When love entwines....

Part 35

Two days had passed since Shashank left....
Juhi remained numb.. lost.. broken...
Since the conference was up she engaged herself completely but her mind never left Shashank... Every moment she missed him..
" he would have done it this way.. he would have teased me for this .. he would have blushed when if I had said this to him.. he would have... this .. he would have.. that... the list was endless.... she faintly smiled to herself
At the end of everything all she felt was a big void in her heart.. in her mind... in her life... the emptiness which is actually shaking her very existence now...

Shashank called up Anjali every night to update himself about everything that was happening in Sanjivani.. and also about Juhi..
During a late night call, after routine talks, Shashank asked Anjali if Juhi has also moved in to his house..
" No dad.. She refused.. She said the memories would come to haunt her and she isn't strong to handle herself ...
I'm sure you know what memories.. dad
I have no clue.. So I didn't force her.." Anjali replied

Letting out a deep breath.. he spoke
" okay, Anjali.. Just make sure she is fine.. "
" Dad have you spoken to her..."
" No I haven't , Anjali .."
" I just hope you both sort this out , dad..
Both of you are hurting so much.. I feel helpless..."
" Goodnight , Anjali.. he spoke cutting her off abruptly..
" I love you dad.. Good night .." she replied

Shashank sat in his balcony looking at the dark blue sky .. the peace , tranquility and splendour of the place and its surroundings was supernal.. Twinkling before him, like a set of shimmering diamonds upon a silken sheath of black velvet, were countless colorful stars.. He missed her even more than the stars that twinkled in front of him..
She was his first morning thought, the last evening sigh, and every thing in between...

His headaches were getting worse.. vision was starting to blur often.... he knew it was coming.... but somewhere he still hoped to live..
On the other side, Juhi still hoped he would call her.. or send her a text.. but nothing of that sort happened..
Surprisingly, Rahul would call her once every day just to enquire how she was doing.. She made sure she kept her talk formal.. but at least he called...
Dejected and hurt, Juhi had lost her appetite.. she had just one meal a day since the day Shashank left.. her body started to feel weak.. conference workload was enormous.. With Shashank not being around she had to put in extra effort to make everything move on oil wheels ...
Day 1 of the conference went on smoothly..
Towards evening when Juhi and Anjali were discussing about the next days events, Juhi began to feel uneasy.. she started to sweat profusely.. Sensing she wasn't fine, Anjali offered her a glass of water.. Juhi who walked towards the window to get some fresh air, collapsed on the floor..
Anjali rushed towards her and held her up..
Sis. Philo who was passing by rushed inside hearing Anjali scream.. Both of them managed to place Juhi in the sofa..
She was rushed to the emergency room immediately... Anjali checked her vitals .. her pulse was low.. After 15 minutes , Juhi regained consciousness.. her head hurt..
Anjali who was am walking to and fro by her bedside rushed to her immediately..
"Dr. Juhi ... are you ok... " she asked with concern
Juhi stammered holding her head.. " I'm ok , Anjali.. Did I have a black out..??" She asked
"Yes you did... you collapsed on the floor.. lucky you aren't hurt .." Anjali replied
"I need to run a few routine tests Dr Juhi.. just to be sure you are ok.."Anjali said
Letting out a deep breath Juhi replied.. " "Anjali, I'm fine.. it all because of stress and ..." she paused
"And what.. Dr Juhi.." Anjali asked
" it's just hypoglycaemia... I have been skipping meals.. I guess it's all because of that.. there is no need to panic .. please.." she pleaded
Anjali was shocked to hear that..
" No wonder you look so pale and fragile Dr Juhi..." She said
After a brief pause Anjali spoke .. " Dr Juhi , you will be moving into my house right away and stay there as long as you are here in Pune.. I'm not taking anymore chances with you.. I can't let you stay alone when you aren't well.. "
" No Anjali.. I'm just fine.. " Juhi spoke
"Please Dr Juhi... don't complicate things even more for me.. please don't refuse..
Moreover Dad won't forgive me if I let you go..." she mumbled
" Does it really matter to him, Anjali.. Does he really care... I don't think so .. Cause if it did he would have called me.. talked things out.. he wouldn't leave me ..." her voice choked
"Maybe he really cares in his own way Dr Juhi.. maybe that's why he didn't call ..." saying this Anjali walked out of the room leaving behind a teary eyed confused Juhi...

