[After Five Years]

Trauma team on standby. Ambulance is three minutes out. Car accident. Patient has lost a lot of blood. Name: Arjun Mehta. Glass has pierced his side. Dislocated shoulder...

Sanam stopped writing on the patients' chart which was in her hand as soon as she heard the name on the pager at the nurse's station. She grabs it to speak into it, "What did you say the name was?" They had to be wrong.

The paramedic, however, did not stop to answer, "...A few broken ribs. Possible..."

"What is the patients' name?!" She raised her voice, leaving the chart there and making her way towards the hospital's emergency entrance.

"Doctor! Hey, where are you going with that? You can't..."

Sanam ignored the head nurse.

"...fracture. Blood type: AB+. Age: 32." The paramedic continued, and she no longer had to ask him to repeat the name. The biometrics he gave confirmed it.

No, no, no! This cannot be happening.

She picked up her walking pace till she was running towards the exit stairs. She was on the seventh level of the hospital. She had to get down. She stopped on the third and rushed inside. "Where is Olivia?" She demanded an answer from the nurse at the station there as she fished in her doctor's coat pocket to retrieve her phone.

12 missed calls. 4 messages.

"She is about to step into a surgery."

Sanam ordered, "Call it off," and proceeded to go towards the surgery rooms.

"Doc, you can't go in there without...!" The nurse tried to stop her but she was already inside. Olivia was just about to put on her scrubs.

"You're coming with me." Sanam grabbed her wrist and started pulling her out, running, forcing her to run as well.

Her fellow resident scolded her, "Sanam! What's the matter with you? I have a surgery scheduled."

She refused to answer till they reached the ground floor where the paramedics were pulling him out of the ambulance.

"Oh god." Olivia exhaled seeing his condition, and looked down at the charts the paramedic handed over to her, assuming she was a trauma surgeon. "Sanam, this is a trauma case, and cardiovascular. It's your field, why am I here?" She questioned as they follow the gurney inside the hospital where the other trauma residents are checking his pulse and taking over from the paramedics.

"I can't operate on him. You have to." Sanam spoke, her own voice sounding alien to herself.

"You are the best cardiovascular surgeon we have, and you are here. Why can't you?"

"Because, he's my husband."

Olivia's head sharply looked up from the charts. She seemed confused for a second, and it was understandable. She was one of Sanam's closest colleagues here, and many times she crashed at her apartment whereby it wouldn't be wrong to say they were flat mates, but she didn't know she was married. No one at the hospital did.

Sanam diverted her gaze to Arjun who was already unconscious. One of the residents, whose name Sanam knew but couldn't remember at the moment, was pressing over his wound to restrict excess loss of blood after the large glass piece sticking inside of him had been pulled out. Sanam hadn't seen him in a bit over a year, and now... when she did... it was in this state.

She glanced down at her hand feeling a pressure on it. She followed it up to his owner: Olivia. She blinked at her in assurance and then instructed others to get him to OR 2. She didn't need to say a thing for Sanam to know she would do everything necessary and in her power to save him. She could only watch, standing there feeling numb as the team rolled him away in a rush.

The phone vibrating in her hand again pulled her out from her state. Gulping, she lifted her trembling hand and pressed the green button before putting the phone to her ear. Arjun's mother spoke from the other end, "Sanam, thank God you answered." Her voice was shaking. "We have been trying to reach you. Where are you? Arjun... he... we need you to..."

"I know, mom." She spoke in a bare whisper. "He's here. They brought him here. They took him to the OR just now. I'll meet you by the front."

She ended the call and made her way towards the front of the hospital. She saw them in the distance. His parents were rushing, followed by Neha and Rahul, his brother and sister-in-law. Her best friend. Reaching her, the first thing Neha did was slap her.

"Neha!" Her husband, Rahul, exclaimed.

Sanam couldn't say it made her mad. She deserved it. The next second, Neha took her in her arms and hugged her. As her best friend since childhood, she loved Sanam, but she also was very mad at her for what she had done a year ago.

Sanam didn't say anything to her. Mom simply turned her to face her, tears falling from her eyes. "How is he? Where is he?"

She had always been too kind to Sanam. She couldn't find it in herself to say anything. So, she nudged them to the waiting area. "I'll be back." She said in a meek voice and walked away to find out what his condition was.

