One Shots #VariaSquad

Accidents and Scares

Varun P.O.V.

'Alia, chill, it was a joke.' I tried to placate my extremely angry wife, following her as she walked away from the cameras. We were on set and we'd had to bring Kavya with us. Anjali was at school and it was almost time for her to be picked up. Alia had just been about to leave to pick her up when she'd overheard my conversation.

'A joke? Somebody asks you if your kids are adopted and you take it as a joke?' she snapped.

'Alu, you heard it out of context. He was only saying it because Kavya was being so calm and that's the complete opposite of Anjali. And me for that matter.' I explained.

'It doesn't matter, it's not something to laugh about.'

'If all you want to do is argue with me, I don't want to speak to you.' I told her, taking Kavya from her arms so that I could calm myself down.

'Fine. I'm going to pick Anjali up.' I didn't say anything as she stormed off in the direction of the car park.

'Your mother is a handful, you know that?' I asked my daughter. Of course, being a six month old who could only recognise a few words, she didn't give me an answer, just babbled happily and gave me a toothless grin. I smiled back at her and walked back to set.

***

It was about two hours later and Alia still hadn't come back. I was starting to get worried when the phone call came. 'Hello.' I answered, a little distractedly, trying to feed Kavya while holding my phone between my shoulder and my ear.

'Varun, this is Dr. Shah speaking.' I was momentarily confused, the only doctor I heard from on a regular basis was Dr. Patel, but then I realised he was one of the on call doctors at Central hospital.

My mind went to Anjali and then to Alia, wondering why she hadn't called me if something had happened to Anjali. Surely she couldn't be that angry at me. 'Varun, are you still there?' the doctor asked me.

'Yeah, I'm here.' I answered.

'You need to come to the hospital.'

'Is there something wrong with Anjali?' I queried.

'Actually it's Alia and Anjali. They got into an accident.' My heart stopped beating and I dropped the spoon I had been holding, covering Kavya in mushed peas. She started giggling and trying to eat the vegetables off of her arm but I didn't stop her like I usually would, couldn't think of anything but the fact that that the last thing I had said to my wife was that I didn't want to speak to her.

'Are they - are they okay?' I questioned, barely able to get the words out.

'Anjali is fine, a little shaken up and slightly bruised from where the seat belt restrained her but Alia took the full impact. She's conscious but she's  got a broken arm, a bruised rib and possibly a concussion. Honestly, she's lucky to be alive.' I couldn't speak, didn't know what to say. 'We need you to come down to the hospital so that Anjali can be discharged.'

'Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I can.'

Alia P.O.V.

I hate hospitals. Actually, I completely despise them. Usually, when I'm in the hospital, it means there's something wrong with my daughter so it's not a place I'm fond of. This time, it was me that had to stay and not Anjali so that was a slight bright side but I hate the sterile smell and the bright artificial lights and the way everyone treats you like an invalid.