The Fire in Her Eyes

Mesmerized by Erhan's charm, Yara just realized that the nurse called her name when that girl's hand waved in front of her wide-opened eyes.

"Where is the patient, Miss?" 

"Yeah? Oh…it's my Mom; she fainted inside," unable to control her nervousness, Yara pointed her finger randomly at the door.

Those nurses and Erhan dashed inside the house with the stretcher, followed by Yara after she got back to reality. That girl showed them where her mother was lying unconscious. 

Erhan gave the woman first aid, putting the oxygen hose in her nostril and the IV on the back of her hand. He then instructed the nurses to lift the patient onto the stretcher; once the patient's comatose body had settled on it, they carried it into the ambulance. 

Yara sat next to her mother's somber torso lying down in the vehicle, watching her motionless figure with her teary eyes. Her mouth lost its ability to mock and scold her. Her hands could no longer possess the power to hit her or grab her hair.

"Mom…. I'm sorry." Yara's voice shook due to her sobbing. Her hand slowly moved towards hers; she held her mother's palm and gave it a kiss, asserting her compassion. Her obnoxious action toward her was nothing compared to how she had taken care of her since she was a baby.

The ambulance halted, arriving at the hospital; the nurses pulled the stretcher out and moved the fainted body of Yara's mother onto a rolling bed, pushing it in a rush through the entrance of the white building. Yara chased their jog along the corridor, turning to the right at the nurse station facing the wide lobby where people sat on the long benches arranged tidily. They vanished into the emergency room; Yara's steps quit as the nurse did not allow her to get in.

That girl stayed standing near the door; her palms joined and slid up and down, killing her anxiety as well as the freezing temperature biting her skin. Her eyes once in a while peered through the half-glass door at her mother being checked and treated by the doctor.

The door shrieked open and the doctor, the middle-aged man with gray hair, emerged at the doorway; Yara impatiently asked him about her mother's health state. A smile brightened his face, signaling good news for her. 

"How's my mother, Doctor?"

"There is no serious issue; she just has a hangover from consuming too much alcohol." Her face crouched as Yara recalled the views of the bottles scattering on the floor and table in the house which she had no chance to throw away or take care of. "I suggest you remind your mother to stop consuming alcoholic drinks because it's not good for her health." Yara just ducked her chin to his advice; it would be useless though for her mother would not listen to her. "However, she needed to be hospitalized for her high stomach acid." The doctor then strode away after that short talk.

"Excuse me, Miss," Yara jerked at the woman in a white nurse uniform coming to her, "are you the guardian of the patient Mrs.Ghusal?'

"Yes, I am her daughter."

"I just would like to inform you that we will transfer your mother to her ward soon."

"May I see my mother inside for a few minutes?" My index finger pointed to the door.

"Sure," Then, that nurse left me.

Yara's feet stepped into the cold room with its below-zero temperature and dashed toward the bed where her mother was lying in her tight sleep. Yara took a stand on the bedside near the electrocardiogram on the bar. Her eyes traveled around and spotted only the other beds leaning against the white separated and caged by tall curtains before falling on her mother who still did not move. 

They had changed her clothes into a hospital robe now. Her pale face with her nose free from the oxygen hose and shut eyes faced the white ceiling. Yara hesitantly and carefully touched her hand with the IV stuck in it and whispered her worries to her ears.

"Mom…please wake up." She murmured softly that it was her, the one who could hear her trembling voice.

"Miss…." Yara was startled at the voice of a nurse approaching her with a team of three other nurses. "We're going to move your mother to the ward."

She stepped aside, letting those nurses lift her mother's body to the rolling bed to take her to the other room where she would receive more intensive regular treatment until she recovered. 

Instead of following them, Yara's feet turned to the nurse station on the right corridor; she had to talk to the administration staff just in case they could give her a little dispensation of the postponement for her mother's hospital bill payment.

The girl who was in charge at the counter greeted her with her soft smile; she smiled back at her before telling her her issue. 

"Good evening, Miss. Erm…I…would it be possible for me to pay the bill tomorrow!? I didn't bring cash and I left my card at home."

Before the girl responded to Yara's words, a man's sweet voice interrupted, showing his kindness. When she looked back, she could not help but gaze at him in admiration; he was a true hero in real life. Erhan handed the nurse his card.

"The bill is on me."

"Thank you. Thank you so so much." She bowed to that man in a white cloak and a stethoscope circling his neck. That man didn't react to what she was doing; he resumed his walk, leaving the counter. 

"Doctor….Doctor Durmaz…." Yara jogged after him, who quickly disappeared inside the lift. She paused, not intending to take the next lift. Straightening up in her spot, Yara saw the lift's door was rising. 

The fire of spirit in her eyes rekindled. To her, all his kindness became a fuel to her energy to pursue her dream; and her only desire was to be with him.

***

After completing all her tasks of being a janitor in the hospital where her mother stayed, Yara jogged toward the lift to get to the sixteenth floor where her mother's ward was located. It took a few minutes for the lift's door to open; and she posed in front of it patiently.

Two unfamiliar people in a black tuxedo with a cap on their heads strode closer to her who did not show her suspicion at them at all. One of those men passed a paper of a short message to her which Yara received with her furrowed eyebrows.

"What is it? And who are you?" Her eyes raised at them in wonder.

"Our boss wants to meet you, Miss." One of them, whom she noticed having a thick mustache, announced. Yara read the words written on the small paper.

"Follow them." only those two words were stated there. 

"No…I can't go with strangers!" Yara rejected and pressed the button of the lift, attempting to run away from them. But one of them smashed her shoulder with his fist; before Yara's body plummeted to the floor, the man's arms caught her. After scanning around to make sure the area was clear, they brought her, who leaned on the man's chest, to the open lift.