Chapter 35
Viren parked his bike and looked across at the Sharma house. It had been almost a week since he'd seen Nivi and although he'd spoken to her on the phone, he got the feeling that maybe she'd been avoiding seeing him and he was getting impatient. Nivi hadn't spoken to him properly that night when he'd gone back to join everyone with Divya; she had said a few words but she hadn't looked directly at him and then it was time to leave so he'd barely had a chance to say anything.
After that she'd been busy at work and he had a couple of job interviews; things had been fine between them over the phone...too fine, it just felt odd; he'd rather she just yelled at him or something. Nothing had really changed but there was an odd politeness between them now and he didn't like it. He sighed and went into the house, deciding he would go and see her today and talk things out; anything was better than this!
He noticed there was no one around downstairs so he went straight up to his room to take a quick shower and change; it was still early afternoon and he'd just got back from his second job interview and he thought it had gone well. Nivi had wished him good luck this morning but he hadn't heard from her since and as he dried his hair after his shower, he looked at his phone and was surprised to see there were 5 missed calls from her. He'd left in a rush and had forgotten his phone at home but when he checked, he saw she'd called him less than an hour ago and hadn't left a message.
He dialled her number quickly as he left the room but then stopped walking when she picked up but he couldn't hear anything. 'Nivi? Are you there?' He heard her say his name and then all he could hear was crying and he felt worry run through him blocking out everything else. 'What's wrong Nivi? What happened? Where are you?!' He couldn't understand anything she said through her tears but he made out the word 'hospital' and that was enough for him to say, 'Don't worry, I'll be right there ok?!'
Viren ran down the stairs and almost bumped into his mum, who had come out of the mandir and he saw that Vandana and Dadi were in there too. 'Viren! Kaha jaa raha hai itni jaldi mein?!' He didn't have time; all he could do was hold up his phone and say 'Nivi...hospital!' and his mum seemed to understand somehow and told him to go and he ran down the rest of the stairs and out to his bike.
He found Nivi sitting in the corridor of the hospitals A&E and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no obvious bandages on her. She was on her own and he wondered what had happened; at least she wasn't crying. 'Nivi?' Before he could get to her, she looked up and as soon as she saw him, she jumped up and ran into his arms, surprising him and almost knocking him over.
'Viren!! I was so scared, I couldn't find anyone...and Dadi, she...' she started crying again and Viren felt his heart sink as he held her while she cried. She was shaking and he pulled away a little and looked at her. He wiped the tears off her face and tried not think the worst, 'It's ok Nivi; I'm here now, kya hua Dadi ko?' Nivi looked at him wordlessly for a few seconds and then said, 'The doctors...they're checking...' Viren could see she was too shaken up to explain fully so he walked her over to the bench she'd been sitting on earlier.
He saw a water cooler at the end of the corridor and stood up but Nivi grabbed his hand, 'I'm just going to get you some water Nivi, I'll be right back,' He brushed her hair back as he spoke, trying to reassure her and Nivi took a deep breath and nodded and said 'Sorry Viren, I'm all shaky...' She rubbed her eyes and Viren went to get her some water, all the while hoping Dadi was ok.
Nivi watched Viren go and took another breath, trying to calm herself. She'd managed to stay strong all the way here but hearing Viren's voice on the phone and then seeing him standing there had broken her composure and now she couldn't seem to get it back. She looked at the clock and couldn't believe it was just over an hour ago that she'd got home to find Dadi unconscious by the phone. Nivi had panicked and tried to wake her but she hadn't responded and she saw that her arm was swollen below the elbow.
She hadn't known what to do but she'd forced herself to calm down and covered Dadi with a blanket before calling for an ambulance. She knew Divya and her mum were out and her father and Yash weren't home yet either but as she waited anxiously for the ambulance, the only person she wanted to call was Viren. He hadn't answered though and she remembered he was at an interview and then the ambulance had arrived and she explained what happened while they drove to the hospital.
They said her arm looked broken and they'd taken her straight in told Nivi to wait there when Viren had called. Hearing his concerned voice had broken through her calm exterior and made her feel the panic and fear she'd been trying to hold back but she was glad he was here. As Viren came back with a cup of water, Nivi remembered how horrible it had been trying to avoid him these past few days but none of that seemed to matter now; she needed him and he'd come and nothing else was really important.
Edited by anjaani07 - 12 years ago
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