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Court,

Khushi had walked out on him after uttering the single most damaging sentence Arnav had heard in his whole existence. Her words continued to reverberate in his ears, much like his heart which continued to beat with every beats of it shadowed by guilt and pain.

His mind was being torn apart by his thoughts - did he do right by not stopping her or his action of letting her go was the right option?

Only his heart would know the pain it had endured while eying the retreating back of its beloved and the way it had hardened itself to prevent him from engulfing her in a bone-crushing hug. Her walk out was not the cause of his pain but her pain was the dagger which struck the very chord of his heart.

The way her eyes glistened with disappointment and her voice shook with the pain of betrayal ensured that he would lose his calm and composure for months to come and it would haunt him till his last breath.

The saner part of him pushed him to inquire if she had reached safely since she was known to be quite rash in driving when she was in the wrong mood. Fate had decided to bestow sorrow at every step when Arnav rang several of his acquaintances at several places she could be expected at but it was of no avail. Khushi had neither reached his home nor her hospital.

Only one name surfaced to his mind as he felt sure that the person would surely know the whereabouts of Khushi, being so close to her - Rachna.

"What am I hearing, Arnav? Your company is involved in making hazardous drugs for children? How could you?" questioned Rachna, without giving a chance for Arnav to speak.

"I will give you ample time to accuse me, berate me and even punish me, if you deem fit, Rachna. But right now, we should search for Khushi. She is missing, after walking out on me. She was chosen as the President of the Committee who filed this case," explained Arnav, her shivering and trembling form as she walked out flashing in front of his eyes as he struggled to maintain his tone.

"What?! She never told me about this. I will try calling her and speaking with her. I will surely find her," assured Rachna, despite being furious over Arnav, being a doctor and mother but she knew that it was not the right time and her friend was her priority at that moment. She had seen love in his eyes towards his friend and she knew that the love in him deserved some dignity and respect.

"Please! I already called up home and her hospital, she isn't there in either of the places. I just hope she didn't drive herself into....." His voice cracked unable to complete his sentence as fear of losing his beloved engulfed him completely.

"Don't! She will be alright, she better be or I will kill you myself!" warned Rachna, tears filling up her eyes as she knew how reckless Khushi could be in driving in her worse moods.

"If something happens to her, there won't be a need of killing me, Rachna, for I will kill myself!"

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Khushi's Apartment,

Khushi twisted the key in the lock of her old abode as the situation twisted her heart with a dagger of love. Her old home, which she had bought out of her own earnings, was reminiscent of her struggle, her determination, her sacrifices and her love through the course of being a doctor and an unrequited lover. Every nook and corner had so many bitter-sweet memories and she was sure that they would act as the elixir which could save her from the poison of betrayal suffocating her.

Her heart traveled to day Arnav landed up at her doorstep, demanding her to look back at the deal he had himself spurned away and had sought a vow from her to forget her love for him. The painful concoction of tumultuous emotions began brewing in her heart as she relived the same experience once again.

"Is it so easy for you to go back on your words, Arnav? One day you asked me to my love of years for you because you wanted to be loyal and another you demand to look back at the proposition because you needed revenge. Now, after months, you haven't changed, isn't it? You wanted to win my trust but you broke it, once again, in the worst way possible," she sobbed, crashing onto the ground, without caring for the pain her knees had endured during the fall.

"The children, who always manage to bring upon smile to everyone's face, whose innocence could melt even the hardest of hearts, and for whom I chose to dedicate my life? Arnav thought it was appropriate to experiment upon them? Hey Mahadev, what kind of a test is this? Why did you allow me to choose someone who is breaking every bit of my ideals?"

She felt her whole form burn with the flame of love, of pain and of angst. But she felt that the flame was not enough to quench her thirst of obliviousness. She found herself walking towards the restroom she had frequently used to quench her thirst for the same; little did she know, the thirst could not be quenched by a flame but instead required the ambrosia of passionate and unconditional love.

Invoking the lord who had consumed the most deadly poison for betterment of the world, she collapsed under the stream of burning water, to survive the poison burning her from inside and choking the soul which screamed for its love.

She eyed the wall where she used to imagine her lord and began her worship, ignoring her own pain. Her skin was ablaze due to intense temperature washing over her body while her knees hurt for collapsing upon numerous times and staying in the crouched position for long.

