To Aarna patel, he was the kind of man she wanted to stay away yet she desired him - dark, tough, extreme, controlling, commanding, and a billionaire.
To jayraj Singh Rathod, she is the kindest and yet most feisty woman he ever met, a ball of spitf...
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"Mr. Rathod." A nurse squeaked in her feet,
"I want to speak with the doctor now." I glared at her.
"Okay, Mr. Rathod. Let me inform him." She left hurriedly, I stood outside the OT, looking for any way to see Aarna, But there was none,
"Mr. Rathod." I looked at the doctor's worried face,
"What is it? What happened?" I greeted my teeth, "I want to see her right now."
"Mr. Rathod." He looked at me with concern but I did not budge.
"Okay. For five minutes"
After changing my clothes in a sterile room, I was allowed to enter the ICU room where they kept Aarna. The doctor and nurse, both were on my side.
The sight of Her on the hospital bed in a hospital gown attached to all the wires and IV and ventilator dug a deep black hole into my soul.
I was not ashamed to say that I was sobbing, I did not care about two people watching me and tears kept streaming.
I touched her hand and ran my fingers over a blue visible vein.
I wanted to say thousands of things but not a single word came out. And just like that the five minutes were over. I watched her for the last time helplessly before leaving the ICU.
"Why is she on a ventilator?" I asked the doctor the moment the ICU door closed behind me.
"Her lungs are too weak to breathe on her own. We have removed the water from her lungs, the swelling of her brain is almost subdued, the cut was deep but thankfully no organs are harmed but again the lung is the biggest issue."
"Why is she not waking up?"
"I- I don't know, I or any of my colleagues are not able to understand the reason behind her being in a coma. Maybe the hit to the water was too strong to put her in the coma or maybe the trauma of being kidnapped is not letting her wake up."
"So what do I have to do?"
"Nothing other than waiting.".
"So You are suggesting me to sit hand in hand, not doing anything to better her condition." My voice was able to say how absurd his suggestion was.
"Mr. Rathod, you pray, sometimes prayers can do what doctors can not do."
Pray! I haven't prayed since he snatched Khushi away from me. If praying is the one that will bring my Aarna back, then I will pray.
For the first time in over two and half decades, I fell to my knees and prayed and complained and begged.
"Please, send my Aarna back to me. Please I beg you. You have snatched whoever mattered to me and now her even. Why don't you like me? Why me? Why? Why? Why? Do you hate me so much that you can't see me happy? You gave me a mother who always hated me, A father for whom alcohol mattered more than me. A sister that I loved with my everything and you sent her away and after twenty-two years you gave her back to me, my Khushi as Ria, now I don't even know how to say that to her. Will she even accept me? But I will not allow you to separate me and Aarna for twenty-two years. You got that. You have to give her back to me. Just wake her up and I will never complain to you about anything."
