The Desert Lily

♡•Bonus Chapter•♡

"Reyan! Come down! It's time for to get ready for school! "Samaira's loving call cut through the air.
An eight year old Reyan who had ran up the stairs with his toy helicopter frowned. He would have landed it on a table which happened to be his helipad in one of the rooms upstairs. Only if his voice was not interuppted her. He had promised himself that he'd do it in one run.
"Reyan! You still haven't even eaten anything! I've told you many times not to go up like that. You'll slip and fall! "Samaira yelled, coming out of her bedroom after ironing his uniform.She was on a leave today and hence could help the children in getting ready.Kevin had already eaten his breakfast and insisted on dressing up himself, stating that he's a big eleven year old boy. A five Prarthana  was all ready and now watching television, waiting for her siblings.
Samaira sighed as Reyan did not come down yet and made her way to the living room where the staircase starts.
On her way, she heard a scream and she instantly recognized the person. Reyan!
She automatically shouted his name and ran to the stairs.
She reached there and she felt the air she breathed in being stuck in her throat. There he he was! In a small pool of blood.

Samaira woke up from the dream with a jolt. The one year old memory had been hunting down her sleep since the day it happened. In the initial days, it was regular but now it had lessened to once or twice within a long span of days.

Samaira's pov
After catching sight of Reyan in such a state, everything was a daze. All I could remember was picking him up and rushing to the hospital with my kids tagging along. I had also dialled Ayush who was at the hospital on the way.
I was allowed beside Reyan when he was being treated since I was a doctor and by then the fact that he was only very minutely injured started sinking in. He was even conscious all the while and the wound was stitched within a short span. After that Reyan and me was all cool but there was one person who was worrying his guts out.
Yes! Ayush the great!
That day I saw the same vulnerable Ayush who was praying restlessly for Praniti's well being. Only difference being, he had his arms around me, whispering words of consolation into my ears when I approached him.
He was sweating and maybe shivering too when he saw Reyan with some blood on his head and started yelling at the nurses and the doctor rushing to treat him, as if his son was bleeding buckets. He forgets the existence of logic and brains when a loved one's in danger.
Okay, now I won't say I was not afraid but the despair was replaced by hope the moment I realized the injury is small and curable. More than fright, I had found agony stinging my senses knowing that my baby boy was going through pain. Won't he feel hurt, no matter how small the cut is? Won't he be scared seeing blood coming from his own body? Those thoughts were what made my eyes well up. Reyan was also crying on the way and I felt my insides being scraped savagely.
I think this feeling is the reason I still get nightmares.
Talking about this, I should speak about Ayush too. He has this sharp skill to read through me irrespective of the circumstances he's in.Before entering the OT, his fingers had grasped my arm and his lips had gently whispered, "He's our strong boy! It's not going to hurt him that much. "
My heart had melted that very instant and flowed down my ribs. If sensibility was an art, then he would have been a world famous artist by now.
I feel blessed every moment I feel his presence. I smile like I'm suffering from Angleman syndrome. That day standing under the falling raindrops with him after returning to India,I thought our minds cannot get any more closer. But this man here proved me wrong. He kept on trudging closer   and I'm sure that he must have measured the depth of my soul.
I get up from the bed, feeling an urge to see Kevin, Reyan and Prarthana who are sleeping with their favorite person, my mother, their grandma. I slowly walk out of our bedroom and reach the room where they are dozing off, cuddling mom like their soft toy. I peek through the slightly ajar door and catch a small glance of them, just the way I assumed.
Suddenly, I feel a movement behind me. Of course!
I cross my arms across my chest and say, "How many times I've told you Samaira to not wander off at night? It's not good for -"before I could complete imitating the person behind me in a low voice, I feel an arm being lovingly wrapped around my waist. It slowly touches my bulged belly and then I feel his lips on my hair.