Heart-strings

Chapter 29

I was getting ready for Dhruv's wedding. I wore a royal blue lehenga embroidered with tiny mirrors which shone brightly when light struck on it. I held my chandelier earrings in my hand when someone knocked the door. I kept them on the table and opened the door. "Dhruuuv, you are slaying, man. See, we are twinning", I giggled without looking at his face properly. He stood in front with a panicky face, drenched in sweat and his eyes were blood-red. "Dhruv, what's wrong?", I questioned looking at him, I feared something went wrong. Tears ran down his cheeks while he sobbed in silence. "What's wrong? Get inside", I held his wrist, dragged him inside and shut the door. He sat on the edge of the bed and tried to speak but he was unable to. I kept my hand gently on his shoulder and asked, "What happened? Calm down. Take a long breath and speak". I was way more worried for him; I offered him a glass of water. "Nandini, D...Dia", he stammered speaking about Dia, his bride-to-be while I gestured him to continue. "Dia met an accident", he said breathlessly and broke down. I felt my stomach twisting in knots and my heart fiercely thudded against my chest. "What are you saying?", I asked him again because it was hard to believe. "Yes, she met an accident. Half an hour ago, she rang me up and told that she was leaving for here. You know, she has no family so she was alone! Right now, I received a call from a cop, he said that the girl who was in the car was very badly injured and the last number she dialed was mine. They were taking her to the city hospital. What do I do now? I can't tell my family, they will panic but I can't even leave Dia alone", he buried his face in his palms. "I'll go with you. Yes, I'll go with you. Don't tell anything to your family right now. Let's drive to the hospital, first and then we will ring everyone up to cancel the function. She needs you, hurry up!", I said and took my phone from the dressing table.

Dhruv drove rashly to the hospital, in spite of the roads being jammed; we managed to reach there within an hour. We found out about her room at the reception and hurried to her ward. Room no. 113 was occupied by a few nurses who stood around Dia's bed. We pushed the door open and saw her head, drenched in blood while her hands were cut at several places. Her condition looked pitiful and I couldn't even imagine the pain she would have been going through. There were no doctors to attend her and that was the moment when worries bubbled up within me. "Where is the doctor? Her condition looks so critical", I asked a nurse who was filling medicine into an injection. "Mam, he said he is coming. Please go and wait outside", she looked so inconsiderate about Dia which made my nerves literally snap. "Can't you see she has lost so much of blood?", I said looking at Dhruv who sat beside her, holding her hand and crying. He was not in the state of arguing with anyone and I had to take a stand. "What do you people think of yourself? You are risking someone's life, is it that priceless to you? Do you think it's a joke? Do you get your salary for this? Do you want me to register a complaint against you and your hospital? Go and call the doctor before she even lose another drop of blood!", I scolded her while she looked at the floor with an expression of guilt over her face. "Go!", I raised my voice when suddenly the door opened and the doctor came inside hurriedly. "Doctor, she has been here for more than an hour. She met a terrible accident. Please examine her fast!", I told the doctor who was looking at the nurse in confusion. "Let me handle the case. You both should wait outside!", he sent us out of the ward. I sat with Dhruv on the hospital bench and tried to comfort him. When I was so scared for Dia, how could I even imagine him to be calm? I turned to his side and said, "You should inform your family now". He nodded and fished his cell phone from the pocket of the sherwani he wore. Everything was going so smooth and perfect but God chose this time to test their bond and there they stood, astride the ward door where Dia struggled between life and death while Dhruv sat helplessly and broken. Well, they often say, that what gets easily can never be love and maybe, that's why we go through sacrifices and pains so we can value it and not take it for granted.

We saw doctors rushing to Dia's ward while the nurse strictly asked us to wait outside. We had our hearts in our mouths. Dhruv's family would reach anytime. After 2 hours which almost felt like an eternity, the door swung backwards and the doctor came out. I shook Dhruv's shoulder who buried his face into his palms, with terror occupied every cell of him. We stood straight to our ground expecting him to speak something. "The patient is fine now. She is out of danger. You can meet her after the nurses are done with their job but don't disturb her, she needs rest", the doctor informed, we took a sigh of relief. "By the way, why did she wear a Lehenga, in fact why are all of you in traditional apparels?", he intrigued. "Actually, it was their wedding today. She was coming to the venue when this bizarre took place", I explained. "Oh, I see. Take care of her. We will discharge her after a week or so because she needs proper care and then you can do the rituals", he said to Dhruv who nodded his head after every statement of the doctor. We smiled at the doctor and then he walked to his cabin.

"Nandini, let's go inside", Dhruv held my wrist after the nurses walked out of the ward and I nodded. While I was standing up, my eyes fell on the extreme right corner of the hospital corridor, a tall boy, wearing a baby pink sweatshirt and denims walked in our direction along with a man who looked of late forties. The man who looked like his manager was reading out a report to him. That sight did something to my heart. I felt numb, my heart thudded against my chest fiercely, and I felt painful twists in my stomach. I stood paralyzed while a tear dribbled down my cheeks and I realised, I wasn't dead. My heart could feel things, still and my eyes still knew how to shed tears. It was just that I learnt the skill of concealing them. "Darshan, your father's reports are no...", the man's voice reached my ears and that was the moment when I realised that Darshan stood a distance away from me. I was bewildered. Our eyes clashed for a brief time and it comes without saying that it was enough for me to read the emptiness in his eyes. He walked towards me stranding the man behind while Dhruv still held my hand and looked at us. He flashed a weak smile at me and stared at the lehenga I wore, after which he looked at Dhruv who unfortunately twinned with me that day. "How are you?", he broke the silence between us. "Umm,...,umm, fine", I faked a smile on him. I was not in the state of asking him about his well being so I stood foolishly in silent unless he spoke, "Congratulations! Still together!". I raised my brow, totally confused of what made him say that and when I realised he thought I was getting married with Dhruv, his phone rang suddenly. "Oh, excuse me", he walked away smiling again before I could. I was horrified to see that he directly thought that I was marrying someone else and it almost made me feel that he moved on. He got over me and he should have had. He did not even ask me what I wasdoing in the hospital. But, he was there and that made me wonder what brought him to the hospital. Was he fine? Did something go wrong? Was he hiding something behind his smile? Did he try to conceal his pain through his wife grin? I had questions whose answers I wanted. "Dhruv go inside. I will come within a minute", I said. "Where are you going? Are you going to follow him?", he shot questions at me. "I won't follow him. Don't worry. I am just going to the loo". I rushed to the next floor because I saw Darshan's manager going in that direction. Deep within, I prayed everything was fine with him.