Thanks for all your lovely comments. I love how everyone’s comments from Lina to Nina to romance_addict to remyavenkat to blackwind provide a wholesome analysis to this story. I love how comments from Gayatri and and ani and akshu and fathima and raji try and guess what’s coming. And everyone from mahinbj and emah always encouraging, thanks 🙏🏽 . Am missing @notaquitter and of course @rekha
Part 11
By the time she reaches the hospital in Chandrapur, she is dog tired, she has hardly sat down or slept the whole night, she rushes to the room where her father is resting. Sitting outside, she is shocked to find Ninaad, who gets up when he sees her and smiles. She immediately, “Aap yaha?” Ninaad nods and says, “Voh details baad mei discuss karte hai, andar jaake apne Aaba se mil lo” She nods and walks inside the room, where the nurse has finished washing her dad’s upper body. Kamal smiles weakly at his daughter who comes and stands by the bed, the nurse says, “inko ICU mei surgery ke liye bulayenge kuch der mei, Kuch bhi khaa nahi sakte aur excitement bhi nahi” Sai nods and her father grins and says, “Arrey meri beti Doctor hai, usse malum hai”. The nurse nods blandly and leaves.
Sai holds her father’s hand and smiles at him. Her father nods, smiles and asks, “Chauhan Saab bahar abhi bhi hai?” Sai nods and asks, “Voh yahaa kya kar rahe hai?” Her father smiles and says, “Voh log tera haath ACP Virat ke liye maangne aaye the kal” Sai is shocked but becomes very very quiet, she is worried if she say something or argues with her dad, it might affect him, she suddenly starts to move the blanket over his bare body and says, “thandh lag rahi hogi aapko”. Her father shakes his head and smiles, his stubborn Sai, “Tum sun rahi ho?” Sai nods, “Haan”.
He holds her hand, “Dekh Sai, ache log hai, achi family hai, mujhe Virat bahut pasand hai, jyaada mat soch”. She looks at her father and says, “Abba , hum surgery ke baad baat kartei hai, thik hai?” Her father nods. They take him in for surgery, the father and daughter smile at each other as the bed gets wheeled out on the corridor, Ninaad feels a sense of happiness watching them. The procedure will be a few hours, and her father will have to stay in the hospital for at least one night, if not more. She sits down on the chairs outside the room and reads texts from Abigail, when Ninaad comes by, “Aajao Sai, Ashwini aur mere saath breakfast kar lo, uske baad tum ghar jaake thoda araam karke aa Jana” she knows that’s good advice.
As they are seated in the cafe having some dosa, idli and uttapam, Ashwini is chatty, “Hum yavatmal se vapas Nagpur ke liye nikal gaye the, phir Virat ne kaha ki Nagpur aana abb safe nahi hai. Tum thik ss pahunch gayi na Sai, raaste mei koi problem thaa?” Sai nods, “Main train se aayi thi, Aunty”. Ashwini nods and continues, “Main toh jitni jaldi ho sake, jaana chahti hun, pata nahi mera godu vahaa kaise manage kar raha hoga, itni tight security hai, upar se aaj Devi keh rahi thi ki flat mei Horlicks bhi nahi thaa, pata nahi, itni badi bottle medical camp bhej diya. Vaha pe zrurat thi kya, Sai?”. Sai’s starts coughing like the idli has refused to go down her throat.
Ninaad rushes to give her some water, “Sambhal ke sambhal ke, Ashwini, Kay hai? Sai abhi vaha nahi hai, usse kaise pata hoga?” Ashwini looks sadly at Sai, “Arrey sorry baba, maine socha mai apni tension ki baat karungi, toh tum apne tension ke baare mei bhul jaaogi” Sai nods and smiles, “Aap sorry Kyun bol rahe ho? Aisa Kuch nahi, Abba thik ho jaayenge, Doctor Uncle iss area ke top cardiologists hai”. Ashwini nods and Sai looks at her worried face and says, “Vaise aapke godu ko bhi Kuch nahi honey valla..” the three of them laugh and Sai eats her idli while Virat’s parents look at each other and smile.
They drop her at her home, she wonders if she could ask them inside, but decides not to, she needs to be by herself and needs to figure out the text from Abigail. She thanks them and gets out of their car and starts to walk to her home, when Ashwini calls out to her, she turns and Ashwini walks to her, holds her hands and says, “Tumhe yaad hai, jab tum Samrat ke saath hamare ghar aayi thi, maine tumse kaha thaa, ki meri ek hi vinati hai, ki tum mere bete ko ek chance dena?” Sai nods, slightly confused, “Jee haan, yaad hai”. Ashwini smiles and says, “Maine voh chance Samrat ke liye nahi, Virat ke liye manga thaa, meri abhibhi vahi vinati hai, bus ek mauka, humare ghar mei sirf pyaar milega tumhe”. Ashwini holds her chin, while Sai is slightly uneasy and slightly surprised.
She makes the call to Abigail when she returns after having taken a shower and changed to the hospital, she waits for her dad to get out of surgery. Abigail doesn’t pick up, and Sai is worried that maybe her leaving the camp with no notice may be a problem. She calls Aniket and there is no response there either. And she rests her head on the heel of her hand as it’s elbow rests on the arm of the chair. She makes a call to Usha Mavshi who promises her that she will there the next morning and stay as long as needed. Sai heaves a sigh of relief and then texts Shilpa. As she closes her eyes for a minute, a text comes through, she smiles thinking it must be Shilpa.
Abigail has sent her a text
Sai, actually medical camp rules are very strict, you cannot leave without notice and the situation here has gotten better, but I think Senior Doctor won’t be happy, he is coming on rounds tomorrow.
Her hands shake a little while she reads the message, she was right! Hope this doesn’t affect her job there. She holds her forehead and squeezes her eyes, which are dry and burning, when the doctor comes out and informs her that the surgery is successful and that her father will be wheeled into his room, and will be still be under anesthetic for some time and that she should grab some food and return with some clothes for him for the night. If his health vitals stay the same, he will be discharged in the morning. He should be up and about by end of the week.
She rushes home, so that she doesn’t miss her dad when he is awake. She leaves the door open as she runs into her father’s room and grabs clothes for him. She misses someone enter the room or call out to her, she suddenly turns when a deep voice asks, “Tum thik ho?”. She stares at him, like she has seen a ghost, he comes towards her and she holds on to her fathers clothes, he walks closer with a small smile and says, “Just Sai?” She drops her fathers clothes and rushes to hug him and breaks down in his arms, he hugs her closer, with one hand, because the other hand is aching at the shoulder from driving like a maniac from Nagpur.
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Edited by columbia - 3 years ago
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