Aryaman recovered from the shock first. He rushed towards Nandini and touched her forehead. It was as cold as ice. Immediately, he took charge of the situation. "Navya, get a hanky! We need to stop the bleeding. Dhruv, call an ambulance, quickly! Rishabh, gaadi nikaal. We can't keep waiting for the ambulance. Quick! Chachaji, aap Dhruv k saath hospital pahuchkar saare arrangements keejiye jisse jab tak hum wahaan pahuche hume doctor ka wait na karnaa pade. Everybody off, quick!"
Like the bullet shot from a pistol, everybody was off to obey Aryaman's orders at once. Aryaman quickly tore his shirt from the side and cleaned the blood off Nandini's face. He took Nandini's hands in his and started rubbing his hands against them to heat them up with friction.
"Chachi" he turned towards Shanno "jaldi se aake Nandini k pairon ko maliye. She needs the heat. Amms, cupboard se ek blanket deejiye, jaldi!"
When there was no activity after he had given the instructions, Aryaman turned to look at chachi and amms again. Both the ladies had started praying with their hands joined, eyes closed and lips moving in prayer. Aryaman lost it.
"OH FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Aryaman screamed. Chachi and amms opened their eyes immediately and flinched back in fear. "Can you two act like normal humans for once? PLEASE?!"
Navya returned with a bowl of water and an enormous handkerchief. She stopped after taking in Aryaman's furious face."Kya hua?"
Aryaman snatched the bowl and handkerchief from Navya's hands while glaring at the ladies. "Tumhi handle karo in dono ko!" he snapped. "At least they'll listen to you"
"Per?" Navya whispered in confusion and looked at chachi and amms. They were looking at Nandini and their faces were blank. "Chachi? Amms?"
"Instead of doing something for Nandini ye dono bhagwaan ko pray karne mein lag gayi hain" Aryaman said angrily.
For the first time Navya felt that instead of helping her family, she had actually brought them under a wrong influence. Chachi and amms had gotten so used to praying and asking God for everything that they had forgotten to take action and do something on their own.
"Navya ek blanket do jaldi!" yelled Aryaman.
Navya rushed to the cupboard and quickly took out a blanket from it. Aryaman picked Nandini in his arms and gently, Navya wrapped the blanket around her.
"Hume maaf kardo Nandini" she whispered with teary eyes "please. Ek baar uth jao, hum tumse vaada karte hain ki tumhe kabhi shikaayat ka mauka nahi denge"
Aryaman glared at Nandini with stinging eyes. "I swear Chhoti" he snarled out the nick-name that hadn't been taken in years "agar tu nahi uthi na, to main ... to main ..." a sob escaped his throat and he hugged Nandini tightly. "Don't you dare leave me like mom and dad!" he cried. "Suna tune?! Don't you dare leave me!"
Navya took a deep breath then kept her hand on Aryaman's shoulder. Her face was wet with tears yet her hand was steady. This was what Aryaman needed. "Nandini ko kuch nahi hoga Arya" She realized she hadn't called her brother with this name in years "tum fikar mat karo"
Aryaman looked at the determination in Navya's eyes and deriving strength from it, he nodded.
"Let's go"
"Tum jao" Navya looked at chachi and amms "hum aate hain"
Aryaman saw where Navya was looking and left the room without a word with Nandini safely tucked in his arms. Navya shut the door behind him and turned towards the ladies. She had to right the wrongs she had been unknowingly doing all these years, starting now.
