Recurring Past

Seeing Him, Saving Him

Saturday evenings are meant to be lazy for Sia, she bragged a cup of coffee and rolled herself over her bed. She started reading her favourite book sipping the coffee. The phone on her table vibrated disturbing her, she felt irritated and got up to attend the call. Looking at the number on the screen she understood it is an emergency. Without thinking much, she slides her screen and to answer the call. The voice on the other end was very much anxious, "Miss Sia, there is an emergency, can you please come as soon as possible". She immediately replied with a yes and hurried to the door.

She hailed a cab and reached Wellness  hospital. These phone calls were nothing new to her; she has been a regular blood donor in the hospital. So, she knew that it was an emergency, and even they knew it, that she can be relayed on. As soon as she reached the hospital, she met the person who called her. Later she was directed for the next procedure, she donated her blood, and came out of the room.

Suddenly she was hit by curiosity and felt an urge to know about the receiver, usually she doesn't enquire anything about the other person, but this time she felt it to be different. So, she turned towards the nurse walking next to her and enquired about the patient who needed blood. The nurse immediately replied, "He is still in the ICU, his condition is critical, he has lost a lot of blood and had been in an unconscious state for more than 20 hours now. We don't know about his whereabouts, so we still couldn't inform anyone from his family".

A pang of pain just stuck her heart listening about the patient's condition. She enquired about the way to ICU, and she was directed to go. She stood in front of the door and tried to look inside through the small glass opening on the door.

Looking at the person on the other side her eyes welled up, she was struck by shock. She saw him after years now, she never expected to meet him in such a situation. The welled-up tears started to fall, and she burst out in tears. She immediately ran towards the reception and informed about him, she only knew his name and she had one of his friend's phone number, she gave the details she knew. She requested to enter the room and after a lot of rejection she was allowed to go.

She entered the room and fresh tears started to pour out of her eyes. Her steps were slow and steady, she reached his bed and saw him lay on the bed. She couldn't understand why she was crying; they were not even friends, she sat down next to him and took hold of his hands. This was the first time she did so, this was the first time she has been so close to Aryav, holding his hand made a bit comfortable but his unconscious state just made her heart tear. A drop of tear fell on his hand, she wiped it immediately from his hand and kept holding his hand.

She was not aware for how long she has been holding his hand. Her consciousness just drifted to her past, where she saw him for the first time. It was during their college days; he was her senior back then in college. She always admired him, it was not love neither he was her crush, all she knew was she liked him, and he seemed to be a nice guy, seeing him just made her happy.

She never missed a chance to see him during her college days, he was quite a popular guy back then in college. He was college's star football player. No wonder he always had a queue of girls standing behind him. But he never knew she too liked him, either she had shown that side of her to him. They have never even shared a bond of friendship, never once have spoken a word. She could just remember one close encounter with him, where he hit the ball directly on her face, which made her wince in pain for the whole day. Though he apologized for that, but later they never interacted. Yet he always had a special place in her heart.

She examined him closely, he has changed a lot. He has become more handsome, he is well built now, he has a perfectly shaped beard. He looks authoritative. The naïve foot ball player seems to be missing.

Time passed by quickly Sia didn't realized for how long she was holding his hand. She felt the warmth of his hand, it made her feel comfortable. A comfort which she always earned for; it was only the two of them in the room. The room was completely drowned in silence expect the beeping sound of the machines kept inside.

She was so busy thinking, she never realized that already there was someone standing in front of her. As soon as she noticed his presence, she left his hand and stood up. As expected, his best friend, Arjun has arrived, Aryav and Arjun shared a special bond from childhood, both have never left each other's side even at the worse, more than best friends they were brothers.

Arjun stood in front of him, staring him without a single word. His face showed no expression, but it was understandable that he is utterly broken. His stare slightly shifted to the figure standing in front of him. Sia immediately gazed down as she noticed his diversion in vision. Arjun knew her from their college days, but they were not in contact now. He also knew that she held a soft corner for Aryav in her heart.

Though she never expressed it, neither he asked her anything about it. Deep down he knew she was genuinely a good soul, and he liked her for that. There was a situation when he felt that she should have his number, so he gave her, but he never knew that after years they would cross path here, that too for a situation like this.

Sia took the time to observe Arjun, he was in his suit, which stated that he has come directly from his work, may be business meeting. She is still wondering why suddenly one day, he called her while she was passing by and forcefully gave his number to her. He never expected her to call him, yet he did which is still a mystery to her.

She decided to go as she knew it would be awkward to stay over here, as she is no one to him, yet her heart wanted to stay here without letting him even for a second. Her movement were immediately noticed by Arjun. "How did you know he is here? ", he let out that question. She thought for a second and opened her mouth to reply, a nurse entered the room and replaced the bottle of blood that was hanging, Sia recognized it was the same one, so she immediately pointed towards it and, "I came here for blood donation and found him here as the recipient, so I immediately asked the staffs to contact you".

Arjun nodded his head as a reply, taking it as an indication to leave, Sia rushed near the door. But she was stopped again and this time it was a request, "Sia please stay with him, he will feel good", she turned and gave a questioning look, "I meant there should be someone with him, till I come back making all the arrangements", Arjun explained.

"I wonder how this happened, we were searching for him and suddenly received a call from the hospital", his voice broke as he was explaining it indicated his pain. "I hope this is not done by any of our rival", Sia gave questioning look to him. "Our business rivals, as we grabbed a new project", he cleared it and she gave a nod. For a moment she felt as if they were gangsters with rivals all over.

She stood and glanced him for a while, even her heart doesn't want to go leaving him in such a state, so she accepted to stay back. Arjun left the room immediately.

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