Chapter 47 29: B

Nana shook her head while she cleared her tears away, "No, but there were times when she complains of lower abdominal pain. But Ya Mujaheed, it has never become this worse." Dr Haris sighed and pinched the bridge between his eyes, "I wonder if this is because of the miscarriage she had, but you ll have to bring her to the hospital for proper examination. I've given her a dose that will ease the pain for her, but nothing is guarantied, as it can come back at any time." Mujaheed shook hands with him and spoke, "Thank you, Dr. I ll make sure to bring her when she feels better." He watched as he left the room and Nana took the IV Dr Haris had came back to take off from her body to discard. "It s already late at night, I'll come back in the morning to check up on her, if there s something I can do please call me, Ya Mujaheed." He nodded his head and wrapped his hands across his chest, staring at Fareeda that slept peacefully as she looked so pale and thin that he wondered how she had lost so much weight and he hadn t noticed. Was it because he hardly glance at her way? He brought the vanity stool and sat in front of her as she slept, just staring at her face. His phone beeped and when he checked, it was a message from an unknown number. They were only two pictures sent to him, and when he opened it, he wished he hadn t. They were pictures of Fareeda together with Adam, they had smiles on their faces. The first picture, she was warmly holding his arm and he planted a kiss on her cheeks while she grinned lovingly. And the second he was hugging her from behind, his hands possessively wrapped around her waist as she looked up at him with love dancing from her eyes. He tightened his grip on the phone and wanted nothing but to smash the phone until it broke completely. He dialed the number that sent it to him but it had already been switched off. He stared at Fareeda that was still sleeping in front of him and felt so much hatred for her filled his heart. Even though he was sure that those pictures had been taken when she was still in love with Adam, maybe she was still in one with him. Before she had gotten married to him, but who knew? She left with him to Katsina. But as much as it hurt him, he knew at least they weren't after he brought her back from Katsina. He stood up and left the room because he didn t trust himself enough not to say things to her that he would likely regret later after she she had woken up. He went out to the gate and sat on his bench, he stared down at his tea things but nothing appealed him, he was feeling pain at the deepest corners of his soul. The bitterness hugging all his taste buds. He looked up at the sky and wondered what it would feel like to forget about everything that happened between him and Fareeda, all those hurtful things. How amazing it must ve felt like to forget that Fareeda had had Adam in her life and no matter how Mujaheed wanted to be her first in everything, he was too late. Recalling how happy she looked in those pictures, he realized it had been long since she smiled that way. Or maybe, he didn't care enough to look at her to know whether she was smiling or crying. After he felt the dreading feeling of loosing her today, he thought about forgiving her so they could start all over, but after he saw these pictures, he concluded that she wasn t for him. He would stay with her forever, but they would never be husband and wife in a true sense. ... It stayed like that for over a month now. And whenever Mujaheed asked her if she was feeling any pain, she had always told him that she didn t. She didn't know what was wrong with him though, because if she wasn t mistaken before she passed out, Mujaheed looked like his old self, more than his old self even. He looked so worried that for a moment she thought if she told him what was wrong with her, he might ve done all he could to make sure she was saved. She was in so much pain, and everyday it felt like it was intensifying. And now, she had resorted to avoiding Mujaheed at all cost because it only got to intensify whenever she was together with him. They didn t have to be close to each other, just being together with him from a distance was enough to stir her up and she would have herself crying due to excess pain. She had to resort to taking pain killers because if not, she would dash out everyday. She had asked Nana whether she had put something into her food that day or she had seen someone did that, and Nana swore to her that she hadn t and didn t see anyone as well. Fareeda wondered what was wrong, what had went wrong or who wanted to see her dead apart from Asma u. Which she was sure Asma u will never do this for her because the one thing she dreaded in her life was for them to be intimate with each other. She had just prayed her Asr Salah when she felt as her mood slowly began to change, she didn't know when her heart lost a bit because