Sankatmochan vacillated in front of the large, beautiful idol of Lord Ganesha. He knew what he had to do, but it was difficult. He had to toughen himself considerably.

He clenched his teeth and muttered, “If his time is up according to your wishes, don’t stop yourself from kicking him into hell. But otherwise, you can ignore my curses for Indrajit. I’m only talking about the ones I gave today,” he clarified dourly. “So it is okay if his head doesn’t blow apart, or if his body is not torn into little pieces by rabid dogs, or if he doesn’t die of worm-infestation, starvation or syphilis.”

That was it. He had exhausted the reserves of goodwill he possessed for the psychopath. After all, he hadn’t actually seen or heard Indrajit tell his men anything. Yet, the instant Indrajit’s car had taken off, Jiva had come running towards them to help. He wouldn’t have done that without Indrajit’s consent.

With the distasteful task done, Sankatmochan expressed one more earnest prayer of gratitude to the idol.

He didn’t know how they had made it through the ordeal. He hadn’t known such fear and pain for years. Not since that horrendous day when a teenaged Indrajit had nearly killed the little boy who had approached him timidly, hoping for nothing more than a chance to see and talk to his older brother….

Sankatmochan wiped the tears from his face. All through the operation, he had sat in front of the Ganesha idol in the foyer of the hospital, praying feverishly. When Sumer Singh had come to give him the reassuring news, he had hugged the old man for the first time in his life and wept inconsolably with relief.

By sparing Prithvi’s life, the gods had spared his own.

********************

Sumer Singh kept the phone aside after making the last necessary call and ran a hand tiredly over his eyes.

From the time he’d gotten into the car, he’d been calling up people. Hospital trustees, known doctors and Adityaraj’s influential friends. He had barely been able to converse coherently but it had been crucial to ensure that everything be readied at the hospital and that the staff wouldn’t involve the police. Thankfully, everything had been arranged by the time they’d arrived. The only trouble was that a couple of Adityaraj’s friends had stated their wish to visit Prithvi in the hospital. Sumer had lacked the courage to dissuade them after all the help they’d provided.

The operation had lasted for more than an hour, but it had been successful. Although Prithvi had lost a lot of blood, the bullet had not pierced any major organs or arteries. He would have to remain in the ICU for some hours and in the hospital for around 10 days.

But he would be fine. He would recover. That was all that mattered.

Sumer Singh shivered as he recalled the doctor’s observation that any further delay in medical attention could have been fatal.

It was sheer luck that the best hospital in town had been one of the first respectable medical institutions on their way. But they wouldn’t have reached it at all had it not been for Nandini. If not for her, Indrajit would have departed without any conscience. And he, Sumer, would have just sat next to the boy he loved like his own child, weeping like an old woman as Prithvi bled to death.

If it hadn’t been for Nandini…..

He turned a corner and stopped.

She was sitting on the nearest bench to the door of the ICU in between her two friends, resting her head on the shoulder of the girl on the right, eyes fixed on the opposite wall. Her hair still looked damp but it was tied neatly, and her hand was bandaged.

When the operation was going on, she had silently stood shivering against the wall, with palms clenched together against her chest, head bowed and eyes squeezed shut. It was only when the surgeon had come out of the operating theatre to give reassuring news that the control had shattered….

He hadn’t been able to speak himself, and had only been able to offer comfort by holding her as she cried helplessly. 

A matronly nurse had come over on seeing her distress. With a puzzling familiarity, the woman had taken over, and drawn Nandini away, silently gesturing that she would take care of the girl. By the time Nandini had returned, looking exhausted but a tad more composed, they had shifted Prithvi to the ICU.

It had been a relief to see that she had changed out of that bloodied costume and was dressed in a simple salwar kameez. He had assured her of Prithvi’s wellbeing but hadn’t asked her anything about where the nurse had taken her or where she’d gotten the dress, because he was guiltily aware that Nandini had not even been properly conscious of being taken away.

