FF: MIRAGE part 41pg53Updated 20/04 - Page 36

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I apologoze for how long it has taken with particularly this FF, but I hope to some extent this update will make it up to you guys...........

MIRAGE:

Rano sat in the car tapping her phone, waiting for Aparajeet to call back, her apprehension growing as the minutes stretched. What on earth was wrong with him? And why was there panic in his voice? And most importantly, who sent the text if he didn't? She was mulling over this when there was a tap on her window. She jumped, goosebumps breaking out on her skin. She looked out her window to see the Nurse from the hospital.

Billi, she thought with a frown, what is she doing here?

Taking a deep breath, she rolled down the window and said with barely concealed irritation, "Yes?"

The woman smiled, a cold hard smile and held a can up to Rano's face and squeezed hard. Rano let out a startled scream, ducking her head as the cloud of whatever was in the can hit her smack dab in the face. She gasped and sputtered, blinking furiously to dispel the stinging in her eyes. She looked back at the Nurse to see her smiling almost indulgently.

"Don't worry Miss Dixit. The drug will take effect soon and this will all be over before you know it."

Rano tried to fight it but a deep grogginess was taking over her system. Her head spun and she began to feel as though her head was being pulled toward the steering. She tried to reach for her phone and as panic rose in her befuddled mind, she rather than pick it up, managed to get it lost under the seat.

"Why...why are you..."

The Nurse opened her car door ever so gently and began to push her over to the passenger's side, "Why am I doing this? Oh I think you know."

"Wha..." Rano tried to speak but it seemed as though even her tongue had swollen in her mouth and she couldn't get the words out.

"Don't worry my dear, we'll get you to the pier to meet your lover. Only he won't be there," she said, arranging Rano in the passenger's seat and putting on her seatbelt, "We don't want suspicions now do we?"

She got behind the wheel and started the car, giving one more look to the now almost unconscious Rano.

"Don't worry. I'll take good care of you," she ran a finger along Rano's jawline.

In her semi conscious mind, an ice cold fear grips her as she realizes who sent the text and why Aparajeet was so tense. This woman intended to hurt her....Lord she wouldn't see her family again...she wouldn't see her love again....depressing heaviness and panic overtook her senses as buildings speed by and slowly melded into one big blur. Darkness covered her totally.

Bani was sitting in her office still going over the design that had been troubling her earlier when her door opened without a knock. She looked up in irritation and paused, a slow smile curving her lips.

"This is quite an unexpected surprise," she smiled.

Very cat-like, Jai strode into her office, coming to stop in front of her desk, "Had a good day out?"

She stretched luxuriously, "Yes, had a very good time."

"Where did you go?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm.

If she noticed the undercurrents, she didn't react to it. She held out her hand to him from her reclining position, a lazy smile playing on her face as she regarded him through content eyes.

"No hug? No kiss? My my, we are getting rather boring.

"Bani," he said, his voice though silky smooth belying his curled up anger.

She sighed and got to her feet coming around to wrap her hands around his middle in a gentle hug, refusing to answer his question, choosing rather to revel in his nearness. However, his lack of response was what caused her to finally raise her head with a slight frown on her face.

"I asked you a question Bani,2 he repeated, his eyes now a steely grey, "Where were you this afternoon?"

She stepped away from him, a whiff of anger rising inside her, "What's wrong with you? Or is it seriously just me?"

His gaze narrowed at her defensive stance, "Who were you with?"

"Since when am I answerable to you who I choose to have lunch with?" she snapped, going back round the table and lowering herself into her seat.

For heaven's sake she knew she was acting silly but did he seriously just come all the way over here to ask who she went out with? And why the 'terminator' attitude? What on earth had his panties in a bunch?

"Bani Dixit I will ask you one last time," he repeated in a deathly quiet tone, "Where were you?"

The words were barely out of his mouth when she snapped, "It's none of your business."

Something seemed to snap and in a burst of anger he began to advance on her and involuntarily she gasped at the murderous glance in his eyes. Whatever would have happened, whatever almost happened, was stopped by the timely ringing of her phone. In barely concealed show of rage, he paused and glared at her as she sat rooted to the spot, all the colour gone from her face.

She stared at him in bewilderment and plain shock...was he going to hit her? Was he? She truly didn't recognise the man that stood in front of her glaring like a vexed lion. The phone stopped ringing for a while and the tension in the office once again became palpable as he stared at her, seemingly immobile.

This time when the phone began to ring again, she jumped involuntarily, a thick fear having gripped her from the earlier event. Slowly, she took a calming breath and reached for the receiver.

"Hello?" she said in a squeaky voice, "Yes, this is Bani...yes...what?"

Jai who had stepped away from the table and was standing by the window turned to look at her as she gripped the receiver tighter, a slight frown furrowing his brow.

"What do you mean she's at the hospital?" she asked whoever was on the other line, "How did that happen?...she was where?"

The panic had become apparent not only on her face but in movements, as confusion seemed to have overtaken her senses as she began to absently search her table.

"Where is she now?" she asked, still throwing things around the table, not taking any cognisance of the fact that Jai was standing beside her, watching her face intently, "You didn't tell my father yet did you?...good. I'll be there in a few minutes."

