A Change of Heart

Part 1

It had been a month since Prerna and Rishabh had got engaged. She was sitting and having tea in the balcony and staring at the vast sea in front of her though she was deep lost in her thoughts. She fiddled with her engagement ring repeatedly and thought, 'Did she do the right thing? She liked Mr. Bajaj, she somewhere cared for him but could she go beyond that in this relationship? Last 9 years, it had been her and Sneha and the Bajaj children who took priority in her life. And how could she forget the hurt given by Anurag which occupied the largest space even if she denied it. Will she be able to give Mr Bajaj a space in her heart?' She had never thought about his perspective before because it never crossed her mind. But yesterday a chat with her mother and bhabhi, forced her to think beyond herself and what she has gotten herself into.

Suddenly her phone rang breaking her contemplation; it was Mr. Gupta on other side, his voice was trembling as he told her that Rishabh had a car accident and she needs to send Tushar to Australia immediately. Prerna's color drained as she clutched the phone. Last time he had been in an accident, their life had turned upside down, she could not go through this again. She could not grasp the entire thing but heard that he had been admitted into a hospital and their Australia office was taking care of formalities. Gupta had arranged for tickets for first available flight and would meet Tushar there in the airport.

Tushar, Vishakha and Prerna sat in the hall, the atmosphere quite tensed. Rishabh was still in ICU though his vital stats were stabilizing. The kids busied themselves making arrangements for Tushar to go while Prerna was very still and silent. Vishakha called out to her loudly, Prerna looked up at her with faraway look. Vishakha removed her spectacles and wiped a tear from her eye, "Mom, were you crying?" she asked while wrapping her arms around Prerna as she sat on the armrest. Prerna gave a small smile and denied. Vishakha did not pursue it further though she could sense that Prerna was shaken by the news. She could see the worry in Prerna's eyes for her dad.

Suddenly Prerna got up from the sofa and told the kids that she will go to Australia while Tushar managed BTN till then. Kids started protesting but she stopped them. She knew that Rishabh needed her and would ask for her, when he woke up. Kids finally came around and it was decided that Vishakha would look after Sneha and Cookie and also help Tushar oversee BTN.

Prerna prepared for the journey and reached the airport. Gupta was surprised to see her but deep down was relieved to see her as Rishabh would recover faster with Prerna present. Their main purpose was to get him back to India. It was the next evening by the time they finally reached Sydney and both of them decided to head straight to the hospital. On reaching the ICU, Prerna let Gupta go first. She wanted to prepare herself before seeing him in such a condition. Once her nerves were calmer & she felt in control of the situation, she finally went inside and saw him lying unconscious. The doctor said he was in quite a bad shape and it was only by God's grace that he had survived. Seeing Rishabh in this state made her heart ache but she had her emotions in control. She insisted on staying for the night and sent Gupta to the hotel. The next few days went in blur, alternating between the hospital and the hotel room which they had booked nearby. They had a house in Sydney but Gupta and Prerna decided that they could shift there once Rishabh was in a condition to be moved. As Rishabh's condition improved, he was in and out of unconsciousness, leaving Prerna with a lot of time on her hand to think & process her emotions. Usually she was not the one who analysed things too much but she could not stop thinking why she wasn't ready to leave Rishabh's side.

A week or so later when she was at the hotel, she got a call from Gupta informing her that Rishabh had finally woken up but the hospital staff were finding it very difficult to handle him. Prerna left her hotel room in a hurry and reached Rishabh's private room where he had been shifted. Gupta had never been as relived as he was that time to see her. They exchanged a look before Prerna went inside. Rishabh was having a disagreement with the doctor over the kind of treatment they were giving and why he could not start work from hospital. Prerna could not help smile but she straightened and in a stern voice said, "Mr. Bajaj!!" Rishabh turned and looked at her, the argument all forgotten. The doctor and staff were dismissed, who were more than happy to leave Prerna to deal with Rishabh; they much preferred talking to Rishabh's fiancee then a tyrant like him.

Rishabh was surprised...really surprised to see Prerna there. He tried to get up but his knees faltered. She instinctively went and supported him on to the bed. As their eyes met, Prerna immediately removed her hands and Rishabh gave a resigned smile though even that hurt. "Prerna, tumhe aane ki kya zaroorat thi itni door? Main theek hoon", Rishabh tried speaking more but his ribs were hurting. Prerna ignored his question as she herself did not know the answer, instead she looked at him and rolled her eyes; he was in lot of pain, his eyes were drooping with all the medication but he wanted to work though he could hardly sit by himself. Prerna told him in no uncertain terms that he should listen to the doctor and not argue with him about wanting to be discharged when he could not even stand. Rishabh protested but Prerna ignored him and asked him to have his meal which was getting cold.

Rishabh wanted to protest as he did not like taking orders but this was Prerna, and he found himself listening to her as usual! He tried to have some soup from his dinner plate but found he could not raise his hand, so he kept it back. He was too proud to accept that he was hurting, instead he told her that he wasn't hungry. Prerna saw the scene in front of her and she understood that Rishabh would never accept that he could not eat by himself. She called the nurse but it turned out to be as futile. Rishabh flatly refused to be fed by anyone. Prerna could see that nurse was getting intimidated by him, he was not an easy man to handle and especially if he was not in control. She sighed and told the nurse to leave, taking the chair next to him. Prerna took the spoon and held it near his lips. He just stared at her and silently had the soup. He could not believe what was happening.

The next couple of days continued in the same way. Rishabh was still was in a lot of pain and needed help with even basic movements. Prerna spent day and night at the hospital, looking after him. Rishabh, who was used to doing everything himself, found it very difficult to depend on Prerna for every small thing; plus, he felt that he was burdening Prerna with his illness. She sat with him but there was this awkward silence between them. She still had that faraway look sometimes, which kept him at his guard.

Gupta updated him about office when they were alone, and also that Prerna herself had insisted on coming to Australia and she had just been shuttling between hotel and hospital for 10 days now. Just then, Prerna entered the room with a huge smile on her face. Rishabh automatically smiled on seeing her smile and on inquiring got to know that once the reports came in the evening, they could go back home. Rishabh was, of course, very happy to hear that as he himself wanted to leave but he also didn't want to lose the closeness he had shared with Prerna in these past weeks.

Prerna was happily packing her bags when she suddenly looked outside the window of her hotel room. These past weeks had been a roller coaster of emotions which she had not realised back then but even now her body shuddered on remembering when she saw him lying unconscious in a critical state. Doctors were not happy with the injuries as they had affected the same area as his previous accident; his legs would take lot of time to recover completely and so would his ribs.

She had varied emotions during those 7-10 days when he was in ICU. For the first time, Prerna had not thought about Anurag or Prem. She could not fathom how deeply shaken she was at the prospect of losing him. Frustrated & confused, she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to understand this new emotion which was developing for Mr Bajaj. She finished her packing and went to hospital to complete the formalities for discharge. But when she reached there, Mr Gupta and Rishabh were waiting for her with grim expressions. Apparently the x-ray reports of his legs were not good and the doctors suggested that he should stay in Australia for another 10 days, though he could get discharge from the hospital.