Desire ✔️

Parts 86 - Tujhe Yaad Na Meri Ayi

8 January 2017
ICU - cont...

A voice was coming to him from a distance. A name. Someone was calling a name. His name.

Raman.

The voice was soft, almost unspoken, but it was persistent and Raman knew he had to answer. But something heavy was weighing on him, his eyes would not open, his body felt leaden down. It would be so easy not to answer, to just keep drifting in this oblivion he was in, this cocoon of nothingness.

But the voice persisted. And now there were other sounds joining in. The steady hum of a beating heart. The annoying click of a ticking clock. And a suppressed murmur of voices. And above it all, the voice. No, two voices. One, a mans, loud, strident demanding.

Raman. Raman. Raman.

And the other not even spoken, just a mere thought, a whisper that reached only his ears, a soft feminine voice, full of pain and longing. The voice that had woken him from his slumber.

Raman. Please wake up jaan. Please. Uth jao mere Raavan.

He could ignore everything else, but he could not ignore this soft unspoken whisper. Reluctantly, with great effort, he pulled himself back from the comforting darkness. He opened his eyes.

***********************************
Ishita stood clutching Mihika and Adi's hand, Rinki's comforting hand on her shoulder. Mihir had moved away, and closer to Raman's bed, but for some reason that she could not explain to herself, Ishita had held back. She hated to see her husband so vulnerable - her strong confident assured Raman. She knew that he would hate it too when he woke up, to see everyone surrounding him, gawking at him.

So she stood back, behind his family, and listened as the doctor called his name.

At first there was no response, and her heart thundered wildly each time the doctors call went unanswered. Her heart called out to her husband, willing him to wake up, willing him to come back.

Raman. Please wake up jaan. Please. Uth jao mere Raavan.

And then she heard his voice, and it was the sweetest sound in the world.

***********************************
"Kya?" (What?)

His voice was rusty, cracking, as he stirred uneasily and his eyes slowly opened. He looked around. There was a man in a white coat sitting beside him, a nurse and another white coated woman standing next to him. And then further away, near the door, a whole crowd of people pressing, looking in.

His eyes darted around as they focused and he took in the narrow white bed he was lying in, the monitors and medical equipment around him. His head felt so heavy, his mouth was dry, an acrid taste rising up as he swallowed. He realized he was in hospital, but why? Just what had happened? And who were all these people? As his eyes focused his could see his parents, his sister Simi, and Mihir. Who else was here? The woman with the tears in her voice, the voice that had dragged him back to consciousness. Who was she?

The man who had called him, the doctor he realized, was speaking urgently to him, and he focussed his eyes on him.

"Raman. Mr Bhalla. Can you hear me?"