6 HOURS AGO:

"Ok to doctor se mil sakte hain ham ab?" Mahi bhai asked unbothered to mask the urgency in his tone."

"Jee doctor abhi OT se agaye hain to aap log baat karsakte hain" and nurse left while they all moved towards the OT.

And there they saw the doctor, a charming lady in her late twenties coming out while the traces of anxiousness and weariness were etched on her face. They all just charged towards her bombarding her with questions which only appears as commotion to her. She just stared blankly at their faces trying to register their voices.

"Ek minute ek minute sb chup hojao let her speak at least" Rishabh yelled trying to calm them.

"Hi I'm Dr. Anushka. I am the one treating Mr. Kohli. Aap log ek ek karke apni queries clear kar sakte hn" said Anushka trying her best to keep her professional facade.

" Chee.. Virat, how's he?" asked Mahi bhai.

"Yeah so apparently he is getting better like the surgery was successful. Do goliyan lagi thi but fortunately koi vital organ damage nahi hoa hai blood loss zyada hogya tha but he'll recover. But..." she pauses for a second and quickly covered up saying "so no need to worry"

"Can we see him?" asked Rohit desperately.

" Umm Not now, he is unconscious. Abhi wo hosh me aajayen to then we will see." Anushka replied observing the guilt on their faces silently.

"There's nothing to worry right?" Rahul asked scared.

"For now everything seems fine but let's pray for the best" Anushka replied.

A nurse was moving in panic, so Anushka stopped her, "Is everything fine?"

"Nahi actually na media me ye baat leak hogaye hai ke Virat Kohli hamare hospital me hain. Sab media portals bahar khade hain and the crowd is just getting out of control because we were not prepared for it."

"But ye baat bahar kaise aaye?" Anushka wondered aloud and looked towards the team.

"Ohh actually wo ham ne jaldi me dehan nahi diya and...." Mahi bhai gives an apologetic look and Anushka takes a deep breath.

"Aap log please wahan wait karen I'll let you knowwhen you can meet him." Anushka said politely and they leave but Rishabh stayed back. He looked at Anushka silently and she smiled softly.

"Theek ho na?" asked Rishabh with concern.

"Vi...rat theek hojaega tension mat lo tum" Anushka replied.

"Mujhe pata hai aap ho na to bhaiya to theek hi honge aap theek ho?" Rishabh asked.

"Hmm bas a little drained but I am fine" Anushka for the very first time smiled genuinely.

"Ary aap apna khayal rakho na aap ko kuch hoa to Vi...rat bhaiya theek kaise honge" Rishabh said playfully trying to lighten the mood and Anushka looked at him with wide eyes.

"Rish tu..." Anushka's face has a light shade of pink as she looks at him surprised.

"Ary me to bas aapko yad kara raha tha savdhan rahen satark rahen. Hamari team buddhu nahi hai 2 minute me pakad legi theek hai to me jata hon" Rishabh winked at her and runs joining the team.

"Tu kya baat kar raha tha us doctor se?" Bhuvi asked Rishabh as he joined them.

"Kuch nahi bas health ka pooch raha tha" Rishabh replied nonchalantly and Bhuvi nodded.

BACK TO PRESENT

Team came out of the OT trembling stumbling with tear stricken faces they somehow managed to go till the waiting room.

"We lost him. We... we lost him. He will never forgive us for what we did" Rahul was shivering vigorously as he spoke shaking his head.

"Rahul you okay?" Jassi asked patting his shoulder and Rahul pushed his hand away violently.

"Am I supposed to be ok? No we can't be ok we are not ok we just... we just pushed him away and he... he will never come back. It can't be ok" Rahul started breathing heavily.

"Rah Breath please just breath, he'll be fine. He will forgive us dekhna sab theek hojaega. You calm down" Mahi bhai tried to comfort him.

"Sab theek hoga bhai? Kuch theek nahi hoga. Hum kuch theek nahi karsakte and you know what we deserve this. No we deserve worse than this. It's all our fault that we didn't trust him we didn't back him. We let people target him and we let board drop him when he was pleading us to trust him we didn't bhai we didn't trust him. We put the blame of our poor performance on him as well to lessen our guilt and he just carried all the baggage of blames on him bhai and now.. now he's drowning with the weight and it's all our fault. It's all our fault." Rahul's words hit them like a stone.

Harry forcibly pulled Rahul in a hug rubbing his back.

"Mahi bhai Virat bhaiya ko bolo hamen ek chance de den hum phir kabhi aisa kuch nahi karenge" a sob escaped from Kuldeep's mouth as he spoke.

Just then an infuriated Anushka to give team a piece of mind. 

"Kis se pooch ke aap log andar gaye the? Don't you all know that no one can enter the OT without my permission?" Anushka said rudely and immediately regretted seeing their condition.

"Wo Virat ko hosh me dekh kar hum ruk nhi paye." Jaddu was the only one who was able to speak one whole sentence without breaking.

