Aditya forced the driver to drive fast while Mumbai traffic tested Aditya’s patience. Sakthi witnessed Aditya’s anxiousness silently. Finally, They reached the hospital again. The Lawyer gave a surprised expression by seeing Aditya.
“Actually, I came here to transfer my father’s relative to my place.”Aditya said.
“But, Mr.Maheshwari already initiated the transfer even he left towards Airport along with your relative. I came here only to help him. I tried to inform you but your phone was unreachable.”Lawyer said while Aditya checked his pockets for his mobile without getting Lawyer’s attendance.
“Is there any problem,Mr.Sengupta?”Lawyer asked.
“Nothing … Thanks for helping Sanskar”Aditya said with a smile while suppressing his emotions.
Lawyer left the place being satisfied with Aditya’s answer while Shakti offered his mobile to Aditya by calling his number.
In Mumbai airport,
Sanskar switched on Aditya’s mobile which he stole in the hospital.
“Hello bhai”Sanskar attended the call in the first ring itself .
“Where is my rago?”Aditya asked by suppressing his emotions.
“My Cutie is fine and safe, bhai.”Sanskar answered.
“Let me take her with me,Sanskar.” Aditya pleased.
“I will surely, Bhai. Once I make sure she is safe.”Sanskar said in a firm tone then cut the call.
“I am sorry bhai”Sanskar muttered by looking at Ragini’s family picture in Aditya’s mobile.
Aditya knelled down on the floor while Sakthi held his shoulders.
“Let’s go,Aditya”Sakthi said by making Aditya stand.
Aditya walked like a lifeless man to his car while Sanskar boarded in air ambulance along with Ragini.
At night,
Rajat was breaking into his own house.
“Seems like, someone is breaking into their own house.” A voice startled Rajat and with jerk he turned.
“Sanskar…”Rajat took a deep breath.
“I am scared that you were my house owner. What are you doing here?”Rajat asked while sitting in chair.
“Rajat Bhaiya…”Sanskar started while Rajat interrupted him.
“Bhaiya… Are you giving respect to me?” Rajat asked in a fake surprised tone.
“I need a help Raj. I can’t trust anyone now.”Sanskar expressed his genuine concern in his voice.
“what do you need from me?”Rajat asked leaving his carelessness.
Sanskar took him to his room where Ragini was laying and Swara was checking Ragini’s pulse.
“Rago…”Rajat shocked by seeing her then looked at her with teary eyes.
“I want to keep her safe until I find the culprits, Raj. And, No one will doubt you or this place.”Sanskar said.
“Aditya would be very happy if he knows about that.”Raj said by taking his mobile out.
Sanskar snatched Rajat’s mobile in a quick response . Rajat looked at Sanskar questioningly.
Sanskar narrated the whole incidents happened today while Rajat was hearing everything silently.
“Please help me, Raj” Sanskar pleased while Rajat nodded negatively.
“you have done wrong,Sanskar. On what basis, you told Aadi to stay away from Rago. Don’t you know how much he loves her and uncle? If he can keep his friend’s brother safe , won’t he keep his sister safe? “Rajat asked.
“That’s my problem,Raj. For the past five years, I trusted Laksh was the murderer until I saw Ragini alive. I heard Aadi bhai’s conversation with that Laksh’s brother. He was telling that it would be dangerous that culprits will kill her if they get to know about Ragini being alive. He was telling that Aadi bhai was continuously watched. I don’t want to take any chance,Raj”Sanskar declared his answer.
“As a friend, you are thinking this much. Aditya is her twin brother. Won’t he think about his sister’s safety?”Rajat asked.
“We can’t keep her for long time. We have to take her to hospital. And I would recommend letting her brother see her when she is alive.”Swara interrupted.
“Tell it clearly,Swara”Sanskar said in sharp tone and Rajat also looked at her.
“Ragini is in Coma nearly five years. If she doesn’t wake up soon, she will die as her inner parts would failure to work.”Swara said while Sanskar hold her by her shoulders.
“No… She won’t…”Sanskar screamed while his fingers pierced into her skin.
