"Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can't get any better, it can."
"Virat!" Everything goes in slow motion in front of my eyes.
All I can hear is a buzzing noise in my head. Like that the machine in the hospital makes when it doesn't detect a heart beat. I don't hear anything else. I don't hear what the news reporter on the TV was saying. I don't hear what dad was saying to Viren and Ma, while speaking to the cops. I don't hear what Swetha told me when she put a jacket around me and kissed me at the door. I don't hear what Blanco told me when he escorted me out of the house, into the car. I don't hear what Ma was telling me while sobbing and hugging me inside the car. I don't hear a thing.
All that is filled in my head is an image - image of Virat unconscious in a blood soaked shirt, being carried away into an ambulance.
What is happening around me? Everything seems so surreal - a small portion of me is sitting inside the car, riding towards the hospital to my bleeding husband. But the major portion of me is just up there - watching the whole scene, like I wasn't a part of it - like it was all a part of some evil plot in a twisted novel I was reading. How can I be a part of this? How can a day that started with magic wands and sweet nothings end with blood and bullets? There were bullets - two of them - inside him - inside my husband - eating him away - spreading their poison, this very second.
I see me running out of the car, into the hospital with about a dozen security people behind me, holding Blanco's hand. He is fielding away the army of media gathered at the entrance. I see us going into the emergency, towards the post they pointed out, but instead of my husband, I meet an empty bed with blood on the sheets that the nurses were cleaning up. I see myself rushing inside with one of those nurses towards the waiting room of the operation theatre. I see myself standing there all expressionless and indifferent with my eyes full of unshed tears for the next three hours as the scrub nurses tell us that they are operating to remove his bullets.
And then I hear the words - the golden words of my life. "Mr.Vadhera is doing fine. We have removed both the bullets. He has lost a lot of blood and is very weak, but he is doing good." The doctor breaks the news. It was like life returned back into my veins. I breathe a fresh lease of life.
We are going to make it! We are going to be just fine.
Virat is going to make it.
They are wheeling his bed out of the operation theater into a suite. Mom and dad run to him. He is conscious. My world was a flat line and seeing him, was like the charge that revived my pulse.They have a cast around his arm and his upper body was tightly bandaged and his face and neck had small cuts everywhere.
He is shocked seeing his mom. He gives her a small smile of assurance. Then he sees his dad, Viren and Jeevika and he is just confused. His eyes scan around the room looking for me and once our eyes lock, all the tears that I have been holding since the last few hours pool out of my eyes, cascading through my cheeks like a water fall. My love! He is here, he is alive and he has come back to me.
He blinks his eyes at me and then his eyes are back on his mother. I close my eyes in sweet relief but I cannot move. Blanco comes to hold me.
"You guys thought I died?" he asks his mom with a chuckle.
"Chup!!! Aaise baatein nai karte beta." She pats his cheek and kisses his forehead. The nurses were waiting to wheel him out of there. They let them do their job. All of them follow Virat.
"He is back now Manvi." Blanco tells me. I look at him and he nods at me, his eyes are moist. I manage to stagger my feet behind everyone.
Once inside the room, Virat asks Blanco about Randy and Blanco leaves to check on him.
~~~
Apparently, he felt a little sick flying in the morning so he decided he would drive instead. But, unfortunately, he ran into a gangster fire exchange and was hit. Dad and Viren didn't buy a word he told us. But it was five in the morning and they all decided not to interrogate him any further. Randy was also doing well and his family had come to take care of him.
"Manvi, you stay with him. We are all going home. I will come in the morning with Ria and Nikki. The poor kids were crying for you so much Virat." Ma tells Virat.
Virat looked at me. I din't go to him. Everybody hugged him and kissed me and were so glad that he was fine. But, I didn't go to him, or say a single word. I was temporarily relieved seeing him joke with his brother and father like everything was normal. But something deep inside was bothering me endlessly. Something that was telling me that this is not a one time thing, that all this is just the beginning.
Ma left for home with everyone else. Blanco was keeping us guard with others outside.
Virat looks at me "Hey...stop it will the crying."
I was standing at the window looking away from him, checking on him every once in a while.
"Do you need anything?" I ask him.
"Manvi, I was in a freaking accident and was shot at, I almost died. I don't even get a hug?"
It was like his words triggered the volcano inside me."You want a hug? Kis kushi main haan? You put yourself at risk day in and day out, I have no idea what is going on with you outside the house. Do you want me to congratulate you for building this colossal empire you are so proud of? that constantly keeps putting you under gun-point!!!!"
"Manvi, come here."
"Nai!! I am not done. You cannot ignore my concerns anymore Virat! You think I buy this bull-shit story of yours even for a second?? Your chopper which you chose not to fly crashed mid air, and the car which you chose to drive also crashed - into a valley; people around around you are apparently making it a habit to carry guns with them; just waiting for a chance to put a bullet in your head and all you are concerned about is MY f**kING SAFETY!!!!!
