Hello, here is an update.. hope you enjoy it.. happy reading.

         
  It was a busy Saturday for Anusha. Her boss was back in office, having marathon meetings with their consultant companies. Yasmin was going crazy over the continuous meetings so was she. Anusha was busy dealing with all the labours coming to check their leave approval and filing their problems and complaints.

Sometimes they will release all their anger and frustration on her, some will even cry, she would listen to them and to their problems without hesitation, that is part of her job and that is the least she can do for them. Today around hundred labours were send back from one site without prior notice. So they were making a fuss outside the office.

She had informed the related department and they were already working on it. Occasionally she got calls from manpower supply companies, for getting information regarding their manpower strength and their requirements. She can't give away such important information to other companies so usually she would politely decline them. Despite of her best effort, they still made calls to her, for appointments or for information, which kind of annoyed her especially days like today. She didn't realize that it was past lunch time until Arlene came looking for her. She informed Yasmin that she was going for lunch. Meeting was about to wrap up, and Yasmine would join them later.

                    Anusha warmed their food as Arlene tried to call home. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and walked back to their usual table. Arlene was frowning looking at her phone.

' What happened?' she asked as she sat down and opened her lunch box.

'They are not picking up the call.. I wonder what happened?' Arlene shrugged as she tried to call again. No one took the call and an uneasy feeling settled on both of them .

Anusha tried to comfort her friend by saying that they might had gone somewhere, but that didn't made any sense to her, because that never happened before. They always called at this time, to talk to Maria.

It was around 5'o clock in Philippines, perfect time to call and they never cancelled without telling Arlene beforehand.

'Don't worry ,let us try again later. Maybe they went outside or something. Have your lunch first,then we will try again.' She tried to convince her friend and herself.

After trying one more time Arlene joined her. They ate silently. Anusha had some rice and curries that Rashi made. It was tasty but she couldn't eat much as Arlene wasn't eating.

They sat there some more time and Arlene tried to call again which went unanswered again. She was panicking now and Anusha was worried. After dumping their food, they returned to their separate desk.

Yasmine came out of the meeting room, as the manager and clients had left for lunch. Yasmine gave her a tired smile and headed to the pantry area.
Yasmin was from Egypt, she was working for their boss for the past three years. She was the stunner of their department. Tall, beautiful and confident.

Anusha liked her, but they barely got time to catch up with eachother. Their boss kept her busy almost every day.
                        The morning rush was almost subsided by then and Anusha called Arlene for the update but her worried voice have that answer itself.

Anusha tried not to think about the worst case scenario. She was trying to distract herself but it wasn't easy. She was about to call Arlene again when Kathir came to the office. He took his safety helmet down, tried to dry off the sweat from his brow with a towel and smiled at her.

Kathir was from Tamil Nadu and his Hindi was very poor so he preferred to talk to her in Tamil. Anusha could understand Tamil well, but when she replied, her Tamil got mix up with English and Malayalam. He was younger than her and used to call her akka. His big figure and innocent smile was a delight to watch. She knew that he was there to confirm his leave approval.

'Akka.. please check and tell me..' he said as he gave her his ID.

She checked his application, it was already approved, so she printed a copy of it and handed to him.

'happy  now.?'  She asked with a smile on her lips.

'Yes Akka, Amma was asking about it every day. My younger sister is getting married soon, and I will be there.. I am so happy..' he grinned and she smiled at him.

He often talked about his sister, it was his biggest dream to marry her off to a good family. Once he told Anusha that she reminds him of his sister and their smiles are alike that he think of her as his sister.
Sometimes a total stranger can make you feel better and she cherished him too. He put on his helmet and waved goodbye to her.
He will go for vacation by next month. Her own annual leave was dated for the next month.
Last year she didn't go for vacation, she didn't know what she will do , she didn't want to face anyone and it was easy to stay back so she baby-sat Rashi who was due at that time. 
Ninnu will turn one next month and her vacation will start and she hadn't planned anything to do.

She sighed and tried to relax until Arlene came to her desk. Her shoulder was dropping and eyes were brimming with tears that made Anusha worried.
Anusha held her shaking hands as she stood up.

'What happened? Why are you crying? Did they call you back?' she felt breathless as she looked at Arlene.
 
  'Mom called me now... Maria is in hospital. She had stomachache from the morning, and they went to hospital by noon. Doctor said that she have appendicitis...it is in bad shape, she need immediate surgery... I don't know what to do... Arlene broke down as she told the details.

'Maria is hospitalised?..what is happening? '  Her heart ached for her friend, she could feel tears pricking her eyes.

She tried to stay calm, god...please take care of Maria..she muttered a prayer under her breath. She needs to strengthen up for her friend, she cleared her throat and tried to sooth Arlene.

'Maria will be okay...she is our strong little girl... nothing will happen to her... please don't panic...okay?' Anusha brought her a glass of water and let her calm down.

'Did they tell you about her condition now? When will they conduct the surgery?'. Arlene shrugged in between tears.

Anusha got her phone and called Arlene's parents. Maria was in ICU, her condition was bit critical, they said.
Her CT scan report showed that the appendix was inflamed and about to burst. They ran more tested and now they were waiting to subside her temperature, to perform the surgery. Arlene got to talk to the doctors and they comforted her saying that Maria will be fine.

Arlene was at ease, so she send her back to her desk. There's nothing they can do now other than pray and wait. By 4.30, Maria was taken to the theatre. Anusha decided to stay with her friend for the time being so that she won't feel alone. She called Rashi and told her about her plan. After work, she accompanied Arlene to her apartment, who lived in Doha, on their company vehicle.  

