“Ramesh! Long time…”

“Long time indeed.”

“Your boss keeps you busy I guess. I thought I would use this opportunity to meet you,” Karishma joked.

“Boss is actually surprising everyone in the office these days.”

“How so?”

“He is… being nice to people. It is giving rise to gossips.”

“Gossips? For being nice?” Karishma laughed slightly.

“Yeah. That his wife has done some witchcraft to change him.”

“Witchcraft to change someone to be nicer. That would be the job of some real witch.”

Ramesh smiled, “Something is definitely different. And you look happier too.”

“I am not fighting things, Ramesh. So long as I get to do what I like…”

“Sure. Karishma, I don’t want to intervene. But there is something I have wanted to tell you for quite some time.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s a little awkward. But please don’t get offended…”

“Don’t create suspense Ramesh. Let that job be with the writers. Come out with it.”

“You know when he had followed you to Delhi and you had refused to talk to him…”

“Yeah?”

“He was angry and well… as a not-so-nice part of my job I had arranged to call his favourite escort. He got angry and turned her away. And he asked me not to call anyone on my own… And since then I haven’t!”

It was indeed awkward. “I… don’t know… how to react to that,” Karishma said with a nervous smile.

“You don’t have to. I just had some information I thought you should know. Am not going to talk about it again. I should leave now. Can’t rely too much on boss’ nicety. Need to get back to work.”

“Thanks Ramesh. For everything.”

“Anytime.”

—

It was a hit and run case. Karishma was returning from Pune after attending a literary event. A truck hit the car from behind. The highway had no traffic at that point of time and no one saw the truck or its number. Thankfully a bike rider passed from there soon after and got help for them.

Since Siddharth reached the hospital, he hadn’t left her side. He had forced the doctors to allow him even in the operation theater. The bone fractures would take some time to heal, but they would be all right. They feared the head injury most though. “We have to wait for her to get conscious to assess the impact, if any,” they had said. He had just nodded.

He had fallen asleep by her bedside holding her hands. She was still asleep when he woke up. He bent and kissed her hands lightly. Then he buried his head in them, “Don’t leave me. I am sorry. I am sorry for everything and I will spend my life making it up to you. Give me one chance. Just one chance Karishma. If you want I will even let you go. But not like this… Come back, please….”

“Siddharth,” he heard her weak voice and looked up.

“Oh my God! You are awake… No. No – don’t try to move. I must call the doctor. Is there any pain? Of course, there is… I mean in your head… Wait… Let me…”

“Calm down,” her voice was weak, but her thoughts coherent.

“Yes… Right… I should be the one telling you to do that… Let me call the doctor.” He used his mobile phone instead of going out.

“Were you…” she started to speak after he disconnected the call.

“Don’t talk. You can’t lose your energy…”

“With all this glucose dripping into my blood…”

“Shut up. Will you?”

“Were you apologizing to me, when I woke up? Or was I dreaming?”

“I was apologizing and I will apologize a thousand times more, but please shut up for the time being.”

“Looks like I found the hard route I was supposed to take,” she smiled faintly.

“Oh God! No. Stop talking like that. I never wanted you to… Shut up. Just shut up, okay?”

“Is the driver fine?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then find out.”

“I am not going anywhere. Let the doctor come. He will tell you. Here he is… Doctor. She doesn’t stop talking. Ask her to…”

“That’s a good sign Mr. Sen, if she is talking coherently. Ma’am. Can you tell me your name?”

“Karishma.”

Doctor asked a few more questions to test her memory, general coherence and vision.

“There is nothing to worry about, Mr. Sen. She is all right. The physical injuries will take time to heal and there will be some weakness too. But she will recover in three to four weeks.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

“Doctor. How is the driver?” she asked.

“He is fine. His injuries were not severe. Truck had hit from behind. So… He had lost consciousness only for a while. In fact, he was the one who asked the motorcyclist for help.”

“Thanks.”

“What are you going to do to the driver?” she asked after the doctor left.

“Why are we talking about the driver?”

“His wife just had a baby. Don’t fire him. It wasn’t his fault.”

“I won’t. Anything else you want?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“After I recover, I want to go to UK.”

“I thought that was something I wanted.”

“So? If you want something, it becomes unthinkable for others? They can want it as well?”

“I will compromise a bit. You can want it. No one else can.”

Both of them smiled. Then he spoke again, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For not losing the will to live. They say that willpower is important in recovery in such… circumstances. I was scared the entire time if you had the will to live after all I had done to you…”

“You are a complicated man, Siddharth. But you challenge me.”

“I like… I love challenging you.”

—

To be continued