Okay okay.......last update mein bahut logon ko heartattack mil gaya tha.

So this time there is a fast update.

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Okay enough now...

Enjoy the chapter.......

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" Manik!", Nandini called, turning to him as he sat there on the sand admiring her. She was running to the sea and running back giggling whenever water touched her feet.

" Come here!", she requested sweetly and Manik observed every expression on her glowing face.

The way she bit her lips as she ran to the water.

The way her face lightened up when the cold sea water touched her feet.

The way her hair flew when she giggled while running back.

Her every move filled his heart with more and more happiness....seeing his ladylove enjoyong to the fullest.

He got up smiling and walked towards her, his eyes holding some different emotion that Nandini couldn't decipher. She smiled widely when he slowly approached her, sliding his hands around her waist, pulling her towards him. Blush crept up her cheeks as he leaned towards her, planting soft feathery kisses on her forehead down to her cheeks making her giggle.

It was such a bliss. Being in his arms, feeling all the love in this whole world, feeling the safest.

She was at peace. He was her peace.

Suddenly she found him tightening his hold on her as he wishpered in her ears.

" Remember I always lo....lov..ed y..ou.", his voice gradually turning strained making her frown.

Panic gripped her heart when she opened her eyes to see the atmosphere suddenly changing from the bright sunshine to utter darkness.

The peaceful sea suddenly turned into a scary stretch of black, as she looked around dumbstruck.

" Manik! What's happening?", she uttered in immense fear, finally turning only to see Manik struggling to stand, blood all over his white shirt as his hands shook with pain.

" Manik!", she yelled and wanted to run up to him, but found herself stuck to the same place. She couldn't move even one limb. Tears continuously flew from her eyes as she felt helpless.

Suddenly, she saw the black water forming a huge wave that engulfed Manik in it......and it all ended for her.

"MANIK!!!!!"

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" Nanz! Nanz wake up! Nanz calm down. Wake up!", she heard someone shake her vigorously as she finally opened her eyes.

She was in her room. On her bed. Covered with sweat. Her whole body was shaking. Oh my God! Again the same nightmare.

" Did you again get the same nightmare?", the girl asked who passed her a glass of water, which she took immediately emptying it into her system. Gradually her body calmed down. But her mind.....it was still in the same state. It can never be normal for her again. And she knew it.

" He was my sanity Lexie." she said before picking up her things and moving into the washroom to get ready for a new day....without any hopes, leaving behind a sighing Alex.

" I can't see you like this Nanz. Never thought I would feel so helpless someday.", she thought to herself as she made her way out of the room, to make breakfast for both.

Alexandra Stevens

A general surgeon by proffession, Alexandra or Lexie as they all call her, is a great friend of Nandini and Navya. The three formed there super girls trio when in Hanstens, always teaming up against the boys. She is married to George O'Malley, another best friend of theirs. Both hold equal shares in the NYC branch of Vadaa Hospitals as Nandini and Navya.

Currently she's staying with Nandini as she is in a bad state and George is not in the city.

A very sensitive girl. Feels every person's pain as her own. Likes to spread smiles everywhere and can't see even a single tear in people's eyes.

Trying hard to cheer Nandu up but fails.

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Nandini did all her works robotically as she headed towards the kitchen only to see Lexie cooking pancakes.

" I just made some  chocolate syrup this morning. Would you like some on your pancakes?", she asked cheerfully, hoping desperately for a positive answer, but was disheartened when she heard her.

" I'm gonna have some cereals Lexie. Its okay. Thank you.", Nandini said without any expressions as she filled up her bowl with little cereal and poured some milk. Sitting at the kitchen table, she devoured the cereals without even looking around making Lexie sigh.

Nandini had been like this from the day she came to New York two months ago. She never spoke much to anyone. She worked in the hospital, whole day just going through the files. All her attempts to go for a surgery were failures as she could not manage to go beyond the door of the OR and would every time retreat back. The reason, though unknown to them, could easily be guessed.

She wondered when will she be able to see her best friend, who was strong enough to overcome every hurdle in her life, who was always able to make eveyone around her smile and who herself was always filled with bubbliness.