feeling that was the same as her heart being tugged out of her chest. She rushed to her bedside drawer and pulled it out, taking the bottle of her pills, Fareeda shook it but she lost all hopes when she didn t feel anything in it. How did she exhausted her pills without having a way to get another ones? She clenched her lower lip when she felt an excruciating pain in her lower abdomen and also her body began to weaken. Her skin pores began to straighten as all the sentive parts of her body became more lousy with desire. Her tears sprang from her eyes as she slid down beside the bed with both hands on her lower abdomen as she massaged it to feel some ease. But nothing came, it only increased with each tick of the clock. When she heard the living room being closed, she closed her eyes because she knew for a fact that today, unlike other days wouldn t be so easy for her. Because since the first day it had happened, luckily whenever the mood struck, Mujaheed wasn t around and he wasn t back until she was fast asleep after getting some relief. And from that day, he started sleeping in the room as well, which to her she understood that he did that in case of emergency and she couldn't walk to the living room to ask him for help. She didn t put the barriers between anymore, but she was so self conscious that she barely had two full hours of sleep at night. He walked into the room with a soft Salam on his lips and the moment his eyes fell on her as she rolled from one side of the living room to the other, he rushed to her and caught her into his arms. "Fareeda, what s wrong?" He asked, lifting her up as he hugged her tightly to his chest. With her tears rolling down unchecked on her cheeks, she shook her head at him. "My stomach, I think it s going to kill me today." She felt as his hands moved up and down on her arms and that wasn t helpful to her body. She wanted to shoo him away, tell him that she would appreciate it more if he helped her from a far distance, but she didn t have the energy to do so. "Where s your car key?" He asked, and amidst her painful whimpers and cries, she shook her head. "I don t have to go to the hospital, I'll be fine when I take the pain relievers." Sometimes the way her body responded didn t disturbed her like the abdominal pain did. Because for that, she would act as if nothing was happening within her body and keep on acting as she used to. But for the abdominal pain, she couldn't pretend she was fine even if she wanted to. "You won t be fine. I'm taking you to the hospital and that s final. Where is your car key?" She pointed at the bedside drawer for him, he held her sat upright and rested her head with the bed before he took the key and went to where she sat, groaning in pain. Mujaheed cupped her face into his hands and wiped the bead of sweats on her forehead. Looking at the way she had clutched her lower lip, he leaned in and kissed her forehead tenderly before he looked back into her eyes, "You ll be fine, okay? Let s go to the hospital, can you walk or I should carry you?" That kiss, if only he knew. She felt the way her body responded to that kiss and more tears gushed down her cheeks knowing so well she had no other choice. If only he hadn t kissed her forehead, she might ve endured a bit of it. She closed her eyes before she pulled him to her body and hugged him tightly to her chest, feeling the way he felt tense under her touch. "Fareeda..." He slurred and she rested her head on his chest. "Mujaheed, please let me hold onto you just once." She said breathlessly and felt the way he timidly wrapped his hands around her back and fondled his palm on her head. She wanted more of this. No, she would have to rephrase that, she needed more of this, but knowing there was no way she was getting that, it brought more tears to her eyes. With a swift flick, Mujaheed scooped her into his arms and she looked up at him with her drenched lashes. "We re going to the hospital, nothing will happen to you. You ll be fine, okay?" Despite the excruciating pain she was feeling, Fareeda nodded her head at him and rested her head on his shoulder as he walked toward the parking lot. He secured her into the car before he walked to the driver s side and sat down, "Just hold on a bit, we ll be there as soon as I can get." She kept wincing in pain on their way to the hospital and when they got there, she was rushed to the ward and Mujaheed was asked to wait. It took them nearly an hour before she was wheeled back to the doctor s office and he called Mujaheed together with him. He looked at her seated on the chair opposite his and she kept weakly fidgeting with her fingers. "What s wrong with her, Doctor? She has been suffering from this abdominal pain for over a month now, what might ve been the cause of it?" He asked, fixing his sophisticated look on the doctor that pinched the gap between his eyes and looked between the two of them.