Life As We Know It

Shot 23

"So today you are going home. What a pity" the nurse teased Gauri. "We are going to miss seeing that handsome husband of yours."

Gauri gave her a brief smile. She had grown so used to her hospital bedroom these last two weeks. Felt so safe there that she felt reluctant to leave.

Everyone had been so kind to her; so protective of her. So ready to reassure her that she was very brave and very lucky.

Her worst injury had been the blood she had lost where the metal had pierced her flesh, but even the scar from that would fade in time, the doctor had assured her jovially.

Her back had been badly bruised. So badly that she had been black and blue, but by some miracle no permanent damage had been done apart from a few fractures of some of her bones, which are thankfully on the way to healing after extensive surgeries.

The scratches that had covered her face had also totally healed, and now the doctor had decided that she was well enough to leave.

To go home…

Home to Omkara and Muskaan.

And at least something good had come out of the accident. When the police had caught up with Kamini at the airport, she had been so terrified that she had willingly agreed to sign a document renouncing any claim on Muskaan.

The woman was immediately arrested and sent to the prison. The final verdict on the case will be given by next week.

Thankfully, the woman's still alive son, did nothing to save his mother from imprisonment.

And Mishra did everything in his power to make sure that the woman will be locked away for the rest of her life.

Omkara had told Gauri how much he regretted not simply handing Kamini the money she had demanded, while repeatedly apologising for having put her life in danger.

But, as Gauri had told him, in her opinion all that would have done would have been to convince Kamini that she could continue to blackmail him whenever she chose. And then Muskaan would never have been safe.

****

"Ready, love?"

Gauri nodded with a smile as she watched Omkara picked her bag up off her bed and hand it over to Khanna, who was waiting by her hospital bedroom.

She was sitting on a wheel chair, not strong enough to walk on her own. She needs extensive physiotherapy to be able to walk properly like before.

But she is okay, as long as her Omkaraji is with her.

He has been there, for every single second of the last two weeks. Showering her with love and care, which was by far the best medication that helped speeding up her recovery.

At her own insistence, Gauri was holding little Muskaan. As soon as she was a little better, Gauri had begged to bring Muskaan to her.

She did not want Muskaan to feel that she had lost a mother again.

The two sets of parents had come visiting everyday. Her mother had tried to make Omkara let her stay the night. But Omkara was adamant. He would not leave the hospital for anything.

The only time he would leave her bedside would be to go see her doctor.

Gauri had been dreading the drive back to the Oberoi Mansion, but, to her surprise, instead of driving her himself Omkara got into the back of the car with her after he had strapped Muskaan into her front baby seat, leaving Khanna to drive.

"It’s all right, Gauri" he told her quietly, as though he had guessed how she was feeling. "You’ll be perfectly safe."

***

Omkara wheeled Gauri into their bedroom after dinner that night.

His heart still pounded remembering the panic filled hours he had endured, not knowing what is happening with his wife.

Then there was Muskaan, who loved and needed Gauri as much.

In the first hours of Gauri’s accident, during her surgery, when Muskaan had been of necessity separated from her, she had cried unceasingly, and been inconsolable, until in desperation Omkara had aksed her to be brought to the hospital.

The moment he had placed Muskaan on the bed with Gauri, much against the hospital protocols, she had calmed down.

And he had wanted to do the same thing. Get on bed with his girls and hug them to calm his erratic heart beats down.

Just like Muskaan, he too wanted the reassurance of having his Gauri close to him..

He can't imagine what he would have done, if something had happened to her.

He would have died right along with her.

"Omkaraji?" Omkara snapped out of his thoughts when he heard her call out.

"Yes, love" he said, pasting a smile on his face to mask the horrors he had felt for the last two weeks.

"Something wrong?" Gauri asked

"You are with me. What could go wrong?" Omkara asked with a smile

"I had you worried, didn't I?" Gauri asked

Omkara took a deep breath and kneeled in front of her. He took her hands in his and brought it to his lips.

"I had died every second there, not knowing what is happening with you. I couldn't bear to lose you Gauri. You are my life" Omkara said as tears pooled at the corner of his eyes, remembering the pain and worry he had endured.

"I'm sorry" Gauri said

"No no. I'm sorry. It's my fault. I brought this into your life. If not for me, you would have been safe" Omkara said

"And I would have never known the kind of happiness I found with you" Gauri said, wiping the tears running down his cheeks.

"You brought Muskaan into my life. You brought a set of in laws who loves me like a daughter. Above all, you brought yourself into my life and made me the happiest woman in the world" Gauri said

Omkara couldn't find the voice to answer that. He was too overwhelmed.

So he acted.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers, pouring all his love into it.

"Forever mine" he pulled away slightly and whispered against her lips.

A/n

Here goes the last shot of this book.

Five shots turned to 20+ 😁

An epilogue will follow.

And this might be my last rikara book. I might come up with one shots now and again, but I won't be writing a book again on rikara.

Most of the rikara readers stopped reading and commenting, and without motivation, I find it difficult to write.

Rikara is what made me a writer, so Ofcourse I won't completely abandon the fandom. I will still be reading rikara stories and will come up with one shots or two shots.

Thank you all for your support throughout from my very first book "I wish I could see her again" up until now.

Love ❤