Bonded by Fate *Completed*

33. Kal ho naa ho

"Guddan?! Where is she?" Akshat asked breathless as he halted his run infront of a room where his family was assembled.

In response, Kishore looked towards the operation theatre and Akshat's heart clenched. Pushing him aside, he approached the door to see a team of doctors assembled around her. He couldn't see her clearly but as two nurses rushed out of the OT, the door creaked open and every ounce of oxygen left Akshat's body at the sight he saw.

She was bleeding all over. Her body was tattered to shreds, literally. He could no longer bear to look her way and turned away.

'What the...'

It was when a doctor stepped out and Akshat turned to him, desperate. "What is it, Doctor? Why haven't you started operating yet??!! S-She is bleeding all over!" Akshat shouted.

"Finally you're here, Mr. Jindal", Doctor spoke up as he signalled over the nurse who handed Akshat a consent form.

"What is this?!" Akshat asked baffled as he flipped the pages.

"It's a consent form, Mr. Jindal"

"Consent?! For what?!" He enquired.

"This form states that the hospital or the participating doctors won't be held responsible if during the course of operation, due to any unforeseen circumstances, Mrs. Guddan Jindal ends up succumbing to her injuries..."

"Y-Ye aap kya.." he trailed stumped as his hand holding the form started shivering.

"How can you even say that?!! Th-his is the best hospital in Indore!! W-Why would she succumb?! You have world class facilities over here! You must be able to save her!!" Akshat shouted, getting even more agitated by the second.

"Papa...calm down..." Kishore came forward to control Akshat, who swatted his consoling hand away and looked at doctor, "What is it that you want?! Is it money!? I have ample of it! I am willing to shell money like water as long as it saves her!"

"I know, Mr Jindal but money probably won't be enough to save her. Mrs Jindal's injuries are very severe. It is already a miracle that she made it to the hospital alive with a punctured liver and misplaced bones. Her situation is very critical and as of right now, no doctor in this hospital is qualified enough to save her".

Akshat stumbled back, shocked. What was the doctor saying?!

"Then call over a doctor from somewhere else! I don't know what you will do but you have to save her!!"

"Actually, a renowned surgeon from Germany has been invited to the City Hospital and we have called him over. Any minute now, he'll be arriving over here", The doctor replied.

"B-But you should atleast give her first aid! She's bleeding so much!" Akshat pleaded as he looked through the door.

"We can't, Mr. Jindal. She has internal bleeding. Our test reports reveal that her thoracic vertebrae have pierced into her liver and one misstep can take her life or even if she survives, she can get paralyzed for the rest of her life. So all you can do is pray".

And with that the doctor left, leaving Akshat in despair. How did it come to this?! Everything had been fine the last night. She had been fighting with him over phone about some stupid nonsense. She had promised to give him some sort of surprise so why was he coming to home to face the biggest shock of his life!

Every ounce of strength left his legs as he stumbled back into the wall and slid against it. Why was it happening? Why wasn't he there when this happened?! H-He could've saved her!

With blank eyes, he looked up to see Lakshmi consoling his maa and Kishore comforting Durga, whose eyes were terrorized. Realization dawned and scrambling to his feet, he hurried over to the duo.

"K-Kya hua tha Durga bahu?!" He asked as she looked up into his eyes scared.

"I asked how the hell did this happen!!?" Akshat shouted.

"Main batati hu Papa!" Lakshmi volunteered to share the story and told him how Guddan was accused of poisoning Durga and in the end how she had seen Guddan hurrying out of the house in desperation.

"HOW?!" Akshat asked authoritatively as Durga stood up and had just opened her mouth when certain murmurs reached Akshat's ears.

"W-What have I done?!How can I- with my own hands..."

Akshat turned around to see Parv seated in a corner cocooned in him self while Saru was standing by his side like a stone, making absolutely no effort to console him.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" Akshat roared furious as he rushed to Parv and getting hold of his collar, pulled him to his feet before punching him straight in his jaw.

From the force of blow, Parv slammed his head against the wall but made no effort to defend himself. "I-I...her bloody b-body with...my own two hands..."

"You piece of trash! I will kill you!!" And with that another hard blow was dealt to Parv's gut.

"What did you do to her?!" Akshat repeated but before he could punch him again, two police personnel caught him from behind.
And another one handcuffed Parv.

"Who is Saraswati Jindal?! She called us here!"

"It's me!" Saru spoke up as she approached the inspector, "I was the one who called you. This man over here, my brother is the one who signalled that truck driver that mowed down  Guddan Jindal on the state highway near Kali Mandir".

'.....mowed down by a truck?!'

A shiver ran through Akshat's spine as he realized how exactly the accident had come to pass. His heart lurched at the mere thought of her being run over by a heavy lorry.

"And I was his accomplice. He planned to take revenge on Durga Jindal by harming her and I was fully aware of it. But in the last moment, saasu maa pushed her out of the way and risked her life to save Durga di's", Saru confessed monotonously as police cuffed her too and started to drag her away.

This was just too much to handle. His bahu had done such a cruel thing to her saas...his wife...Why?!

"I-I am sorry AJ! But I realized my folly too late! I hope realization comes to you quickly.."  Saru smiled sadly as the sister-brother duo was dragged away.

But before all this drama could settle down, the foreign specialist showed up and rushed past them.

3 minutes later, he stepped out of the OT and approached Akshat.

"Time is of significance as we speak and every moment wasted will take the girl closer to her demise. I will be honest with you, her liver is falling apart and the only way to save her is graft implantation.Thankfully, a live liver has been arranged for her but it can not be checked for compatibility with her system and we can not afford to waste another second. So in a nutshell, if the graft implantation is succesfull, she'll live otherwise if her body rejects the graft, then she won't be able to make it and the probability of graft rejection is 97%. And thus, you and your family should be prepared for the worst".

And with that announcement, he disappeared into the OT with a team of doctors and nurses.

Chances of her survival were 3%. He couldn't envision her dying. She is so young, her life has just started...their journey has just begun then how can god be so cruel to him?! A tear trickled down his eye as he reminisced her charming smile and feeling of despair gripped his gut. As he closed his eyes, he found himself standing in a dark secluded place. Taking a step forward, he stumbled upon something and looked down to see something covered in white. With shivery hands, he removed the white sheet to reveal a morbidly pale and cold face of Guddan.

Akshat's eyes snapped open as beads of sweat traced his cheeks.

"No...I won't let you leave...I WON'T!" And balancing his wits, Akshat rushed out of the hospital, determined, to fight for what is supposed to be his, should never be snatched away from him, ever again...

So, HOW WAS IT?! (^^♪