She hung up and began to search more intently, then gave a small sigh as she located her car keys and in tense movements went round the table avoiding Jai. She was almost at the door when he grabbed her hand to stop her.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Let go off me!" she exclaimed in frustrated tension, "I need to go. My sister needs me."

"What happened to her?" he asked, his voice even.

"What do you care?!" she asked, trying to snatch her hands from him but he held fast.

"Bani, what happened?" he asked again.

"I don't know!" she shouted, her voice finally breaking as the knot in her stomach began to translate to tears.

He held on to her, as she held her head in an effort to collect her thoughts, "I suppose she's at Aparajeet's hospital?"

She nodded, her voice seeming to have taken flight as she looked all the more like she was going to burst into tears any second.

"Come on, I'll take you," he said, pulling her along as he opened the door and began heading down the hallway, not caring about the odd stares they got as it looked like he was pulling Bani unwillingly to wherever it was they were going.

...............................................................................

"You can't be in here Dr," his Chief of Surgery said to him, pulling him out of the theatre.

"But she needs me right now," he protested as he was being forced out of the room by the nurses as well, "I have to be there for her..."

"You should know by now that she is in safe hands," Dr. Vaidya said with a reassuring nod at him and disappeared into the OT again, leaving a very distraught Aparajeet behind.

He paced the hallways in frustration, continually glancing at the light on the door, realizing for the first time what it must be for loved ones waiting for the light to go off and the doctor to come out and say that their loved ones were going to make it....that they were going to be alright...that it wasn't as bad as it looked. He wanted to go into the adjoining room so he could watch but they won't let him in there either.

Lord, it had been pure terror to find her the way they had. It caused a shudder to go through him as he thought of the cold look in the eyes of his Rano's abductor. He couldn't believe that a person he thought he knew fairly well was capable of this much evil....Nurse Meera Gunjan...he had thought the woman was a bit odd but never that she was capable of killing to get what she supposedly thought belonged to her....it was too much to handle right now.

He realized something was wrong when he had called Rano's phone and she had not picked up. No matter how many times he called, she didn't pick. He had gone in search of Nurse Meera if only to make sure that his suspicion was not right. Sadly, he had been informed she left about an hour and half ago with some emergency. He immediately ran down to his office and called the Commissioner of Police, relaying his fears. He knew that save for the fact the he was infact Dr. Deb, they would have had to give a twenty four hour window before investigating a case of alleged kidnapping. He had never realized how much they took for granted the advances that technology had made in making life easy for them. It was the tracing of Nurse Meera's cell phone that had led them to where she had taken Rano. It was plain horror to see what she had done to Rano by the time they got there........The memory chilled him...

Rano was tied to a chair in the empty building, bloodied and bleeding some more. Meera had made good use of her skills as a Nurse, cutting up Rano's face to make her as unattractive as possible. It had been chilling to have the police burst in on her and to listen to her angry tirade.

"This is all your fault!" she had hissed at him, her cold hard eyes giving him a level look, "You are always so blind! But then again, you are a man."

"Meera, you need to stop this," he had said as calmly as the shock of seeing Rano passed out from the pain would let him.

"Shut up!" she hissed, "Patiently I waited for you. Patiently I waited for you to get over all those good for nothing women that were always hanging around you! When they hurt you, I was the one who was there!"

Aparajeet's face must have shown his confusion for she gave off a bitter cackling laugh, disregarding the order of the police officers to put the ten blade down and surrender.

"You know I never really bothered about all those women cos I knew they would come and go. ...didn't bother me one bit. I was glad to be there to help you through the times when they would break your heart. I actually was happy when they left cos it meant that I would have you right where I wanted you...but this one?" she pushed Rano's limp head with such force that it elicited a groan from the unconscious woman, "This one was a keeper. She was not about to let go. You know, this is not about me, it's more about you. Maybe it's you I should have brought here."

"Meera, what do you hope to gain by this?" he asked, as the police men levelled their guns on her.

"Drop it," they ordered her again.

"You know, I hated seeing you with you her, but what could I do? All that hugging and kissing and shamelessness," she spat, obviously in her own world as she paced in front of Rano, twirling the blade dangerously as tears ran down her eyes. She stopped to look at Aparajeet, a bitter laugh escaping her, "You see? Even in the face of death where every other man would want to pacify the person with the gun, you still ask me to spare her! She cost me the thing I have wanted for as long as I can remember and you want me to let her live? With you?! Dammit you were going to propose to her!"

"And what would you have me do?!!" he shouted back, finally letting righteous anger overtake his fear, "Look at you! Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself again why I chose to be with her! She would never stoop to this level to get what she wanted. Goodness even if you had succeeded in killing her and getting her away from me, what guarantee is there that there won't be another Rano? Huh? How do you know I will not end up with another just like her?"

"Stop it," she whispered, obviously shocked that he would say the things he was saying, refusing to believe that he would not even beg in front of her.

"For what Meera? What was all this for?" he asked, gesturing round the place, "You had to know you were fighting a losing battle. There is no way I would not have known that you had a hand in this. Let her go Meera. It's no use."

