"What???" Sanskar exclaimed.
"Do you know where she is?" Durga Prasad asked, "Or have you said something to her again?"
"No bade papa! In fact we did not even talk!" Sanskar tried to explain.
"You did not even apologise to her."
"You did not try to mend your mistake and slept while she was working all night for the mistake you committed."
"Do you even know how vulnerable she was last night! She had high fever. I checked her myself."
The words of Durga Prasad, Adarsh and Ram felt like stones to Sanskar. He did not even dare to look up but an unknown fear was making him restless. His dream was continuously flashing itself in front of him.
"Please everyone! We can do this scolding session afterwards." Annapurna's stern voice came from behind. She was visibly irritated. Adarsh tried to say something but her gaze stopped him. After sighing deeply, she said, "Our first priority should be searching for Swara. Sanskar is not a kid to not understand the gravity of the situation. And we all know that what Swara means to him. So please! Let's focus on priorities."
Sanskar raised his gaze to look at Annapurna. She was quite tensed too. But something was hidden behind the mask of tension. Her eyes were saying about her knowledge of something which was not known to others. And this knowledge was making her scared.
"Have you all called the college in which conference was?" Sanskar asked.
"Nobody is picking up the call there. I sent some people there but they said that conference was over at 4p.m." Laksh informed.
Sanskar took car keys out. "I need to find Swara. Knights chief is on the run. I won't let anything happen to Swara!"
"Laksh and Adarsh had searched the city. They had just come back." Sujata said.
Sanskar just nodded. He did not want to leave a single stone unturned. He was about to leave for his search when doorbell rang. Sanskar opened the door immediately and to his big relief, Swara was standing there. But there was something unusual about her appearance. Her skin was looking flushed. Her eyes were looking heavy and red. And a person was holding her hand to support her.
"Karan? What happened to Swara?" Sanskar immediately held Swara's hand. Her body was so warm that for a second, Sanskar felt as if he had touched a hot water bottle.
"Let's take her inside Sanskar! She is not well!" Karan said.
Sanskar nodded. He held Swara's shoulder and to his confusion, Swara kept her head on his shoulder.
"Swara! What happened?" Sujata and Ragini ran towards her. Parineeta took away kids from there.
Swara did not reply. She was not in a condition to reply.
"Laksh! There is a paracetamol injection in my kit. Take it out." Ragini asked Laksh as soon as she touched Swara.
Swara tried to say something but Ram stopped her. "Dr. Swara! You are a patient right now so behave as one! If you had fever, you should have informed to us at least. I promise I would have come to take you myself."
"Papa! No injection please!" Swara could utter this much only.
"Shhhh!" Sujata said and made her arm stretched out as soon as she made her sit on the couch, "How can you be afraid of injections na! Calm down!"
Till then Ragini had already injected medicine. Sujata took Swara to her room leaving others in the hall. Sanskar saw Swara almost completely leaning on Sujata. She was not in her senses. But he felt a little odd. His sixth sense was telling something was not right. This was not just a fever.
"Karan! Beta how did it happen?" Durga Prasad finally spoke.
"Uncle! I found her near Jeevan hospital. She was coming out of the hospital when she was about to fall down the stairs. I recognised her immediately. I thought to inform you but Sanskar's number was out of reach and I did not have anybody else's! So I took her here all by myself!"
"Thank you so much beta! I would have loved to invite you for dinner today but seeing the situation, I think I should postpone it for tomorrow." Annapurna said. She was really gratified.
"It's okay aunty. Take care of Swara. And Sanskar, let me know about her health." Karan said, "Sanskar! You forgot your watch last evening. It's in my car."
Sanskar understood that there was not any watch in the car so he nodded and followed him. As soon as they reached Karan's car, Karan turned and gave Sanskar a confused glare.
"What?" Sanskar asked.
"I saw you and Swara last night! Her broken bangle lying in the lawn of hotel almost told me that the person standing in front of me is not the one who was my friend in training period." Karan was straightforward as usual.
Sanskar closed his eyes and sighed. He did not know this was coming. He opened his eyes and looked at Karan whose gaze were piercing Sanskar's heart as if to find answer. And it seemed that he finally found one.
"I know! What you have experienced is quite traumatic. But please... Don't do anything or say anything which you will regret later. I have done that and I am regretting it till now and will die with this regret." Karan said. There was a deep malancholy in his voice. "The day I lost my wife, we had an argument. I exploded my professional anger on her. I said those words which I should never had. She took car keys and drove off in a great speed."
Karan left his story in between. His voice almost choked. He sighed again and looked at Sanskar. "These wives are too loving. They love us more than we can imagine. That's why our little things impact them so badly that they forget everything for a while. But God forbid if they leave us in between our life na, I swear, every colour of life becomes dull. And life becomes too painful. Trust me!"
Sanskar sighed. He was at the loss of words. Looking at Karan, noone could say that he suffered this much. His small fault, just an argument, was making him live a life full of regret. And here, he was standing, tall and straight, with all the bad words, anger, pushing and almost raising his hands at his wife.
"Sanskar!" Karan's voice brought him back to reality.
"Hmm!"
"I need to tell you one more thing!"
"Go on!"
"When I met Swara na, I felt as if she was hiding from someone. And I saw a middle aged man too calling her name and searching for her in hospital. But Swara said he was searching of another girl of same name. I don't know but I feel something is out of place." Karan told him everything which led Sanskar to another world of thoughts. Was it the Knight chief!
In his thoughts, he did not know when he reached inside. He saw everyone taking dinner.
"Sanskar! Go and change! Dinner is ready." Parineeta said.
"How is Swara?" Sanskar asked.
"Her fever is 104. She is sleeping in room. Don't know how her temperature raised so suddenly! And even after injection, there is not even a little drop in temperature." Ram told Sanskar with a confused look on his face too.
"Let's wait for another 15 minutes. Otherwise cold sponging may be helpful." Laksh suggested.
Sanskar went into his room. He saw Swara lying on the bed with her eyes closed. Hee face was looking flushed. Her skin was dry and hot to touch. And suddenly, Sanskar noticed small burn marks on her fingers. He tried to observe her closely. There were soot marks on her saree too. Maybe they missed the marks because of the black colour of saree.
He was about to think more but stopped abruptly with a gentle touch on his hair. Annapurna sat beside him and caressed his hair lovingly.
"You are very strong Sanskar! Your love for Swara is very strong. Don't let your anger overpower it." She said. Shifting her gaze to Swara, she caressed her hair too. "Dr. Shekhar is in town today.he attended the same conference. Swara was tensed today thinking how she is gonna face him. That's why I was worried."
Thinking of Shekhar, he did not feel the usual anger on him, but he pitied him for not knowing the love Swara had in her heart for everyone.
Annapurna forwarded a glass of juice to Sanskar. "Try to make Swara drink this. Laksh had asked to maintain hydration."
Sanskar nodded. He lightly patted Swara's cheek. She did not reply.
"Swara!" Sanskar again patted her cheek , now a little more aggressively.
Seeing no reply from Swara, he rubbed Swara's palm and called her again. But she still did not open her eyes.
"She is unconscious!" Annapurna exclaimed.