Crush - KarEena

Chapter 19

"He wants only to make her happy"

"Are you kidding?"

"Stop looking at me like that, Karu," Santosh complained, "I didn't say it. She said he said it"

Karishma had stayed in ICU for two days. For the past five, she'd been in a private room that afforded a view of the downtown skyline. She was able to lie on her back now. It still hurt like hell, especially when she was forced to get up and walk around, which was at least twice a day.

Each of those hikes, as she called them, was an ordeal equivalent to climbing Everest. It took her five minutes just to get out of bed. At first, she was able only to shuffle around her room, but earlier today she had managed to make it to the end of the hall and back, which the nursing staff claimed was a major breakthrough. Big woo. They commended her progress. She cursed and asked them where they stored their Nazi uniforms. When she returned to bed, she was sweating and feeling as helpless as a newborn.

She looked forward to the pain medication that was regularly dispensed. It didn't eliminate the pain but made it tolerable. She could live with it if she didn't think about it too much and focused on something else. Like Roy.

This morning she'd been taken off the IV. She'd been glad to get rid of it, but then the nurses had begun bullying her to take in lots of fluids. They brought her fruit juice in little plastic cups with foil lids. She hadn't succeeded in opening one yet without spilling half of it.

"Are you eating?" Santosh asked

"Some. A little. I'm not hungry. Besides, you wouldn't believe the crap they try to pass off as food"

Her cheek was still the colour of an eggplant going bad, but the swelling had gone down enough for her to see out of both eyes. For instance, she could see that Santosh's eyebrow was in its critical-arch position, "What?" Karishma asked grumpily.

"How're your privates?"

"Fine thanks, how're yours?" For several uncomfortable days she had straddled a hot water bag, but, as Haseena had promised, the pain subdued after her periods.

"You know what I mean," Santosh said

"They're okay. Wanna check 'em out?"

"I'll take your word for it," Santosh shifted her weight from one foot to the other, "I haven't had a chance to tell you. I'm sorry about your chin"

"Least of my problems"

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have hit you"

"I struck first" Karishma shrugged

"Stupid of both of us. I apologize"

"Noted and accepted. Now get back to what you were saying about Roy and his fixation on Haseena"

"I've told you already," Santosh complained

"Tell me again"

"Hey Shiv Ji, you're cranky. They haven't taken the catheter out yet, have they?"

"This afternoon. If I can pee, they'll leave it out"

"What if you can't?"

"I can. I will. If I have to squeeze it out, I'll pee. No way are they putting that thing back in while I'm conscious. I'd jump out the window first"

"You're such a cry-baby" Santosh chuckled

"Are you going to tell me or what?"

"I've told you. I've repeated it word for word several times. The neighbour said they looked cosy with each other. Dr Malik says that Roy was terrorizing her, that she was afraid to fight him off for fear that he would do to her what he'd done to Chitra"