I have a hundred people around me and you didn't think it was necessary to take a single security person with you!!!? Let me tell you one thing crystal clear Virat - you die, I die - you hold my life!! and the life of our kids! So if you want to protect us, protect yourself first!!!! You almost died today but I...I died a thousand deaths jaaan!!!"
"Are you done?" he asks me. I look at me, I am weeping, standing in the middle of the room, with my fingers clenched into a fist. I was out of breath, crying, scared out of my wits.
"Manvi, come here, or I am getting up." He threatens to get up.
"Don't!!" I rush to him and hold him. I cup his face and look at him with my tear-stained face. He wipes off my tears.
"Virat!!" I sob.
"You came back, like you promised!" I close my eyes in a reverent prayer, thanking god with all my heart.
He nods his head with a small smile.
I felt his face with my fingers and he closes his eyes as we both absorb each others presence back in our lives. I hug him gently, cautiously, without touching his wounds. I feel his warm breath on my face and I hear his heart-beat. It was like my senses finally return. I touch his forehead with mine and place a small kiss on his open mouth. He sighs deeply and doesn't move. His lips move on mine slowly.
I look at him lovingly. He opens his eyes, they were filled up. "I was attacked baby." He tells me.
My heart breaks into a millions pieces. And I just stare at him bewildered.
"Oh Virat!!" my voice was barely a whisper filled with shock, relief, fear and pain.
"I thought I was gonna die! I was thinking about you and the kids all that time. I survived only for you baby. I didn't have the strength to move. I was bleeding and there was nobody around. For a few seconds I was scared that I wouldn't be able to see you guys again." He continued.
My heart cringes thinking about what he had been through the last few hours. I hugged him tightly. But, I quickly recover, he has never confessed his fears to me. He needs me to be strong. I fight back all my fears. I cannot cry. I wipe my tears off.
"Nothing is going to happen to you Virat. All this will pass. We will be fine jaan. Nothing can happen to you. I know you are going to get to the people behind this. We now know, hmm?"
He nods silently.
I kiss his forehead and make him lie back and close his eyes with my hand. I switch off the light. "How is the pain Virat?"
"There is no pain where you are with me baby." He smiles, holding my hand in his, on his chest.
Tears roll down freely, knowing that he cannot see me in the dark. I sit on the bed beside him, stroking his hair as he slips into a peaceful sleep.
Who the hell is behind our lives? Why us? What did we ever do to anyone? Sick heartless, godless brutes!! Why cant you leave him alone???
~~~
It was nine in the morning and the doctor wakes us up to check up on Virat. Virat's parents and Viren, Jeevika everybody came back. "You are doing very well Mr. Vadhera." the doctor tells him.
"Can I go home?" Virat asks. "I need to go home. I can't stay here long." He adds.
"I need to monitor you for atleast a couple of days." The doctor tells him.
"Can you arrange to do that at my place?" Virat asks.
"Let me think about it. I will consult the other doctor and let you know."
"Thank you doc."
"Whats the hurry Virat?" Dad asks Virat.
"Good Morning! Swetha comes in with Ria and Nikki."
"Pappa!!!" Nikki screams.
"Hey buddy."
Blanco lifts him up and places him on the bed, beside Virat.
"Where were you?" Nikki asks Virat.
"I got stuck at work buddy. Sorry, I couldn't come back before your bedtime."
Nikki looks at him suspiciously. "What's that?" he asks, looking at the cast on Virat's hand.
"Your old man is getting really old, he broke his hand and so doctors had to tape him up." Virat laughs.
"Are you coming home?"
"In a day or two buddy."
"Promise?" he asks with a sad face. Virat looks at me. I smile sadly remembering all his innocent insecurities.
"Ofcourse beta, where will I go if I don't come back home?"
Nikki doesn't say anything. "I missed you." He says pouting.
"You missed me? How about that Manvi? Your son missed me, for a change."
"A little bit." Nikki adds and we all split in laughter.
"I missed you too bud." Virat kisses his head, and squeezes him tightly into a hug with his good hand.
"Good to see you safe Virat." Swetha smiles.
"Thanks. How are you doing?" Virat smiles at her.
"First class." She smiles back.
Ria starts crying loudly. I knew this was coming.
"Ria??" Virat calls her.
"She is scared of hospitals." I whisper to Virat.
"This is not a hospital sweetheart. Aren't you gonna give your dad a hug?"
"No." She nods her head, weeping in the crook of my neck. "I am not talking to daddy." She adds.
"Why don't you tell him that yourself?" I make her sit between Nikki and Virat. She immediately stands and hugs Virat tightly.
"Oh my!!!" Virat smiles surprised. "I thought you are not talking to me."
"I AM NOT!!" she retorts.
"ohhhkay!" Virat shakes his head.
"I guess all Vadhera women are hot-headed!!!" Dad smiles looking at Ma. Viren nods agreeingly looking at Jeevika and Virat looks at me and smiles.
~~~
note: Sorry if this is a bit short guys. I won't be able to write anything for a week, so I tried to end the suspense to this part before I disappear. It is basically a filler. Sorry, if it is blaaah..😒
Edited by bluebolt - 12 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