When she returned to the nurse station, the head nurse looked up from where she was writing on the surgery board. She gave her a condescending look, "There are you, missy. Care to return my pager? You know you can't just walk away with it like that."

"The trauma patient. What's his condition?" She decided to ignore her scolding. Rules were the last thing on her mind.

"The guy who came in with hit and run? I don't have an update yet. Why? What do you care? You're obviously not in there trying to save his life." Sanam knew what she was hinting at given she was one of the best cardiovascular surgeons in the hospital.

"Just tell me how he is." She gritted her teeth to keep from lashing out at her.

"Doctor Mehta." She turned to the voice and found herself standing in front of the chief of medicine. "You should know better than to raise your voice at your fellow employees."

Sanam was in no mood for a lecture right now, "I wouldn't have to if she just answered my damn question!" She snapped at him as well. He was taken aback. In fact, all others around them stopped working as well and turned to face them. Was she going to get fired after yelling at the boss? More than possible. Did she care? No, not in the moment.

"Sanam..." He said her name having known her well in the past year to respect her work ethics. He knew she was not this person who yelled at her boss.

She let out a sigh and asked in a normal voice, defeated. "I just need to know how he is. Please."

The Chief nodded at the head nurse, who understood the sign and left towards the OR to get an update. Then, he spoke to her, "Come with me." She dropped her shoulders and followed him. She assumed they were going to his office where he was possibly going to lecture her some more about how he was disappointed and more. Instead, he opened the door towards the exit stairs. He crossed his arms over his chest after closing the door behind him, "Now, what happened? Why did I have to come down hearing that you had Olivia take the trauma case, when you are her senior and have a better chance of saving that man's life?"

She debated whether or not she should tell her secret to him.

He asked in a less demanding tone than previously, "I didn't fail to notice you have the same last name. I didn't ask it before, because I imagine it is a common last name, but... do you have a personal connection with the patient?"

She let out a nod. He was her boss. Right now, he needed to know.

He uncrossed his arms, looking confused. "Why didn't you just say it before then?"

"I'll explain it all later, I promise." She didn't want to divulge in the details at the moment. "Right now, I just need to..."

He nodded, understanding, and let her leave so she could go see if the head nurse was back with an update. She waited for a few minutes for her to return. In the time, she couldn't help but pace back and forth. She had seen tons of families do this as they waited for news on the condition of their loved ones. She never could understand it. She always said that pacing wasn't going to do anything to help. So why do it? And yet, she found herself repeating the anxious pattern.

"He's lost a lot of blood, and his condition is still critical. They are working on stopping the blood loss as he was cut in various places close to his heart. The other injuries include broken ribs, four to be exact. Now this is a police case." She nodded behind her, and she turned to see two officers walking towards them. "Can you handle them without blasting on them as well as possibly getting arrested while I inform next of kin? We need to get consent to perform surgery. I don't understand why Doctor Jones would start before we had the consent! She knows the rules."

"I gave her permission." Sanam informed her, but she didn't listen as she was already walking away towards the station to get the paperwork.

She followed behind her and when she clipped it together on a clipboard, she took it from her and signed the documents. She didn't wait for her to highlight the places where signatures were needed. She had seen hundreds of these to know where the signatures were needed in the thick packet without having to search for the signature lines.

Handing it back to the nurse, she instructed. "You have my insurance information in the system. Use that. His parents are in the waiting area. Give them the updates you get."

The nurse glanced down where the relationship to the patient was listed. Just then, Sanam turned away after her eyes widen in surprise as the tick mark next to spouse. "Where are you going?" She asked, "Don't you want to know the updates as well?"

"No."

In the year she had worked there, she had hidden the fact that she was married. Now, she couldn't hide it anymore. Neither did she care of it at this point. He was here now. Safe, given the conditions. She trusted Olivia to save him. His family was here for him when he'd wake up. As for her... she was sure he didn't want to see her.

~

authors note;

Don't start throwing rotten tomatoes at me already! The way her proposal prologue was in the past, I thought to compliment it by putting his wife prologue in the future. Chapter 1 will start out where her proposal concluded so you will get to see what happens leading up to this prologue and even after. Hope you're excited!