Enough

6

Abhi spent the first day after his surgery drifting in and out of sleep. Every time he woke up, he found his wife beside him. Even when he opened his eyes for just a minute between dreams, she was seated next to his bed, keeping watch over him.

He knew Daadi would have done the same if she were around. It felt good to know that even without Daadi nearby, he had someone who cared enough to stay with him. He might not know his wife properly yet, but her constant presence gave him an undefinable sense of security. It made it easy for him to surrender to the healing tides of sleep.

He still didn't understand everything that had happened to him, but knowing that he wasn't going through it alone was enough to keep him from worrying much at the moment.

So the next morning, it was a rude surprise to find himself alone when he woke up.

The companion's chair in his line of sight was vacant. Pragya had been practically glued to it yesterday. He frowned, wondering where she had gone.

He slowly sat up, holding on to the rails of his bed to support himself. For a moment he felt disgustingly weak, unimpressed with his own shakiness. However, he was relieved to find that overall, he wasn't in much pain. Whatever accident he had survived, it hadn't left him with any noticeable bodily injury.

It had just stolen a piece of his mind.

As he looked around the room, he found that he really was completely alone. But before that realization could turn into a worry, he saw that Pragya had not gone so far after all.

She was standing just outside the room, talking heatedly to a group of people. He could see her through the large window into the hallway. It looked like she was blocking the door to keep out a crowd.

He didn't recognize any of the people she was talking to, which made him wonder if maybe they were fans wanting to visit him. There were two older women and two girls around Aaliya's age, one of whom was visibly pregnant. There was also a tall, stern looking man wearing thick-framed glasses. Once glance at him was enough to tell Abhi that the man at least wasn't likely to be a fan of his.

Then one of the young women - a strikingly beautiful one who wasn't pregnant - set her hand on Pragya's shoulder. It was a soothing gesture, clearly meant to calm Pragya down. Abhi could guess that only someone close to Pragya would be allowed to touch her like that. After that it didn't take long to figure out that the group of people must be her family.

He looked over each person in the group and tried to determine the relationships. It was easy to place her mother and grandmother, as the older ladies looked about the right age for the roles. For the rest, he thought they must be Pragya's siblings. Perhaps the pregnant one was a sister-in-law? It seemed that she came from a big family, though no one that might be her father was in sight.

Before Abhi could wonder further about that, he saw Pragya holding her hand up to end the conversation. She said something more and firmly shook her head.

Her mother's mouth pursed into a tight frown. A long moment stretched as mother and daughter stared each other down, and Abhi found himself wishing he could see how Pragya looked just then. If she was as fierce as her mother...why? On his behalf? The thought was unsettling, but he reminded himself that he had no idea what was going on so it was no use getting emotional about it.

The moment passed, and Pragya's mother seemed to soften. She raised her hand to Pragya's cheek and said a few words in a more gentle manner. Pragya squeezed her mother's hand and the two women shared a hug.

One by one, Pragya hugged everyone else in the group, except for the man with glasses. The man clasped her shoulder briefly, and whatever he said made Pragya nod in agreement. Finally, she stepped away from them all and gave a last smile. She turned her back to them and came into his room.