On the otherhand, Nandini was silently having her breakfast, remembering the day that changed her life, shoving her back into the darkness from which she had once walked out with difficulty.

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" Sh...o..na ", Manik said with utmost difficulty making her tear up. Just then Kunal rushed in. " Car's here. Lets go.", he said and Nandini tried to get up holding Manik but stopped as the latter held her hand.

" Remem...ber. I alw...ays l...lov..ed y..you Sh...o..na. ", he uttered painfully before his eyes closed finally and Cabir screamed.

And Nandini fell numb staring at his lifeless face.

Khushi immediately came forward to check his pulse and found it weak. But even the weakest of a pulse was a huge ray of hope for Nandini and Cabir.

Arnav and Shinde picked up Manik and  rushed towards the car. Kunal immediately got behind the wheels as Nandini and Cabir sat in the back seat with Manik on there laps. Nandini kept Manik's head on her lap, continuously urging him to open his eyes. Cabir opened Manik's shoes, rubbing his feet to provide the much needed warmth.

" Boudi. Take my phone and call Dr. Ved. Ask him to keep an OR ready. Tell him its an emergency case of gunshot to the upper abdomen. Also tell him to keep many bottles of B+ve blood ready as we may need a lot of blood transfusion.", Nandini said, trying to act strong in this situation, as she handed her phone to Khushi who nodded and sat in the passenger seat, dialing the number.

Arnav and the Policemen stayed back as they had to go with the plan so that they all don't fall into more trouble.

The place was far away from the city, which took them a lot of time to reach the hospital. Cabir had taken off his shirt and tied it tightly around Manik's wound on Nandini's orders, to restrict excess bleeding. But still, it didn't help much.

Cabir and Khushi were tearing up silently as Kunal drove as fast as he could. But Nandini had turned completely cold. She was just looking at Manik, no more tears in her eyes, just with a blank face, caressing his hairs to provide him some comfort.

About 45 minutes later, they finally reached the hopitals and Nandini got down shouting orders at the trauma team.

" Get the damn gurney. Now!", she yelled and 4 nurses and two interns rushed out with the gurney to get Manik to the OT. Placing him on it, they wheeled it as fast as they could, as Nandini rushed behind, giving a brief history of the accident to Dr. Ved, the best general surgeon in the hospital.

" Ok. Get him to OT 3 and get him under immediately. Lets go. We need to hurry. There has been a lot of blood loss.", he instrusted while checking the wound.

Finally Manik was on the OT table, with the anesthesiologist putting him under, as the doctors and nurses prepared for the surgery.

Dr. Ved was about to make the cut when he stopped seeing Nandini entering the OR while asking the nurse to put gloves on her hands.

" What do you think you are doing?", he asked immediately startling her.

" Scrubbing in.", she said indifferently and Ved could see how much vulnerable she was. And this made him more nervous. No he can't have her in here.

" No you're not.", he stated asking her to leave the room.

" What the hell Ved? Thats my fiancee on your table. ", she said through gritted teeth making him loose his cool. He was already nervous on having to perform an operation on his fellowmate's to-be-husband, and Nandini's persistence wasn't helping either.

" And that is the reason I'm asking you to leave. I'm the one to put my hands inside your husband's abdomen. So you don't get to make me nervous by being here. I can't be sane with you looking at me with those 'please save my love' eyes. So do us all a favour and just get out of my OR. And if I see you so much as peeking from the gallery or the scrubbing area, I swear I'll drop the scalpel.", he barked at her making her stare at him in disbelief. But neverthless she threw her robe in the dustbin and scurried away from there, not wanting to delay anything.

She came out to see all their family members there. She could see the vulnerability in their eyes. Navya rushed to her along with Aliya trying to know what happened in there.

" He won't allow me in there Navi. Ved won't allow me.", she wishpered and Navya nodded.

" He's right. You shouldn't be in there. Come with me. Sit here.", she said as Dhruv stood up to give her a place to sit.

One hour passed away. But none of them spoke a word. Nor did the light turn off. Not even a nurse came out to give them any info. Everyone was getting restless. Raj and Cabir were slowly loosing their patience and were being pacified by Viren and Dhruv.

