Chapter 17: chapter 17

Surya rushed to the door of the ICU and couldn’t process what just happened. He collapsed on the seat and thought, “What the hell am I doing? Did I just hit Ravi? I’m extremely sorry, Ravi. Please forgive me!”Shashikala and Meenaskshi walked there along with Krishnarao and Shanthamma. Surya didn’t even glance at his mother. Meenaskshi knew that it wasn’t the right time to talk to him and she decided to wait until Sandhya recovered but his silence was killing her. Everyone walked into the ICU and Shanthamma burst out in tears. The nurse urged them to not disturb the patient and asked only one of them to stay.“I’ll take care of her. Everyone leave,” said Surya and everyone left. Surya instilled confidence in Krishnarao and Shanthamma and assured that he would take care of Sandhya. Krishna Rao felt a bit relieved and gained confidence, exited the ICU along with his wife. Surya asked Shashikala to leave along with mother as it was getting late. She convinced Meenaskhi when she tried to interfere and accompanied her home. Surya sat beside Sandhya, held her hand, and sobbed, “I’m sorry, Sandhya! This is all because of me. If I was at home, this wouldn’t have happened!”Sandhya woke up drowsily early in the morning and realized that she was in the hospital. She looked around to find Surya’s face lying on her bed and was sleeping. She felt ecstatic and called him, “Surya!” He jolted awake, he was on cloud 9 and thought it was a dream initially. She called him again and he said, “Yes Sandhya, I’m right here!”“You woke up?How are you feeling now? Why did you do this? just because mom asked you to? Don’t you have common sense? You fasted all these days just because mom asked you to?What if something had happened to you?” Surya whimpered like a little boy and Sandhya felt joyful as she looked at him.“I’m completely fine, Surya. Don’t worry, okay?” she said, drowsily.“Fine?I’ll teach you a lesson once we go home,” he said, arguing.She didn’t have the energy to argue back and Surya observed that, “It’s okay, you are fine now. I’m at peace. Rest for some time, I’ll be right here, okay?”Sandhya smiled gently.“Thank you, Sandhya,” said Surya.“What for?’“You called me by my name, Surya!”She smiled gently again and fell asleep as she talked. Surya held her hand and he too fell asleep looking at her.At around 8 in the morning, Dr. Vinay shifted Sandhya to another room from the ICU.Dr. Varun said, “Surya, everything is fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”“Doctor, when can I get discharged now?” asked Sandhya.“Do you have to do any rituals, huh? So keen to go home?” interrupted Surya.“No Surya. I don’t feel comfortable here” and I’m not used to these conditions. Let’s go home, please!”“No way, you have to be completely fine to get discharged.”Vinay interrupted and said, “Surya, she is fine now. You can discharge today. Just take care of yourself at home. I will prescribe you some medicines.”Sandhya thanked the doctor. Surya called home to inform Shashikala that they are coming home.Surya was making sure of Sandhya’s health, “Sandhya, are you really sure you wanna come home?”Surya believed that Sandhya was okay, smiled gently, and said, “Okay, let’s go,” and held her hand, and walked out of the hospital. Both of them reached the bungalow. Meenaskhi, Shashikala, Venkatesh, and Sombabu were waiting for them eagerly. Surya and Sandhya got down from the car. Sandhya talked to all of them normally as if nothing happened.Meenakshi said, “Sandhya, I’m sorry!”“Auntie, no! Please don’t say that,” said Sandhya and walked inside cautiously.Surya said, “Sandhya, you shouldn’t step down from the bed. You have to rest and only eat healthy food. You have to drink juice every hour! Now rest for sometime.”“Okay, I will. By the way, Where is my brother, Ravi?” she asked.Surya wasn’t able to answer. She asked again, “Surya, where is he? Did you guys fight?”“No, nothing of such sort but he was slightly angry with me. I will be back. You rest, okay?” he said and left the room. Meenaskhi was wandering downstairs, tensed. Surya crossed her without even looking at her. Meenaskhi interrupted his walk, “Son, you don’t want to talk to your mother? Whatever I do, I do it to save my son’s life!”“Mom, you did what you felt was right! But did you realize Sandhya was in danger while you were trying to save your son’s life. Sandhya sacrificed everything for the sake of me and our family. She did everything that you wanted, every part of the ritual and it almost cost her life. Anyway, Sandhya is fine now. Please don’t affect health because of the situation. My only request is that this should never repeat again. Don’t put her life on an edge! And I’m not furious with you, I’m just furious with myself. This is all because of the fault in my horoscope. Please don’t take Sandhya for granted again just because a Swamiji had asked you to, okay? You haven’t eaten anything, mom. Please eat and rest for sometime! I have work to finish!” he said and left.Surya went to Ravi’s home and found it to be locked, “Did he leave for Chennai because of the fight we had? Oh my god!”