Erica's POV

I was finally on my maternity leave and was chilling out in the house. I spent the entire day in my bed watching Netflix. That's the only thing that I had been all these days - binge watching the tv shows. I lay under my favorite fleece blanket in the most comfy pajamas watching '13 Reasons Why' .

"It must be possible to swim in the ocean of the one you love without drowning. It must be possible to swim without becoming water yourself." Hannah said through the television screen. That line was really hauntingly beautiful. This girl had made me fall in love with the show so much. I was in middle of my zest for the show when i heard the door knob of the living room turn over. I initially thought that it must Shaheer but then i heard two harsh tones whispering to each other. An eerie and uncanny feeling crawled into my nerve.

I could hear the two men ransacking the living room. I got out of the bed and walked towards the bedroom door quietly without making any noise. I peeped through the door into the living room and saw two burglars scrabble around the room. I panicked and had no idea what to do. one of the burglar reached towards the stair and saw me peeking through the door from bedroom upstairs. I shut the door with the slam and locked it as fast as i could. I heard the two men climbing up he stairs with their rough steps. I was petrified when I heard banging on the door. They tried breaking the door. I quickly pushed the cabinet through the room in front of the door to prevent the door from breaking through.

I looked for my phone and dialed Shaheer's number with shaking hands. the rings played through the phone in a monotonous tune. The rings didn't seem to pause as Shaheer failed to pick up the phone. Damn it! he must be in the shoot. I called Raies, Shaheer's brother, he too was at set with Shaheer and i might get some help. My tension hiked up as even he didn't pick up the call. The two men kept screaming and banging the door. I finally decided to call the police. Obviously they wouldn't fail giving some help. I dialed the police and asked for help. They summoned to reach the house as soon as possible. My head starting to pound because of all the tension. I knew all this tension is good but the I couldn't help as my heart started beating faster with each passing second. I once again tried calling Shaheer but yet again he didn't pickup the call. I paced around the room as I waited for the police to reach the house. All of sudden it all became silent. The banging of the door. The shouts. The threats. All of that became quite. Did they leave? Probably they heard me call the police and they left. I moved the cabinet out of the door's way and pulled the door open discreetly. I walked out of the room quietly still not sure of what I was doing was right or a mere stupidity. Bad choice. Walking out of the room was a bad choice. I was moving towards the stairs to go down to the living room when my phone ringed and I could see Shaheer's name flashing through the screen. I just pushed the receive button to receive the call when I could feel being pushed down the stairs by someone. I toppled down the stairs and hit the ground with a thud. Everything started to seem blurry and faded. I could feel the blood oozing out he forehead. I could not open my eyes. Everything hurts. Every part of my body started to pain terribly. The baby. I silently cried tears thinking the worse consequences. I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. My eyelids felt heavy as i struggled to keep them open. The last thing that I could see through my lashes was the house door cracking open and the police entering the house.

🔶🔹🔶🔹🔶🔹🔶

I could feel my head pounding harshly. Every inch of my body hurts like hell. The pain was so sharp as if someone was stabbing me right through my body. My stomach squeezed in an unbearable manner. I struggled to open my eyes. I could feel my hands clenched tightly in someone's grip. That touch soothed me a lot.

I opened my eyes only to realize being in the hospital room with the monitors beeping around. I saw Shaheer sat on the stool near the bed. The head leaned over the bed as he slept holding my hands in his. He got startled and woke up because of my movements.

"Oh my God! Erica! You are awake. Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Shit! I was so scared!" he said as he checked I was okay. I nodded back at him saying that I was fine, even though I wasn't completely fine with all the pain running in my body. Shaheer called for the doctor. My breaths were still erratic and took me a while to stabilize myself. When I could recall what had happened, I started panicking with the fear of losing my baby.

"Shaheer! Shaheer! The baby! Is the baby fine? Please tell me that the baby is okay. I don't want to lose our baby." my heart started pounding as the fear of losing my child creped into my heart.

"Relax Eri! Relax! The baby's fine! You are fine. Please don't stress out. Please calm down. Don't worry, nothing happened to the baby." he said cupping my face in his hands as he wiped down the tears with his thumb. I sighed a breathe of relief.

"Ah! Mrs. Sheikh! Glad you're awake. How are you feeling?" the doctor came in the room and started checking my pulse rate as she stood beside my bed. "I must say Erica you're a strong woman and so is your baby. We've quite lucky in your case that everything turned out fine. However there will be minor complications throughout the pregnancy but I know that you can work that out." my raced thinking about the complications but I was relieved considering that they were minor.

" You will have to take extra care of yourself. You might experience sharp pains in the back and stomach and even severe sickness. Shaheer i will give a list of medicines which might help in cases like that." Shaheer nodded to the doctor's instructions. "Take care Erica." she said and left the room.

"God! I was so scared! It's all my fault I shouldn't have left you." he said as he sat down in the stool again.

"Shaheer! You know it's not your fault! Don't blame yourself for this." I said gripping his hands into mine as I circled my thumb over his hands.

"Those two rascals! I will not leave them. Because of them both of you were in danger."

"Where are they now?"

"In the custody. I will sue them." he gritted against his teeth. "I literally my heart skip a beat when I heard you scream in the phone. The police came to your rescue and sent you to tthe hospital. They have arrested both of them." he paused with a sigh. "Thank God you are fine. God knows what would have happened if the police hadn't reached in time."

"it's okay shaheer! I am fine. You know nothing would happen to the baby and me as long as you are there with us. I love you." I said calming him down.

"I love you too." he said as he kissed my forehead. "Now sleep. You need rest. I'll go tell the family that you are absolutely fine. They were pretty worried." he said.

He tucked me in the bed properly so that i could sleep and gave yet another kiss before he went out to inform the family.