The Rose & Her Thorn

Part 31

The regular wooden thumping made Shikha wrap the blanket over her ears to block the interference in her slumber. Hours of tossing and turning in the luxurious king-size bed had ended when Morpheus' arms wrapped around her, and she wasn't ready to leave the embrace.

The rapping grew more impatient, and her forehead developed transverse furrows in annoyance.

"Samar, see who.."

The pounding had ceased, and the noose of anguish choking her had erased any and every sign of sleep as she realized what she had uttered. Her pooled eyes opened and fell on the photo clicked at their wedding on the wall across from her. Samar had lifted her into his arms despite the heavy lehenga adding to her weight for the picture, and the edges of her lips twitched into a bittersweet smile.

She supported her growing belly with her left palm and herself with her right arm whilst rising and turning towards the door. When her puffy and misty eyes landed on the defeated form of Vikram Singhal, her heart did a backflip. His clenched jaw, heaving chest, and downcast eyes made fear slither around her racing heart.

"Good morning!" she said, straightening the top of her lounge wear.

In the ten days she had lived with the man in his home, he had never had even gazed towards her room, and to see him at her doorstep had rattled her. She ran her hand over the smooth expanse of her neck to ease the anxiety, which had tightened the hold of its dainty fingers around her fluttering heart.

Vikram exhaled before turning towards her. "Someone attacked the safe-house housing Sunaina and Rajeev."

A gasp of shock escaped Shikha's parted quivering lips. Her chest felt constricted and her throat had turned dry. The horror of the news had sent her lacrimal glands into an overdrive, and her flushed and full cheeks soon turned wet with the stream of tears rolling with no restraint.

"But...ar-are t-they...t-they are okay?" she asked, clasping onto the door for support lest her knees had given way. "Right? T-they are okay, right?"

Vikram looked everywhere except for her stormy eyes to avoid meeting her desperate ones. The helplessness in her eyes would be his undoing. "They shot Rajeev, and he's in surgery. Sunaina is fine."

Her silent tears had turned into whimpers, and then into stifled sobs, and it was not long before devastated wails poured out of her chest in a way that kicked Vikram in the gut. She rested her back against the door and tried to suppress her sobs by covering her trembling lips, but it was to no avail.

Vikram's hand twitched in her direction to comfort her, but it fell back to his side. The regular whirring of the fan and her suppressed sobs resonated in his ears like the war cries before the beginning of a massacre. Her entire form shook against the doorframe, and it was not long before Vikram's concern overpowered his inhibitions.

His hesitant arm wound around her shoulder, and he guided her towards the bed. She crashed onto the bed when it was within arm's reach, and Vikram's heart skipped in a beat in trepidation.

"I-I'm the r-reason. M-My fault. A-All my fault," she said in a trance as she stared into nothingness. Her bloodshot eyes appeared blank and lost, and her trembling fingers crumpled the satin fabric of the bedcover.

He did not know whether to take his seat by her side or kneel in front of her. Neither did he know if she appreciated his presence or if she wanted him to leave, but he did not have the heart to leave her in the despicable state she was of his own accord.

"M-Me. I-I should have been there. Not Jijaji! N-not him!" she said, sweat pouring out of her temples, and her chest heaved as she almost gasped to catch her breath between her heartrending lament of remorse.

"Shikha, I know it's tough for you, but you need to stay calm for your baby!" he said.

Her eyes shot up to look into his conflicted ones. Her twitching fingers grabbed his sleeve as if it were the last twig holding her from drowning into an abyss of unfathomable depth, and the other wound itself around her abdomen in a protective stance.

"B-baby! M-My baby! W-what if I can't save my baby? No! NO! No, no, no, no!"

She shook her head and gasped for oxygen whilst crushing his shirt between her palm and fingers. "Shikha! Please calm down! Nothing will happen to you or your child!" said Vikram, placing his warm hand over her cold one, grasping his shirt.

Her eyes fluttered, and she swayed towards her side before her eyes shut themselves. "My baby.."

Vikram had caught her before she landed on the bed, and his breath hitched in his throat when his eyes travelled towards the bright red spot under her.

"Oh, no!"

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"She's stable, and the baby is safe now. She had a threatened abortion. Mrs. Shikha needs a complete bedrest for a while. Was she under any kind of stress?" asked the doctor, alternating between a devastated Sunaina. and shook Vikram.

"Her husband passed away a few weeks ago," said Vikram, feeling the first two words of his sentence burn him as they rolled off his tongue.

The doctor arched her eyebrow and nodded in understanding. "This is an unfortunate and tough time for Mrs. Shikha. She may have underlying depression, but after assessing the risk of her pregnancy, it may not be prudent to use anti-depressants. I recommend counseling for her, if she is interested and willing."

Vikram's lips set into a thin line as the full force of his repentance tore down the fortress around his heart. He had failed to provide a haven for her sister- and brother-in-law, and had burdened the heart of the just widowed young lady running for her life with his indifference and nonchalance as he fought the battle with his inner demons. He had failed her, and it was not the first time. And it tormented him more than it did the first time around.

"We'll ask her once she wakes up."

She bobbed her head and let out an exasperated sigh. "Which should be soon enough, Singhal Saab! I'll take your leave now."

Sunaina slumped into the chair against the wall and broke into whimpering. Not in her worst nightmare had she imagined her husband and sister admitted into the hospital, one battling death and the other battling for their will to live.

"I will marry her."

Sunaina looked up at Vikram through the haze of tears. Shikha had explained his stance over the situation when they had last spoke, and she did not expect the man to change his decision.

"I thought you didn't want to do that," she said, casting an incredulous stare in his direction.

"Not if it would ease the stress threatening her and her baby now. I failed her twice. I don't want to leave any room for error to fail her for the third time."

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