SALIMA got there in no time, a dreadful feeling in her heart, praying over and over in her mind,
“Oh Allah, please don’t let anything bad happen to him.”
But her fears were confirmed when she saw the many family members there, crying, fear on their faces. She rushed into the ICU, and she stood there for a few moments, numb with fear, as she looked at his unconscious state.
“What is his prognosis?” She finally managed to ask the doctors in attendance.
“He has severe head injuries. It doesn’t look good.” one of the doctors said.
“What have you done to yourself?” she whispered to him, trying to stay calm for she was a doctor, she had to stay strong for the family.
“What we need now,” she said to the family after the attending doctors had informed them of his condition, “is prayers and hopes so he can pull through.”
His father’s face was ashen and his sisters couldn’t stop crying.
“How did this happen?” Salima asked.
No one could answer, too distressed to speak, then his father said quietly, “Today’s his mother’s death anniversary and we had an argument about a memorial site I want to erect in her name. He got angry with me and rode away on his bike.”

The father broke down crying uncontrollably like a child, “Why does he hate me so much? I’ve begged him over and over for forgiveness, what more can I do?”
Salima felt tears filling her eyes and she spoke to the father, trying to comfort him. It took all her expertise as a doctor, morally, to talk to the family members, to help them pull themselves together, to pray and hope for Rahim’s recovery. She herself was aching so badly inside but her friends gave her the moral support she needed, especially Dr. Laurel.
Four days and nights passed and his condition did not change, lying in a comatose state. On the fifth night as she sat by his bedside, one of the doctors told her it would take a miracle for him to recover. She looked at him, lying motionless, hooked up to a machine and she whispered, “How can you leave me now when you made me fall in love with you?”
She held his hand, speaking softly to him, “You said you liked my smile, if you don’t open your eyes, how can I smile again?”
The ache in her heart was so deep. She had been sleeping so little, tiredness overcame her.
Now as she leaned back in the chair, her eyes started to close and unconsciously she took off her hijab as she drifted off to sleep.
Rahim’s soul could have left but the machine breathing for him was holding him from crossing to the beyond. He wanted to go because he knew his mother would be waiting for him but a soft voice was talking to him, a voice he knew he loved, wanting him not to leave.
“What do I have to stay for?” he asked himself, seeming to be walking away in his unconscious mind.
“You have me.” She said.
He turned around and saw her standing there, her hair falling softly down her shoulders and her smile, the magic that helped him find his way out of the darkness, where he had been lost. She held out her hand and walking slowly towards her, he took her hand.
“Why do you want me to come back with you?” he asked.
“Because I love you.” She whispered.
Rahim opened his eyes, not sure where he was. Everything seemed to be in a daze. His heartbeat increased and as his eyes cleared, he saw her leaning back on the chair, sleeping peacefully, a most beautiful picture.
He hadn’t the strength to call her name but tried moving his finger a little for she had fallen asleep holding his hand. Salima felt the slight movement of his fingers and opening her eyes, she sat up with a start.
“Rahim?”
Doctors rushed to attend to him as she sat outside with his family, who were all crying quietly with deep relief, and giving thanks to Allah for his recovery.
Salima was sitting not too far away from Rahim’s father, quite unaware she was not wearing her hijab until one of the nurses from the ward brought it to her. She gasped, glancing at the old man as she hurriedly covered her hair but he raised his hand slowly, and with a tolerant smile he said,
“I will respect your choice.”
Rahim’s sisters looked at their father stunned, as he continued saying to her, “You’re like an angel Allah sent to save my son, and after a long time I can feel a little happiness.”
When Rahim recovered and had enough strength to speak, he forgave his father and a family that had been broken by hate and tension became one again, with love.
Salima had been paying him short visits to check on his progress and a week after her day shift had ended she visited him in the night. He greeted her with a warm smile and said in a casual tone, but she saw the pained look that flickered in his eyes, “I almost did not make it doctor.”
She smiled just a little, the ache and worry she had had to deal with not quite gone and it reflected in her eyes.
“The doctors had given up so it’s a miracle you recovered given the extent of your injuries.”
He sighed deeply, regrets in his eyes, “I was so angry that night, I rode blindly, not caring what happened, not stopping to think of the tension and pain my action was causing.”
He looked at her and said, “You’re the only one who showed patience and tried to understand me, and I’m sorry for the pain I caused you.”
She nodded and smiled, tears misting her eyes, “It’s fine.”
He reached out and touched her hand, “You didn’t give up on me though?”
“No.”
“Why didn’t you let me go?”
“Because…” she paused, not sure how to tell him what she was feeling in her heart.
“Salima,” he squeezed her hand gently, “Look at me.”
It was the first time he had addressed her not by ‘Doctor’.
A subtle passion in his tone, she had never heard before and at that moment when his eyes held hers, a love that had been hushed could now be expressed and she said to him, “Because I love you.”
He inhaled deeply and lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed it and said, “Words I wanted so much to hear, my mother will be very happy.”
Her love was the miracle that gave him a second chance to live.