Dusk till Dawn.[ON HOLD]

Chapter 16. Home to roost.

"Hey. Seems like I have one more task....." He paused to release a long weary breath. "If you'd heard Colonel's tone you would've pulled a 'We better hurry, batman'.."

The involuntary chuckle didn't hide how tired he sounded.

"And I, the smartest among the two of us would have replied with, 'Not too fast, Robin. I'm good at bat-climbing as in good driving. One must never sacrifice safety for speed'..."

Viyaan's sloppy attempt at farce smugness was perspicuous.

"Finally flattered with my intelligence you would have rejoiced as, 'Right again, Batman!'.."

A peaceful silence lingered for a while and then he spoke, again, in a serious baritone suggesting hard unvoiced truths were to be self understood.

"Now, let's get serious.... I miss you buddy!!"

And lastly.... "Let's kick some ice."

The line went dead after a hearty laugh. Aahana had harked to the voicemail for more than the times she could count. His deep voice soothed and simultaneously clawed at her moribund soul. For the last four hours, she was constantly vacillating between the hope of seeing him again and the dread of this voicemail being her last remembrance of him.

Sahil sitting on the cold floor of his room turned his hollow, moist eyes towards his little sister lying lifelessly on the bed with his phone clutched to her heart. She had stopped crying but her sobs were still racking through his body. His tiny sibling had shed copious tears in fear for the life of the man she loved. He'd thought life had tested her enough in the past but the ongoing situation made him rethink on if the trials and tribulations in her life would ever cease.

Sahil's call to Riwaaz was purely a shot in the dark. Whilst all the ways had lead him to a dead end regardless of trying tooth and nail, he'd unsurely restored to speak to someone who was in the same city as Viyaan. And by god's grace the elder woman hadn't put him off like others. She had not left out a single detail about Viyaan's state told to her by the doctor during the on virtual narration. She'd cried while divulging the fact of his major aorta getting ruptured and if gods forbid it could worsen his so far fragile condition.

Her petrified words still rang in Sahil's ears like a damned tune. "Yesterday night when he was brought to the hospital......he......he had already lost an alarming amount of blood.....So the doctor said......operat-ing, operating on him would be dangerous....." Her hiccups hadn't let her speak. "Nonetheless Tahir ordered them to treat him as quickly as possible even if it was dan-danger-ous..." Riwaaz had stopped as the lump in her throat was making it difficult for her to recount the nasty minutes wherein the future of Viyaan's life appeared abstruse and ambiguous.

Holding Aahana close, Sahil had discreetly wiped a lone tear stuck on his eyelash.

"But you know right he is a fighter.... A born warrior...." The siblings couldn't disagree. Viyaan was the strongest person they had known and had unanimously depended on him whenever life hit them. He was their grounding force and they considered themselves fortunate to be around him just like he felt about them. Their love was mutual and there was no two ways about it.

"The doctor said he held onto till the last. He survived, Sahil.... He survived....... The surgery went long, but I was told it was successful. He is safe now." In the ugly misfortune, Riwaaz's assurance had helped the siblings to hold on to the last embers of dousing hope.

With naked fear, Sahil in a very low voice had asked Riwaaz if Viyaan had revived. He had felt Aahana going cold in consternation at his unexpectedly pessimistic question, but he couldn't stop from knowing if Viyaan was completely out of danger's mouth.