Chapter 1
~At the Iyer residence~
The house was silent, not even a single person had the courage to go and talk to Ishitha. She had locked herself inside for almost two hours now. Everyone was clearly worried but who would walk up to her, look into her eyes and tell her to forget what just happened?
Mihika was the first to speak. "I shouldn't have asked her to come here. It was foolish of me to think..." She trailed off not wanting to divulge any of their plans of re-uniting the estranged families.
"What else can we expect from Raman? He does whatever he wishes not thinking of the effects that his actions have on her." Madhavi replied clearly expressing her anger.
"This is not the time to play the blame game, rather we should try to handle Ishu." Bala had an ominous feeling he wasn't able to push away. He had seen her walk away from the whole chaos, calm, in fact too calm and composed that it scared him.
"How do we handle her? I have no..."Vandu spoke but was cut off mid-sentence by someone barging into the house running.
"Where is Ishima?" Adi was panting heavily as if he just ran all the way from wherever he was. He needed to see his Ishima right now, to assure her he would set everything right. He wanted to hug his mother and explain Raman's anger. He feared she would leave them again after what occurred today. His dadi had explained to him what had happened in his absence and he felt like the world was crashing down on him the more he tried to hold it together.
"I asked, where is Ishima? Did she leave me again? I... Please... tell me she is here." He pleaded looking at his maternal grandparents.
Madhavi rushed to Adi and tried to calm him down. "Ishu is inside, she didn't go anywhere, please calm down."
"Is Ishima okay?" He asked. Even while asking he knew she was not but all he wanted was her to stay. He can't bear losing her for another time.
"She hasn't come out of her room. It's been almost two hours now." Vandu replied pointing to the room. Adi quickly strode to the room but before he could reach he heard a loud thud and the sound of glass breaking. He felt his heart stop for a moment and stopped mid-way.
"Ishima..." He shouted and everyone rushed to the door. The attempt to open the door was futile and so they decided to break the door open. It took several tries but when they finally did, they saw her lifelessly on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood.
Adi was the first to reach her, grabbing her he didn't know what to do. Her breathing rate was slowing down by the minute and her pulse was almost gone. He placed his hand on the back of her head where she was bleeding profusely from, probably due to the impact with the ground, trying to control the bleeding.
"Call the ambulance, now!" Bala hurried with his phone, while Vandu couldn't believe her eyes. Her Ishu, her sister lying lifelessly like that. The extent of her pain, they all were too busy quarrelling to even comprehend. She tried to handle her mother who was trying to wake Ishu up, calling her name, assuring her she would make everything alright if she comes back. Everyone was in a state of shock.
"What are these pills?" Adi pointed out to the broken bottle near her with its contents spread all over the floor. What was she taking? Was she having a fever?" Nobody knew. They just didn't know anything about her anymore.
Time had stood still. Adi didn't know when the stretcher had come and when his Ishima was taken down to the ambulance. Everything was a spiraling mess. But he did not fail to notice his father's face, standing in front on the Bhalla residence when she was taken into the ambulance. He didn't fail to notice his father's eyes as if his soul had just left his body the moment he saw her bleeding to death on a stretcher.
"Hurry. Let's go." Adi was panicking with each passing second. Adi accompanied Ishitha with Bala in the ambulance while the rest followed behind.
Raman on the other hand, stayed still stuck to the ground, the image of her a few seconds ago replaying in his mind in a loop. "I wished you died on that day... I wished you were dead..." His words, his actions, the way he had treated her, every bit of it was engulfing his being. He couldn't comprehend what was going on. Did she fall? Did she do this to herself after what he had done today? But he couldn't understand any of it.
"Raman. Raman puttar." It was his mother, vehemently shaking him. "Hospital... We have to go the hospital. Ishitha... Didn't you see? She was crying uncontrollably while his dad tried to calm her down.
"Me, your dad and Simmi are going to the hospital. Please let's go. She needs you." Raman knew what she was saying, he could hear it well, but he couldn't understand. She needs him? The one who pushed her to her death needed him? But it didn't matter, what he did, what he said, all he needed, yes he needed desperately to know she was alright. He was on the brink on losing his mind at that point.