"Dekhen ye OT hai aise hi koi nahi ja sakta hai andar or jo kuch hoa andar mene yehi reaction expect kiya tha isliye mana kiya tha aap sabko jane se" Anushka calmly explained them.

"Dekha mene kaha na he hates us. Wo hamari shakal bhi nahi dekhna chahte isliye hamen koi aane nahi deraha tha" Rahul words were muffled but somehow Anushka understood the context.

"Actually, he didn't expect you all to be here and he's under the effect of those heavy drugs as well so he can't distinguish between reality and dream so he assumed it to be a mirage. Anushka said and noticed a little spark reviving in their eyes.

"Matlab wo ham se naraaz nahi hain? Jassi asked with hopeful glint in his eyes.

"Umm how could I know about that I am just a doctor me kaise keh skti hon" Anushka plainly replied.

"Oh han" Jassi smiled sheepishly.

"Ham uss se nahi mil sakte abhi phir?" Bhuvi asked.

"Not before we shift him in the ward. I repeat not before that." Anushka warned the team and everyone nods obediently.

Virat slowly opened his eyes and shuts them off quickly due to scorching light. It took him some time to adjust with the light. He looks around the room only to find Anushka sitting there staring into space. He tried to get up but a shooting pain arose in his body and he groaned breaking Anushka's trance.

"Don't get up, it'll Strain your stitches" Anushka hastily moves near his bed.

"Remember me?" Anushka asked fearfully.

Virat nodded softly and Anushka took a sigh of relief with a mist in her eyes.

"How are you feeling now?" Anushka suddenly realized.

"Better bas a bit dizzy I guess." Virat replied weakly.

"Weakness to hogi na" Anushka said sitting on a chair beside his bed.

"Kitne din hogaye?" Virat asked.

"It is the 4th one today" Anushka smiled painfully while Virat sighed in disbelief.

"I hardly remember anything in between" 

"Obviously you were either unconscious or didn't remember anything or in surgeries all the time. So how would you remember" Anushka taunted.

"I am sorry" Virat spoke guiltily.

"As you should be" Anushka said rolling her eyes.

"Ahh it's paining in the whole body" he complained weakly.

"Han to kis ne kaha tha hero banne ka, muh uthake chale gaye pore racket se akele ladne. Khud ko modern era ka shaktiman samajh rahe the shayad." Anushka couldn't stop herself from complaining about his reckless attitude while injecting some painkillers in his drip.

"Ary bubs wo log haath se nikal jate na aisa mere liye ruke thori rehte" Virat defended himself.

"Han to bata ke nhi ja sakte the message dal sakte the goli khake agaye bina bataye" Anushka retort back in irritation while her voice has some touch of hurt and concern.

"Nahi nahi me ne aise goli ko bola tha ke thora ruko mujhe nushkie ko batane do ke tum mujhe lagne wali ho par wo ruki hi nahi. Mean kahin ki." Virat said innocently only to earn a deadly glare from Anushka.

"Tum na..." Anushka was so done with him at this point.

"Ahh dekho aram se bolo mera sar or ghum raha hai meri tabiet waise hi kharab hai" Virat said dramatically and Anushka just shut her mouth.

"Theek hai nahi bol rahi abhi kuch, tum rest karo please" Anushka kept all her complains aside for a while.

"Unka kya hoa waise?" Virat asked her after some minutes of complete silence.

"Kuch nahi they are behind the bars. Confess karliya tha unhon ne bas tumhara official statement chahiye but the matter is already all over the media. Sabko pata chal gaya hai you were innocent, image bilkul clear h" Anushka said proudly but Virat frowned.

"Unhe kisne bataya?"

"According to them they have sources but as far as I got it your board leaked the news. They are playing their cards well to white wash their image." Anushka grimaced.

"Ohhh but finally all this was worth of it. They got caught red-handed" Virat said peacefully.

"Wo Team aaye h tumse milne, 5 hours se bahar wait kar rahi hai, tumhari recovery ke liye pray krte hoe." Anushka said it in one breath and looked at Virat to rect but he just stared at her blankly. 

"Milna h kya bulaon unhe?" She continued but still there was no response from Virat.

"I am taking it as yes" She stood up and asked nurse to call the team.

A/N HEY EVERYONE. HERE WE GET THE THIRD CHAPER OF THIS BOOK AND I HOPE YOU GOT A BIT MORE CLARITY REGARDING THE PAST THROUGH VIRUSHKA'S CONVO. SO, WHAT'S YOUR PREDICTION REGARDING ALL THOSE THINGS HAPPENING. DO SHOWER YOUR VOTES AND COMMENTS AND YEAH I REQUEST YOU ALL TO DO INLINE COMMENTS AS THEY ARE THE BEST PART OF THE STORY FOR ME. WILL BE BACK WITH A NEW CHAPTER SOON. TILL THEN KEEP READING!