“Surya!” a call pierced his thoughts. Surya turned back and it was Ravi. Surya looked at him with disappointment, “Sorry, Ravi. I shouldn’t have hit you. I’m extremely sorry!”“Surya, there’s nothing to be sorry about. I just went to the bank.”“Are you not angry with me?”“What for? Actually, I was the one who should apologize to you, I shouldn’t have treated you that way when you were in pain. I’m sorry!”Surya was teary, “Ravi, I’m so lucky to find a friend like you!”“It’s me who was lucky to find a friend like you!”Ravi asked, “How’s my sister now?”“She is better now. She is at home right now. She was interrogating about you!”Ravi smiled at it, “Let’s go home,” and both of them reached the bungalow.Sandhya was asleep by the time they reached home and they decided not to disturb her.Sandhya looked at them and tried to rise. Ravi looked at her, “Carefully, sister! You are better now, rest for sometime. I will wait outside.”Sandhya smiled gently and said, “I’m fine, brother! You can sit here, no worries. Did you and Surya fight?”“No, not all. Why would we fight? Anyway, What is this, Sandhya? You have to take care of your health, right? Please never repeat this again!”Surya interrupted, “Dude, you guys are not even noticing me?Huh?”Sandhya smiled at it.Ravi mocked him, “You better not get into the discussions between a brother and a sister!”“Oh! So you guys are on the same team now?”Meanwhile, Sombabu came in with tea and juice. Ravi looked at him, “Uncle, how are you?”Sombabu smiled and said yes.Surya handed the glass juice to Sandhya and when he was about to take the tea cup, his hand slipped and the tea spilled on his t-shirt. Everyone panicked.“I’m fine, let me go change my dress.”Sombabu said, “Sir, I’m sorry. It was a mistake!”“Uncle, I’m completely alright,” he said and walked to the other room.Sandhya waited till Surya exited and asked Ravi, “Brother, Would you tell me the truth if I ask you something?”“Absolutely,” he replied.“Who is the girl Surya loves?”“What?” Ravi was out of words and Sandhya continued, “I know it, brother. I know that Surya is in love with a girl and you definitely know who she is!”“Tell me, brother. It will be a secret.”He wasn’t sure what to answer, “True, sister. Surya is in love with someone. She is…”Sandhya was excited for his answer.Ravi thought a lot and said, “She is…She is…yeah, she is our office accountant, Rona Bhatia. She is a Maharashtrian. She is absolutely pretty and she can speak Telugu as well.”“Oh!” Sandhya’s eyes expanded.Ravi’s heart was racing. Meanwhile, Surya entered the room and said, “Seems like brother and Sister are discussing something really important!”“Umm, no, it’s nothing,” Ravi smiled weirdly.Sandhya interrupted, “Yeah, he was talking about Rona!”“Rona?What about Rona?” Surya asked, casually.Surya wasn’t able to process what was happening and looked at both of them.Sandhya interrupted, “C’mon, I know everything now!”“What is it?” Surya was surprised.“The girl you love is Rona, right? I know everything!”Surya was shocked.“Brother told me the entire story. What’s the need to be quiet about this, Surya?”“What?” Surya looked at Ravi furiously.Ravi covered his face with his palms and said, “I forgot something. I will go get it!” he said and exited the room. Sandhya said, “Why are you so secretive about this, Surya? Shouldn’t I know about the woman you love? Seems like she is a gorgeous woman! Brother was talking about her. I hope you will be together soon. I will leave this place very soon anyway.”Surya screamed, “Sandhya, please stop it! Don’t say it, ever again. I can’t bear it!“Sorry, My intention was that we are gonna get divorced.”“That might truly be your intention but…”“Sorry, Surya!” Sandhya finished. Surya’s heart was at war. He didn’t want to tear up, “It’s okay, Sandhya. Get some rest. I have to get onto something,” he said and left.Sandhya lay on the bed and was looking at the ceiling, “Rona? Who are you? Where are you? Are you that beautiful?” she thought and her eyes rested in disappointment.Surya furiously walked to Ravi. Ravi looked at Surya coming to him and started running away from him. Surya chased him, “Stop, right there!” and held his T-shirt.“Dude, let me go, please! I’m proven guilty!”“You collapsed everything, idiot! You have to pay for it!”“Sorry, dude. She forced me and I had no other option!”“Yes, that’s your mistake! Now she wants us to be happy together!!”“Sorry, buddy!”“Sorry? You told her it was Rona! Sandhya might know about her any time!”“How would that happen? There’s no chance Rona will be coming here or Sandhya to the office!”“I don’t know, dude! I’m terrified. Sandhya must be having assumptions about us. I’m worried about what’s coming for us!”