Swara took his hands in her hands.
“we will try our best,Sanskar. Raj bhai, Do you know any neurologist whom we can trust?”Swara asked.
“One of my old friend’s father is a neurosurgeon. I will contact him.”Rajat said by snatching his mobile from Sanskar.
At Hospital,
Annapurna was helping Durgaprasad to drink water.
“Durga, do you know about that lady who tried to kill you?”Annapurna asked.
“How could I ?”Durgaprasad asked.
“Then, why didn’t you try to save yourself? When I had witnessed, you were clutching the chair tightly while your gun is in near. You are even lying to me,Durgaji”Annapurna asked with teary eyes.
Durgaprasad glanced at her face to understand his wife.
“A Long time back, I had shown an innocent as culprit. It cost five lives and destroyed one. She came for getting justice for her family. And, I want to free from my guilt.”Durgaprasad said in a calm tone.
Annapurna started to cry silently while Durgaprasad side hugged her.
“why didn’t you think about me?How could I live without you?”Annapurna sobbed but durgaprasad remained silent and patted his wife’s shoulder.
“Forgive me Annu. I am a very selfish person .”Durgaprasad apologized to his wife in his heart.
In the same hospital,
At the top floor,
Ragini was admitted and Rajat,Sanskar and Swara were waiting for the doctor.
“Sanskar, this is Doctor Rudraveer Sharma.Uncle, This is ASP Sanskar Maheshwari and his wife Swara.”Rajat introduced to each other.
Rudraveer started to check Ragini then her reports then asked the trio to come to his room.
“ASP Sir, Rajat told me that I want to treat her secretly. I will do and in my absence, My son will take care. Next coming to patient’s condition,I think she might went through some traumatic incidents when she got injuries in her head. She can see and hear us but she can’t respond. We call it as Locked Up syndrome.If persons like her family,friends with whom she shared her happy memories reminding those incidents may help to get her out of coma.We can try in this way.”Doctor Rudraveer said.
“Ok doctor.”Sanskar nodded his head.
The four came outside while the doctor introduced his son who came to meet him.
“He is my son,Lakshya Sharma”Rudraveer introduced.
“Hi…”Sanskar greeted lakshya then Lakshya gave a friendly smile to Swara .
“How are you feeling now,Swara?”Lakshya Sharma asked.
“I am fine,Laksh”Swara replied with a friendly smile.
Sanskar made Rajat leave while he and Swara stayed in the hospital. Swara went to check Durgaprasad while He entered into Ragini’s ward.
“Cutie… I promise I will punish your real culprits.”Sanskar promised and held her hands inside his palms.
He kept silent while reminiscing about their happy moments.
“Mr.Maheshwari…”A Voice distracted him and he turned towards the source of voice.
“Doctor Laksh…”Sanskar stood from his stool.
“Actually, I came here to discuss about Mrs.Maheshwari’s health condition.”Lakshya Sharma said.
Sanskar gave a worried expression.
“Nothing to worry,Mr.Maheshwari. You know , she was discharged yesterday only. And, she went through a traumatic incident- witnessing a murder and escaping at last moment. She needs rest both physically and mentally. Ensure that she takes rest and medications. Otherwise, Complications may arise.”Lakshya Sharma explained Swara’s health condition.
“I will make sure that,Doctor.”Sanskar said then Lakshya Sharma left. Sanskar revived all the incidents from yesterday after her discharge- her questions and his outburst. A form of guilt was forming in his heart which unconsciously made him walk towards his wife.
In Durgaprasad’s ward,
Annapurna was sleeping in a sofa and Swara was sitting in another sofa. Her eyes were half closed. Sanskar entered without making sound and sat beside Swara.
He slowly made her head fall on his lap . In a few seconds, she encircled her hands on his waist. He caressed her head which was bandaged.
“I always kept my preferences first,Swara either my duty or my problems. In the six months of our marriage life, I never asked about your preferences while you are supporting me in the all the way you can. Even, I am exploiting you without caring about your health now. I am Sorry,Janu…”Sanskar muttered in a lower tone.
