Chapter-6
The next morning when I was awake, sitting clumsily in my bed thinking of all that happened yesterday night like coming back home from that mess was just a nightmare, while I was thinking only; suddenly my phone rang and to my utter surprise I saw Ryan calling me though I was about to answer but could not so got two texts from him saying , " Come fast to the hospital ...." "Your father is already here, you were sleeping so he did not wake you up but you need to be here ASAP ."
My overthinking started off all at once , "what could have possibly happened to Tia and mom?" this particular thought made me sprang out from my bed and go to get a quick shower and wear my usual sweatpants and top ( like whatever I found) and ran towards the hospital with the first cab I got.
I ran almost in an fraction of a second inside the hospital premises after leaving the cab away and when I entered the insides of the room rather where everyone was sitting , I heard the doctor talking to my father and Ryan's family . Upon noticing me ,Ryan came up to me and hugged me so tightly that it was unable to breathe , I tried to come out of his hold but to no avail that is when he whispered, "Pratiksha I have rather we have two news for you , one good really good and the other one dreading bad." I was too dumbfound to speak .
He led me to a chair and sat down kneeling in front of me and said ," do not worry we all are here for you ,whatever happens." A thought came to my mind ;he is the right person at the wrong time for me because I do not want to indulge into a relationship but here he is outdoing himself just to keep me free of all problems and so that only love can fill me up to the brim. Literally I am so lucky to have him , I am indebted to him for his presence . But he told suddenly , " so which one do you want to hear first , the good one or the bad one?" to which I said, "do give me the details for the good one at first I want to know how are they?"
He happily nodded and said , "Your mom needs complete bed rest for some 2 months for starters but she will recover soon after her medications are over as she had some mild injuries and mostly due to hard toil and stress she had been facing all these days with us." I felt so damn relieved upon hearing those words.
I said , "Thank god she is alright I had an premonition that she will be the one who gets more affected than Tia, but how is Tia ? Can I visit both of them"?? to which he said "well , let me break the bad news later on first go and see your mother she is awake just maybe taking a nap" and he left me in the general ward. I went and touched her hand after sanitizing myself and she recognized my touch and said ," hey baby , how are you doing ? you see I am alright , I will be able to work as I used to but doctor recommended a bit bed rest but that's completely okay I will manage it". I said , "Mom you are here and alright that is what matters doesn't matter whether you work or not , I will take care of you and do my graduation too don't worry please "and I hugged her and we spent a lot of time like that after which Ryan came and told" Aunty now go to sleep ,she has to come we have some work ,good day" and waited so I left mom and told her to have a good sleep and went with him.
The next news was a shocker to me . Ryan said , " about your sister-umm-" he hesitated . Yet I insisted on him telling me the issue about her and he said being compelled that, " Your sister is in coma now and nothing can be done about her because she may recover or she may not from this stage as because all of this happened as I assume due to Amrit because she had feelings for him and due to heavy shock she could not take it and eventually collapsed and this is the condition now ." He added , "You must remember when we thought she is taking nap; but that was not the thing, actually she had collapsed by the time we were taken into that room like all of us and we didn't understand-" he had only closed his eyes to express his concern more and he heard a loud thud. I had fallen down and everything blackened out.
Ryan's pov:
My mind was just not working. I was feeling so much guilty that even I cannot express due to me breaking that news to her she fell down and fainted and now is being taken to the emergency ward. My god what have I done , "shit" I murmured.
After one week , I got to see her safe and sound coming back from the ward in a wheel chair wearing a gloomy face.
The diagnosis mentioned that due to huge shock she had fainted and even her irregular food intake during that incident and other things mattered and the major one was that she faced a huge shock after hearing her sister's condition. I am to blame for it, damn it man.
She smiled when she came up to me and I helped her get down the wheel chair and made her sit down in the normal one and she told me, " You look so pale , what happened?" I said as much calmly as possible," no no dear nothing has happened, am fine ". She did not believe me and checked my forehead and said, Go and have your food, you look like you are going to faint and smiled a little."
I said, "No I am repenting and going to make everything all right , actually I am guilty for hurting you so much , I gave you such a shocker-" all I could say when she for the first time after school days hugged me voluntarily and murmured in my ear, " No Ryan due to you and only you staying by my side I feel so much better otherwise maybe I would have left this world myself ,only you can rejuvenate me , thank you for everything." I was so soothed by her words no one will be able to understand rather than me though my first instinct would have been to kiss the hell out of her but couldn't because as everyone knows she does not believe in dating so , I did not ruin the moment just kept on holding her until she freed herself from the clutches of the hug.
She said," Go take some rest , you are suffering because of our family". I was about to say that you are one I mostly care for but stopped because now was not the time for more confession but it was a gloomy moment for all of us . I love her and will continue to do so even if she does not love me back .
