Vodka on the rocks

Bonds of the Heart

The man clad in a seemingly expensive three piece suit was running through the corridors of the hospital like a barraging rhinoceros on a hunt. People scattered to let the clearly deranged man pass through before he could collide and send someone flying across. He took a sharp left turn which was so smooth that it would make any athlete envious and skidded to a freezing halt in front of the glass doors of the private chamber. He barely noticed the people standing huddled in the corner as he forced his suddenly disobedient feet towards the glass partition as his eyes refused to leave the sight of the person inside.

Raghav Rao was not a man who could be ruffled very easily. His emotions were as scarce as drizzles on a desert yet if anyone were to notice him now they could very easily gauge what the other person meant to him. His face had literally turned white and for a second his bodyguard, the one so graciously nicknamed as 'Gorilla' took a silent step forward ready to catch him lest h collapses. But somehow Raghav kept his balance as he slowly stumbled towards the glass and kept a steadying hand on it.

His eyes were wide and the fear inside them shone so glaringly that it's presence itself was terrifying. Raghav Rao never showed any ounce of fear in any circumstances be it a gun pressed to his temple ready to fire... yet now it seemed to be brimming with it. He swallowed painfully and opened his mouth to speak but no words would come out. His throat felt like someone has rubbed it with sandpaper and his wind pipe had started constricting.

The person lying on the bed lifelessly inside the chamber was hooked with a paraphernalia of machines and most of the visible body was wrapped in bandages and casts. It was a heart wrenching sight. Raghav could almost hear the fragile breaths drawn inside the room as a direct consequence of the ventilator at which the person was put. He barely registered the Surgeon coming to stand beside him.

"I am sorry Mr. Rao. We tried a hell lot but it was nearly impossible. The car was going at such break neck speed that the impact felt a severe injury to the chest, back and legs. Its a critical condition. We need to monitor 24/7."

Raghav felt his knees almost buckle as he supported himself against the glass like a weakened creeper. The stinging barbs of despair and a gut wrenching grief gripped his heart tightly enough to initialize another panic attack. He could feel his head start to spin slowly. He barely heard the following words of the doctor. Something about lungs collapsing, ribs breaking... leg fracture, ear damage... he must have blanked for a second because the next moment as his vision returned he saw himself seated in the waiting chair.

"Anna..."

Harish's round face in front, his eyebrows crinkled in worry. He felt water on his face. Harish was sprinkling water over him. Had he fainted?

"I'm okay.."

He whispered with much difficulty and slumped forward to rest the heels of his hands on his eyes and support his hands on his knees. His posture screamed defeat. He could hear his men shifting uncomfortably beside him yet none of them dared to say a single word.

He wondered why he couldn't breathe.

Suddenly as if on cue he heard running feet. A familiar rhythm of footsteps he would recognize anywhere and at any given time in any situation. He sprang up from his seat frightening his men and looked towards the bend on the corridor wildly and saw her skid to a stop just like he had a few hours ago... minutes ago? How long has he been sitting here? Suffocating in silence. Her eyes were wide as well, looking straight into his. The same grief mirrored in the beautiful grey brown irises. Her open hair fluttered in the icy cold conditioned air from above. Her soft chest was heaving due to the exertion from running nonstop.

He felt the tight control he had exercised on his restrains burst open like an overburdened dam and he broke into a run towards her. She sprinted at the same instant and both collided in the middle of the corridor. Raghav almost fell over her and she enveloped his larger frame in her arms crushing him close to herself as he buried his face in her shoulders. She was stammering something incoherent while rubbing her hands up and down his back soothingly and he felt his tears soak her canary yellow saree.