She stared at him, immense pain and hurt evident in her face. She turned to look at the bleeding woman beside her, as though seeing her for the first time and actually not believing she had been the one responsible for such a ghastly sight.

"You really love her don't you?" she asked him, the very fact that hshe wanted him to at least for her sake deny it evident in her face.

He took a deep breath, "I'm going to marry her Meera."

A soft sob escaped her as she shook her head as if denying what he was saying. The police had had enough of this tantrum. Time was running out and they needed to save Rano as she was bleeding all over the floor.

"If you do not surrender Meera we will be forced to shoot you," the Commisiioner said in a stern, no nonsense voice.

At the sound of his voice, right before their very eyes, Meera's face underwent a metamorphosis and she once again became her cold, calculating self.

"I might as well die for something!" she spat, and whirled around, blade raised over Rano.

"No!" Aparajeet shouted, longing forward to try and stop the inevitable falling of her hand that would spell instant death for Rano.

Simultaneously a single shot rang out and with a sharp cry, she crumpled on the floor, writhing in pain as she grabbed her hand through which the single bullet had pierced a hole. The rest was quite a blur, as in between her incessant cries, the police securing her and the paramedics loading Rano into the waiting ambulance, Aparajeet was in a state of perpetual shock.

.......................................

"Jeet!"

The familiar voice broke his reverie as he turned to see Bani and Jai rushing up towards him, the noises and flashes in the background telling him that the Press had managed to gain entrance to the fifth floor where the theatres were.

"How is she? Where's my baby sister?" she asked in panicked tones.

He tried to speak but the words wouldn't come out as he faced an equally distraught sister. Not for the first time, he wondered how people did it, standing in front of the theatre.

Just then the door opened and a nurse came out and they all descended on her, asking questions all at the same time. She finally turned to address Aparajeet.

"Dr. Deb, Dr. Vaidya said to tell you that the operation is going on smoothly and there is nothing to worry about."

"Bt how is she?" Bani near wailed as Jai held on to her.

"She'll be fine," the nurse repeated and turned to leave.

Bani at this point broke and began to cry almost hysterically, so much so Jai had to hide her face in the crook of his shoulder to muffle the sounds that filled the hallway. Aparajeet on his own felt helpless to do anything.

"Jeet," he heard his name for the second time and turned to see his very distraught mother coming down the hallway.

"Ma," he said with relief at having someone in his corner, and hugged her tight when she got to him.

"How is she?" Karuna asked.

"I don't know Ma," he said shaking his head as a profound heaviness seemed to settle over them, "They say she's doing alright but...they won't let me see her."

Almost on cue, Nishikant and Kiran entered, obviously having heard the news a few hours ago. Seeing their countenance, Bani went into a fresh bout of tears as Aparajeet went forward to try to explain the situation to them as best he could. No one seemed to be able to talk, or move...silence befell them as they waited. It had now been four hours since she was wheeled into the theatre. It was a little after ten in the night that Dr. Vaidya walked out with a tired but satisfied smile on her face.

"Dr, how is she?" Kiran rushed to the doctor, "How's my baby?"

"She's going to be fine Madam, absolutely fine," the Dr said happily, "That woman in there is a fighter.2

"How serious were the injuries?" Aparajeet asked.

"Well the lacerations on her face were quite bad..." a collective gasp went up and spontaneous tears sprung to several eyes causing her to rush on, " But it's nothing we were not able to fix and Dr. Deb you know what I mean. She is going to be good as new by the time she heals up. I assure you, there is nothing to worry about."

Bani threw herself at the Doctor in a bear hug, "Thank you so much! Thank you so so much!"

Dr. Vaidya laughed softly, understanding what a relief it was to hear this, glad she had left out the part where Rano had flat lined during surgery and had to be resuscitated. That she would leave to Dr. Deb alone to handle. She excused herself and went to get some much needed rest as Rano was wheeled into recovery. With her face all bandaged up, it didn't look so bad, but only Aparajeet knew the horror of what he had had to see a few hours ago.

This was not how he had seen today ending, he thought tiredly as he watched Kiran and Nishikant enter to see their daughter for a few minutes, as she was not to have any visitors. This was one of those things you heard happened sometimes, saw in the movies, but always believed could never happen to you. His mother reached out and covered his hand with hers to reassure him that all would be fine.

He gave her a weak smile, understanding her unspoken words. It scared him to think of the journey ahead now for Rano, as this healing process could take a while.

That nurse is a nasty piece of work. Jealousy and hatred have messed up her mind. So JB confrontation has been postponed. Poor Jeet still in shock...

👏👏👏

waiting for the nex part

do continue soon

Good thing the nurse was killed or i wouldn't mind putting a bullet in head. Poor Rano well she now gets her personal doctor to take care of her. And the JB looks like her heading for another bout of fight. Why is this Jai so possesive and also suspicious. What happened in the past to make him so negative. But then he did help Bani in a situation of crisis so that gives him browine points but with this atitude he is going to loose the girl not win her.

Waiting for their confrontation.

Bye

but must say great part

cont soon