoff escaping his lips didn't escape her as he tore his gaze from her. Slowly shaking his head, as if to ward off the distressing thoughts haunting him; he crossed the distance separating them in few steps. His hands itching to take hold of her, but knew better than doing that.

"Are you still stuck on what happened last time? It's been more than a week Hajra since we last talked. Even now, I am the one who has taken the initiative. Can't you atleast—" Hashim continued with knitted brows and Hajra glanced up at him through a frown herself.

Before either of them could go on, her pager went off.

Simultaneously both of their gaze trailed towards the source of sound coming from her lab coat's pocket.

Exhaling an exhausted sigh, she turned it off and glanced up at him with a tired look; which seemed to be permanently plastered on her face these days. As if housejob wasn't draining enough, she had to juggle this too.

"Sorry. I've gotta go—" She returned curtly, before brushing past him and making a hasty exit from the room.

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"Uff—Mateen!"

"It's bhai for you." Mateen shook his head in annoyance; resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"I came all this way to see you and this is how you treat me? See, I even got you your favourite bagels!" Shanzay whined, trailing after Mateen who barely took any notice of her, while doing his patients work up.