Madness and Magic...❤️

43

This chapter is going to be tough.
Honestly, it broke me while writing it. I know many of you had hoped certain things wouldn’t happen, but this was decided long ago.

All the mysteries unfold in this chapter, and it’s a vital part of the journey ahead. But if you are not in the right headspace, please take your time. Come back to it when you feel ready.

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6:30 a.m. - Delhi Airport

They both stepped out of the airport into the early Delhi morning,She walked like a ghost,her hand in his, but her soul felt dead. she had no sense of time. No sense of place. Just walked where he took her.

He hadn't left her side for a second since Rohan called last night.Rohan had informed that the accident happened just minutes after they left the airport last night. Their driver hadn't shown up, so her father had insisted on driving. The car skidded while exiting the highway. A truck grazed them on the side. The kids had minor injuries as they were seatbelted in the back. But Reema and her father were seriously injured.

The moment they landed, he had called Rohan.
"Both are still critical" Rohan had said.

Right now too he was making fanatic calls.

"I want the best cardiac and trauma teams on them now... Get me the CMO." He told someone then made another call.

"Ask them to Keep an air ambulance ready. If we need to shift them, I don't want a delay." He told someone else.Shehnaaz heard it all, couldn't process a thing. Words floated around her"critical, airlift, ICU"but nothing landed.Her mind was just... blank.

His car was waiting outside the terminal. Sidharth located it and opened the door, guided her in. Shehnaaz sat down.She had hardly spoken since hearing the news except just a few words.

He called Rohan again once he was in the car.

"We are on our way. How is the situation now?" He asked.She turned her head and tried to read his expression ,his blinks, his flinch,she didn't have the courage to ask about Reema and Her Dad directly.

"If we shift them out of the country... would it make any difference?" he asked.She understood that they are still serious.

"No,Doctors say they are too critical to be moved" Rohan replied.Sidharth exhaled and glanced at her, then reached out and brought her head to his chest,holding her as if he was shielding her from reality.

"Bache?"she asked in a breath.

"They have given sedatives... they are out of danger. X-rays and scans are done. Abhi so rahe hain," Sidharth replied while his phone was still pressed to his ear.She didn't say anything after that.Just leaned into him.

She looked quiet from outside,a little numb too but beneath the numb shell which she wore like armour, the 7-year-old version of herself stirred again... She felt terrified, helpless just like she felt when she was 7. The same feeling she had the day her mother went still. Back then, she hadn't known what death was but she could feel that sinking dread that something would never be okay again,that her mother would never wake up.That was the moment that gave birth to the version of her the world saw today: ill mannered, sharp-tongued, rebellious. This version of her was carved out of pain,Sculpted from anger. Polished by heartbreak.

And since that day, her dad became the target as she knew that he was the reason behind her mother's death.Her hatred for him had been her survival.But now she was again in a situation where she was unsure if she would ever see her father alive again... and now she realized something gutting: if she lost him now, she would hate herself more than she ever hated him and hating someone else still leaves you breathing.But hating yourself?.... suffocates.