That evening Anjali and Juhi drove to the hotel where she was staying... Juhi packed her things and checked out ...
Once they reached home, Anjali helped Juhi with her luggage by keeping them in the guest room.. Everything in the house reminded of Shashank... Juhi refused to look inside his room as she walked to the guest room.. That required a lot of strength and she didn't have in her right now ..
They had early dinner.. Anjali made sure Juhi ate sufficiently .. Both retired to the respective rooms.. Just then Shashank called Anjali.. Tonight the first thing Shashank asked Anjali was " Is everything fine... Is Juhi alright... " cause he was unusually restless since evening...
Anjali actually smiled at the way these two connected with each other...
" Everything is fine now dad... Actually Dr Juhi had a black out in the evening ... She was hypoglycaemic.. "
"Omg how did that happen... Is she fine now..." he freaked out
" She is fine dad... She had been skipping meals... hence... I insisted her to move into home and after a lot of persuasion she did.. She just had dinner and is resting in the guest room..."
Heaving a sigh of relief, Shashank spoke
" Thank you so much beta .. just take care of her... I'll talk to you later .. he said and hung up the call
Shashank felt helpless.. he knew he was responsible for her state... but he felt at peace knowing she was home and Anjali was around..

Juhi desperately wanted to sleep since she was feeling highly disoriented due to lack of it... She tossed and turned but her eyes refused to close... Getting down from the bed she walked towards he balcony and sat there trying to get some fresh air.. even that did not help...
After what felt like ages, she could think of only one way that would help her sleep tonight ..  Mustering courage , she walked into Shashank's room, picked up his pillow and walked back into her room..
She pushed aside her pillow, placed his pillow and lay down holding it against her... It smelt of his aftershave.. For a moment she felt like she was snuggling into him... she took in deep breath inhaling the fragrance... Setting aside all her thoughts she turned off the light and went into a peaceful slumber after almost about 12 days ..

The next day was another busy day.. Day 2 of the conference kept Juhi extremely busy.. Anjali made sure both had their breakfast and lunch together.. Everything went as per the plan and Juhi was happy at the end of the day.. There was no way she could let down Sanjivani and Shashank...she thought
Back home , post dinner Juhi realised she needed to send a few mails.. and she also needed to save some data from the internet.. but she had left her laptop in the hospital..
So she asked Anjali if she could borrow hers for sometime.. Anjali who was working on her laptop asked her to take Shashank's laptop which was lying in his room..
Juhi was hesitant and Anjali insisted she use it as Shashank won't mind even if he got to know...
Juhi walked to his room.. every step inside felt heavy .. she remembered his touch, his kiss, his smile, his blush, their love making, their moans... she remembered everything...
sighing deeply she picked up his laptop which was lying on the bedside table and walked back to her room..

Sitting on her bed with her legs stretched out, she opened his laptop... She also noticed a pen drive plugged in ..
The screen came to life... She clicked on the internet browser when a new window opened up showing the contents on the pen drive..
She saw only one folder.. it was named "MRI scan" ..
"Maybe it was some patient's she thought but why would Dr Shashank carry it home on a pen drive.. All his patient's data are saved on the cloud drive.." she wondered
Curious she clicked to open the same folder..
MRI scan images opened up one by one... She casually glanced at the images one by one... until her eyes fell on the name , age, sex and the date of the scan at the bottom of the scan...
Her heart stopped beating... her eyes failed to blink .. her lungs failed to take in or let out air..
" Shashank Gupta / 54years/ Male"
Date of scan : .... she froze looking at the date...
The scan was dated 7 days back....
She covered her mouth with her hand... Tears brimmed in her eyes..