Chapter 1

[MEMBERSONLY]

Hey everyone!

I'm here with my 5th one-shot. Today's hospital BTS and our imaginations tempted me into writing this. Since I've never written something this quick, I hope my mistakes are forgiven. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was quiet, unbearably quiet. The place hardly warranted mirthful cheers. Joy was largely a forbidden affair in its unnerving stillness. She sat alone in menacing tranquillity, with horripilation and dread refusing to release her from their deadly grip.

It was probably hyperbolic on her part to be possessed by a fear that the man on the ICU bed was going to be engulfed by something dreadful. But rational thinking was hardly her forte, specially in situations like these, that rendered even stronger men guttered and made them stagger. The nauseating smell of the hospital was taking over her senses. It wasn’t just the chemicals. The place smelt of blood, death, and terror.

Restless and guilty, she got up and stood outside the doors of the ICU, carefully observing the rise and falls of his chest as his unconscious form rested on the bed, with the heart monitor emanating beep sounds. Seeing him like this crushed her soul and she longed to enter the forbidden area to touch him, and wake him up. He was covered with a light blue blanket, and had sustained injuries on his head and chest. His unconsciousness was too excruciating to bear for her conscious self. She badly wanted to scream,but her voice was gone.

Prerna stretched her hand to tuck back a stay strand that had been irritating her. Unexpectedly, the area she touched felt moist and she looked at her hand in a shudder and fright. It was red, bloody red! Horripilation gripped her again and she felt the blood dripping off her hands.

Blood! Mr Bajaj! No!

She saw her bloodied husband staggering and rushed to support him. There was darkness all around and the air carried a foul smell.

“Mam”

“Mam! It’s us!”

Prerna opened her eyes in with a jolt and beheld a concerned nurse and a doctor.

“Are you okay?”

Still possessed by the traumatic events and her nightmare,she fails to fathom an answer.

The doctor shot her a sympathetic glance and ordered a glass of water for her while the nurse tried to calm her down. After a few minutes, she was informed that her husband has fared well. However, next few hours would be crucial and only then they would be able to tell her the estimated recovery time. Prerna was then allowed to meet her ailing husband.

She entered the ICU with slow, guilty steps.

“He’s on the verge of death because of you!” The acerbic taunts by both Mohini and Massi filled the air and clouded her consciousness as she made her way to him.

Scathed, damaged, and guilt-ridden, she took his hand in hers, and held it against her tear-stained face.

Even in his unconscious state, his presence had a soothing effect upon her senses, as if he was aware of her presence and was trying to calm her down in his strange, mysterious ways. She noticed his handsome features and melted in the innocence he seemed to possess at the moment.

Finally finding her voice, she clutched his palm tightly and began to voice her inner turmoil.

“You know, I…Kukki was so scared. But…don’t worry about her. Maa has assured me she’s going to take care of the child.” She said in a wobbly tone.

She softly rubbed his palm between her own palms, seeming to comfort them both. Then she stretched her arm to softly caress his hair, and couldn’t resist moving it to gently caress the accessible area of his face. She deemed him the vilest man of her life. But changes began to creep in when she saw world’s best father in the same man, threatening to break the image she had formed of him, which was buttressed largely by perceptions enforced by others.But, today, she viewed him in an entirely original light, absolutely untainted by biased perceptions. And, today, he was reduced to his present status for saving her life. He knew saving her would be fatal to him and his daughter. And yet…

Growing aggrieved again, she sobbed tenderly, “Wake up,fight with me, drive me mad with your mocking taunts, but don’t sleep like this. Remember, your daughter is staring at the doorstep with waiting eyes. You say she’s your world, how can you ignore her like this? Wake up! You have so many promises to fulfill.”

Prerna placed her head upon his chest and gently clutched both his shoulders, and felt her racing heartbeat normalize upon uniting with his tranquil heart.

She hardly kept track of the time and remained in that position until a nurse entered to inform her that the prescribed meeting period has passed.

Employing enormous difficulty, Prerna parted from Mr Bajaj and suddenly felt a deep sense of void and distress making place in her heart. Still fathoming his effect upon her, she slowly walked out of the ICU and occupied her former position.

She wondered what she meant to him. Wife? Caretaker of his child? Whatever it was, henceforth she would try to be worthy of what he had done for her.

[NOCOPY]