Song of the Firebird

Thirty Six

When Natasha's screams pierced the still air, few staff nurses rushed to their support. Jeeva assured them that it was only a reaction of shock. Then men were indeed stunned by the effect that Jay had on that woman.

Jeeva was saddened that her first visit to surprise her boyfriend turned that way. He wished that they should have come out way earlier when they were madly in love with each other. With him and Mandhira, he would not deny that things were on and off. Provided them being the residents of the same village, it didn't take much for the people to know of their relationship. A lot of times, his own father teased him about spending time with her, away from the public eye.

Did Jay hide his relationship in the fear of his family opposing it?, he thought. Jeeva asked himself whether he opposed their union. Sure, he had doubts about how things would work out when one was far away from the other. Natasha looked not like the one that would follow their customs and traditions. His own wife was partial to it and not that he cared about it.

Then what was stopping them? Jeeva was tired, thinking that he had to deal with it as soon as his brother woke up from a coma. When he was in the middle of his tirade, he heard someone inching closer to him and asking, 'Can I get a moment with him?' His eyes trailed down to Natasha's baggy ones and involuntarily, he nodded.

As Natasha closed the door behind her, Jeeva took a seat on the bench, next to Kiara. Kathir followed Natasha until the door and joined Ivy to witness the muted lovers' emotions. 'His girlfriend?', his voice grave.

'Yeah.' Ivy's whisper was equally grave. Two pairs of eyes showed no signs of leaving Natasha's every move until she took a seat in the chair close to Jay's bed.

Jeeva, elbows on his knees, his fingers rubbed his eyes, refusing to submit to a demanding sleep. He was drained since noon from the previous day. With birth and the accident side by side, he was physically and mentally torn between his wife and his brother.

Shaking the sleep out of his face, 'So,' Jeeva started, 'Do you happen to know Danny, who is a close friend of Paari's?'

Kiara jerked up at her lover's name from a stranger. Taken back, she replied, 'Yes.'

Jeeva cleared his throat, 'Can you tell him that I will catch up with him as soon as I get my wife discharged. Danny had been in constant touch all these weeks and I think he might be worried about Paari's sudden absence.'

'S-sure, will do.' Kiara was dazed at the connection that bridged Danny into the present mess. She then recalled Danny telling her that Jay was like a brother to him. It's a small world, huh.

***

Natasha took her time to get to her lover. She spotted him in the last bed of the two, closer to the window. The air conditioned room appeared like it had not seen any visitors yet. There was no vase except for a few folders attached to the bed's rear.

Natasha snatched the medical document that told her of his current check-up stats - broken ribs and fracture in his left arm. She placed the sheet back in the respective folder and looked at him. As she strode closer, she could draw away her eyes from a heavily wrapped torso. His face looked serene. His eyelids were closed, thereby, denying her, his midnight black orbs. His naturally tanned skin looked a bit paler, due to a hefty blood loss. Her fingers traced along his long bony counterparts. She held his hand and took her place on the chair next to his bed.

Jay appeared a bit thinner than from their last meeting. It had been almost a month and a part of her was glad that his heart was beating with a steady rhythm underneath the clean white sheets. The monitor on the other side of his bed seconded her momentary assumptions.