Chapter Twenty-Two
Arnav paced in the hospital corridor outside the Emergency Room (ER) they had Khushi in. She had come to just as he had screeched to a halt in front of the Emergency entrance. He had jumped down from his seat and ran to her side to pick her up in his cradle before the ward boys had even managed to bring down the stretcher for her. He rushed her inside and screamed at the doctors to get them moving into action. She had been muttering something incoherent and that scared him, had she lost her senses? Would she be ok? Had the doctors stopped the bleeding yet?! He tried to peek into the room but there was no point, the blinds were drawn, all the doctors had said after they had taken her in was that they would take care of her and that he should inform her family, a fact they established he wasn't and so had kicked him out of the room and now weren't informing him anything. He had brought her in Damnit!! He deserved to know how she was doing!! Was she ok? There was such fear on her face and she kept on motioning towards her abdomen. Was she in a lot of pain in that region? He had only seen blood on her thighs and so guessed the origin was a ruptured artery in her thigh, but maybe he had been wrong and the wound was actually caused by something rupturing in her abdominal cavity...why hadn't he looked more closely?!! And why wouldn't the doctors tell him anything!! Ugh!! Stupid rule about family needing to know and then choosing to tell...rubbish!!
'Chotay...' He spun around at Anjali's voice, did the doctors tell her something, but she shook her head reading the question in his eyes, 'Chotay, Payal, her sister, she elaborated, seeing Arnav not follow, 'should be here in a bit I have informed them they are not too far from here. I'm going to go to the mandir that is just next to the hospital to pray for Khushi, when Payal gets here let me know, or if the doctor's break their silence. Ok?' he just managed a nod, even that was difficult. His very bones had thawed with worry. He had never tasted this panic, this fear before, not even when he had received the phonecall about Lavanya. This fear of not knowing whether Khushi was ok shook him to his core. He kept on remembering her petrified face on the platform in Lucknow, when her eyes had met his and then in the room after he had broken her beads, how scared must she have been last night and then this morning when the blast must have gone off? What had he done? He had never meant to harm her, she had just irked him and so he had driven her there, he probably would have even let her come back and stay if Di had insisted but now...would she even want to come back, after what had happened? Would she even come to work? She must hate him. That mattered, her opinion of him. He would have to find out in the first chance he got and explain to her that he never meant for this to happen. That he didn't know, or rather hadn't remembered at that time that the demolition would start today. What a mess...
'Where is she?!! Aakash, where is my Khushi?!!' Arnav ripped his hands away from his face as he looked up from his place on the ground outside the ER, where he had crumbled due to the weight of his guilt and panic. He zeroed in on an averaged sized, tanned girl, in a simple shalwar suit and frazzled hair that matched her voice. This must be Khushi's sister, the shalwar-suit was a give away but more importantly she had said Khushi's name.
'Excuse me, are you Payal Rai, Khushi's sister?' Arnav asked and she and the man next to her spun around in acknowledgement, he must be her husband, and Khushi's brother-in-law, the man who had come to pick her up at LaANK in the rain. He was a tall, lean man, fair complexion and worry in his eyes, which however, didn't extend to his face for there he only found calmness that spread to him from across the corridor. He must be the rock of his family, who didn't let his worry show in dire situations but rather was a shoulder to his wife and maybe even Khushi. Their eyes met and Arnav saw how he had made an assessment of him just the way he had been doing of him and his wife.
'Aakash Rai.' He introduced himself, 'You're Arnav Singh Raizada, yes? You found my sister?' he asked, trying to figure out how a job in fashion had led to Khushi being caught in a building being demolated.
'Where is Khushi?' Payal cried again in a frantic whisper before Arnav could reply to Aakash, 'Where is my sister? Is she ok? Was she hurt? Have the doctor's said anything, what about her ba- but she stopped suddenly as at that moment the door to Khushi's room opened and the doctor came out. However, Arnav thought she stopped short not only because of the doctor's appearance but also because she caught herself from revealing something she realised she shouldn't, her agitation made Arnav suspect that there was more to her nervousness than just Khushi getting injured during a demolition.
'Are you Ms Gupta's family?' the doctor asked.
'Yes.' Aakash replied as Payal nodded, not being able to voice her reply just yet. Arnav understood that feeling, he too felt his mouth go dry as he waited for the doctor's verdict.
'I'm Dr. Nisha. Your sister is fine. She has fractured her left leg and cracked a rib. Also a shard of plaster seared her thigh and ruptured her artery due to which she lost quite a bit of blood, had it not been for Mr. Raizada tying the string around her leg and quenching the blood flow to that region she could have been in real danger. But as that is not the case she is alright now, just shaken up and quite weak. We have started a drip, once two bottles of blood have been given to her she should be ok for discharge.' The doctor smiled as she finished her report of Khushi. Hearing it from her lips Arnav felt his muscles relax, so she was ok. No serious damage. He heaved a sigh of relief, however, Payal still was not convinced and something about her state left an unsettling feeling inside Arnav. What was bothering her so much, that even after listening to the doctor say that Khushi was ok she was still scared, in fact to him she looked more frightened than she had before, which was weird.
'But what about her b- she began at the same time Aakash requested to see Khushi.
'Is she awake, may we see her?'
'Yes, you may.' With that she led them in and to Arnav's happiness she didn't stop him from entering this time, although that had more to do with the fact that she had not seen him, since the nurse rushed over to her as soon as she entered and whispered something in her ear that made her eyes grow wide with alarm. The shocked look on Nisha'a face and the distraught visage of Khushi on the hospital bed made the unsettling feeling he had outside seeing Payal grow ten-fold turning it into a complete ulser. Not being able to take it he shouted more than asked,
'WHAT?!! WHAT IS IT?!! IS SHE OK?!!' to his left Aakash voiced the same question, although not as loudly.
The doctor who was next to Khushi now, stethoscope on her abdomen, turned to face them with a blank expression and asked something that made the very ground shake beneath Arnav's feet.
'Is your sister pregnant?'
'No'
'Yes' said Payal and Aakash samiltaneaously.
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