Hope

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Aditya's Perspective:

"He's up, Doctor! Doctor!" I begin to make out some of the muffled voices around me as my vision slowly unblurs. My eyes meet the concerned ones of my family's doctor Mr.Rao who is now standing on the side of the bed to see me.

Behind him, I can see my whole family including my mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law. Before I even have a minute to process where I am and what I am doing my mom runs to me.

"Adi, Beta" She takes my hand with the IV in it gently, "How do you feel?"

My eyebrows arch up when the realization hits me that I am in the hospital. The familiar dull blue walls and white beds give me flashbacks of memories that I have kept locked away for so long.

I sit up straight in the bed quickly, yanking the IV off, "Why am I here?! What happened?!" My mind races with a million thoughts a second as I look at all of them, waiting for an answer any answer. My mom lets out a short sigh and shares a knowing look with Doctor Rao.

He clears his throat before speaking, "You blacked out and when you didn't wake up your parents decided to bring you to me-" I cut him off by throwing the blanket off of my body and attempting to get out of the bed.

I must have had a joint too many last night, resulting in me not waking up in time for work. So naturally my mom panicked and called the doctor.

" I can't be here right now. I have work, " I mumble to them as I grab my phone from the side table. I speed walk out of the room before they could object and tell me to lay down and rest for a few more hours.

They call out for me, but I ignore them and take the stairs two at a time until I finally reach the lobby.

I instantly regret it though. A sudden jolt of dizziness hits me and I fall against the wall for support. 

As my eyes fight to stay open only one image flashes repeatedly in my mind, her in this exact hospital. Her laying lifeless in the exact bed I was just in, me crying outside when the doctor broke the news to us, her last words to me.

I get snapped out of my trance when I feel someone tap my shoulder. I turn around to see my sister, standing with her arms crossed. I sigh and shake my head, "I'm leaving Akka. What do you want?"

I start walking towards the door, away from her but she follows behind me. I know she's worried, they all are. But compared to everyone else she has always been the most realistic, giving me time and space when I need it.

She was the only one that was there with me even when I didn't want to talk and didn't think I needed anyone at all.

" Call me when you get home okay?" I don't say anything but nod at her as I walk away. In less than a second, I get lost in the crowd of people entering the hospital as I weave my way to the entrance.

I sit down outside of the front entrance on one of the colorful benches next to a nurse who seems to be engrossed in her phone. My fingers race across the keyboard on my phone, texting my driver Ramesh to come to pick me up as soon as he can.

I glance at the girl next to me and realize she must be a nurse or intern based on the color of her scrubs. 

She looks up at me, " Are you a patient here?" I shake my head, shocked at her boldness. She laughs slightly at my expression, "I'm sorry. I'm Mahika. You can call me Mahi. My car is broken and my auto isn't coming on time and we aren't allowed to ask patients to drop us off..."

An amused smile crosses my face as she rambles on, "You're allowed to ask strangers to drop you off then?" I say with a small chuckle. 

She leans her head back as she laughs. I scoot a little closer to her and stick my hand out, " Hi I'm Aditya, Adi" She doesn't hesitate to shake it and holds on for a little longer than she needs to.

"Well then Adi, I guess we are not strangers anymore." I shake my head at her but she still gets a small smile out of me.

Just then I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and see a message from my driver telling me that he is waiting in a parking spot. I raise my eyebrows at her and almost as if she can read my mind, she starts packing up her stuff to join me.

It was only when she stood up that I started to observe her appearance. Her long dark brown hair flows past her shoulders in loose, natural waves and her face is bare of makeup.

 I stand up as well and adjust my shirt just in time as Ramesh pulls up with the car in front of us. He scrambles out to open the door for me, and then her. I see her raise her eyes at me, almost rolling them as she gets situated in the leather seat of my Mercedes.

"So what do you do?" She asks curiously. I have gotten asked this question more times than I can even count but somehow it's different when she asked it. 

Maybe it was just the tone of her voice but, It almost seemed like she genuinely wants to learn about me which seems silly when I think about it. I smile slightly and we both begin to converse about our respective careers as we drive to her house.

I learn that she is interning at the hospital that we just came from with a well-known doctor. I tell her about my family's hotel business as well as my personal finance one. 

I learn so much about her in the five minutes that it takes to reach her house that I wonder how much I could learn if we had more time together. For the first time in my life, I'm intrigued by a girl for something more than romantic reasons.

We pull up onto her street and I take in the surroundings around me. The houses are all modest-sized and close together, way different than what I am used to seeing but still pretty in their own natural way.

"That one over there," she points to the white house on the corner and Ramesh stops the car in her driveway. She smooths down her shirt before opening the door and stepping out of the car. 

I start wondering if she will invite me in but my thought gets shut down when she walks away to the pathway of her house after thanking me and Ramesh.

"Stay parked for a second, " I mumble to Ramesh as I peek out of the window curiously to see who opens the door for her.

 I don't know what I expect to see but I am not shocked when I see someone, I'm assuming her sister opens the door. Her assumed sister seems to be around 16 and looks super excited when she sees her.

 I see Mahika glance at our car for a second and raise her eyebrows, forming a perfect arch before closing the door.