Her hand convulsed on her side, giving a sign of life.

Saliha, who was constantly standing across Manal's private ward, noticed the slight movement of Manal. Her eyes grew wide, a burst of hope splashed on her face. She barged into the room, without caring and stood by Manal's bed, taking her hand in hers.

"Manal, mera bacha," Saliha said. "What had happened to you." Tears flooded her eyes. She looked at Manal's face, despairingly.

"Zoha," Manal said, her eyes were still closed.

Shehryaar walked in the room, immensely surprised to see Saliha with Manal.

"Shehryaar beta, please call the doctor. She is gaining consciousness."

He immediately left to look for the doctor, while Saliha stayed with Manal. When he came back, there was a doctor in white coat, stethoscope hanging around his neck, with him.

"Please can you stay outside as I treat the patient. Thank you," the doctor said.

The two nurse followed in as Saliha and Shehryaar left the ward.

"Ya Allah, you listened to my prayers. Please make my child the way she was," Saliha started begging and crying.

Shehryaar put an arm around Saliha's shoulders. "Mummy, Manal will be okay. Allah will make everything better." He put his mother's head against his chest, and kissed her.

"I heard her speak," Saliha said.

"What was she saying?"

Saliha hesitated.

"Did she call you?" Shehryaar asked.

"No. She was calling Zoha." She balked to say her name.

****************

Zoha was quiet and lost. She hadn't spoken to Hoorain since the morning. They had a break time and they thought to go to the library to sit in an air-conditioned place. Outside it was warmer again.

Hoorain picked the hardcover book from the shelf and laid it open on the desk to pretend she was reading. Zoha sat in her chair, staring distantly at something.

"Zoha, ab kuch bataogi kay nahi. What happened?" Hoorain said in a low voice.

She did not reply. Her lips were sealed with an invisible tape.

"Please. Say something. I don't like this silence from you."

Zoha looked up. Hoorain's words reminded her of the night. The night that left her shattered and unsettled from inside. Her mind was frozen at one thought: because I love you. No matter how many times she reflected on those words, she couldn't accept it as a reality. She couldn't easily believe in it. It was impossible. It could not happen.

Her own voice was lost somewhere. She couldn't speak nor think away from that night.

"Say something. What happened that you are not talking to me? Is it something I said?"

Zoha swallowed the saliva in her throat and parted her lips. "You knew it," she said in a soft voice.

"What did I know?" Hoorain curiously looked into Zoha's eyes.

"You knew it exactly."

"What?"

"But how? You never saw us together." Zoha talked absentmindedly.

"Who? I don't know what and who you are talking about. Please khul kay kaho. Mujhe samaj nahi aa raha."

"He said I mean so much to him."

"Who? Shehryaar?"

Zoha did not nod because she refused to accept it.

"How can I mean so much to him? Shouldn't it be Faiza?"

"Who said he was meant to be with Faiza?"

"Engagement."

"What value does engagement keep when he came to you and said it?" Hoorain said.

"Is this wrong?"

"Do you still think that Shehryaar will marry Faiza when he has fallen for you?"

Zoha looked in Hoorain's eyes, surprised at the way she was convincing her. She thought, was Hoorain the same friend that she had known for so many years. The way she spoke, the way she behaved was more mature and different. It seemed that she meant for Zoha to be happy.

"What I think what I feel doesn't make a difference to anyone."

"It will make a difference this time. Believe me."

"I don't think so," Zoha said sadly.

"Until you don't try it, nothing will happen. Zoha, you have to be strong. And believe in yourself."

Zoha was losing hope. She didn't have the nerves to do it.

"I can't," she said, troubled.

Hoorain settled back in her chair.

"It's not easy for me to say that I love someone else. Because I never really used this word for anyone other than dadi. She was my everything."

"But in life you have to move on. Your love for your dadi won't be less if you give love someone else or give them that space," Hoorain said.

Zoha had no words.

"Try to understand. One day you will get married. Would you want to marry someone whom you don't love?"

"Why is this so hard for me?" Zoha cried. "Why can't I do this?"

"Stop thinking that it's hard for you," Hoorain said. "Do you think it was easier for Shehryaar to express even this much of what he said? But he did. He believed in himself and didn't care about anything. Not even his family."

Zoha looked at Hoorain, at her persistence and not-giving-up attitude. It made Zoha feel like, like she was wrong the whole time.

