Slap!
It was her mom who did it, and somewhere in him, his mind told him he deserved that and worse but still it did not stop the shock from appearing on his face, he had not expected it, but he wasn’t complaining either. The shock was visible not just on his face but on the face of everyone present there. However her next action was even more unexpected, Vasundhra had pulled him into a hug.
“Are you mad?” Vasundhra asked as her own tears streamed down her face falling on the shoulder of his blood stained shirt- the suit had been long gone, “Nothing will happen to her! She’s our daughter, she’s not that fragile, do you get it? Stop blaming yourself. If it was my Gauri in your place, wouldn’t you do the same thing for her too?” She asked her heart filled with concern for her daughter’s safety. But what she knew more than everything else was that the young man infront of her loved Gauri more than anyone could ever love her, she had seen it in his eyes long back and it had been crystal clear on her bidaai.
Yes he would, without a doubt do the same thing that Gauri did. Omkara’s heart answered.
“But..” He started only to be cut off by Shivaay.
“Om, my sister is very strong. She’s gonna scold you bad for blaming yourself like this when she wakes up. And I’m telling you, I won’t save you from her wrath.” Shivaay said, with tears that contrasted the soft smile on his lips.
“Ya and she’s going to be just fine! What makes you think she will leave you?” Harsh asked trying to sound as brave as possible, “She’s a fighter, Omkara.” Despite knowing that as a father he had failed multiple times, he knew Omkara was the best choice he could’ve ever made for his daughter. The broken look on his face showed the intensity of love he had for Gauri. Maybe he was that man destined in her fate who could give her the love she truly deserved, the love that her family or rather her father couldn’t give her.
“Yes Omkara.” Anika said keeping a hand on his shoulder , “She’s one of the strongest people I’ve known. So stop acting like you shot her. What happened wasn’t your fault. She will have to wake up and be fine. Cause you’re waiting for her, is your love that weak that you think she’ll leave you just like that?” Anika asked and when Omkara shook his head in no she continued, “Then stop crying. Be brave, for her sake at least. Omkara, she won’t like it if you cry like this. You have to be strong for her. She can’t run away from your love, not anymore, she’ll have to come back from death.”
Despite wanting to know why someone would kill Omkara, she knew right now was not the time for such a question so she kept it to herself.
Priyanka was crying badly while Bhavya tried to console her. Her Gauri bhabhi had become an important part in her life. Jhanvi too was crying and Pinky tried to console her while Tej and Shakti tried to contact the best doctors and Rudra stayed beside a numb Omkara who kept mumbling things.
“How did it all go so wrong Rudy? How?” Rudra didn’t know if Omkara wanted an answer or not but it didn’t seem like he cared for a reply either so he just let him ramble while he patiently listened but his mind replayed his conversation with Gauri that morning- it was all so good. He thought. “One minute everything was perfect and then..”
Omkara continued as if wording Rudra’s thoughts.
“I promised to protect her. I couldn’t even do it..” he kept rambling. While Rudra’s heart ached- What if he could never see his Gauri bhabhi again?
Then, throwing the negative thoughts away, he decided to stick to positive thoughts only. She had to be fine. She didn’t have a choice, it was a compulsion that she had to be fine.
“O, she will be fine.” Rudra said with hope in his eyes. A crying Omkara looked at his brother’s face. “And about protecting her. In a marriage we’re equals right? She protected you. And now it’s your turn to care of her when she wakes up.” He said with a soft smile while Omkara stared at his brother wondering when did that little boy grow so matured.
Shivaay moved away from the scene unable to bear it any longer. He had tried to keep a facade of being strong but he couldn’t do it any longer, his heart was breaking each moment as his mind kept playing his memories with Gauri. He had lost his sister once to cancer, he couldn’t lose Gauri. Her death left him heartbroken because she was the closest to him in his family, she was the best sister one could’ve ever had. Her death had totally shattered him. It was only shortly after her death that he came across Gauri. And she by all means reminded him of his own sister. Gauri was that ray of light in his darkness filled life- a light that gave him a hope. And since then, he had considered her as his sister.
Anika went behind him since she knew that he needed someone to console him. Finally Shivaay sat down in a seat far away from the OT and from people and she sat next to him while he cried his heart out. He didn’t want to loose his sister again. He wouldn’t be able to bear it.
“Now do I have to remind you that our Gauri is strong? You know her Shivaay, have faith in her. These bullets cannot do anything to her.” Anika said patting him on his back.
“I’m scared Anika..” He broke down.
“I know.”
“I lost my sister once. I can’t again…” Shivaay said looking into her eyes feeling vulnerable.
“I don’t want to loose my best friend either but I know I won’t. Trust me Shivaay, I know how much she craved for a normal family, I know how much she wished to feel the love in a family, I’ve seen her yearn for it from the time I’ve known her. She wouldn’t tell us her problems, always tried to behave like everything was fine. But I knew it wasn’t and eventually she did tell me.” Anika said with a fond smile making those memories come back, filling her eyes. “And now that she got such loving family and such a loving husband, she will do whatever she can to stay. Because her life right now is worth fighting for, even if she has to move mountains or swim across oceans for it. She would do anything and everything in her power to keep it safe. She hasn’t done living it, there’s a long journey ahead of her. She won’t give up because it’s not that old life anymore which has given her scars but its this new life that’s healing those scars.” Shivaay looked at his wife like a lost puppy, his heart going out for Gauri. “You know why she never fought with anyone?” She asked wiping away his tears and her own.
“Because she didn’t like to fight.” Shivaay replied confused at the weird question his wife asked him.
“No Shivaay, it was because there wasn’t anything in her life that was worth fighting for, something she could say was worth a fight. But now she has it all that is worth fighting. There’s no way she will run away from the battlefield while the battle is going on.” Anika replied with confidence in both- her eyes and her voice.
Shivaay looked at his wife having found a new light of hope and realizing exactly why he had fallen in love with this woman infront of him. He was proud to have her, she had surely been the answer to all his prayers.
“Vaise Shivaay, I can’t believe you were the guy who was shooting dialogues after dialogues to Omkara a few minutes earlier.” Anika said trying to lighten up his mood.
“I lost faith for sometime I guess, but now I’ve faith in her. Cause someone enlightened me without the help of a Bodhi tree!” Shivaay replied with a smile.
“Oh God Shivaay!” Anika exclaimed rolling her eyes at his weird sense of humor.
***
“Excuse me sir?” The nurse asked as she came out of the OT. Omkara almost immediately sprung out of his seat ready to ask her about Gauri. “The patient has lost a huge amount of blood. She O positive and we have only some with us.” She looked around at the family, “We’ll need two people to donate her blood. Please arrange it as soon as possible as she is in a critical stage.”
“My blood is O positive, but due to my diabetic stage, I can’t give her blood.” Harsh said crashing down to the floor while Tej ran towards him to console him.
To be continued…
Hey everyone! How have you all been? The story is nearing its closure. A few more chapters and it will be done..Thank you all for supporting this story so far…the support and been really overwhelming😇
Thanks for reading!
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