He had wanted to be strong enough to soothe her, but today’s events had shown that he wasn’t capable of handling his own anguish. He was ashamed of the way he’d broken down on seeing Prithvi’s condition, though it was also true that he hadn’t seen the boy in such a terrible condition for years.  

But no argument could counter the fact that he had weakened with age, both mentally and physically. But the realisation didn’t worry him as much as it would have a few months ago.

One single change in Prithvi’s life had made the difference between then and now.

The entry of a young girl with the appearance of a fragile doll and the heart of a lioness.

**********************

That slight burning sensation in her eyes refused to recede. But she still couldn’t close her eyes for more than a few seconds. Not without seeing his bloodless face and unconscious body…

The past few hours were a painful blur. Nandini didn’t really know what she had done or said or how they had reached the hospital. She only knew that until the doctors had appeared with the life-giving news that he would survive, she had prayed with an insane desperation for her own life to be taken in place of his.

Everything that happened before and after that moment had been pushed into a corner of her consciousness. She couldn’t bear to relive those moments. Not yet. Perhaps, not ever.

Now he was in the ICU and the doctor had said they just had to wait for the anaesthesia to wear off. She hadn’t even seen him after the operation. Sumer Singh had kept assuring her that Prithvi would be okay now, but she needed to see him. To see for herself that he was going to be fine….

Two hours ago, seeing that she wasn’t going to budge from the hospital anytime soon, Sumer Singh had insisted that she call up the Sharmas and explain her delay somehow without talking about Prithvi. The news about Prithvi’s injuries was bound to come out soon, but if they had turned up in the hospital at that time, several other details would have come tumbling out into the open.

Nandini had tentatively called up Manju Sharma and told her she would be staying at her best friend’s place tonight. She had struggled and failed to think of any reason that wouldn’t be disproved eventually. But luckily, the elderly woman had been too preoccupied with a bevy of unexpected guests, and had forgotten to ask for an explanation.

She had almost called up her family too, badly needing to hear her mother’s soothing voice, but had reluctantly decided to postpone the call to a time when she could be more confident about retaining her composure.

Then she’d called up Nishi and Vrinda, only so that they would be prepared in case her mother phoned either of them. But both had rushed to the hospital within half an hour and hadn’t moved from her side since then.

“You want coffee or tea? Or something to eat?”

Nandini lifted her head from Vrinda’s shoulder and tried to smile at Nishi. “No, I’m okay.”

“You’re not okay!” Vrinda said exasperatedly. “You need to eat or at least drink fruit juice -”

Nandini shook her head tiredly. “I can’t, I really can’t. Don’t worry about me. I’ll eat later if I feel hungry. But you both should leave now. You’ve been here for long enough. Your parents will be worried.”

“We’re not leaving you here,” Nishi said decisively. “Either you come home – mine or Vrinda’s – or we stay back with you.”

“Yeah, you should stay with me tonight. My parents have gone out of town, so you won’t have to explain anything to them,” Vrinda added.

“They’re right. You should go with them,”

Nandini, who had just started to explain yet again that she wanted to stay in the hospital for the night, turned to see both Sumer Singh and Sankatmochan regarding her seriously.

“I can’t go. I want to be here…with him,” she appealed.

Sankatmochan sombrely looked at friends and asked, “Forgive me for asking, but can we speak with her in private for a minute?”

“Of course,” Nishi said instantly as Vrinda nodded.

As her friends stood up and strolled away, Nandini also rose to her feet, frightened by his unusual seriousness.

“Prithvi is okay, isn’t he?” she asked, terrified.

“He’s fine,” Sumer Singh said reassuringly. “That’s not why Sankat and I want to talk to you.”

Sankatmochan quietly said, “When I was coming upstairs, I saw one of your neighbours. He didn’t see me, but if he had, I’m sure he would come upstairs to see Prithvi or at least meet Sumer Singh and he would have seen you. . If not him, someone else who knows you and your family may come by and – and right now, anyone who sees you will know that you are not sitting here purely because of a neighbourly obligation,” he said ruefully.