“Auch!”Sanskar closed his mouth to control the pain as Swara pinched him hardly and his parents were sleeping.
“My husband is the world’s best man whom I can get. So ,Don’t dare to blabber useless things.”Swara said in a lower tone while increasing her grip around his waist and snuggling in his lap.
“Swara..!”Sanskar murmured by seeing her awake while she rubbed her ears lightly.
“Look at me,Sanskar. I have to sleep so that I can help maa in morning. So, sleep and let me sleep. Otherwise, I will kick you out of the ward.”Swara threatened in a low voice.
Sanskar let out a smile then slowly closed his eyes . May be his lady love’s touch was reducing the pain and stress he was going through while Swara stared him lovingly.
Then, She smiled bitterly by remembering her husband’s confession.
“I am sorry Sanskar for my betrayal”Swara apologized in her heart.
At Ragini’s ward,
Lakshya Sharma was staring Ragini till the time Sanskar left with a bitter smile.He walked closer to her then his eyes turned into apologetic.
“I wish I would neither meet you nor involved you in all this mess, Ragini. I still regret for dragging your Laksh into this case. Forgive me” Lakshya Sharma said by holding her hand and closed his eyes.
Her last finger moved a little in another hand.
“Laksh!” Rudraveer placed his hands on her shoulders then Laksh wiped his tears before turning with a smile.
“I was just checking the patient’s pulse. Do you need anything, Dad?”Laksh asked.
“I just came to see you. Go and have sleep for some hours. I will take care of emergencies.”Rudraveer said.
“No way. Nowadays, you are not taking proper test. Go and take rest.”Laksh said by putting his hands on Rudraveer’s shoulders and dragging him outside.
“Dad, what is the probability that she can wake up from coma?”Lakshya Sharma asked.
“you read her reports. What do you think?”Rudraveer asked.
“Dad, your results are always accurate. Please,”Lakshya Sharma pleased.
“The chances are very less until her subconscious mind respond. “Rudraveer stopped by seeing his son’s cringed face.
“It’s not good to attach with patient emotionally, Laksh.”Rudraveer pointed for which Laksh just nodded.
Rudraveer left with a thinking face as his son never attached to patients though his son concerned about their health.
He walked towards his cabin.
At Aditya’s house,
Aditya was laying on the floor in terrace and staring at the sky like searching his father in the stars. Sakthi stared at Aditya from a far in terrace with hesitation then the sky .
“Aadi…”Rajat concerned voice made Aditya turn.
“Raj!”Sakthi turned towards the duo by hearing Aditya’s surprised voice.
“what are you doing here, Aadi?”Raj asked.
“Counting stars . what would be,Raj?”Aditya asked .
Rajat glanced at his friend’s face once then sat beside him.
“Do you know Aadi that Stars and humans are alike?”Rajat asked in deep voice.
Aditya glanced at his friend then turned towards the sky again.
“How much the star was burning itself, It shines the same while looking from far like people who was masking their inner turmoil with smiling face.”Rajat muttered.
“Is there any problem,Raj?”Aditya asked as his friend never speaks like this.
“I heard that your father left.”Rajat said indirectly.
“And you got Ragini back.”Rajat continued.
“Share your sadness with me,Aadi. If you want to cry, then cry. Don’t suppress your feelings,Aadi.”Rajat said by holding Aditya’s hand.
“There is nothing to suppress,Raj. There is nothing. Nothing! Just hollowness , Raj”Aditya said in an emotionless tone.
“you should be sad for losing uncle. You should be happy for getting your sister back. You should have hope that one day your sister would be perfectly cured and her culprits would be punished. In all these, How could it be hollowness ,Aadi?”Rajat shook his friend’s shoulders while trying to stir his friend’s emotions.
