Love Around Law

Chapter 3

By the time Sidharth is taken to the hospital, he is already unconscious. Constable Chaudhry calls the doctor and he immediately takes him to the emergency ward. Constable Deshmukh calls Sidharth's mother.
"Hello Rita Ma'am? I am Constable Ajay Deshmukh"
"Yes beta. Is everything alright? Why are you sounding so tensed?"
"Ma'am actually, Sidharth Sir is not well"
"What? What happened to him?", asks Mrs Shukla worriedly.
"After the programme he was conscious and now we have brought him to the City Hospital. We are here ma'am, you don't need to come here."
"No, no, Deshmukh I am going there. Please be with him for sometime."

After an hour, an elderly lady in light yellow coloured salwar kameej comes to the hospital. Her long grey hair is tied into a bun and her eyes show signs of worry. Immediately Constable Deshmukh goes to her, "Rita ma'am, please come this side". After seeing him, she quickly says, "How is Sidharth? What did the doctors inform?"
Seeing her condition, Constable Deshmukh consoles her "Ma'am please calm down. The doctors are checking". Both of them go near the room where Sidharth is admitted. They notice Constable Chowdhury standing there with a worried face. When he notices Mrs Shukla, he tells her not to worry, though he himself is too tensed.

The doctor comes outside of the room and says in a serious voice "The patient is diagnosed with typhoid. We have already started giving the antibiotic injections. Thankfully he does not have any respiratory problems. But his recovery will take time because he has severe cough and high fever. Proper rest can help in faster recovery, however the fever should have been treated earlier. If you would have brought him later then there could have been more damage to his health".
Rita Shukla asks him, "For how many days will he have to stay here?"
The doctor replies "Maybe he will have to be admitted for a day or two, but it depends on his recovery".

Sidharth gains consciousness. It takes him a few minutes to recall what had happened. He notices the surroundings- what the hell happened? Why I am in the hospital?
He sees his mother sitting on the sofa beside and her head is resting on the wall behind. He extends his hand to take the water glass. His hands are swollen and an IV is connected to his left hand. He fails to take the glass and the cover slips and falls on the ground making a noise. Immediately his mother rushes towards him, "What are you doing? I'm here". She makes him drink the water from the glass. He looks at her face and says "Maa I am fine". His mother looks at him with teary eyes and says "Stop telling me that you are fine when I can clearly see that you are not. Beta I was so scared. You are diagnosed with typhoid and you are saying you are fine?"
Sidharth holds her hands "Maa relax. I will recover very soon. And as an ACP I have faced a lot, this is not anything."

Sidharth's eyes are closed when Chowdhury comes with his phone. "Sir, someone calling you since a long time. The name of the caller id shows Shehnaaz". He opens his eyes slowly, takes the phone and asks him to leave. He answers the call in a low shaky voice "He..hello"
He hears her voice but it is the cheerful which he heard in college, "Hello I am Shehnaaz Kaur Gill. Remember I met you today in college? Actually my father Dr Santosh Gill told me about your health. So I called to know about your health. I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I was just worried when I heard from Papa that you fainted. In the morning you didn't look that weak, what happened suddenly? Or were you unwell then as well? What happened to you? Is it viral fever or typhoid? And your hello sounded so low, not like your confident voice during the speech. But wait....why aren't you replying?"

Sidharth chuckles, "So you realised that I have to reply as well?"
"Haye o rabba, sorry actually I speak a lot". But soon her excited voice turns worried after she hears Sidharth coughing very badly "oh sh** you are coughing so badly. I shouldn't have spoken so much. I shouldn't have told you to speak. I'm sorry. I'll leave the call....but just one question I hope you are not alone at home? I hope you are taking care of yourself...actually I was so scared when Papa told about today's incident". Sidharth replies "Shehnaaz I'm fine. I'm not at home, I am admitted in the hospital. I am fine". Shehnaaz is shocked "What? What happened? Why are you admitted in the hospital?"
"Typhoid"
"Sir please take care. I am hanging the call. I should not disturb you. Take care".

Sidharth sighs and looks towards the window thinking about his interaction with Shehnaaz 'She is like a ball of energy. She is so lively but why did she suddenly become pale when I was talking about women's independence?' He drowns into a pool of thoughts, but after a while he falls asleep, it is the side effects of the medicines which the doctors had injected.

Shehnaaz is sitting on her study table with her books open. But she is unable to concentrate on her studies. She keeps thinking about Sidharth 'ACP Sir is so different from others. God knows how did he fall ill? He looks so fit, but why didn't he take care of his health?'. She walks to the kitchen to eat something. She lives alone in a small apartment in Mumbai. Her family lives in Punjab. Her father came to Mumbai for a day, but he returned to Punjab due to some emergency work. She opens the door of the refrigerator to eat something. But she finds nothing is cooked. She face palms and says loudly "Waheguru kyu bhagwanji? Pure din ke baad khana banana toh zindagi ki sabse badi musibat hai." Then she sees a noodles packet which acts like her saviour. She quickly cooks the noodles, takes it in a bowl and sits on the couch. While eating noodles, she takes her phone. She searches 'Sidharth Shukla' on the internet to find his details. She learns that Sidharth became the ACP at the age of 25. "Yaar ye toh bada talented banda hai'. She sees his pictures and whispers to herself "aur handsome bhi". She giggles at her thoughts and then thinks that she shouldn't be saying all this because he is someone who is respected by all.

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ACP Sir is diagnosed with typhoid. Show some love to him by voting. Also drop some wishes so that his speedy recovery.
Do you relate with Shehnaaz when she said that cooking food after a tiring day is the real trouble? Do tell me in the comments.
Also the next parts will take some time to get published because I am currently busy with my academics. Hope you all understand. I will be back soon. Till then please share this book with others, so that more people can read. Honestly tell me if you are liking the story. I like to interact with my readers too.
Lots of love🤍