Chapter 31
It was almost one in the morning by the time I was finished in the hospital. I was dead tired. I signed out at the reception after getting permission from Dr. Palak. It was late and I didn't want to disturb Raghu. He would probably be asleep, so I decided to take a taxi home. I went outside of the hospital and saw Raghu's car still in the parking lot. What was he doing here? I had told him to go home. I went to the car and knocked on the driver's side window. Raghu had fallen asleep and my knocking had woken him up. He rolled down the window. "Miss Kaul, tera kaam ho gaya?" he asked. "Haan par tum yahan kya kar rahe ho?" I asked. "Tujhe kya laga? Main tujhe yahan akele chod ke jaaonga?" he said. "Par..." I said. "Bhes karna band kar aur beth ja. Bahut raat ho gayi hain," he said. I walked to the other side and got in the car. Raghu started the car and we went home. The entire ride was quiet. We were both really tired.
I pulled up in front of the house and turned off the car. "Chal Miss Kaul, ghar aa gaya," I said. "Hmm," she said. "Ghar aa gaya, chal," I repeated. She slowly got out of the car. She was walking in front of me. She tripped over her own foot. I ran to her and caught her before she could fall. "Dhyan se," I said. I could see that she was really tired and was about to fall asleep any second now. I carefully led her inside and up to her room. "Tu so ja," I said as I opened the door to her room. "Good night," she said. "Good night," I replied and headed back to my room. I changed and went to sleep. Tomorrow, or well today, since it was past midnight, we had to go pick up Arjun, Piya and Ranveer from the airport. I quickly fell asleep.
I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I picked it up and looked at the screen. It was mom. "Hello," I said. "Antara, tu ab tak so rahi thi?" I looked at the clock and saw that it was 10:30. Had I really been sleeping for this long? "Woh Mama, raat ko ek emergency case aa gaya tha, toh raat ko late ho gaya tha," I replied. "Acha. Waise tera din kaisa tha kal?" she asked. Yesterday... I thought back. Yesterday was the best day of my entire life. Raghu had made it so memorable. "Antara, main tujhse kuch pooch rahi hoon," mom said, breaking my train of thoughts. "Mom, kal ka din, meri life ka sabse acha din tha," I said. "Aisa kya hua? Teri awaz kuch badli badli si lag rahi hain," she said. "Mom... Raghu..." I said. "Kya hua?" she asked. "Mom, Raghu mujhse shaadi karna chata hain," I said. I waited for her reaction. "Aur tune kya kaha?" she asked. "Main maan gi. Mom Raghu ek bahut acha ladka hain. Woh hamesha mujhe khush rakhega," I said. "Pata nahi Antara. Mujhe tere papa se baat karni hogi. Mujhe bhi Raghu acha lagta hain par tere papa ki haan bhi toh zaroori hain, hain na?" she said. Why wouldn't dad agree? He loved me and always wanted me to be happy. I decided that I would talk to him. "Mom, papa zaroor manege. Aap dekhna. Main unko manogi. Agar aap log aaj aa re hote toh main papa se jaldi baat kar pati," I said. "Antara, waise toh yeh ek surprise tha, par ab mujhe lagta hain ki mujhe tujhe bata dena chaiye," she said. "Kya mom?" I asked, curious to know what the surprise was. "Hum bhi aa re hain. Hum bas abhi airport pe paunche hain aur kuch der mein humari flight hain," she said. Wait what? Mom and Dad are coming here! "Kya mom? Aap sach mein aa rahe ho?" I said, standing up on my bed. "Haan, beta," she replied. "Mom, I can't wait. I'm missing you so much!" I said. "Hum bhi tume bahut miss kar rahe hain. Acha beta, main tumse baad mein baat karti hoon, hume jaana hain," she said. "Bye," I said. "Bye, beta," she replied. I hung up the phone. I was so happy. Life was just full of surprises these days. "Tu kya kar rahi hain?" I heard Raghu say. I turned and looked at the door. "Kya?" I asked. "Bed pe kyun khadi hui hain?" he asked. I looked down and saw that I was still standing on the bed. I jumped down and said, "Woh sab chodo, guess aaj kaun aa raha hain." "Piya, Ranveer aur Arjun," he said. "Aur?" I said. "Koi aur bhi aa raha hain?" he asked. "Haan, mom dad aa rahe hain," I said. "That's good. Tujhe uncle aunty se milne ka mauka milega," he said. "Waise tujhe der nahi ho ri?" "Nahi, Dr. Palak ne kaha tha ki main aaj late aa sakti hoon, par phir bhi tayaar toh hona padega," I replied. "Haan," he said and turned to leave the room. I held his to keep him from leaving. He turned around, looking at our hands. "Kya?" he asked. "Thank you," I said. "Kiss liye?" he asked. "Tumne mere liye jo bhi kiya hain, uss ke liye," I replied. "Kitni baar kaha hain, tujhe thank you bolne ki koi zaroorat nahi hain," he said. "Par mujhe bolna acha lagta hain, tum mere liye itna kuch karte ho, thank you toh banta hain," I said. "Acha," he said, coming closer. I looked down and moved