(Athena's POV)
Ariana was a proud girl. She never cried when all the children around her age were adopted, leaving her alone, when her classmates made fun of her for being an orphan and for having a lot of pimples and dark spots on her face, when her calculator failed and she lost a scholarship exam but now she couldn't hold back her tears. She couldn't find the strength to properly apologize. She lost herself in front of Aiden's mother. She could feel her tears traveling down the cheeks. When she finally expressed her emotions expecting to be lashed out or to get slapped, nothing like that happened.
After some time the other person opened her mouth.
"What is your name?"
She looked at Aiden's mother after hearing her question. She was expecting her to be angry at her but the expression on that face was of worry and pain.
"Ariana." She replied.
Both of them kept looking at each other. Ariana found herself unable to look at Aiden's mother and thus her eyes moved down.
"Don't feel sorry or pity towards my son. He doesn't need it."
Those words broke something inside Ariana. Again tears flowed from her eyes.
"I am sorry." Words slipped out of her mouth.
Seeing the awkward situation Rachel who was watching everything silently said.
"Mam, The doctor asked for you to meet him."
"Where is his room?"
"I will show you." Rachel said and started walking.
Maya nodded and started to follow her.
Ariana stood there, feeling ashamed. She did think that it would have been better if the car had hit her. She didn't want someone suffering because of helping her and it was now she understood that, thoughts like that are a huge disrespect towards Aiden. She had been questioning Aiden's actions but never showed gratitude for his action. She wiped her tears in her sleeves and ran behind Rachel and Maya.
Ariana found them standing outside the doctor's room.
"Can I come with you?" She asked.
Maya nodded in approval and entered the room as the nurse talking with the doctor had left.
Inside, the doctor signaled Maya and Ariana to sit.
"Who would you be?" He asked.
"I am Aiden's mother. The patient in the ICU." Maya said.
"O yes, the accident case, isn't it?"
Ariana nodded.
"The operation was a success."
Hearing the news a smile appeared on the faces of both Maya and Athena.
" But the head injury is a serious one so there is a chance that the patient may fall into a coma."
The remaining words of the doctor wiped the smile from the face of both women.
"If he doesn't show any sign of waking up within 70 hours we have to assume that he has fallen into a coma. Don't be afraid the chances are low and even if he falls into a coma it will mostly be a temporary one, in most cases and we can expect him to wake up within 3 to 4 years.
"4 years. He will be 26 by then. He will lose the best time to get a job. His life would be a complete mess, all because of me. No Athena, don't think like that. I will study hard and get a well paying job and you can support him till he finds a job. Yes, that's it." Athena thought.
"What about treating him somewhere else? Will it be better?" Maya asked
The doctor shook his head and said.
"There is nothing more to do in medicine."
They talked some more, Maya asked to enter the ICU and see Aiden, which the doctor rejected.
Then Athena asked about the chance of memory loss, which the doctor didn't reject completely, but he did say that, as per current reports the chance for that is less than 1%.
After leaving the doctor's room Maya shared her mobile number with Athena and left saying she had to get some papers ready at the insurance office. Ariana and her friends were waiting for Daniel, who had left temporarily to settle things for his daughters as he is a single parent.
Athena went to the toilet to freshen up and when she reached there someone came out of the toilet at the exact moment she was about to enter. She was going to open the tap when she heard a familiar voice from one of the cabins.
(Maya's POV)
She left after leaving the doctor's room saying that she needed go and prepare some insurance documents and submit them to the hospital. She was on her way to the women's toilet where she can get some privacy, when her phone rang. She looked and saw that it was from Ivan. She had called him last night to ask if he knew about the accident but he didn't answer. She answered and brought it to her ear.
"Hello Aunty, I had forgotten my phone in the car, so I couldn't answer your call." Ivan said from the other side.
"Aiden got into an accident. I wanted to ask you about that. "
"When? How? Is he alright?" He asked in a worried voice.
"Yesterday at midnight, he was helping a girl. He is in the ICU at PMR hospital."
"Aunty, Are you in the hospital?"
"Yes but I am about to leave the hospital. I have to go to the insurance company."
"Ok I will be there soon."
By the time the call ended she had reached the toilet. When she entered another woman was also present there. She waited for the woman to leave. When she became sure that the woman was about to leave she entered a cabin and called her husband. She told him everything, her eyes filled with tears. There was no sign of the strong woman Athena saw before, only a mother who couldn't bear the things that had happened to her son. Her husband tried to calm her and after some time he succeeded in it. Even after the call ended she spent some time there. During this time she heard the door opening and the taps being turned on and after some time the door opened again indicating that person had left. She got out of the cabin, washed her face and left the toilet feeling relieved for nobody comming to the toilet when she was crying, without knowing some did stumble upon her crying