Shards of Love

Chapter 13: Serendipity smiles

August 23, 2020 Sunday.

After a goodnight's sleep, Arnav got ready to leave for the hospital. He took all the medications with due care and it showed certain improvements in his life in the past month. Although there were some setbacks and hard times, nothing was as worse as it once was.

Arnav said goodbye to his mother and took his scooter out. He got on the seat and was about to start when his phone started to ring. He was the type of guy who knows exactly who would be calling him because he kept his contacts list always up to date. He was not the typical person to save all unwanted numbers in his phone to culminate in some hundreds of contacts. But since he was at home, he didn't have a clue who might be calling him at that time. He took out the phone and let out a genuine surprised gasp.

It was Adarsh. The guy remembered. Was he actually going to take Arnav to the hospital?

"Hello", Arnav said, his voice showing his questioning mindset.

"Machi, where are you?" Adarsh was practically shouting. There was some background noise from his side.

"In my house, where else?"

"So, you haven't left already for the hospital?"

"Nope. Just started and your call came through".

"Talk about timing, huh?"

"Now what?"

"I am on my way actually. You be a good kid and put your scooter inside and wait for me. I will be there in ten minutes."

"Are you sure?"

"Why?"

"Nothing".

"Oh, don't worry, I hate tardiness, in important situations too."

Arnav had to smile. "Ok, I will wait. Come soon".

He got down and walked the scooter inside and parked. Lakshmi asked why.

"That fellow Adarsh is coming to pick me up in his car, I think", he told.

"Both are going to same hospital? What's his problem? He seemed to be all smiles and fun", Lakshmi asked earnestly.

"That's what you all assumed about me too. Maybe he is also good at acting like me".

Lakshmi's face flushed. She just asked him to take care and went inside.

After twelve minutes, Arnav started fidgeting. He was never good at waiting. If it was not for his cause, then even worse. He gave a ring to Adarsh and it was missed. He didn't know what to do.

For someone he met only a couple of times, he was losing precious time, simply sitting. He could've covered half the distance to the hospital by now. Where the hell was that rich doctor?

After twenty five minutes and two more missed rings, Arnav decided to start. He took out his scooter again and went out. As he passed the gates, he was almost maimed by another scooter which barely missed him by few inches as at the final moments, the driver turned the handlebar left and with its oncoming speed, he could only stop it a couple of meters ahead. Arnav stood there frozen with his heart beating past hundred beats. He looked back.

Adarsh parked his scooter on the roadside and was trying to catch his breath.

What the-

After seeing Arnav's facial expression, Adarsh started laughing. It soon turned into fits of laughter. His laughter, just like Arnav's was contagious. Arnav started to laugh, his frown vanishing without a trace, in an instant.