Chapter 25 - Minal

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"Minal, please meet us in Standard Hospital. Your dad had an accident recently and he's currently in the emergency room!" 

As soon as I was done reading my mom's text message, I left Sayyada's house in haste and drove to the hospital.

On arrival, one of the nurses guided me to where mom and Ya Siyyama were, they were in the rest room close to the emergency ward.

"Mom!" I ran over to them, they looked worried and were pacing 'round... chanting. "Mom, how is he?" I curiously asked.

"We haven't heard from the doctor yet, but one of the nurses told us not to worry" she replied, "but how can we not worry when we don't know his condition?"

"Ya Rahman!" I muttered, sat in one of the seaters and bury my face in my palms, "What have we done, Oh Lord, to deserve this?" I absentmindedly said.

"Stop saying that, Minal, it's not good. We should be grateful he didn't die in the spot, at least we still have hope... so have faith, sis!" Ya Siyyama exclaimed.

I didn't bother replying her, albeit she was right. I kept my face buried until the doctor came later. Mom quickly stepped closer to him and asked how dad is.

"He will be fine, God's Willing" The doctor said and continued, "However, he needs blood transfusion"

"Don't you have blood in your banks?" Ya Siyyama chimed in.

"We don't have the type he needs right now, and we also don't have O negative. If we can get O negative right this moment, I can assure you that he's going to be fine. Is any of you here O negative?" he said.

"No, oh no!" Mom said and suddenly burst into tears, "Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un, where on this earth are we going to get blood now for God's sake!" she lamented.

"Calm down, madam..." The doctor tried to calm her down but all efforts to no avail. I also did my best but while on the process, I burst into tears as well.

It was only Ya Siyyama that didn't seem to worry much, she swiped through her phone and dialed someone's number. She then briefly went out to make a call with the person.

When she was back, she told us one of her friends is a universal donor and would be coming soon to help.

"Madam, you heard your daughter right? Someone is coming to help, so calm down... okay?" he said and then returned to the emergency room.

Shortly after, Ya Siyyama's friend arrived. A tall Kanuri girl, chocolate in complexion and beautiful in the face. She had that pointed nose that resembled that of a movie actress I knew.

"AsSalama Alaykum, ina yinin ku" she greeted us. 

Mom was the first to answer, "Wa'alaikumus Salam..." she welcomed the lady warmly together with Ya Siyyama.

Thus, a nurse was summoned and the lady was taken to another section of the hospital by the nurse for the transfusion to take place.

After everything, she stayed there for some time before coming out.

"Thank you" Mom said to her with a smile on her face, she was so happy.

"You are welcome, ma" The lady beamed back at her and then sat right next to Ya Siyyama. "That's Minal, right?" she asked, gesturing to me.

"Yes Suhailat, that's Minal" Ya Siyyama muttered.

"Wow, she's beautiful" she commented.

"Yes she is" Ya Siyyama huffed.

...

Minutes later, the doctor came and told us they were done with the surgery and that dad is fine. However, we wouldn't be able to see him now as he would be needing some rest, pending his transfer to his ward.

"Thank you so much, doctor. We really appreciate it" Mom said with happiness written all over her face. Well, I was happy too. "Suhailat, right?" she turned over to Ya Siyyama's friend.

"Yes ma" The lady nodded positively.

"Thank you once again, but are you new in town? Because I've never seen you around" Mom said prompting the lady to smile.

"I am actually not from here," The lady said and continued, "I am from Maiduguri. Siyyama and I met few weeks ago in an NGO program at Tudun Fulani, and since then we've been friends"

"Eyyah" Mom muttered. 

"Yes ma" The lady said. She then told us how remarkable working with Ya Siyyama was, "Siyyama is intelligent, I don't know why she turned down all the job offers she got in favour of this NGO we are working with"

"Help me ask her o, she said she wants to become a doctor without border and that only working with NGOs can make that dream possible" Mom sarcastically said.

They kept talking until eventually, dad was brought out of the emergency room and we followed the nurses to his ward.

There, he was fixed to the machine... and we were told to not make any attempt to adjust anything or try to wake him up.

To be honest, he didn't look good with all the bandages even though we were assured he would be fine.

Fresh tears rolled down my cheeks as I imagined the kind of pain he went through before being brought to the hospital.

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Another update...

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