**************************

Shehryaar groped for his phone in his pocket and dialed Sajjid's number. He was standing outside the hospital, near the entrance. When Sajjid picked up, he asked for Zoha's phone number because Sajjid often stayed in contact with her for pick and drop. Then he called Zoha.

"Hello, Zoha?"

"Jee?"

"Where are you right now?" Shehryaar said. The noise of the traffic on the main road drowned his voice.

"College."

"When will you get out? Can I come to pick you up?"

There was a momentary pause on the line. "Why? .... is everything okay?"

"Manal has gained her consciousness. She was calling you."

"Me?"

"I know it's surprising. Would you mind visiting her for the sake of her condition?" He sounded little helpless. "I know you came to see before too. But that time wasn't right for you. Believe me it won't be like that. Things are calm."

Zoha took couple of seconds to answer like she was thinking over. "Okay."

"When can I come to pick you up then?" Shehryaar said. He checked his wrist watch.

"One-thirty."

"Okay. Thank you so much."

Zoha didn't reply and ended the call.

Later in the day, Shehryaar went to pick Zoha. Hoorain was with her at the moment. Zoha hesitantly sat in the car and said Allah-hafiz to her friend. Throughout the way neither of them talked. Shehryaar drove fast because Saliha was alone in the hospital. Nobody came from Rubab's family. Faiza who said she would come, didn't come. Umair gave a call, asking about Manal's condition and said that he would visit in the evening and Rubab would come along with him.

As they reached the hospital, Shehryaar told Zoha to go inside while he parked the car. He returned as soon as possible before any problem occurred. Things weren't settled yet. It would take time. Shehryaar hoped that things would go back the way they were, when Saliha had good relationship with Zoha.

He found Zoha waiting in the corridor, standing some distance apart from her aunt. It wasn't pleasant to see the two family members pretending to be strangers.

Shehryaar went to Zoha, and gave a positive gesture to her.

"Come with me," he said.

But Zoha appeared little scared, looking at Saliha.

"Don't be scared. Mummy knows about you. She won't say anything."

Then Zoha ensued him to the private ward of Manal.

Zoha's heart beat increased as she saw Manal in hospital bed for the first time. Her eyes were closed. It seemed that she was unconscious again. Zoha looked at Shehryaar, with questioning look.

"When she first gained consciousness, she was calling you," Shehryaar said, his eyes at Manal, covered in white sheet, hand taped with intravenous drip. "Doctors came and treated her. Then she lost her consciousness."

"Are her injuries serious?" Zoha asked. She was feeling sympathy for Manal.

"Unfortunately they are." Shehryaar was disappointed. The dark circles under his eyes told he had a sleepless night. "Doctors say she has a damage in lumbar spine which can lead to loss of sensation in lower part of her body. Legs. Abdomen. Worse is she might suffer from paralysis." He paused. There was a remorse silence that crept Zoha. "Doctors are giving hope that she might not suffer from it. But it's not certain.

"I haven't told mummy. She is only waiting for the moment when she can finally speak to Manal."

Zoha went near Manal's bed and watched. It seemed that she might wake up healthy and would again talk to everyone. On the head, she had a gauze wrapped around, covering the spot near the center of the forehead where she was hurt. It must have bled because Zoha could see the red stain, dry from the passing time.

"Are you sure she called me and not someone else?" Zoha wondered, because she couldn't believe that the girl who always hated her and didn't want to hear about her, could remember her in the state of anesthesia.

"You can ask mummy. She was the one who heard her call you."

"But why me?"

Shehryaar's eyes were locked on her, speechless. Zoha couldn't look into his eyes for longer. When looking somewhere else, she could still feel the gaze of Shehryaar on the side.

"What else did the doctors say?" she asked to distract Shehryaar's attention from her.

"Treatment is ongoing. She is under observation."

After some time, Zoha realized she should be get going since she had seen Manal. She turned and headed in the direction of the door.

"Where are you going?" Shehryaar said. "How will you go home?"

Zoha turned to look at him. "I will call Sajjid baba. He doesn't even know that I am in the hospital." Just then she wondered how did Shehryaar knew her phone number. They never talked on the phone.

"I called him before I picked you up. He must have known that you are here. But if it's causing you any inconvenience then I can drop you home."

"No thank you." Zoha was already grateful of him. "I will go. Allah-hafiz." She opened the door and left.