Nyonika's condition was worse. Tears were continuosly flowing from her eyes as she sat there silently muttering prayers to keep her son safe. She was highly dissapointed with all of them pulling this stunt. She was always against the idea of facing Naveen a second time. She didn't want any of her kids to suffer anymore. But they didn't listen to her. What if Manik never woke up? What if Nandini too would have been attacked by Naveen? What if Cabir also would have been injured? What would she have done if all her children would have been taken away from her. She was angry, frustrated, impatient and worried, all at the same time.

Nandini was just sitting there lifelessly. She was vaguely aware of Navya carresing her hairs, as she was lost in her own thoughts. The flashes of the scene that happened two hours ago were again and again coming in front of her eyes. The moment she saw Manik falling down and his blood splattering around, she felt her whole world crashed down.

Naveen's words rang in her ears making her insane.

"Now you will feel the same pain when this lover of yours will die the same fate. "

"And you will never be in peace after this. "

"Your Manik died only because of you. Remember that."

She closed her eyes tightly to keep those voices out of her mind. Just when she was thinking of it, the door opened and Ved walked out followed by an intern as everyone gathered around him, eager to know about Manik's condition.

Ved looked around to find familiar faces of Nandini and Navya and looking at them, told them what has happened.

" We have removed the bullet and sealed the wound properly. But the bullet had pierced his hepatic artery which resulted in the huge blood loss. And the fact that it took so long to bring him here, worsened the condition. Although we have repaired the damage, he is now in  hemorrhagic shock due to heavy blood loss. He is comatosed.", he said, dropping the bomb on everyone. Although they didn't understand half of what was said, the only line that he was in coma, broke them. Nandini and Navya who properly understood, were just numb at their places.

" Doctor. He will be okay right?", Cabir asked and Ved sighed seeing him so vulnerable. He had met Navya's husband earlier and was always fond of his jovial self. But today seeing him breaking, he cursed himself for being so helpless and not being able to do anything to change the turn of events.

" I won't give you false hopes. He has to come out of his coma soon. Because given to his gunshot, he...he...", he was not able to complete, not knowing how to tell them the worst consequence.

" He may develop sepsis and that will be fatal."

All looked around to see it was Nandini who said that, her face expressionless, her eyes devoid of any emotion, as she slowly turned around to go.

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" Dr. Murthy."

" Dr Murthy!"

Nandini's thoughts were broken by a nurse who was calling her from some time now. Nandini composed herself and checked her pager to see there were about ten calls for 911.

" Dr. Murthy. We've got three trauma cases down in the ER and just interns down there. There are no residents or attendings around. Can you please come and check on the situation Ma'am?", he said and she nodded, following him, grooving herself back to her professional self.

She walked down to the OR and started inspecting the first case. It was severe head injury and she asked the intern to book an OR immediately and dress the wound before getting patient in for a CT to detect the damage and then consult her.

The next was a 28 year old with his leg fractured in a soccer match and she paged for an Ortho consult before moving to the last gurney.

She walked up to the third gurney to check on the patient. What she saw made her numb at her place. She was stupefied. All those flashes came back to her and she felt fear grip her heart.

It was a 25 year old with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. The uncanny resemblance to the worst moment of her life, made her shiver at her place.

The nurses and interns were trying to call her, trying to know whats wrong with her. But she couldn't here anyone.

All the scenes flashed in front her. Manik's bloodied hands. His pain-stricken face. His white shirt turning red. Everything made her mind go haywire.

She stumbled at her place, holding her head tightly to stop the images from flooding her mind.

She felt her head spinning, her whole body giving up, as she fell straight down, only to be held by two strong, very familiar arms.

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So...... ..... ......

Umm.....

How did you find the chapter?

Nandini's condition?

Her dream?

What do you think happened actually?

What do you think happened to Manik?

Any guesses about what's gonna happen in the next chapter?

Keep guessing and do tell me through comments.

Also do vote a lot and by that I do mean a loooottt. Cause only then am I gonna update the next chapter.

Till then

Stay safe

Stay healthy

Yours Writer