Never Apart

Part 1

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! My phone was vibrating. “Hospital” the name showed and the clock ticked 3.16am. It is my off day. I still pick up the call because the doctor instincts are hard to go by.
“Doctor D’souza, this is an emergency. Accident case and the patient require immediate surgery and our in house surgeon is out of town today. I know it is your day off but I had no other choice” she said.
I sighed. “Prepare the OT”
Annie was half awake, she said in a puppy voice “Do u really need to go?”. I nodded. She hugged me tightly making cute faces to bribe me from going. I planted a kiss on her forehead and got up to get dressed. As I was making my way to the front door, I hear Annie shouting from the bedroom, “Don’t forget we need to go to my home in the morning. So get back soon. And don’t you dare miss it this time”
I revved my engine, and judging by the time, I knew very well there would be almost no traffic now. Annie and I have been dating for a year now and every time we plan to meet her parents something comes up. And by parents I mean a single person, her grand mom. Her mother and father died when she was little. Annie came to my life through this hospital, she was my patient and I fell in love with her at the first sight. And we were planning to get engaged soon so it was important to meet her grandmother first to seek her blessings.
I reached the hospital in a few minutes. As I was entering, the junior surgeon gave me the look, the look I am too familiar with; based on my years as a doctor. The patient is no more. I sighed and gave her a sad face. She filled me in with the details, I went on to check the body. It was an old man of around 70, tanned face but with a tall and strong built. He must be handsome in his prime, I smiled alone in my mind. I don’t know why but I was strangely drawn towards him.
“Immediate relatives?” I asked the junior
“None, sir” She replied
“Send it to post mortem then” I got out of the room.
As I was coming back from washing my hands, I saw the compounder boy sitting in the chair with a piece of paper in hand and tears flowing out of his eyes. I went near him and asked what happened. He was almost sobbing and he just handed me the paper. I sat next to him and began reading. By the time I finished reading, some tears found its way out of my eyes too.