Intertwined Fates -- An IPKKND FanFic

Aftermath

Arnav made a face. "What is this, Di?"

"Vegetable soup."

"I don't want it."

"I'm sorry, am I dealing with my son right now or my brother? Come on, Chote. You lost a lot of blood. You're anemic, and this has a good amount of iron."

Arnav groaned and allowed Di to feed him. He waited a few moments, hoping that Di would volunteer the information herself, but when she didn't, he had to ask. "Where's Khushi?"

"I sent her home while you were sleeping. The poor girl's been here for two days–she needed to shower and change. I expect she'll be back–and here she is now." Anjali smiled as a still tired looking Khushi walked in. "Take this bowl. I have to take care of some work–I'll be back later tonight."

Arnav waited anxiously until Di had left. When Khushi lifted the spoon to his mouth, he caught her hand. "Are you alright?"

"I'm not the one who was shot in the leg." Her voice was nasally, as if she had a cold or had been crying. Arnav had a pretty good guess as to which one it was.

"But you've been weird," he pressed. "I don't know what to make of it."

"Weird how?"

"You're not being...you. You're barely talking to me–"

"What do you want me to say, huh?" she asked, suddenly fired up. "Why did you throw yourself at Daksh? What if something happened to you? How could you be so reckless?"

He softened, and taking the soup from her, set it aside. "So you've been worried about me?"

"Don't," she said angrily. "I know that look, and I'm in no mood to be romantic."

"But you're nagging me," he said, taking a loose strand of her hair and tugging it gently. "It's very...wifey of you. And you know I love it when you act all wifey."

"I'm not nagging."

"And now you're in denial."

"Fine. Then I'll leave and you can sit here by herself."

She slammed her hands down on the bed, accidentally poking his leg.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he groaned.

"Hai Devi Mayan, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to–that's not even the right leg."

He grinned sheepishly. "It still hurt."

"You–"

"I want you to stay," he said, cutting her off. "Nagging or whatever, doesn't matter. Please stay."

"I wasn't really going to leave," she said softly. "I was just going out into the hallway."

"Khushi, I'm not only talking about here. I mean, don't leave me at all. Now that Daksh is...is gone, I know my time has run out. I wasn't able to finish everything on the binder, but Khushi, you understand my sincerity now, don't you? You believe in my love for you?"

"I–we'll talk about this after you come home."

"Khushi, please–"

"Don't. Please, focus on your recovery. All these things, we'll talk about later... We have plenty of time now."

He calmed. He'd been afraid that he'd go home to find her bags packed and ready to go, but her words put him at ease. "We do, don't we? We have all the time in the world. Now, come on, woman. Feed me this disgusting soup."

***

Subhadra felt her years in her bones as she sat on the plastic chair outside the morgue. Her arthritic fingers ached, but she refused to loosen her hold on the cane.