Translations are in brackets.

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M A R I N A

The cafeteria queue wasn't that long so ordering a cup of coffee didn't take that much time to keep her awake at this time. She took a cautious sip, letting the warm liquid trail down her throat, the stimulant awakening the last of her senses as she made her way to room 257 - particularly the man's room whose fate was in the hands of Allah.

Marina sat down on the empty chair beside his room, scrolling through her messages on her phone to keep herself busy.

: Sis where are you ammi's been deadass worried about u??

: She was gonna stay up all night and wait for u but I stopped her

: I told her I'll do it instead

: You now owe me 20 bucks for doing shit for u -_-

These were all sent half an hour ago so she decided to reply. The last thing she wanted was one of her loved ones worrying about her - that too for no particular reason.

: Hey bro no need to do that I'll come later just got caught up in some stuff

: And I don't owe anything to your kanjoos ass k

A green dot appeared in front of his name, indicating he was online and ready to take his side of the argument.

: hmm and what stuff exactly??

: nothing important

: should I tell ammi you're out partying without her permission again? ;)

: I'll come home and tell you everything k

: And ur dumbass doesn't need to stay awake cos I already have the house keys

The door to her right opened, indicating her that the doctor was done. He walked out and made his way to other side of the corridor and turned around the corner.

She closed her phone, threw the empty coffee cup in the bin and ploddingly took steps towards his room.

The doctor couldn't tell her any of his details due to her not being family, but entering as a visitor was no problem. She wondered where his family was and why they weren't here.

Marina took the first step inside and she could've sworn she felt her heart hurt by looking at his pained expression. He was facing the other side of the bed and too weak to move so he didn't notice her right away.

When she was halfway across the room did he acknowledge her presence, his expression appearing to be confused rather than hurt at the moment.

"Hi." She said with a small smile in an attempt to ease the tension of the room. There were stitches above his left eyebrow.

"You are..?"

"Marina. Marina Malik." She looked up at him and he was already looking at her, his eyes fascinated and his cheeks a minute shade closer to pink.

She coughed softly to zone him back in. Shahroz shook his head to shake off the weird feeling in his chest - a feeling he shouldn't have towards a stranger.

"What's your name?" She asked kindly, even though she heard the doctor make a few comments about some Shahroz person but she just wanted to initiate conversation.

"Why do you ask?" He voiced, and she could tell his guard was going to be up for quite a long time.

"I..umm..I was actually there when.." She let her sentence dangle in the air, not sure how to complete it in such an awkward situation.

"When the car crash happened?"

"Uhh..yeah." She was now looking at her shoes which were constantly scraping the dust off the wooden floor.

"Wait ", he spoke, his tone taking over another octave and his voice a few decibels higher, "Were you the one who did CPR on me?" His words were coated with disbelief.

"Yeah, kind of." She said in a small voice, the awkwardness of the situation increasing by each word being uttered.

They were both quiet now, the silence being more uncomfortable than a fork running over a chalkboard. She could feel his cheeks redden further due the recent exchange.

"If I be honest, I don't remember any car crash but you and the doctor are saying that so I guess I'll just have to go with it. He said I had alcohol in my system so that made me forget the incident."

"Oh.." The unsettling silence descending upon them again.

Marina's head was tilted upwards, staring at the ceiling with an interest she never knew she had at the moment. At the same time, Shahroz was absentmindedly playing with the buttons on his hospital bed. They both sighed at the same time.

"Do you study anywhere?" She asked out of the blue for a change of topic.

"I go to UCL." he shrugged though he could feel her forest green eyes widen by a fraction.

"That's where I go! How come I've never seen you?" She vocalised in a bit of a rush.

He shrugged again, "I don't know. I'm in fifth year and ready to get out of that shithole anyways so yeah.."

"Oh. I'm in fourth year and all's going well. Till now." She saw him nod in understanding.

"I'm sorry if I'm prying too much but.. is your family coming?" Marina questioned, her voice seeping into the pits of hesitation.

He chuckled bitterly, his eyes glazed with the layer of agony before he continued, "I'd rather not have them here right now. It's better to not call them rather than being rejected and face reality." He cursed himself after realising he was talking too much.

"You should though. They're your family." She tried her futile attempt to convince him. He shook his head in denial.

"Are you calling them or should I?" She threatened with an edge to her tone.

"Listen it's no use I kn-"

"Give me your phone!"

He was taken aback with her change in demeanour. He sighed defeatedly and handed her his phone, smirking due to the fact it's locked.

Marina pressed the button to unlock it but the phone asked for a fingerprint. She returned his smirk, grabbing his wrist immediately - the part where her skin couldn't touch his - and unlocked it using his thumb.

'She sure is something ' he thought amusedly with a small smile playing on his pink lips.

As Marina scrolled through his contacts list, she checked the recent ones and tapped it with her thumb. Three contacts showed up and her eyes scanned them.

Samina

Saahir

Big bro

She touched the last option, one that indicated she was calling his close family and waited anxiously for the call to be accepted on the other end, her foot tapping on the ground in anticipation as she put the call on speaker mode.

When the other person picked up, she gave a look to Shahroz in a way to say, 'Told you I was right ', but that look soon went away once they both heard the noises coming from the other end.

"What the.." Her voice soon died as she heard a girl's scream from the other end - one that wasn't due to pain obviously.

"Ay bro why'd ya call? Told ya I'd be havin' a rough night eh." Shaheer's voice came from the other end which made his brother's blood boil due to embarrassment.

Both of them shared a look before Marina's mouth opened to utter something - anything - but she was interrupted again.

"Ahhhh baby! Faster! Faster!" The girl's voice was at the highest of pitches as she screamed at the top of her lungs, Marina cringing at the same time while pulling the phone away from her to prevent ear damage.

The voices died down and they heard some shifting in the other end before Shaheer's voice was clear, "Bro why'd ya call I told ya I wa-"

"This isn't your brother you little excuse of a human being!" Marina's seethed, "Shame on you! Your brother almost died tonight and you're out there recording your little love-making session and letting him hear it! Don't you have any decency?!" She was fuming by the time she ended her little speech.

The line was silent on the other end before his voice was heard again, "Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter you little scumbag! He's in the hospital for God's sake! Don't you have the heart to see him?!"

There was a pause before Shaheer spoke up again, "He can fuck off for all I care."

Marina looked at him and he looked down in disappointment, his heart squeezing in pain due to the bitter reality - rejection.

"But yo-" Marina was interrupted again.

"No buts." The call immediately ended and she stared at his phone's screen. She handed it back to him and taking her's out from her pocket to check the time.

1:37 AM

"Well that was.. something.." She said to slice the thick layer of tension in the atmosphere.

He nervously chuckled, not sure what to say before her voice made its way to his ears again, "I'll take that as my cue to leave." She said, her index finger pointing to the exit.

As she made her way towards the door, he said three words which gave her the hope that there has been some progress.

"The name's Shahroz ."

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