End Of Us | ✓

17 | You And I

I sat there, just then a nurse came with some papers. We all stood up.
"You are the person who brought her here? ", she asked noticing the blood stains on my clothes.
I nodded in agreement.

" You need to sign these papers, they say that if anything happens to the patient the hospital will not take any responsibility. ", she said.
I nearly fell.. That means the thing is very critical.
I somehow chocked out,
" I'll sign them."
"Who are you to her? ", the nurse asked.
" We are her friends. ", Sahil said.
" But only a family member can sign it.. Until then we cannot do the operation. ", the nurse said taking back the papers.. No! She was critical.. I couldn't end up calling her family members from Calcutta, that will take you long!

I said instantly,
" They are her friends.. I'm her husband, I hope now I can sign. ", I said, there wasn't another choice.
The nurse looked at me as if she wanted to read my mind and then handed back the papers to me.
I signed them quickly, my hands trembling furiously.

After taking my signature she went in and the red light over 'Operation Theatre' was on, indicating that the operation had begun.
I had asked Sahil to take Anika home even though they didn't want to leave me alone.

It was quite a long operation, my heart was doing a drum roll in my chest making me feel dizzy.
After around I don't know how long it all ended and the doctor came out, I nearly fell while I stood up but managed to reach upto him and asked, I could have fallen them and there,
"Is.. Is.. She fine? ", I asked, my voice quivering.
The doctor opened his spectacles and then placed a hand on my shoulder, I was feeling so dizzy I can't say,
" It's a miracle. ", he said softly.
I looked at him, my brain still trying to analyze what he was going to say,
" She is perfectly fine. "

I exhaled a breath of relief, I don't understand why these docs have the tendency of keeping the patient' s relatives in suspense, what if I died of suspense?!
" Can I meet her? ", I asked unsure of what I was saying.
He said yes, and I walked into the cabin,
She was laying on the bed, motionless.
I went and pulled a chair which was kept somewhere in the corner of the cabin and placed it beside her bed and sat, staring at her blankly. Why.. Why did I even come into that Ranjana's lies and left her? Why?
My brain had most probably stopped working.
Just then the nurse said,
" Sir, shall I get the bills.? ", she asked.
" Yes, please. ", I replied and she left.
Leaving me and Nandini alone.

Nandini slowly opened her eyes, looking at me,
" Am I in heaven? ", she asked in barely a whisper.
A smile spread over my forever tense expression.
" And you thought you deserved heaven? ", I said smirking.
" Hell mustn't be so white.. Should it be? ", she asked, I knew she was very much aware of the fact that I was very tensed and she was trying to cheer up my mood, she knew that quite well I must say.

" You are not dead, you dunderhead! ", I said.
" Oh.. I see. ",she said looking away towards the window, the curtains were drawn, I walked up and opened them revealing the beautiful moonlit sky, it was night.
" Thank you. ", she said.
She continued saying as I walked back,
" You know Abhay, at times I question myself. "
" What? ", I asked.
" Should I be jealous of Anika or not? ", she replied as though it was a question from physics which she could never solve.
" What does your heart say? "

" It asks me to be jealous, even though I somewhere know it is wrong. But how can my heart be wrong? ", she asked me as innocent as ever.

I went and sat beside her, looking straight in her brown eyes.
" Who said heart is always right? It isn't. What does your brain say? ", I asked.
" Same. ", she replied.
" Then listen to your soul, because a soul never lies. ", I said. As though it wasn't me, some other very knowledgeable person was speaking.
" Abhay, if I ask you to marry me today.. Will you? ", she asked.
" If your soul tells you the same thing I will.. I promise. Let your Soul decide, Nandini.. Not your heart or brain. ", I replied.

She turned away looking at the moon, in deep thought. This was not conversation that Mr. Abhay Singh Rathore could ever have with Ms. Nandini Roy Chaudhary, it was the conversation that a man was having with the girl towards whom his own feelings were unknown.