Yusuf parked his Mercedes in front of a multi story building. He unbuckled himself opened the door and got down making his way towards the other side towards the passenger seat.

He pulled the door open and saw Meher still sitting with her seat belt on lost in her thoughts.

"Nur Jahan it's freezing and I don't want to make a trip back to the hospital as a patient, so common let's go up." He said looking at her.

Meher unbuckled herself and got out giving a small smile to Yusuf. She looked up and saw an unfamiliar residence.

"We aren't home ?" She said looking around and then at Yusuf.

"We are." He said with a smile. "But at mine. There is no one at the Butt mansion, can't leave you there alone so you'll be stuck with me for time being." 

"Aapne Arham se baat -."

"I have. I have told him and it's no big deal Nur, now let's go." He said and held her hand and pulled her along to the building reception.

"Assalam Walekum Yusuf bhai." The valet said with a smile.

"Walekum salam sher, ye le." He greeted and tossed his car keys towards him. "After you park please let the keys be at the reception." He said and pulled Meher towards the reception.

A man and a woman sat at the reception wearing a formal outfit looking like they worked at a corporate firm rather than at a building reception.

"Good evening sir." The lady greeted Yusuf in a flirtatious tone. Her eyes traveling from his face down his body to see his hand holding Meher's.

"Hey Afsa." He said with a smile. "Will you be a sweetheart and inform everyone that they are to not disturb me today at all, no maids, no guests, no crazy pretentious patients please." He said and she nodded. "Only let Arham in, if he turns up."

"Will that be all sir ?"

"Yes. Thanks sweet cheeks." He said winking at her making her blush.
"Nur Jahan come on." He said pulling her towards the elevator but was stopped by the receptionist.

"Sir." She called out loudly. "We'll have to make an entry for your uh guest." She spat. "Buildings policy."

"She isn't a guest don't worry." He said and punched the button of the elevator with this finger.

The glass door slid open and he entered inside with Meher.

"I'll have to let go your hand." He said and took his hand from Meher's and placed it on the glass plate on the side of the elevator wall.

"Welcome back Mr. Choudary." A robotic female voice greeted him, the voice made Meher jump.

"Relax Nur Jahan just the lift." He chucked.

"It speaks ?" She whispered.

"It does." He said in a whisper mimicking her.

The lift she realised started to move upwards.

"Yusuf." Meher said in confusion. "Why are there no buttons."

"Because my fingerprint acts like one, they will directly take me to my house." He said as the lift stopped.

"Kindly enter the passcode." The robotic voice chimed again and the glass plate turned into a numerical palate.

Yusuf punched in a four digit password and the doors pushed open, opening into a beautiful living room.

"Let's go." He said and stepped out of the glass elevator and Meher quickly jumped out of it too.

"Welcome to my humble abode Ms Nur Jahan." Yusuf said with a warm smile.

"There is nothing humble about this place." She said with a smile and it was true. The living room stretch wide from one end to the other, white modern leather couches occupied some space on the far left of the living room. To the extreme right was a beautiful dining table separated from the kitchen by a glass wall. The entire length of the living room had a glass wall overlooking the national highway.

"You have an amazing place." Meher said as she stepped out of her shoe at the entrance and got into the fluffy slip ons Yusuf had provided her with.

"Thank you, thank you." He said. "Come on I'll show you, your room for tonight and then give you a house tour later." He said and pulled her along with him towards the left side of the house. A small corridor from the living room lead them to another section of the apartment.

"This is your room." He said pointing at a closed white door. "And that's mine." He pointed to the one opposite to hers.

"Come on in." He said twisting the door knob and walked into a beautiful European style bedroom with pastel green walls and a white queen size bed and sofa.

"This is your bed and -." He said pushing the door open adjacent to the bedroom door. "this is your wardrobe and washroom." He said smiling at her.

"There are a few clothes in the wardrobe, my sister's for when she comes to Pakistan." He said with a small smile. "They should fit you well. Now I'll leave to get freshened up and relaxed, I'll be outside just call me if you need anything." He said and walked out closing the door.

Meher too in a deep breath and admired the simple decor of the room, this was more her style, lighter colours and minimalist design. She went inside the walk in wardrobe, it was much smaller than the one at the Butt mansion but she didn't mind, she opened the wardrobe and rummaged through the clothes.

They weren't much but enough for her to find something to wear for the night. She picked out a black Nike track pant and a white and black collared T-shirt. She picked a folded Turkish towel from the upper most shelf and walked into the bathroom to freshen up.

Meher spent a good thirty minutes refreshing herself. She changed into the new set of clothes and final got out of the room making her way towards the living room.

