Arjun's POV :

"They needn't have gone. They should've stayed back. Like Janvi said", I said feebly as we ran down the corridors of Viraj Hospital.

"And we were the ones who kept on insisting that they should go to that stupid match!" Ananya wailed.

I recognised one of the duty doctors in the corridor who also spotted us and came up to us, "Janvi's is in the emergency ward", he told us frantically "You can't see her now. Her condition is critical. Your parents are there. But you two can go and see Arav. He's up there on the first floor. Go straight upstairs, third door on the left".

"How..how is he?" I babbled.

"Not too bad", the guy said "No serious injury. It's Janvi we're worried about."

"Uncle, what exactly happened?" Ananya asked in a croaky voice "All we were told was that their car overturned"

"Yeah, that's what they told me too", the guy went on "There was no other vehicle involved, it was just a steep turn. Careless driving", he shook his head.

I wanted to slap the guy for calling my aunt careless. But I didn't.

"Okay thanks", I managed to mutter "We'll go see Arav now", I said pulling Ananya's hand and leading her away.

My sister was practically in tears now and sobbed all the way up.

I hardly visited our hospital and even when I did it was very brief. So for the first time I saw the intense amount of activity going on there. Patients, their families, nurses and duty doctors were walking up and down. But our eyes were only searching for our little brother.

"Please don't cry An", I told Ananya when we reached Arav's door. I patted her head and pushed away the streaks of hair from her face, "Come on, you don't want to be sobbing like this infront of Arav".

I pulled out a tissue from my pocket and wiped off Ananya's eyes and caressed her cheeks. I feared that if I hugged her I would break down too. We had never been through anything like this. The only times we had gone into hospital rooms was to get vaccinations back in the day.

As we pushed open the door, the sight that met us wasn't as horrible as I had feared. Arav was sitting on a bed in the centre of the room alive, awake and much to my surprise, smiling.

Unexplainable relied washed through me. The fact that Arav was sitting there without a dozen bandages or drips flowing through him gave me so much solace.

"Thank God!" I cried while Ananya ran to hug him. Luckily she didn't have another meltdown.

When Ananya finally let go of Arav, I grabbed him and squeezed him into a bone crashing hug. "You scared us bro", I said.

"Sorry", Arav said and chuckled. I was surprised to see him acting so light hearted. But I wasn't complaining.

"So how was it being in an overturned car? Felt like a comic book scene?" I joked hoping to make the mood a little more lighter.

"Arjun!", Ananya slapped my shoulder, "Don't you have anything else to talk about?"

"It's okay", Arav said. But the smile on his face had disappeared. I could have kicked myself, "It was scary", he shuddered.

"I'm so sorry Arav", I sat down on the bed next to him and pulled him closer.

"How is Janvi?" he asked.

"Still not conscious", Ananya said but then looking at Arav's face added quickly "But she's going to be okay soon".

"Okay", Arav said. He looked like he wanted to say something else.

"You want to tell us something?" I asked.

"Umm..yes"

"Well?"

"Umm..", Arav paused again briefly.

"What? You can tell us", Ananya persuaded.

"Guys, I found out something just before the match... I'm adopted".

Whatever I had expected, it definitely wasn't this. I looked very quickly at Ananya and could tell she was thinking the same. How had he found out? And why was he telling us now?

"Err..guys?", Arav looked at us expecting a concrete reaction.

"Arav, we know", Ananya said finally.

"You know?" Arav asked now taking his turn to look shocked.

"Yes", I said "But how on earth did you find out?"

"I was looking for my birth certificate copy which they'd asked at school in mom's room. And I found my adoption papers there. And I was waiting to talk to you guys about it but I just didn't get the chance", he finished very quietly.

For once, both me and Ananya are lost for words.

"Well..so how are you feeling now?" Ananya asked.

"I thought the question should be how you two are feeling now", said Arav looking surprised "I mean doesn't it make any difference to you?"

"What?" I almost laughed "Difference? Arav are you serious?"

"But you're not bothered by this?" Arav asked "At all?"

"Arav, have you gone mad?", Ananya asked "We always knew it. And it never mattered to us. All that mattered to us was that you were our brother. We brought you into the family when you were a baby because not just because mom and dad wanted you but we did too. Umm..okay I'll be honest. We were a little scared that you might grab all of our parents' attention but that's the older sibling policy since time immemorial isn't it?" she went on "Besides, it's a fact that I love you more than Arjun".

"Shut up", I snapped.

"What?" Ananya snapped back.

"Just say okay to her Arav", I said "Otherwise she will continue her speech till tomorrow morning and kill us".

Arav chuckled, "Right", he said.

"Does it make a difference to you?" Ananya now asked him.

Arav was taken back. He bit his lip and pouted,"I guess not", he finally said.

