Cherished Wounds ( Updated Ch 14 ) Pg 140 22/06 - Page 5

The road was blanketed with layers of fresh snow. It was about seven in the morning when the Gulbara Road was being trodden upon by an Army jeep, trying its best to not slide down and fall into one of the many waterfalls the road had carved its way upon.

Khushi looked out of the window, breathing in the fresh morning air. The chill in the air added to her pale skin a rosy hue. She shuffled into her jacket, slightly shivering, now looking at her colleagues. They were a team of five, five nurses and her. She admired their courage to have decided to come up to serve in the front, leaving behind their families and friends. It had barely been four hours since she had left home, but she felt homesick already.

They were a very close-knit family. Her father and her sister Payal. Khushi's mother had passed away a few months back in one of the riots that had occurred that tragic month. Remembering those days always left Khushi's mind in an upheaval. She was forced to worry about Payal's treatment, ponder over the fact, that would her beautiful sister ever regain her earlier vigor?

The next hour passed on extremely slowly, with news broadcast that kept blaring on out of the walkman that one of the soldiers, who was driving, carried with him. They had almost reached the Base Camp, when Khushi felt the jeep sped up suddenly, there was an abrupt jerk, and she was enveloped by complete darkness, as a searing pain shot down her spine.

---

Arnav was taking his daily patrol and went into the Army Canteen to grab a coffee to beat the cold. He had barely taken a sip, when the Lieutenant of his Commandment approached him in a frantic speed.

'Brigadier Arnav, there has been a mishap just a mile down the Base Hospital. Three women, and two men, they were aboard on one of our jeeps. The snow had not been cleared today, and the snow fall last night was…'

'Come on, Lt. Aman, get to the point?' Arnav bellowed, slightly worried.

'The jeep is literally hanging on one of the boulders; they were common men, Brigadier. Maybe they had asked for a lift up to the mountains for….'

'Okay, fine, I don't need to know the whole story, let's go there, now.'

Arnav was irked beyond measure. He had seen many incidents since his posting there and he failed to understand why the people never understood the severity of war and continued to risk their lives.

---

The Army jeep was actually, hanging diagonally by the support of a deep crevice carved out on a certain rugged boulder. The other four had been taken to the Base Hospital, but Khushi lodged somewhere a little below, unconscious over another rock.

Arnav was shocked beyond measure, firstly at the sight of the hanging jeep, and then at the sight of the sprawled figure on the rocks a few feet below.

'Brigadier, should I go and help her?' Aman asked, a little apprehensive.

'No, you go and get another stretcher; I will see what I can do.'

---

He slowly climbed down the jagged rocks; his feet were immune to them. He had literally grown up climbing these rocks as a child. He loved the feel of the earth across his hands, the snow across his skin. He finally reached her. He couldn't see her face. The cascading black mop of hair had covered her face and her shoulders completely. He slowly reached out and tapped on her shoulders. She didn't respond. He slowly placed one hand on her waist and the other on her shoulders and turned her around. She was limp in his arms. The first thought that struck his mind was that the girl was incredibly fragile, and the touch of her cream cardigan against his callous hands was a strangely pleasant sensation. He gently removed a few strands of hair from over her face and let them linger over her cheeks for a moment too long. He took a deep breath and let his gaze hover on her face scrutinizing every detail. Her skin was too pale, if you observed closely, you could actually see a small pulsating vein adjacent to her eyes. He brushed his finger over her eyelashes too shake away the drop of water that had probably come from a melting snowflake. Her lips were of the softest pink, but they were then dry, chapped due to the cold. Before his mind could wander farther, he heard Aman call out to him from above. He swiftly carried her in his arms and took her above on the road and laid her down on the stretcher.

---

Aakash had been posted at the Base Hospital for the last four years. Arnav was like a brother to him. He had eagerly been awaiting the new team's arrival from the city, when a group of unexpected emergency cases arrived.

The two men and women were fine other than minor head injuries, but the girl brought in by Arnav had a few cuts on her head, that had started to bleed. He informed a slightly irritated Arnav that everyone would be fine.

'How's that girl doing?' Arnav inquired specifically.

'She's fine. Should be regaining consciousness any moment now,' Aakash replied calmly.

Arnav waited at the hospital, he had no idea why, but he was strangely a little worried about that girl. He came to a practical conclusion a few minutes later that probably he just wanted to inject some sense into her mind about travelling on the impassable roads of Kashmir.

---

Khushi felt a throbbing ache in her head, as she opened her eyes adjusting to the bright lights of the room. She looked around her, and concluded to herself that she was in a hospital, as her hand moved towards her forehead, she felt the texture of fresh bandage.

'Good morning. Feeling better?' Aakash asked, looking on at the confused face before him.

'Fine, but how am I here exactly?' Khushi asked the man standing in front of her adorning a crisp white lab coat.

'Well, I guess you were in an accident, you jeep sort of slid through the Gulbara. The Brigadier rescued you. He is waiting outside, you should go thank him,' smiled Aakash.

---

Adjusting he crumpled white kurta and her dupatta, she tip-toed out of the room and went towards the metal chairs lining the corridors. She saw a man standing near one of the huge windows, his back facing her. She knew it would be him, she didn't know how, but she walked towards him slowly. Maybe it was his formidable figure, clad in the olive green Army colors, or maybe his tall, masculine demeanor.

---

'Thank you.'

A soft voice resounded in Arnav's ears from behind his shoulders

He turned around immediately taking in the frail woman standing in front of him, her black eyes, brimming with gratitude.

'Do you have any idea, of exactly how many people have died in stupid accidents like this on this very road? You very well know that a war is raging in India, Kashmir being the centre of it all, then why do you bother to step out of your house or for that matter tread on snow-covered roads, a thousand feet above the valley?' Arnav shouted at her, striding forward, towards her.

Khushi was too shocked to say anything. The man strode towards her, and backed her onto one of the walls. One glance at his crooked eyebrows, knit in deep seriousness and mild fury, and her lips started to tremble.

'Actually, I was...' Khushi began.

'I have no time to listen to your sob-stories. Unlike you other people are fighting to save a few lives here.'

Arnav stared onto her face. He didn't know where he was channeling all that anger from and why he was shouting at her, but he did it anyway, only to be interrupted by his father.

'Arnav, you, here?' Azaan asked and then glanced at the girl standing opposite to him.

'Doctor Khushi, your team arrived I see?' Azaan now directed at Khushi. 'But this bandage….?'

Arnav interrupted his father, 'She, is a doctor?'

'Yes, remember the team I summoned from the Valley, she was heading it.'

'Major General, my team has arrived. We were delayed by a small mishap on the road, but we will report on duty by noon,' Khushi smiled at Azaan Singh Raizada, sincerely.

'I'm sure you will. Take care.'

With that father and son strode out of the hospital, but not before Arnav turned around to look at Khushi with an intense, piercing gaze. Not apologizing, not sorry. Khushi couldn't figure out a thing from his expressionless face.

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dont know wot to say

just plain awesome

loved it

lovely

what a 1st impression 😆

do cont soon

and thnx for the pm