” When my papa got to know the truth how much he would have needed me. He might want to reconcile with me. He would have wished to reveal about my rago. Whenever I pleased him to let me see him, how much pain he would have gone through for rejecting my pleas? For whose murder I want to get justice in all these years, even after getting her back, I left her in hospital itself. Keep getting justice for Laksh aside; even I am struggling here to save his brother. Even I don’t know what to feel,Raj. Pity on myself for being a complete failure ,sad, happy or guilt?”Aditya muttered in calm tone while Rajat suddenly hugged Aditya.
Rajat sobbed in a low voice while Tears started to leave from Aditya’s eyes.
“I am sorry Papa…”Aditya cried loud as tears were reducing his pain.
After few minutes, Rajat looked at his sleeping friend. Along with tear marks, exhaustion was clearly seen in his face.
Rajat made his friend lay on the floor itself then looked above by seeing a shadow.
Shakti was standing there with a pair of blankets and pillows.
“Thanks “Rajat mumbled then covered Aditya with a blanket.
“How did he know about my brother?”Shakti asked.
“Laksh is his friend… best friend.”Rajat said while reminiscing their happy memories.
“Aditya… Can you please tell me the way to office room?”Laksh asked while Swayam was standing beside Laksh.
“Sure, Laksh. Raj, are you also going to office room?”Aditya asked a student who sat beside him.
Rajat nodded positively then introduced himself to the duo.
“I am Rajat… In short you can call me Raj!”Rajat offered his hands for handshake.
“Hi…”Swayam then Laksh shared a handshake with Rajat.
“Let’s go. We are having break only for 15 minutes.”Rajat hurried.
The trio reached office room. While Rajat was settling his bills, Laksh and Swayam submitted their SSLC examination mark sheet.
“wow… 498(out of 500). You should score the same level in your HSE exam also.” The school office manager said to Swayam.
“Definitely, sir.”Swayam said in assuring tone with a smile.
“I thank my teachers and school for my success. I thank my parents also. Without their support, I couldn’t reach this level. I used to study 22 hours per day. Keeping focus on my studies helped me to score this mark.”Swayam said by adjusting his specs in Laksh’s imagination.
Laksh laughed at his imagination while the other looked at him as he was mad.
“Laksh, let’s go.”Swayam said by dragging him outside while Rajat followed them.
“What happened,Laksh? why did you laugh suddenly?”Swayam asked.
Laksh told swayam about his imagination. Swayam glared him while Rajat was suppressing his laugh in a way Laksh described.
“What is funny in that?”Swayam retorted angrily.
“Cool bro”Laksh said by putting his hands over Swayam’s shoulder.
“There is nothing funny in that. But, all the toppers were telling the same statement. Is there any scarcity for thanking statements? And, when I imagined you with big specs, I couldn’t control my laugh”Swayam glared Laksh which restricted Laksh from continuing further .
“Then, tell something different when you go to that position.”Swayam said.
“Nope. I am not interested in mugging books.”Laksh replied.
“then, why did you join here?”Sakthi asked.
“Parent compulsion. Isn’t it?”Rajat asked.
“you too, Bro”Laksh gave shocked expression then offered a hug to Rajat. Both wiped their imaginary tears while Sakthi sighed at their drama. Neither of them didn’t know nor their classmates how they bonded very soon.
“We have 2 minutes to reach class or”Sakthi pointed the time while they started to run towards the class to avoid punishment and embarrassment in front of the whole class.
Sakthi looked at his watch once again which shown 5 minutes remaining. He walked casually with a grin in his face.
“Liar…”Rajat mumbled and drifted into sleep.
At Hospital,
Lakshya Sharma was looking at the sun rise through window from Ragini’s ward. He sat on a stool .
“Today, I met you again after a long five years. I felt a relief in my heart by seeing you alive,Ragini. Though I couldn’t remember exactly, I remember bits and parts of meeting you for first time that too with your boy friend.”Laksh muttered while he let some memories occupy his mind.
“Ragini, what are you doing? Leave him.” Her boyfriend tried to free a man from her clutch by seeing a large crowd whose were watching the fight.
“Leave me , Laksh. First he dashed with our bike, now even he is not apologizing.”Ragini exclaimed.
“why are you making scene like he died? You want money. isn’t it?”The man took his purse out.
