Conditions Of Shashank | 18+

Chapter 46: Breathless

Ujjwal slowly opens the ICU door.

Just then, his phone rings. Startled by the loud ringtone, he quickly steps back out, closing the door behind him.

He looks at the screen and reads the name, "Maanvi"

He answers the call.

"Jiju... What... What am I hearing, Jiju?" She is crying uncontrollably.

"Maanvi, listen to me-"

"Please, Jiju, I want to see Ishika." Her voice is trembling.

"Maanvi-" He tries to speak, but she doesn't let him.

"Nothing will happen to my Ishika, right, Jiju?" she manages to say through sobs.

"Nothing will happen to her, Maanvi, calm down," he reassures her.

"I need to see her." She is crying harder now.

"Okay, Maanvi, come here,"

"Jiju, there’s no vehicle available at this hour. Can you come to pick me up, please?"

"Okay," he agrees.

Before getting into the car, he washes his face with water to stay awake during the drive.

Maanvi’s hostel is far.

~

"Did you follow the original plan?" Shashank spins a pen angrily between his fingers.

"N-No, sir." the man answers hesitantly.

"Why?" Shashank asks, his frustration evident in his tone and eyes.

The man lowers his head.

Shashank stabs the pen into the wall, breaking its nib.

"Tell me what the original plan was." Ink drips from the pen.

The man, terrified, feels that whatever trust he had gained from Shashank might now be ruined. "Sir, there’s an unconscious man lying a bit farther away. Could you both help me load him into my car so I can take him to the hospital?"

"Yes, this. This is what you were supposed to say to Ujjwal at his house to get him and Ishika to step outside. And then the gas cylinder was supposed to explode. Right? Then why was it done differently in the end?"

The ink's color looks red.

"Sir, I was waiting for Ujjwal to come home from the office. When he arrived, Ishika didn’t let him in for some reason. Ujjwal started walking away, and Ishika stayed near the main door-"

"So you executed the plan?"

He nods slightly. "Anyway, sir, we needed them out of the house, whether by the original plan or -"

"Ishika was not outside. She was near the main door. Does the main door count as outside?" He looks at the pen, the red color grabs his attention. "Had you forgotten that we just wanted to scare them and not cause them any harm?"

"Sorry," the man says. "But sir, do you remember telling me and Sagar that your end goal was to separate Ujjwal and Ishika?"

"Yes, but not this quickly," Shashank says. "And how will this incident separate them? Go, get some sleep. You’re sleep-deprived."

"Sir, Ujjwal is just 26, young. He’ll find another woman for himself, because Ishika... what does she has now?"

Shashank puts his hand on his head.

the man continues "She’s chubby, and now more than half of her skin is burned. Those scars won’t fade. And I haven’t even mentioned her dark skin yet..."

"... There’s nothing about Ishika that would please or attract Ujjwal anymore," he says. "And he hasn’t seen her in this state yet. Let him see her like this. If he doesn’t think of leaving her, then you can change my name."

~

Ujjwal reaches Maanvi’s hostel. It took him two hours.

He requests a few hours from her teacher, promising that Maanvi will return to the hostel soon. She agrees.

Maanvi hugs him tightly. "Ishika will be fine. Don’t worry," he says, handing her his handkerchief to wipe her tears.

"What did the doctor say, Jiju?"

"More than half of her skin is burned. Some burns are deep, so she’ll need skin graft surgery," he explains.

"Skin graft surgery?" Hearing this, she panics.

"Skin from one part of the body is used to cover another area."

"Then I’ll give her my skin," Maanvi says.

"That’s very kind of you, Maanvi," he says, caressing her head. "But the doctor said they’ll use Ishika’s own skin for the grafts."

They reach the hospital at 8 a.m. and see Sneha sitting on a bench.

Maanvi immediately hugs her mother tightly.

The three of them sit on the bench, waiting for the doctor or nurse to share some good news.

The nurse came out of the ICU and said, "The patient has regained consciousness."

Hearing this, the three of them- Ujjwal, Sneha and Maanvi sitting quietly- were filled with joy. They immediately stood up, eager to go inside.

But the nurse stopped them. "Wait... I’ll let you know when you can see her."

They sat back down, their excitement barely contained. None of them could wait to see Ishika.

Since the afternoon of the previous day, Ujjwal had neither eaten nor slept. His exhaustion weighed on him, but he didn’t show it.

"You can go into the ICU now." the nurse said, "Patient said only Sneha and Maanvi."

Sneha and Maanvi stood up at once, their faces lighting up with relief.

Ujjwal froze mid-step as his name wasn’t mentioned. His heart sank. Slowly, he sat back on the bench.

A lump formed in his throat as thoughts swirled in his mind. A wave of guilt and pain crashed over him. Every second felt heavier than the last.

"Am I the reason she’s here?"

"If I had never come into her life, maybe she wouldn’t be hurting like this. Maybe she’d be free from all this pain."

Tears blurring his vision as he stared blankly at the floor. It felt as if the world had turned its back on him, and he was utterly alone.

Ache tightened in his chest, leaving him breathless.

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