Without knowing, he ran to his car leaving his parents behind. Speeding his way towards the hospital, he prayed he was there in time...
~At the hospital~
By the time he reached, she was already in the operation theater. Adi was the first to notice Raman pacing towards them. "Papa. Ishima... She..." He tried to speak and tell him what had happened but he was at a loss for words.
"She is dying... Are you happy?" Vandu spoke shooting daggers at him. "Get the hell out of here. Just go"
"What's the point of shouting? He wouldn't understand. He never did." Madhavi was too tired to start another fight. She just wanted her daughter to be fine. To call her Amma again, to smile, something she had forgotten to do it seems.
Raman didn't speak. He just stood there looking at his son covered in his mother's blood. He touched Adi's shirt, his hands shaking, trying to smudge off the blood, getting more frustrated when it won't come off. "Why isn't this damn blood coming off? Why is there so much blood?" He questioned Adi, trying to control his tears.
Adi hugged his dad trying to calm him down, making him sit he tried to explain what had happened but was interrupted.
"Ishu, where is she?" Adi looked up seeing Mani standing next to Raman. While on the other hand, Raman was taken aback to see him there. "Thank god you are here. Did you bring her passport?" It was Adi who spoke, which further shocked Raman.
"We needed her documents to get the formalities done, so I called Mani uncle. Ishima didn't have any documents with her..." He tried explaining to Raman knowing his dad's state of mind.
Raman wanted him gone, he didn't want Mani near Ishitha. But at this moment he couldn't do anything even if he wanted. After all it was he who said she meant nothing to him. Raman's thoughts stopped as soon as the door to the OT opened up and the doctor came out.
"I need to ask a few questions." Before anyone could ask anything the doctor spoke. "Yes. Please." It was Mani who answered. Raman clenched his fists trying to control his anger at his intrusion but didn't say anything, waiting to see what the doctor was going to say.
"She had an overdose of sleeping pills. Her respiratory system had failed for a while and we have managed to bring her back." Nobody knew how to respond to the piece of news except Mani, who showed no sign of surprise.
"Is my daughter alright?" Madhavi asked, wishing to god that she was okay. "She is alive yes, but she is not breathing properly as of now. She is on a ventilator. In due time, she may begin to breathe on her own and her head wound also shows no sign of internal bleeding. But that is not even our main concern."
Raman was trying to take it all in, piece by piece, but was failing miserably. "What do you mean?" He asked not understanding anything.
Well you see, I don't think this is the first time she has attempted suicide is it? The doctor asked waiting for a reply. "I need to know for sure in order to evaluate her condition further." He asked waiting for someone to reply out of the bunch. But they seemed more shocked than before.
"It isn't." Mani said almost inaudibly. "She doesn't sleep properly at nights, so she used to take sleeping pills. She had overdosed once before. I thought she stopped taking them afterwards... "
"Anything else we should know?" Mani was also confused by the question now. "No. She didn't do anything else after that incident. Otherwise I would know."
"Well, we have found scars over her thighs and abdomen as well. But none on her arms. I find that quite strange you see. I need to send her to a psych evaluation as soon as she recovers. I fear something else is also going on." With that the doctor excused herself while the nurses shifted Ishitha to the ICU.
Raman's world had already crashed down on him by then. He saw his son compose himself and walk towards his mother, he saw her family praying for her, her mother's uncontrollable tears... He saw it all. But he couldn't dare to look at her on a hospital bed, fighting for his life. He just couldn't.
Kya maine paa liya hai
Kya maine kho diya hai
Shaayad yeh sochkar hi
Dil aaj ro diya hai
Tu hi to tha mera apna
Kaise phir yeh toota sapna
Tu jo milke kho jaayega
Jeena mushkil ho jaayega
Oh, meri duniya mein aake mat jaa
Mat jaa, kahin mat jaa
That's it for now. Will update as soon as I can. Enjoy and will PM next time :) Right now in a hurry. Thank you for your feedback. It is much valued.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Mangal Lakshmi
Sports
Health and Fitness
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