Sumer Singh gently inserted, “Even if we reveal some bits of the story, you may only be able to explain that you wanted to stay back until the operation was over, not why you want to stay all night. It will raise a lot of questions, Nandini. And if any talk reaches your family, you know how they will react.”

Nandini tiredly said, “I know, but I can’t keep hiding my relationship with Prithvi from them. I want an end to all the secrecy,” she whispered. “They deserve to know the truth about both of us. And the truth about what happened today.”

“Nandini, please….think rationally!” Sankatmochan said urgently. “If your family gets any inkling about your relationship with Prithvi at this point, I can’t even imagine what they’ll – and Prithvi will - God forgive me for even saying this….but if you both have a disagreement and if it is his decision to….,” Sankatmochan halted, unable to express the thought, and then continued, “Then there is a chance, however remote, that he may deal with the matter calmly. But if you are forced to separate from him by outside forces, he won’t accept it. He won’t. That much I know.”

“He’s right,” Sumer Singh said quietly. “For the same reason, you cannot tell them the truth about what happened today. They are extremely protective about you and their concern will make them take some hard decisions. I don’t think any of us will be able to handle the repercussions.”

Nandini looked at him pleadingly.

“But they need to know he did this for me,” she said desperately, “That he almost lost his life trying to protect me….. I will not have them or the others believe anything else. They should know…” her voice trembled.  

 “If that’s what you want, you can reveal a part of the actual incident,” Sumer Singh said understandingly. “But you must say exactly what I tell you. Nothing more….agreed?”

She met his serious gaze and nodded jerkily.

“You should leave now with your friends. Don’t worry about Prithvi. He will be back on his feet before we know it,” Sankatmochan said forcefully. “But if any problem does arise, I promise we’ll call you immediately.”

Nandini didn’t answer at once. After an agonized moment, she mumbled, “I want to see him before I leave.”

***************************

Heart thudding sickeningly, Nandini walked towards the immobile figure on the bed that seemed swaddled in white sheets. She reached his bedside and mutely looked at the compelling features.

He always looked so deceptively innocent and vulnerable in repose. She inched closer and raised a trembling hand to stroke his head.  

She had forced herself to avoid glancing at the machines in the room or the tubes attached to his hands. But she couldn’t overlook the heavily bandaged chest, the oxygen mask and the bruise in the centre of his forehead. And he had a knife wound in the back too….

As her fingers tenderly ran through his hair, tears brimmed suddenly. She had felt so grateful when the doctor had given her permission to see him for a couple of minutes. But now she acutely wished she could sit by his side through the night, just watching him breathe…watching him live…

She bent and kissed the uninjured skin above his right brow.

“I love you,” she whispered, then repeated the words over and over again for the next few moments against the warm skin, until her voice began to break.

She was just straightening dejectedly when he began stirring.

Transfixed with joy, she watched his lids flicker and open. Black eyes darted around confusedly, before restlessly shifting onto her.

She smiled at him through her tears. Clearly struggling to focus, he looked at her intently, and a moment later, a soul-stirring, exultant relief lit up his gaze.

But after a heartbeat, just as suddenly, something seemed to diffuse the glow. The abruptly sharp eyes tore away from her and looked back over the room with a new alertness.

Nandini could sense awareness of the place seeping into his mind, and could virtually see the gory memories of the afternoon rushing back to him.

And she could pinpoint the instant that the first flame of anger ignited in him.

He looked at her again, and this time, there was only cold fury in his gaze. But instead of alarming her, his hostility doused the last remnants of her anxiety. He was going to be perfectly alright.

Against his irate will, his eyes began closing again, and within seconds, he had fallen asleep.

She gently caressed the side of his face, amused at the thought that without saying a word, he had let her know that she would have to pay for her actions.

She didn’t mind. She even felt a little pity for him. She knew what she was going to face over the next few days. He didn’t.

Still, she hoped some part of him had registered the whispered, repeated declarations of love, because it was going to be a long time before he heard the words again.

**************************************