An Imperial Affliction

Chapter 44 - The aftermath

The aftermath

Sameer looked upto see Aisha along with Raghu sir rushing towards them, their footsteps echoing in the empty hallway.

The drive till the hospital was a blur for all of them. He would not say this to anyone, but the way they found Riya, and when she went unconscious, he felt as if she won't make it. And his hunch was proven right, as per the MEs her heart gave up two times before they stabilized her.

He side eyed his best friend cum Boss who had a permanent blank look on his face. Only his tightly clutched fingers gave away his internal turmoil. Riya had went through a lot, and so did he. Sameer hoped one day Riya knew and realized his friend was in this too.

"Hey," He stood up to greet Aisha, her fingers curled around his arm in panic, "They are still operating on her." He shifted his glance to give a nod to the senior officer, and noticed how Raghu sir stared at Arjun.

"How is she?" He asked. Sameer opened his mouth to answer, but Arjun beat him to it, even though his eyes were still staring into nothing and his frame was frozen.

"There was a lot of blood. She almost beat Sahay to death." Sameer had informed this to Aisha when he made the call. Uncharacteristically, she let out a curse at that, even though both of them expected nothing less than this. Riya always jumped right into storms, and Neel Sahay was her biggest kryptonite. She would do everything in her power to end this, of course.

"Her heart gave away twice." Sameer whispered, looking at concern as Aisha's eyes filled with tears, lowering her head to control her emotions.

"She needs some rest. She will wake up when it's time." This time, Arjun raised his head. The look in his eyes- warning, despair, anger, fear- made them all pause. A strange silence followed and Sameer felt everyone's gaze on his friend.

The second in command proceeded to stare at the floor once again, and nobody spoke a word post this.

(But when the two were alone in the dead of night, he confessed to Sameer, his best friend and his brother, "If she don't make it, Sam . . . if she don't, I will hunt Neel Sahay. I don't care where Rahane has kept him, I will walk in and put a bullet between his eyes. End his story like he has ended hers.

Sameer did not doubt his vow, and felt himself nodding, and praying that it don't come to it. As it turned out, a world without Riya Mukherjee was not something any of them can get through.

"And I will be with you, Brother. I will do the same.")

ACP Riya Mukherjee, ETF officer and heir to a billionaire woke up three days after lots of complications. At first, she did not want to wake up. Her mind had somehow sealed away the experience she had when she was taken, or when Neel had purposely hurt her, or the last bloodbath. She did not want to wake up to a world of hurt, not again.

But she did, and immediately frowned at the person sitting in front of her.

"Hello, at last." Her voice was rough and probably needed water. Her body was mostly likely covered with bruises and bandages so much that the morphine was high enough to make her dizzy, but it was all worth of his face. Her Boss, Arjun Rawte, sat in a chair in front of her, smiling wide which she mimicked unconsciously.

"Took you long enough." He replied, and even though they were always about putting levity into serious situations and had heavy conversations at night, she could see his eyes- happy, warm, relieved.