Broken But Beautiful

8. The Night of Flaws

Manik

By the time we reached the hospital with a howling Alya with us, Nandini had already reached 15 minutes ago. Dhruv was taken straight to the operation theater, and doctors and nurses were running inside with essentials.

And when Nandini Murthy came out of her cabin in front of the operation theater, facing us- she wasn't the same girl I was kissing thirty minutes ago.

She was Dr. Nandini Murthy.

Her entire frame was covered in scrub. The only visible part of her was her eyes, which seemed to igniting in supreme determination. She moved in and out of the operation theater quite a few times without giving us any note at all. Her voice was impassive, firm yet soothing as she guided other doctors and nurses.

The whole demeanor change quite literally caught me off guard.

While Nandini prepped for the operation, Mukti and her other relatives who had accompanied us consoled Alya and Dhruv's family. I couldn't look back at Alya- the sweet, pretty princess who was supposed to be engaged by now with the 'love' of her life was sitting in the hospital benches- makeup smudged, smile vanished, followed by cries and prayers. I tried to stare Mukti in the eye, silently telling her to stay strong and everything is going to be fine- because those words most certainly couldn't come out of my mouth.

And it was taking me great effort not to lose my shit tonight.

The nurses came and handed us a list of medicines and needed stuff, Abhimanyu went to get them. Meanwhile Cabir and I went to talk to the people who had brought him to the hospital.

Apparently, after Dhruv had landed his last flight which was supposed to be at 5:30, he was returning home from the airport. It happened near Navi Mumbai- Dhruv was first hit by a truck which went away without stopping. But before the locals could approach him another car happened to hit him quite in the same time. The owner of the second car with the help of a few locals had brought him here, and he had been apologizing to everyone who would hear. But no one seemed to listen.

And I shouldn't have listened to the story either, my insides scolded me harshly as a great lump formed in my throat, my stomach twisting, feeling like I would be throwing up any second. I leaned against the white wall in a corner for support and squeezed my eyes shut.

Manik, breathe. Don't lose your shit tonight.

I inhaled and exhaled as deeply as I could, desperately praying that no one was noticing me- specially Mukti. I opened my eyes to blink nothing but a sheer darkness, voices sounding distinct- until I heard and made out Nandini from the unfathomable darkness in my eyes.

I furiously blinked in an attempt to it away. Nandini was standing in front of Alya, and she was saying something.

Come back to senses, Manik. Listen!

I felt the dark fog dominating my brain slowly washing away, and Mukti's voice penetrated through them first, panicked-

"Nandini.. Dhruv?"

My view started clearing at the same time, as I saw from the distance Nandini was kneeling in front of a petrified Alya, staring intently.

"Alya, I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice oddly calm, "But he is serious. The operation is going to take really really long. And.. and I need you to hold yourself together," she grabbed her trembling hands, "You will stay strong and you will pray and you will not lose hope. Do you understand me?"

Alya slowly nodded, breaking into tears again.

"Can't I- can't I go... see the..."

"No you won't," Nandini replied firmly, "You're not in a condition to be in a surgery, Alya. I have already contacted the best surgeons from the city. I swear we'll try with everything. But I need you to be strong for him, Okay? Please?"