AnSh FF: NO GREATER LOVE: Chapter 15 p42 12/06 - Page 2

Shiv jumped out of bed and looked out of the window but he couldn't see anything. It was so dark and raining so heavily. He wanted to shout for Anandi to come to him but if he did so the entire haveli would be awake and everyone would worry. He would have to go and look for her on his own and ask her not to go wandering around. Did she not realize how it hurt him not to find her beside him? Shiv ran down the stairs in the darkness not worrying about tripping. He hoped to see a small light somewhere notifying him of her presence. He turned to go towards the kitchen convincing himself that she would be there. All she might have needed was some water; the jug in their room had been empty. There was no one in the kitchen. Anandi kahaan chali gayi tum?, he sighed. Perhaps she had gone to choti maa's room. But if he knocked on the door to find out then choti maa would wake up and she would worry. Shiv went back to his room and noticed his phone. 3 missed calls from an unknown number. His heart started to beat faster as his phone flashed with the same number. He answered the phone then, his hands trembling: Hello, Mr. Shivraj Shekhar? This is Jhanvi, one of the doctors at City Hospital. We found your number in your wife's phone and we have her listed as Anandi Shekhar. Your brother asked us to contact you; gave us your number. Your wife was brought here an hour ago in critical condition. She was in a head on collision with two other cars it seems. Your brother was driving. He is injured too but he will be alright it seems. However, I cannot say the same about your wife. Can you come to the hospital at once?

Shiv stood frozen as the lady on the phone hung up. He didn't know what to do? He had heard someone mention his brother? Mahi? Where had they gone at this time of the night? Where had she asked him to take her? Why had Mahi not said anything to him? Why had Anandi not asked him to take her wherever she wanted to go? Had she gone to see dadiji? Was that where they had been going at this hour? Questions raced through this mind as he stood frozen on the spot. He shook his head and wiped the tears that had fallen from his face. This was not the time to think; he had to be with his Anandi. Shiv started to look for his car keys wondering where he had put them. Everything seemed a blur, all he could think about was what he would do if anything happened to Anandi. He kept wiping the tears that were falling and finally found his keys, took his wallet and his phone. He left a note on the table for his parents and ran out to his car in the rain.

'Anandi Shekhar', Shiv stated as he ran towards the reception. 'ICU Room 2, 4^th floor.' Shiv ran towards the elevators and up to the ICU. From the glass doors that opened into the ICU, Shiv could see his petite wife surrounded by doctors and machines and activity. He put his hand onto the door as if to feel her numbed by the pain he felt inside him. Continuing to stare in a daze, he looked behind when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

For the rest of his life, Mahi would remember this moment clearly. He would remember his strong, resilient brother look at him with pained torturous eyes, looking lost, pointing towards the room trying to say words that wouldn't form. Mahi would remember the shattered state his brother was in as the actuality of where Anandi was hit him hard and he staggered to the ground. It would have seemed that night, to the unknown that the younger brother was the more responsible more in control one as he sat next to the older brother, talking to him, asking him to keep hoping, and keep talking. Perhaps because the younger one too was scared that if anyone else approached them at that moment it would be with bad news, and also if he couldn't get his older brother to speak now then Shiv would sink into dismal abyss of silence and hopelessness he would never come out of. He was the reason behind the state his brother and bhabhi were in; if only he had not agreed to take Anandi to see her conniving blackmailing villainous ex-husband. Thus, for the rest of his life Mahi would blame himself for the pain that the brother most dear to him was undergoing.

Shiv looked at the glass doors trying to read the words written outside the doors in big bold blue letters INTEN...INTEN...but his eyes swam with tears, He could hear Mahi talking, asking him to say something but all he could think about was Anandi and the joy she had brought into his life over the past few months before and after their wedding. He rested his head back onto the wall and closed his eyes,and her beautiful face etched deep in his heart and his memories was all he could see.