a step back when Raghu pulled me towards him. "Antara," Riya said, coming into my room. "Sorry, sorry," she said when she saw us and turned around. "Kya hua Riya?" Raghu asked, letting go of me. "Main toh yahan Antara se kuch maangne aai thi par lagta hain ki aap dono bahu busy hain. Koi baat nahi, main baad mein aa jati hoon," she said. "Nahi, tum bolo kya chaiye," I said. Raghu looked at me. "Kya?" I asked him. "Kuch nahi, tum tayaar ho jao, main baad mein aata hoon," he said and left the room. "Antara, ring dikhao," Riya said coming to me. "Tume kaise pata?" I asked. "Tum ko kya lagta hain, Bhai ne yeh sab akele kiya hain? Maine bhi unki help ki thi par ring nahi dekhi. Dekhao na," she said. I held my hand out and showed her the ring. "Wow, Antara, it's so pretty," she said. I smiled and nodded. "Waise, tume kya chaiye tha?" I asked. "Arre haan. Mujhe na tumare woh silver wale hoops borrow karne they," she said. I headed towards my dresser and picked up a pair of earrings. "Yeh wale?" I asked. "Haan thank you so much. Abhi mujhe late ho raha hain, main jaa rahi hoon," she said while taking the earrings and running out. Wait, its 10:30 and it's a Saturday. Riya doesn't have college today. Then where was she going?
I had dropped Antara off at the hospital and come back home. I was finalizing the details of the reception tomorrow when I got a call from Riya. "Bhai, bahut badi problem ho gayi hain," she said as soon as I picked up the phone. "Kya hua?" I asked. "Bhai, mere friend ka accident ho gaya hain aur meri kuch samajh mein nahi aa raha hain," she said. "Riya relax karo, tum kahan ho?" I asked. She told me where she was and I told her to wait there. I hurried quickly to the location of the accident and saw Riya crying. "Bhai, woh... woh..." she stuttered, pointing to a bike with a person lying down next to it. "Relax Riya, kuch nahi hoga," I said. I bent down and turned the person's face around. I was shocked once I saw the face. It couldn't be. It just wasn't possible. He was still a little conscious. "Bhai, isse hospital le chalo, please," Riya said. "Haan," I said and with Riya's help, picked him up and put him at the back of the jeep. The closest hospital was the one that Antara was working at but I didn't want to take him there. "Bhai, Antara ka hospital yahin paas mein hain, aap please usse wahan le chaliye," Riya said. I finally decided to take him there. After all, it was the question of someone's life.
"Dr. Palak, report to the emergency ward immediately." We both looked up as we heard the announcement. I was discussing a case with Dr. Palak when the announcement was made. "Dr. Antara, aap jaiye, hum iss ke baare mein baad mein baat karenge," she said. "Ji," I said and headed back to the children's ward. I hadn't even made it there when I got a page. "Another emergency?" I asked myself and headed towards the emergency ward. Over there I saw that Shilpa had been paged as well. "Dr. Shilpa, Dr. Antara, ek naya accident case aya hain. Woh case aap dono ko handle karna hain," Dr. Abhimanyu, another one of our senior doctors, said. "Patient kahan hain?" Shilpa asked. "Dr. Palak is doing a quick check over for any major injuries and then the case is yours. Tab tak aap patient ke relatives se baat kar sakte hain," he said, pointing behind me. I turned and saw Raghu and Riya. Raghu yaha kya kar raha hain? I walked up to them leaving Shilpa with Dr. Abhimanyu. "Antara," Riya said coming to me and hugging me. "Kya hua Riya?" I asked. I made her sit down and she told me the entire story of the accident. "Riya, don't worry. Tumara dost theek ho jaye ga," I said. I looked up at Raghu and saw that he had some blood on his arm. "Raghu, yeh tume kya hua?" I said, getting up. "Kuch nahi Miss. Kaul. Woh uss ka khoon hain. Mujhe kuch nahi hua," he replied. "Thank God," I said. "Miss. Kaul, mujhe tujhe kuch zaroori baat karni hain," he said. "Haan bolo," I said. "Woh," was all Raghu could say. "Antara, jaldi aao, patient ki dressing karni hain," I heard Shilpa say. "Haan, aa rahi hoon," I said. "Main baad mein baat karti hoon. Riya don't worry." I walked quickly to the room.
I saw her turning around. How could I let her see this? I had to stop this. I went after her.
I opened the door and went inside. I walked up and picked up the bottle of the rubbing alcohol and turned towards the patient. I saw his face and the bottle fell out of my hands and landed on the ground. What was he doing here?
A/N: Hope you guys like this one. I know that it's kind of a filler update but it's setting up the rest of the story. If you haven't already, please do read the note on pg 88. If you would like a pm, please comment saying so 😊 Also, thank you all for appreciating my work. It really means a lot. 😊😊
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