After 1 week
Mom and I left the hospital to come back home with father though I was discharged before but insisted on staying with mom for her moral support, we still did not tell her about the circumstances going on for Tia because we need to brace ourselves for the consequences that will follow after she gets to know. But eventually we will tell her , it is like life never gives you a break you have to run within the stipulated frame of time otherwise you are eliminated brutally to be honest.
Ryan insisted on staying with me but I refused because already he has done so much for us and I could not for ask more so he went home . I had dark circles and my stress was doubling over as I was unable to attend my college classes and Laura was helping all she could and yes Ryan too and my other whatsapp groups too because they came to know the condition I was in and insisted on helping me, well atleast this was something to be happy about.
Mom was resting and I kept a keen eye so that she did not escape bed much as doctor recommended and all her medications were taken care by me and I do visit my sister almost everyday to only find she sleeping calmly as if in deep sleep ; the once most cheerful person now a sleeping beauty, whenever I feel like crying a lot, I just happen to leave the room and cry and not let her feel that her sole sleeping is crushing me from within and I cannot do anything to protect her.
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Present time
It was like everything was going in the right direction after all this turmoil and mom was getting alright because her time period of bed rest and medications were almost over her workplace too agreed to give her this time period to rest and father's work were also going alright, but then after all these came the day to go to the court to face Claire Thompson and Amrit Dubey. Day 1 went comparatively smoothly as me and father took over the proceedings from our family side and they were present with their associates too , I could pretty much see from the far corner of the opposite bench ,Claire's father shooting me a death glare to which I did not even care because all we are here are to present the truths and win over the case and make them deserve what they deserve that is the punishment.
After 6 weeks we were almost nearing the end of the hearings when one evening my father suddenly called me and said, " Prati dear, I have something to say to you , please do not be disappointed on your father."
I became genuinely worried and said , "no dad go on what ever you have to say , your daughter is always with you ."
He said , "Prati you are only 22 now, I know you have a right to know and I very much intend you to know that your dad made a mistake when you were but a small baby ,that is actually, I did commit not a very good deed with Amrit's family." The last very words struck me like lightning and thunder, case in point . I personally wanted to know about this case though I could not ask dad about it so directly but when he actually wanted to tell me I listened with undivided attention. He went on, " He was but a little boy but was very much keen on making his business go in the top market and so that his family can make it to the luxurious phase we had been living in ,so he insisted along with his father and his mother too that we merge our businesses and make a great deal of profit but I did not let him merge our businesses ,his father and me were great friends but due to the money matter coming in, our jealousy went up which teared up our friendship and we went in our own paths , truth to be said , Amrit begged me but I did not listen and refused him at the very last time too and when he came for the last time to see me he told his father has died and only he and his mom are struggling ,due to pity I wanted to offer him some money but he refused and went away since then I didn't see him. Though, your mother does not know him so much personally just knew him as a neighbour , that boy really grew up well but I did not know he held up such a great grudge on our family." He told sadly and put his head down .
I went up to him and said , " Dad , he was kind of right when he told me you ruined his family and he had to go on great lengths making everything alright ,he even had spent a month in custody , do you know that ??" I perked up . He heard me bewildered and said , "That boy spoke to you , oh my god!" I went on , "Yes, he did, but I wanted to hear the truth from you and you actually confirmed me , that actually hurts." I told and went away to my own room and closed the door putting my hand on my face I began weeping a lot and then went to bed , I do not know how much time I cried but I guess I slept after crying a damn lot.
In the morning I saw a note from father, " I am sorry my child , I did not mean to hurt you , let's go today is our second last hearing we have to give our best. "
I just tore that page off and went to washroom and after bathing wore a formal attire. These days whenever we have a hearing even the college authority knows that I don't attend college on that day and yes all of my professors do help me a lot in my studies and my upcoming semester.
We went to court and after that and after the trial was over the proceedings were kind of neutral. Well now only the last trial was left let's see how it goes.
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After the last trial , we won as our judgement. That was also a semi- happy thing for me because I was kind of unhappy for Amrit because what I heard from father only made things worse and I wanted to apologise to him but couldn't due to the personal boundaries between us.
Yet everything has to go on and Amrit was given life time imprisonment and a huge amount of money to be given to us as compensation and Claire, though her father being a hotshot , still was compelled to shut down their business in the USA permanently and leave the country as they were a threat to the society in literal .
Still last but not the least everything was going in the good track as mom rejoined her service and father resumed everything again too, I too , continued my studies with my friends but never forgot to see Tia.
Doctor said she was improving but in a slow rate. At least that was a relief to my mind that she was improving maybe we will be able to see her walking and talking again , I miss her cheerfulness so much.
But......
One day I got a call from the hospital and heard them telling me in a very emotional tone to come to hospital as I went ,I did not inform father and mother about that , but what I heard made me living dead forever , "She means Saniya is no more" , doctor informed and her brain is dead. I lost my stepping and fell down in the ground devoid of any tears but only felt one thing "emptiness" that cannot be cured ever....