No Conditions, Whatsoever

Strange

Author's PoV:

Ayan let out a wild growl as he struggled on the floor. He was on all fours, his body sweaty and exhausted. The thin, sleeveless and oversized tee-shirt that he wore was soaked. He clenched his teeth and tried to put all of his energy out to get the task done.

"Come on," Ahan cheered from the back, "just one more and it will be two hundred. Come on, you can do it." He watched his brother as he continued his run on the treadmill. The brothers were in a gym that Arhaan had discovered in their locality. It had been weeks since they had become a regular there. Ayan who earlier used to find exercising a boring activity, had now become a health freak just like Ahan, minus the cutting down on unhealthy food.

"Aah," Ayan groaned, finally being done with the two hundredth push up. He collapsed on the ground with a dramatic sigh, panting for breath.

Arhaan got up from his bench press and grabbed a bottle of water to hand it over to Ayan. "Nice abs," he commented.

Ayan's tee-shirt was all ridden up to his chest, revealing the hard earned toned muscles of his body. He grinned at the compliment thrown by Arhaan, "All mine."

"Our boy is all muscles now," Ahan praised.

Arhaan bent down to touch Ayan's arms. Gripping his biceps, the elder one gave an appreciating look to the younger one. "Look at my thighs," Ayan pointed to the south of his form and his brothers observed that the once skinny guy was indeed getting thicker.

"Very nice," Ahan nodded and gave a thumbs up. His run came to a halt when all of a sudden his phone started ringing. "Hello," he answered and got down from the equipment.

Ayan kept on flexing his biceps and moving his legs to show off his gains and Arhaan found it amusing. Watching him was like getting entertained by a child.

"Oh…alright. Yeah, don't worry…I'm going to pay a visit to him…at which hospital did you say he's now?"

The mention of the word "hospital" grabbed the attention of the other two. They stopped fooling around and focused their attention on Ahan, suddenly going serious.

"Who do you think it is?" Ayan murmured.

"No idea," Arhaan shrugged.

They noticed Ahan's expressions and understood that something wrong had taken place to have changed his mood from being playful to concerned.

"All good?" Arhaan inquired once he saw Ahan disconnecting the call.

Ahan shook his head, "Mom called. One of our neighbours has been hospitalised. I should go and check on him." Ahan grabbed his car keys from the nearby table and began to walk out.

"Which neighbour?" Ayan asked with a frown.

Ahan stopped in his tracks and turned to his brother. His lips formed a straight line as he responded to the question, "Maulvi Hamdan."

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.

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"Please eat something," Khadija requested in a tired voice, "your Baba is fine, Hani. The doctors are taking care of him." She sighed upon realising that her youngest wasn't going to oblige.

Hania had barely spoken a syllable ever since she arrived in the hospital. Her father was taken inside the ICU and was let out after some hours. The doctors said that this was a cardiac arrest. Hafeez Hamdan had been suffering from high cholesterol levels ever since Hania could remember. She had seen her mother and her sister religiously giving him his medicines everyday and night.

Since this was his first attack, it caused damage to his heart but luckily wasn't severe enough to kill him. But that didn't fail to scare his family who were now in the cafeteria, except Feiha who refused to leave her Baba's side.

Feiha sat motionless as she stared at her father's sleeping form. He had been given injections and medicines and was now told to rest. A number of thoughts ran in her mind that made her restless and scared. Her lips kept moving, reciting verses from the Qur'an to calm herself. Even though she knew about her father's health condition, she had never thought that a day like this could come. She had always believed that through proper care and regular medication, they could somehow prevent the higher risks. But fate proved them wrong and she felt defeated.

"Excuse me," a male voice interrupted her thoughts and Feiha looked up to find a young man dressed in a black shirt and blue jeans looking at her. "Assalamualaikum, I'm Ahan. My family lives in the same locality as yours. My mother told me about Maulvi Sahab's…" he looked at the man and then at the girl, "What did the doctors say?"

Feiha opened her mouth to answer but then realised the presence of a third person in the room. He was standing behind Ahan, his skin looked sweaty but he still glowed. He was wearing a casual white t-shirt and a pair of black joggers, his hair falling on his forehead and giving him a boyish look. His eyes were stuck on her, an unreadable expression adoring his face.

Feiha cleared her throat as she realised that she had a question to answer. "This was his first cardiac arrest," she said in a low voice, "Baba has been suffering from high cholesterol for many years."

Ahan nodded at her words, feeling sympathetic for the young girl as he noticed how worn out she looked. He had lost his own father at a very young age so he knew what it was to stand on that stage, fearing that your loved one would leave you and never come back. He had been through that and it still hurt him to remember those days.

"Don't worry," he tried to sound assuring, "Allah will cure him. And if you and your family need any kind of help, just feel free to contact me. You may not know this but your father is an old acquaintance of ours. He used to teach my brothers and my wife when they were kids."

Feiha's lips parted as her mind registered the new information. Obviously she knew that she had seen Ayan before, but she thought that their first meeting happened at the bus stop. Oh, how mistaken she was. She wondered if she had met him when they were kids.

Her gaze shifted on its own to Ayan and she immediately looked away as she found him already studying her. Can he not look away? She thought.

"Thank you for coming," she fidgeted with her fingers.

"Please don't say that," Ahan shifted on his spot, "I'd be glad if I could offer you help, no matter in any form. Just remember to contact me if there's ever a need."

Feiha nodded in gratitude and Ahan was almost about to leave when Ayan's voice surprised them.

"How are you?" His question was directed at her.

Feiha stood dumbfounded. She wished to stand strong and look into his eyes when she answered him but failed. Instead, she just kept her focus on the floor and muttered meekly, "Fine."

Ayan pressed his lips and noticed her slouched shoulders, her wrinkled grey kurta and her pale face.

"Have you eaten something?"

She didn't reply to that and Ahan just remained there trying to understand the exchange between them. He looked back and forth between his brother and the girl, not missing how the former didn't let his gaze falter from the latter.

Ayan sighed, realising that there wasn't much that he could do. He couldn't be authoritative and order her to eat, nor could he ask her sweetly. He wasn't in a place to do either and he felt frustrated about it.

"Please take care of yourself," he said softly.

Ahan cleared his throat, "We'll be leaving now." Feiha nodded. "Allah Hafiz."

As soon as the men were out of the room, Feiha released a breath that she didn't realise she was holding. What is wrong with me? She questioned. She looked at her Baba and immediately felt guilty for having had such stupid thoughts regarding a boy when her father's health was at risk.

Shaking her head, she took a seat beside him and kissed his forehead. "Please be healed soon, Baba," her voice was weak, "your flower won't be able to survive without you."

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