To Love Again !!!

Chapter - 66

All day long Abhay had debated the idea of opening up in front of Amrit this soon after the emotional roller coaster she had just gone through. And he couldn't come to any conclusion. But he knew he had to if they had to be in attendance on Saturday then Amrit needed to know. Kapil might or might not be there. He had enquired about it and he had found that Kapil had already applied for a stay on that transfer. Still he couldn't take a chance. But he still had four days and that kind of gave him solace. He still had sometime. Maybe he could let Amrit get over whatever happened past weekend for another couple of days and then tell her. It did not sit well with him but he felt he himself wasn't ready to talk about it. Kapil Raheja's name after so many years had shaken him. Probably because it had come up so suddenly after months of silence.

Abhay had reached home around six thirty deep in thought so the silence in the house didn't register immediately. But once he was inside he realized Amrit was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had gone out for a walk the way she had done yesterday and lost track of time. Otherwise she was always home to greet him. It was better in a way he thought as he climbed the stairs because it would give him some time to cover up how he felt. He was sure Amrit would notice he was in a different mood than usual. When he had heard the bathroom door creak open he had come out of his dour thoughts so Amrit had been upstairs but the moment he saw her face he forgot all about his recent dilemma. She looked as if she had taken a bath with her clothes on. Her kurta was wet and so was her hair but as he took a closer look he saw her skin to be very pale with beads of perspiration on her forehead and she winced as she edged the door open biting her lower lip as if to keep from crying out. Was she in pain? But why? Before he could ask she opened her eyes and noticed him and they were bloodshot red. There was something on her left temple. What the hell was it? But it was trickling down her cheek to fall in little droplets of water. Only it was not water but blood. Just the sight of her bleeding was enough to drop his heart to the pit of his stomach. And as she noticed him he saw a look of pure horror come over her face. What was wrong with her?

"What the hell happened?" he yelled as he found his voice and took two steps at a time to reach her.

As he put his fingers to her temple to see where the blood stream originated Amrit groaned. He saw her eyes dilate and she closed them as she struggled to keep upright.

"Amrit," he said loudly and only got a grunt in response.

Without waiting for further answers he quickly picked her up. She tried to protest but she couldn't form coherent words. But he did hear her mumbled 'clothes will get wet' from whatever else she had said. The woman was mad. Absolutely mad. She had an open wound on her head somewhere and she was worried about clothes getting wet.

"Don't worry about them," he told her with his teeth gritted.

He wasn't sure what her injury was or even where. Was it serious or not? Whether he should call for a doctor or take her to the hospital? He wasn't sure. A head injury definitely needed to be inspected. What if there was an internal injury and he didn't know what to do about it?

"I want to change," she protested and this time he heard her.

Though he also heard how much strength she had put behind those words and then almost became breathless. But she was right. She might catch a chill and that wouldn't be good. He made her stand but the moment he left her she fell down on the floor with a cry. Now what?

"Amrit," he said as he bent to gently move her hair away from her face, "what is wrong?" he asked.

"My foot," she cried.

Abhay looked at where she held her right foot. He gently pried her hands away and saw the swelling. She had twisted her ankle pretty bad. Was it broken? He will have to check and see. He slowly moved his fingers along the swelling to feel for a bone out of place but there was none. He released his breath.

"It is sprained," he told her with relief, "stay here," he said and got up to get her night clothes.

Amrit was going nuts with the amount of pain and dizziness. So when Abhay said 'stay here' she felt like hitting him with a pillow. Of course. Where else will she go with a bad foot? But it required too much strength and that was something she was lacking right now.

"Here," Abhay said as he came back with her night suit, "can you manage to get out of those clothes or do you need help," he asked her.

Amrit turned red at that question. Though she couldn't have been more mortified but somehow she did.

"I can manage," she said with difficulty.

Abhay couldn't believe his eyes as he saw her turn red. Amrit was blushing. Where did she even find it in this weird scenario to blush and for what? Just because he had asked her if she needed help. He shook his head. He was worried, way too worried right now to be amused by it. Her pallor was growing paler by the second and though it seemed the wound had already started closing up as no more blood flowed but he had to still see the wound first.

"Hurry up," he said gruffly and went out.

He hoped she could manage. He went downstairs and called up Harpreet. But he was on a shift and couldn't make it. Next he called the resident doctor and it seemed he was relatively free. He told the doctor what he thought and asked him to come over. Then he went upstairs again but he knew she wouldn't have changed yet. So he went into the bathroom to inspect the scene not that he could make out much. But he took out some hand towels and filled a bowl Amrit had put there as a decorative piece with hot water from the geyser. Then he walked back to the door of their room and knocked twice. At a faint 'come in' he went inside. She had taken off her kurta and salwar but had only managed to wear her kurta. For all the modesty she was feeling at that moment he was grateful he had chosen the long kurta and it was better because the doctor would have to see her sprained foot anyway. He put the stuff he had brought with him on the bedside table then helped her get up and into the bed. He didn't make her lie down but sit up. Then carefully soaked the hand towel into the bowl and gently wiped the almost dried blood from the side of her face. He had to concentrate on what he was doing or kill her for scaring him. His face grim he worked slowly and patiently. He knew she was watching him from the corner of her one eye that was open. He knew her chin trembled but he kept on. Once he was satisfied he had removed most of the blood from her cheek and hair he parted her hair to see what was wrong. And sucked in his breath. There was a long slit along the left side of her head just above her ear thankfully it wasn't deep or she would have to get stitches done. What the hell had she been up to?

"Is it bad?" Amrit whispered as she looked at his grim angry face.

Abhay swallowed whatever emotion threatened to choke him with difficulty and averted his eyes.

"Not as bad as I had thought," he told her gruffly.

"Why are you being so gruff?" Amrit asked her voice sounding choked.

Before he could answer the bell rang and he heaved a sigh of relief.

"That must be the doctor," he told her and immediately moved out of the room.

Why was he feeling so vulnerable at seeing her wound? Why couldn't he answer her question? Why was he being rude to her? She must have had a scare too. And when she must have fallen she had known she was all alone. He paused at that for a second then decided to not think about these things for now and went to open the door. But the thought was lodged. She had been alone when she had fallen and gotten hurt. She was lucky he had come just in time. What if she had lain unconscious inside? He would never have thought to look for her there for a long time thinking she had gone for a walk. And that upset him even more. He knew he should let the doctor give a diagnosis before jumping to conclusions maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked. But when the doctor did give his opinion it didn't do much to improve his mood.

The 'What ifs' refused to go away and by the passing second Abhay's mood seemed to deteriorate further.

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