"What are we waiting for then?" I asked "Group hug!" I yelled as I huddled into a cuddle with both my siblings.

~~~~~

"Shall we go to the canteen?" I asked as we walked out of Arav's room. Ananya nodded.

After seeing Arav the two of us were unbelievably relieved and feeling so much lighter. I was feeling much more hopeful about Janvi.

We went up to the hospital canteen located on the topmost floor and sat down there talking for what seems like forever. It was past lunchtime so there was barely anybody there. When we finally got hungry we got ourselves some coffee and sandwiches.

After some time, Mom joined us. There was a mute declaration through her face that we weren't supposed to ask about Janvi. She sat down and instantly Ananya started her babble.

"It's surprising how so many people work here!" Ananya said suddenly, "I mean this profession really brings so many people together".

"God! Don't bore me with your medicine mania right now", I commented.

"Running a hospital isn't easy. You also need intellect. Anyway you won't understand all this" she said as of she was speaking to a two year old "The conversion rate will increase everyday"

"Conversion rate will increase?!"

"Conversion rate is the ratio of the number of general cases that get converted into revenue generating procedures like surgery".

"I know what conversion rate is!" I said indignantly "I'm the child of two doctors".

"And I'm Cinderella", my sister said with a serious face.

Seriously! If Ananya went on like this my parents could definitely get an early retirement. Not just them, the duty doctors, nurses and even the sweepers could resign and sit at home while my fanatic of a sister ran the whole hospital. God! It looked like she was waiting for the hospital keys to be handed to her. It was so annoying.

"I'm going to upgrade our hospital when I start working here. We need a new ward in Viraj", Ananya was now saying.

"No Ananya, our wards are already more than enough", mom said glad to see her favourite topic being discussed "If our conversion rate doesn't increase, opening a new ward will just be a loss for us. We will have to perform unnecessary surgeries to generate revenue. And that is completely unethical. Your father and I have not performed a single fraudulent medical procedure in this hospital till today".

Though I was so done with my doctor family right then, I had to appreciate my parents' undying integrity. But I was getting annoyed with this continuous chatter about the hospital.

"Guys how about we upgrade the canteen instead of building a new ward?" I intervened my mom and sister's discussion "With biryani and stuff like that?"

"This is a hospital canteen Arjun. Not Adyar Anandha Bhavan", Ananya snapped.

"But, I feel like our hospital canteen is a little low on the 'it' factor", I said looking around, "Why can't we at least have pani puri or something like that?"

"Yeah let's have an appetizer also", said Ananya sarcastically, "And waffles with ice cream for dessert and some chocolate.."

I grabbed the ketchup bottle from the centre of the table and spluttered it on her white pants.

Ananya didn't waste time, "Moooom! He spilt ketchup on my pant", she wailed.

"Oops. Sorry", I mumbled.

"What sorry?", she snapped hastily grabbing a tissue and will it, further spreading it all across her pants. In the midst of it, she managed to lean over and smack my face.

"What? I said sorry", I argued.

"For heaven sake, when will you you two stop behaving like two year olds?" mom finally exploded slamming her tumbler on the table "Can't you be serious even when someone's dying? Who knows what's going to happen to Janvi?! Oh God!"

The vibe in the table instantly changed.

"But surely, Janvi is going to make it?" Ananya asked fearfully as she was still rubbing her pants.

"We don't know that", mom's voice cracked.

"But why?" I asked.

"Because there's a power beyond medical science", said mom she said pulling out a tissue and wiping her eyes, "And no doctor can comprehend that".

"Come on! She doesn't deserve this!" I said indignantly.

"We have neither the right nor the power to decide whether or not the patient deserves to survive. That's already been decided Arjun", she said this time, more calmly as she dropped the tissue and sat up straight looking at me and Ananya with her usual steadfast gaze coming back into her eyes. Mom was never proud of her breakdowns no matter how brief they were.

"So now", she continued, her normal demeanor now completely regained, "I'm gonna ask you two to stop this nonsense and pray a bit because that's all we can do right now".

"Mom shall I suggest something?" Ananya asked looking scared, "Let's get our family deity's picture in this hospital".

"We're supposed to pray to the power not to the picture Ananya", mom said, "And if you ask with all your heart and good intention, you will never be left unanswered".

"Vidya madam, Vidya madam!", one of the nurses bustled into the canteen "Janvi madam is conscious now. Rajesh sir said that the kids can go see her".

Mom turned to look at me and Arjun truimph, written all over her countenance.

"Go", she said gesturing for us to make a move "I'll join you in a few minutes".

I and Ananya raced out of the canteen downstairs to where Janvi was kept.

There was another nurse not much older than me waiting outside the concerned room.

"Is dad inside?" I asked anxiously.

"No, but he will be here soon", she said.

Ananya hovered behind me awkwardly, trying to hide the ketchup stain on her pant.

"Oh okay", I said "How is our aunt?"

"She's out if danger", the nurse replied "But I must warn you before you see her. She is heavily scarred. Mutilated, to be honest. She suffered severe slashes on the face".

I looked at Ananya who now had her face in her hands. She had forgotten about the ketchup.

I could barely speak but managed to say, "But she's okay right?"

"Yeah", the nurse said emotionlessly. I felt irritated. How could these people talk about stuff like this without an ounce of tenderness? "There was severe bleeding", she went on "Not much internal damage, though. But she needs much more time to recover unlike the little boy".

"Is she awake?" I asked.

"Yes. You can go in now".

Ananya and I stepped forward simultaneously.

"No. Only one at a time", the nurse said.

"Are you serious?" I snapped "This is our parents hospital! Don't tell us what to do" .

She fidgeted uncomfortably.

Ananya burst into tears.

"Please!" she sobbed "We can't wait anymore".

She gave us a pitiful glance and then said, "Okay fine".

And we stepped inside.