                      Arlene's apartment was located in the suburbs of the city and she shared her studio apartment with another girl. It was a small apartment on first floor with beige colored paint covering all the walls. A small kitchen with some utensils and cooking range situated in the corner of the room. Two cupboards and two beds and a dressing table covered the rest of the space.

They had a TV placed on the wall and a small couch at the centre. It was congested, but clean.
Arlene was worried sick about Maria. Dealing with such a situation when you are countries apart, is horrible. Anusha wondered how Arlene is holding up. Arlene kept calling her parents who was as worried as herself.
Anusha made some coffee and she made Arlene to drink some. The time dragged as they waited, they prayed silently and by 7'o clock, Maria was out of surgery and she was fine too. Arlene was able to talk to the doctors and they allowed her to see Maria, who was in recovery room still asleep. Doctor said that she was out of danger and they would keep her in ICU for observation for one or two days and then they will shift her to room.

Arlene was finally at ease and she managed to put a smile on her face while talking to her worried parents. Anusha felt relief washing over herself. Nothing went wrong and Maria was out of danger now. She called Rashi again and told her the details. She told her that she will take a cab from there and head to home. But Rashi was acting like a worried mom and told her that Akki will come to pick her.
She didn't want to argue with Rashi so she gave in and send the location to Akki's phone. They waited for another 30 minutes outside the apartment before the car pulled into their parking lot.
Arlene hugged and thanked her for being with her the entire time. When she approached the car, she found Alvin in the driving seat.
She smiled and waved at him, this time her smile was genuine which reached her eyes that surprised both of them.

'Surprise..!!' he beamed at her as she came to him.

'What are you doing here? Where is Akki?' she asked as she got into the car.' I was with Akki when Rashi told about you being here. So I told them I could pick you and now I am here.' he grinned with a glint in his eyes.

'Uh..thank you for coming..' she smiled again.

'Come on, put on your seat belt and let us go' he started the engine and they headed to home.

It was dark outside and she was relaxing for the first time in the day. She was tired and her head was pounding.

'So tell me ms.good Samaritan, how is the child?' he had heard from Rashi about Maria, but he wanted her to talk and this was a safe topic.

'Hey... what's with good Samaritan? She is my best friend and that is the least I can do for her ' she said in an offended tone as she  shrugged and sat back.

'Ohho... Anusha, I was kidding, you were acting like a real good friend and I am sorry if I offended you.'  he was tensed now and that made Anusha laugh at him

'That was easy...you know' she punched at his arm lightly and he smiled.
'Oh.. I didn't know that you would joke around..my bad..'

'Yeah... I am kind of acting weird lately..' she was really joking around him and that was a new thing. She paused for a few seconds to think about what was she doing. She was not like this, but the new find confidence kind of scared her.

'um..about Maria, she is fine now, they have removed the as appendix and her condition is stable, and they might shift her to room soon if everything goes well.' She said without taking her eyes from the road.

She was thinking about Arlene, she was her close friend and she loved Maria. The  little girl was so adorable that she looked forward to talk to her everyday. Maria was fine but still Arlene's worried look lingered in her mind.
'God.. please keep them safe' she prayed for them. Alvin touched her arm, and she turned to look at him.

'What are you thinking so deeply? Everything is fine? Isn't it?' She nodded in response. She took a deep breath and touched her throbbing head with one arm

' Arlene is my one and only friend other than Rashi here, and I love Maria too. We talk to her at our lunch break every day. She is adorable and I was worried about her. I can't even imagine how Arlene must have felt the whole time when she can't be there for her child. Poor girl...she is a single mom, and I admire her how hard she try to keep her family happy...and I hope and pray that Maria will recover soon too.'   her voice trailed off and she sighed to keep herself from crying.

Her heart was heavy with emotions. There was something else that was bugging her mind. She always had a weird feeling about herself, the people whom she loved and cared always ends up in trouble. She lost her mom who was her entire world and then it was Nevin.

She tried to avoid this stupid feeling as much as possible but it was always there. Now she worried about everyone who came to her life. She didn't want to get attached to anyone and witness something bad happens to them. She felt responsible for any harm that happened to her loved ones. It was ridiculous..she knew, but she couldn't help it.

Her eyes welled up and she tried to blink back them but still alone drop escaped her eyes and it made an uneven path on her cheek. She cleared her cheek with the back of her hand.
        She was bothered by something, he knew it, but she kept it to herself. He didn't want to press her so he kept driving without questioning her.

It was killing him to not to ask her what was troubling her.

'Do you believe in signs Alvin?' She asked him in a low voice that was barely a whisper. 

'What?? You mean like star signs? I don't think so. why? Do you believe in them?' he looked at her face which was difficult to read.

'Not star signs, I am asking about signs that happens around you that tells something bad is going to happen...' she stopped without completing her thoughts.

'no.. I never noticed anything like that.. why are you asking ?' he replied with worried look in his eyes.

'nothing Alvin..don't mind me.. like I said, I am kind of weird today.' she smiled nervously.

What was that? he wondered why she would ask such a random question. This girl is difficult to predict. She was pointing to something silently and he was sure that one of these days, she is going to tell him herself.

They reached home soon. She had dinner with Rashi and went to her room. She was so tired and wanted to sleep but she couldn't sleep for a long time and when she slept, it wasn't peaceful. She had nightmare and woke up crying calling out Nevin's name. Something was there, that kept her from sleeping..

Hi.... I hope you like this chapter. Keep reading and please vote and comment too.. thank you 😊
See you soon.