My precious

16. warrior

Khushi woke up in the hospital. In so much pain. She felt like she was deceased & went up in hell. Her brain couldn’t function for a few mins where she is. Suddenly she heard a voice talking somewhere near her. She tried to listen & make sense of what they were saying. The voice is unfamiliar, that makes her mildly panicked. The fog in her brain gradually fading & she realized someone is talking in medical terms. She realized she is in hospital & previous occurrences  started coming back to her one by one.
The doctor realized the patient was waking up from anesthesia & came to her. Started checking her pulse & heartbeat.  Her wound isn’t deep but when she fell down she hurt her head that's why she was in danger. They performed a 3 hour long operation on her leg. It shouldn’t have taken this long but her blood pressure wasn’t stable mid way of operation. They had to take her in icu & had to be under observation. 
Khushi slowly opened her eyes. Everything is blurred around her. She tried to focus ahead & saw a white coat figure standing beside her with a stethoscope. The doctor smiled at her  & said "Hello captain, how are u feeling?"
Khushi  tried to speak but her throat was dry. A nurse beside her gives her a sip of water.  She felt better & replied with effort 'I am good.'  He then said "I presume u understand what happened to u? U gave us a scare. But captain we are proud of u. U are a warrior. U made it."  Khushi didn’t understand what he was saying but smiled hearing his praise. The nurse called the doctor "Major, i think we should inform the officers that Captain Khushi has woken up." Khushi realized she is in a military affiliated hospital. The doctor agreed but said to take a few mins & check her first before informing everyone.

Outside

Karan, Arjun & Khushi's father standing outside. Karan is feeling very bad. She failed to protect her. He is feeling useless. But He knows he couldn’t do anything there but still he should have been able to protect her. Shashi is feeling worse. His one & only child is laying down in a hospital bed. He couldn’t do anything about it. It should have been him not her. He realized he was forcing Khushi in many things. He prayed to his god that he would let her do whatever she wanted to do. He shouldn’t have brought her here in the first place.
Suddenly he saw the Doctor coming out from  Khushi's room. He felt anxious seeing the doctor. The doctor came forward & assured them that Khushi gained consciousness & is out of danger. They just need to run some tests to know if everything is okay. Shashi asked "Is Khushi's leg okay?"
The doctor's face turned slightly grim and he replied, " Her leg is okay. The bullet didn't do any major damage but her ligament was torn. She won't be able to walk properly for a few months. She would need proper bed rest for a month & would need a crouch for help to walk. With physical training her walking will be less painful in future. All of their faces turned grim. They know Khushi would be devastated by the news. The doctor informed them to go meet her but not make her anxious or inform her about the predicament now. Her blood pressure can be unstable & it wouldn’t be good for her recovery. They nodded. Shashi then went to her room. He looked at the piece of his heart sleeping so peacefully. He hates seeing hurt since her childhood.  His dear heart laying there doesn't know what he would say to her mother. Khushi slowly opened her eyes & called him "papa" Shashi quickly wiped off the emotions from his face. & gently patted her head & Said, "Doll, how are u?" she smiled slightly & replied "Felt better before."  He looked at her sadly & replied "Everything will be ok." Shashi noticed Khushi  is still under the influence of anesthesia & made her fall asleep by gently patting her hair. When she fell asleep he came out & made a call. When the other side picked up he said "We have a problem. We have to postpone the mission."
The other side is too shocked to speak. Are they backing down from the mission?  Or taking revenge for the past? Too many questions running in his head.