Intertwined Fates -- An IPKKND FanFic

What Arnav Couldn't Bear

He couldn't bear it.

He could bear her walking away from him. He could even bear the thought of her building her life with another man. But this...this he couldn't survive.

His Khushi, lying here on a white hospital bed, so very, very still.

How do I fix it? What God do I pray to, what sacrifice do I make?

His phone rang and almost on autopilot, he picked it up. "Did you find Khushi?" a frantic Payal asked.

"Yes," he replied, his voice dead.

"Where is she? Is she okay? Are you with her?"

"She's here."

"Where?"

"At the hospital. Payal, she's in a coma."

He heard her strangled gasp. "How? What happened?"

"I don't know anything, Payal. By the time we got there, she was already like this."

"Where?"

"To my farmhouse."

Payal didn't understand what he was saying. "Which hospital?"

"NK's. They took her to another one first, and then I asked them to transfer her here."

"We're already here. Which room?"

Arnav wrinkled his brow. "Why are you here?"

"I'll explain when we come. Which room?"

He gave them the room number and then she hung up.

Minutes later, Payal and Akash entered the room. Payal gasped and her eyes filled with tears when she saw her friend.

Akash placed a hand on her shoulder before turning his attention to his cousin. "Bhai, what happened?"

In a broken voice, Arnav explained what he'd seen at the farmhouse. "The doctors say she asphyxiated, and the lack of oxygen was why her--her heart stopped and why she's in a coma now. There was no damage to any other organs, thankfully, and they don't think there's any damage to the brain but they won't know for sure until she wakes up."

"But who did this?" Payal asked tearfully. "Who's behind all this?"

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" Lavanya said coolly from the entrance. "By the way, Raizada, do you know about the pictures yet?"

"Pictures?"

Lavanya clicked something on her phone and handed it to Arnav. In stunned disbelief, he saw the slideshow of his and Khushi's photographs, many of which were of what he thought were private moments. And then the video clip of him and Khushi in the garden, which he considered to be the moment which began the downfall of their relationship.

"What is this?" he asked. "Where did these pictures come from?"

"They're all over the media," Akash told Arnav. "And...they're the reason why Buaji had a heart attack."

"What?" Arnav stared at him.

"She's in the cardiac ward. Thankfully, Akash and I were with her when it happened and we were able to get to the hospital in time. She's stable now. Ma Ji and Pa Ji are with her." Payal let out a sob. "I don't know how we're going to tell her that Khushi is in a coma. I hope that whoever's behind this burns in hell." She turned to Lavanya. "Do you have any idea who it could be? The Amits maybe?"

Lavanya shook her head. "It's not Khushi's enemies you should be looking at."

"What do you mean?" Akash asked.