But she could not care less. She wanted the pain to consume her, lest it allows her to forget the pain given by the one closest to her heart. As a mother of two and someone who loved children, the mere thought of her husband using children for his gains was enough for her heart to bleed and the unmerciful destiny decided to write the same in her fate.

Obliviousness finally embraced her as she lost the account of time, place and herself as she immersed herself into her worship.

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"I am in front of her old home, Arnav. I will check upon her. I don't know how she will react and I cannot promise you anything but she is my bestfriend and I won't let her commit any mistake," promised Rachna as Anurag parked the car.

They jumped out of the car and raced towards Khushi's house, praying that she was at her home, safe and sound. Arnav's call pulled them out of their jobs onto the streets on the lookout for her as they learned from Arnav that she seemed quite unstable when she walked out upon him and reached neither Arnav's home, nor her hospital nor the committee headquarters and they thought of trying with her parents only if they had searched for her everywhere else since they would be worried sick if she wasn't there with them.

"Khushi's car is here, so it means she is here," noted Anurag as he pointed at the car as Rachna let out a sigh of relief as they walked into the elevator to take them to Khushi's floor.

"I just hope she came here just for sometime alone and not to hurt herself in any way. Sometimes I wonder if supporting Khushi in marrying Arnav was a good decision or not," wondered Rachna, as the lift took them into the higher floors.

"I'll hope that we were right, Rachna, because there is no way to reverse the past and a separation at this point of time would only break them further, especially Khushi. She has been love with him throughout the time I have known her," replied Anurag as he rushed out upon reaching Khushi's floor to see that the door was left ajar.

"Khushi?" Anurag prompted, walking in, to find no one in the living room. He could hear the sound of water flowing at a constant pace but he could not see any sign of water in the kitchen or the dining room.

"Oh no!"

Rachna paced into the restroom attached to Khushi's room to find her unfortunate guess coming true. She immediately turned the shower off while trying to lift Khushi up from the floor.

"Khushi! Are you okay? ANURAG! Come. Fast!" yelled Rachna as she quickly checked her vital signs as Khushi's body temperature made her blood run cold.

"Dammit!" cursed Anurag under his breath as he lifted Khushi up in her arms with Rachna supporting her head and walked towards her bed. He placed her gently upon the bed as Rachna began searching for dry clothes which Khushi could change into.

"I'll arrange for some ice by the time you change her. Do you need any of medical devices or instruments in the car?" asked Anurag, as Rachna pulled out a simple ensemble from the wardrobe.

"Bring the entire kit. I'll have to run a lot of diagnostics on her. God knows from when she was in that burning hot water! Her temperature is running very high. Also, inform Arnav. I don't care if he knows about this or not but I want redemption to burn him in the same way his actions burned my Khushi. If at all he loved her, he will surely burn in the flame of regret!" claimed Rachna, switching on the fan at high speed and setting the room temperature to natural ambient temperature for Khushi to recover faster.

Anurag decided that it was not the time to argue with the best friend in his wife and rushed out to complete the instructions given by Rachna.

"Arnav, we found Khushi. She tried burning herself by hot water at her home. I suggest you to come as soon as possible."

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Exams are still going on and will try to post other stories when they are done. I posted this update to show how doctors value their patients in wake of the attack at NRSMCH on a junior doctor, although I had planned it since long, but posted it faster in respect of IMA's Protest today. Doctors, whose life expectancy is five years less than general public, dedicate their lives to save others, risking their lives through exposure to infections several times over, but with a smile on their face. But it's attacks like these which erase that smile from our faces so I plead everyone reading this to condemn the attack and treat us doctors as a human, not as a God, in a humane manner.

Bhagwaan Jinko Kehte Hai, Woh Hai Akhir Ek Insaan,

Sangarsho Se Ladkar Jo Aapke Mrityu Ke Khilaf Jung Main Saarthi Bane,

Swayam Ko Chod Kar, Avaam Ke Liye Jo Jeevan Arpit Kare

Jo Insaaniyat Ke Khatir Jiye Unke Prati Thoda Insaniyat Darshaye

Please VOTE and COMMENT!