"... no, we should be taking an less traumatic approach, I'd suggest a small key hole surgery, we can get the tumour out by laparoscopy while having a controlled spillage, the recovery will be faster and the procedure safer." Meher saw Yusuf pacing the length of the living room talking on his phone. He had changed out of his work clothes into something very similar to her own outfit.

Yusuf looked at her and smiled, raising two fingers in the air to let her know that he should be done in the next two minutes.

Meher returned his smile and nodded. She made her way to the couch and sat down resting her head against the head rest. It was already dark and the lights of the highway along with the head light and tail lights of the car looked beautiful through the glass wall.

Meher turned her head to see a small digital watch kept on the side table which flashed it was past seven thirty in the evening.

"... yes I'll ask my resident doctors and interns to prepare the OT, just get me a decent anaesthesiologist mine is on leave for her wedding." Yusuf was still on his phone but came and sat next to Meher looking at the beautiful traffic lights as well.

"Alright, Allah Hafiz." He said and cut the call turning towards Meher.

"Sorry sorry Nur Jahan, these old surgeons are tough nuts to crack and they keep on interfering in my business I wish I could ask them to take a trip to paradise already ." He said running his hand over his face in frustration but made Meher giggle.

"Relax." She said giving him a small encouraging smile. "I'll make you some nice strong coffee, you'll feel better." She said and got up and walked to the kitchen. Yusuf tailed her.

"Farah's clothes fit you well." He said looking at her.

"They did." She said assuming Farah was his sister. "Is she your younger sibling ?"

"She is my older and only sibling. Married to her childhood sweetheart and has a two year old son in Southern California." He said with a distant smile on his face.

"That's nice, I'm sure you miss them very much." Meher said putting a tea spoon of coffee powder into the cup.

"I do. But we keep on FaceTiming and sending each other pictures and videos so I don't feel so distant and alone."

"Here." Meher said handing him the hot piping cup of coffee.

"Thank you." He said and took the coffee from her. "I'll order some pizza and we watch a movie, what say ?" He said and Meher nodded.

"Come let's go to the game room we can plug in a movie there." He said and took her to a smaller room connected to the living room. It had a huge screen and an projected connected with two reclining chairs and a table in front with gaming controls.

"This is Arham and my Jannat." He said proudly. "Take this, put on whatever movie you want till then I'll order food." He said handing her a small remote.

After watching a comedy Bollywood movie and completing their dinner Meher bid farewell to Yusuf who stayed back as he said he had to study a new case a little.

Meher entered her new room and jumped on her bed sprawling across the entire length. The soft bed engulfed her in a warm embrace and soon sleep came knocking at her door.

•••

Her eyes shot open, the white walls and the strong stench of spirit was enough to know that she was in the hospital again.

She looked around to find herself alone in a big room with her body attached to various machines showing different numbers and graphs.

Hooriya turns to her left with a lot of effort and pressed on the button to call the nurse. A few seconds later a nurse popped in and rushed to her side immediately. She helped Hooriya  propel her bed at an angle to make her sit, and quickly noted down all her vitals on the chart.

"Can you call Dr Ahmad for me." Hooriya said in a hoarse voice.

"He's about to leave I'll get him quickly." The nurse said and dashed out to call the doctor.

Hooriya although couldn't feel the pain anymore, she understood that the time she thought she had wasn't much, she was soon coming to an end, she was running short of time.

She wiped the tears forming in her eyes before they could fall. She took in deep breaths and controlled herself.

The door of her room opened and in walked her doctor wearing a mask and the same nurse followed him now behind a mask too.

"Hey doc what's up ?" She said trying to lighten the mood.

"Hoor." He said and walked closer to the bed. "I'm sorry." He said in a low voice.

"Did you miscalculate the time ? Don't tell me I'm dying tomorrow." She joked.

"Hooriya. You don't have very long, I'd say two or three months if all goes well. I'm so sorry." He said remorsefully.

"You don't have to be sorry unless you are Allah miya, mujhe shikhwa sirf unse hai." She said with a sad smile. (I only have complains with him)

"Hoor you need to inform-."

"I hope you haven't told Arham anything ?" She asked to which the doctor shook his head in a no.

"Good. You will tell him I fainted because of stress and emotional pressure alright ?" She said wiping the treacherous tear which slipped.

"But Hooriya you shoul-."

"No." She said sternly. "Do as I say, please." She said and the doctor nodded. There wasn't anything he could do if Hooriya's wanted to keep her condition a secret, the doctor patient confidencality prevented him from doing anything.

An: I have positively lost track of time, I'm sorry for the late update but hey it's still Thursday right ?
Let's get this chapter to a 100 likes for an immediate update.