Everyone has two stories: The one they want you to know and the one they don't. My kids only knew what I shared with them. It's not like they pushed me to share my deepest darkest secrets; the thing is they didn't mind. All that mattered was the remaining time that ticked by and how we were going to spend it.

"What do you think you're doing?" My voice nearly shrilled in the hospital full of patients.

"I-" Before she could continue, I gently grabbed onto her little arm, helping the four-year-old down from the ladder, "I'm not going to ask you again."

Her eyes fell, "Layan told me, I couldn't do it,"

I helped her back into the hospital bed, "Where is Pops?" I asked before she could mummer her answer. Another voice thundered, "Mommy!" A little girl ran toward me with brownish curls bouncing as she went.

"Hello, baby," I said, catching her and kissing her cheeks. I turned to my father as I asked him accusingly, "Why weren't you in the room with Lila,"

"Did you do it ?" He asked, dismissing my question.

I nodded my head avoiding to say it out loud, "Layan, why did you tell your sister to go up the ladder," I softly spoke to her as she was still in my arms.

She frowned her brows and gave me an intense look just like him. "I only told her she couldn't. I didn't tell her to do it." She removed herself from my embrace and stood on the ground, "Why are you always angry with me?" She asked before she returned beside my father. "You love Lila more than me,"

Frustrated by the same accusation repeatedly asked, I pitched the bridge of my nose, as I gave the young girl a soft smile "Layan, I love you as much as I love your sister," I cleared it. "It is just that your sister needs my concentration, and you need to act like the big sister, isn't that right?"

"We are twins. She isn't older," My heart aches as I heard Lila speak, which reminded me of His weak voice.

"Are you in pain?" I asked quietly. Funny as she was, it wasn't amusing to watch her hurting just from trying to laugh.

"Some," She muttered.

"Do you want a nurse or some meds?" I wanted to make her feel better, but I felt utterly powerless.

I could see Lila's figure as she laid there, staring blankly at the wall. Yes, her body was present, but her mind was someplace else. It was there, in Disney land, fifteen months ago when she began to exhibit signs of heart failure again.

Now it was worse; Now she is suffering from Acute kidney injury (AKI) from congestive heart failure from being born as a premature baby while Layan even though she was born prematurely, she didn't suffer from anything, Alhamdulillah.

A woman knocked on the door frame, shaking me from my thoughts. I turned to look at the invader and saw it was the nurse. I left that hospital room they assigned Lila just in time for the nurse to prepare her for surgery.

"Ya Allah, help Lila." I murmured to myself.

"Come on," My dad's voice came through as he began to uplift Layan.

"I don't wanna leave," Layan shouted.

"I know," He sighed, rubbing her back.

"What if Lila doesn't come back ?" Layan whispered for her alone.

I blinked hard as sudden tears sprang to my eyes. Layan was finally conscious of the meaning behind Lila going to the operation room. She knew that there was a slight chance she couldn't see her again.

I couldn't send her home now, not after that. "She will. Inshallah," I whispered back.

"I don't wanna leave you," Layan continued. "Please don't make me go."

I looked toward my father, silently begging for help. I couldn't say no. I just couldn't. But she needed to rest and so did I. We both weren't in great shape.

The operation should take place in less than thirty minutes. I needed my energy to be diverted on Lila.

"You don't have to stay, Wahaj," My father spoke, his eyes still trained on his granddaughter. "You'll both sleep better at home."

"I am staying,"

My father smiled. "I wouldn't have wanted to leave if I were in your shoes."

I met his eyes gratefully while I ran a soft hand over Layan's back. Would it always be like this—being an adult and parent, while still being a child to someone else? I'd thought I'd grown out of being my father's child and into simply being his daughter, a distinction I'd stood by when he'd fallen into his mob ways. How could I be a child when I had to take care of my own? But now? Now, I felt small and scared, even while I knew I was healthy and sturdy for Layan and Lila.

My father guided Layan to a playroom inside the hospital wing. When he came back, he looked over at my eyes "Are you okay?" He asked quietly.

I was biting my lip. "Just...just tired," I replied.

"You had to do this," He reassured what I was thinking.

I nodded, "I know he had to repay to the child what he did to her."

"Where is Alexander ?" He asked.

"The police officers told him to come back," I spoke softly looking over at Lila from the glass window.

"Where did the men take him?" I asked my father, trying as much as I could not to sound worried.

"They will deliver you one of his kidneys." He answered merely suggesting that this was all I needed to know.

The nursies smiled sympathetically as they left the room. Layan came back and went to the couch as she gave a small grunt in her sleep and clutched at the shoulder of Lila's light jacket. Lila and I stared at each other. I watched her small chest rise and fall and noted the crease above her brow, as though every movement cost her energy and strength.

"Do you want me to call a nurse?" I didn't want to watch her in pain even if all her life, I only watched her in collapse.

Lila found my eyes. "Hurts," She admitted, lifting her left hand to touch her upper abdominal area on her right side gently.

I wanted to reassure her by saying that the man who gave me those Ecstasy pills that led to Layan and your premature birth which caused Cardiovascular issues were finally going to pay a small price and give away his kidney to you. Still, I knew she was too young to understand any of this, so I only gave her a short answer, "A kind man is going to provide you with his kidney, you are going to be okay, baby girl," I smiled softly at her saddened green eyes.

"You are going to be okay," I said before I brushed my hand on her head and began reciting a long verse (chapter 2, verse 255) that decribes God's power over all things; that our intercession in healing (and other situations) is only with his permission; and our knowledge in health and healing (and everything else is limited to what he has revealed to us so far: "Allah! There is no god but he"