“It’s over”Laksh put his hand on his head while the man had fallen on the road because of the back to back punches delivered by Ragini.
“Tell me again, now”Ragini said by delivering a punch to his mouth. Laksh held her from back and looked at the man.
“Say sorry, man. Otherwise…”Laksh advised and the man horrified when she was ready to deliver another punch.
“So..rr..y..”The man muttered finally after a bit struggle.
“See Ragini, he apologized. Leave him…”Laksh said for which she obliged.
Laksh put a card on the man’s pocket.
“I am medical student. Come to my college, I will treat you freely.”Laksh muttered while Ragini dragged him to the bike.
Lakshya Sharma smiled then narrated the whole incident, “I felt it like a role reversal, Ragini. Your braveness attracted me a lot. Those eyes, I was even scared that you would beat me the same if I propose you .At that time, I didn’t know he was your boy friend. If I would have known that, I would have stopped myself from falling for you, even meeting you further”
Lakshya Sharma stopped as he heard sound outside.
Ragini’s last finger moved again while her subconscious mind revived some memories.
Ragini was moving the bike to nearby park while Laksh was walking beside her silently then followed her inside the park and sat on a long bench.
“Ragini…”Laksh called but got silence as response.
Ragini took her water bottle out and poured water on Laksh’s wounds. Laksh hissed because of irritation on wounds then she rubbed the wounds with disinfectant. Laksh was silently looking at her face then held her hands.
“Rago…”Laksh called her in pleasing tone.
“Leave my hand,Laksh.”Ragini said angrily.
“you have to stand up for yourself when you didn’t do wrong. There, the car driver was at fault, Instead of yelling at him, you are standing there silently.”Ragini yelled.
“Nothing has happened, Ragini. Why should we get into problem unnecessarily?”Laksh said by bending his head.
“will you fight back at least if anything wrong happened to me?”Ragini asked in a mixed tone of sarcasm and anger. Laksh looked at her being hurt.
“I am sorry,Laksh”Ragini apologized while Laksh snatched the water bottle from her hand and started to clean her wounds.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you”Ragini said in between hissing.
Laksh placed his index finger on her lips and signed her not to speak then cleaned the wounds with disinfectant.
Tears were cornered in her eyes while Laksh applied ointment silently. The silence treatment pained her than her wounds. She slowly held his last finger by her last finger.
“Let’s promise together that we won’t ignore each other at any circumstances.” Ragini said with yearning eyes while Laksh sighed with a smile.
“I am sorry Laksh”Ragini apologized again while Laksh side hugged her.
“I am also sorry,Ragini. I can’t change suddenly. But, I will try.”Laksh said in a promising tone.
“Let stop with apologizing each other. Already, our date plan was spoiled.”Ragini said in a sad tone.
“I don’t think so…”Laksh smiled and pointed a tandem bike station .
Ragini jumped in joy then hugged him.
“why can’t we marry in this year itself?”Ragini asked after breaking the hug.
“Not before you finish your studies.”Ragini pouted by hearing Laksh’s answer.
“The next day, you finish your studies, I will marry you.”Laksh said in a promising tone and held her hands tightly.
Both smiled at each other genuinely and walked towards tandem bike station.
A long tear left from Ragini’s eyes . Rudraveer entered Ragini’s ward after knowing it from floor nurse station.
“Laksh…”Laksh turned as his father called. Rudraveer’s eyes stuck at Ragini by seeing tear mark in her face. Laksh looked at the direction of his father’s vision.
“She is responding, dad.”Laksh overwhelmed and a little hope to get her back was forming in his heart.
“It’s a good sign,Laksh. who stayed with Patient, yesterday night?”Rudraveer asked.
“tell them to speak with her and make her remember good memories.”Rudraveer continued.
“Ok,Dad. I will inform them.”Laksh said by hiding the truth that he was the one.
A/N
Dear Readers,
I have entered this story for wattys 2018 contest. Please give me your support and point out my mistakes. So, I can rectify and improvise my skills.
By,
Bala