Raghav ran into the hospital, with Pallavi in his arms, "I need a doctor, immediately."
A nurse and doctor ran up to him, "Sir, what happened to her? Is she your wife?"
Raghav was holding back tears, "Yes, she's my wife, she fainted. She's been fasting today, even though I told her there was no need. I—just help her." Ragahv placed her on a gurney.
The doctor asked the nurse to bring the intake forms, and handed them to Raghav, "If you can fill these out—"
Raghav lost his cool again, "My wife, is unconscious, and you want me to fill out forms?!"
"Anna, calm down." Farhad pulled Raghav off the doctor, "Doctor, you do your work, please help her. I'll take these forms. Anna, sit down here with Amma and Keerthi."
"No, I'm not sitting anywhere, I'm following this idiot doctor to see if he can do his job. If not I'm going to find a way to get Pallavi to a better hospital."
The doctor, now severely nervous, started to check Pallavi's eyes and blood pressure as the nurse wheeled the gurney to a room.
Raghav followed the two of them menacingly.
Inside the room, the doctor, a short bespectacled man, worked even faster. He ordered a blood test, and hooked the patient, who he now knew was named Pallavi, to a heart monitor, and started her on saline.
Raghav continued to watch, pacing in the room, making both the doctor and the nurse even more nervous than before.
"Sir..." the doctor started carefully.
"What?" Raghav asked, but his voice wasn't angry, it was worried, "What's wrong with Pallavi. She's going to be okay right?"
The doctor calmed down a little looking at Raghav's worried face, "She'll be fine. You said she was fasting, correct?"
Raghav nodded, "I told her not to, but—"
"Even my wife doesn't listen to me when I tell her to not do this nonsense. But women rarely listen to us when it comes to their faith, and they shouldn't. Anyway, she'll be fine. It looks like her blood sugar is just very low. I'll know more when I get her lab results back. In the meantime, I've given her a glucagon injection, and started her on saline to treat her dehydration. I'll be right back in a bit with her lab results." The doctor, still nervous that Raghav would hit him or something, slowly edged out of the room. Raghav's focus however, was only on Pallavi. He rushed to her side, and took her hand. Unable to hold his tears back any longer.
Amma, Keerthi, and Farhad walked in after a couple minutes. "Anna, I finished the forms, I saw the doctor outside, he said there's nothing to worry—"
"Farhad, if there was nothing to worry about, Pallavi wouldn't be here in this godforsaken hospital with these idiot doctors. You call everyone we know in Hyderabad with a private plane and access to an airstrip, and then contact the best hospital in Delhi or Mumbai. We'll leave for it in the morning. I'm not taking any chances."
Amma looked worried, but smiled at Raghav's words, "Raghav, beta. Calm down. I heard what the doctor said, and this has happened to countless women over the years when they fast. She's just exhausted because she didn't eat or drink anything all day. Nothing is going to happen to Pallavi." She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Now, how about we go outside and wait, and let Pallavi rest."
Raghav didn't move, both his hands still holding Pallavi's left hand tightly. "Amma, I know you're talking sense, but I can't leave her. I can't just—"
Just then the door swung open, in the doorway were Sharda, Nikhil, and Vijay.
Ragahv let out a sound that would have sounded to a passerby as a snarl from a wolf, "What in god's name are you doing here? Haven't you done enough?"
Sharda and Nikhil looked scared, but they ignored Raghav's words and came inside. Sharda asked Raghav, "She's okay right? What did the doctor say?"
"Raghav, I don't know why she kept this stupid fast for you, but if anything happens to my sister—" Nikhil started.
Raghav let go of Pallavi's hand and stood up, "Listen Junior College, I've been silent up until now, but your nonsense stops right now. My wife, is unconscious, and you Deshmukhs being here, it's not going to help anything, now get out, ardhamaindha?"
"Raghav, I just—" Sharda started.
"Sharda Ji, I know you love Pallavi. I know you care about her, but I've been watching you and your precious son for weeks now, neither of you have the courage to stand up to this idiot over here long enough for him to rub two brain cells together and have an original thought. So, if you're worried about Pallavi, fine, I'll call you when she wakes up. Now get out, and take this Sanki Buddha with you." Raghav's words were unnaturally calm, but his blood was basically boiling, he could see Vijay from the corner of his eye, slowly making his way into the room.
"We don't need your permission to stay with our daughter." Vijay started, his eyes on Pallavi's sleeping face, all the happy memories with her flooding back, "Sharda just wants—"
Raghav let out a cold laugh, "Daughter?" He then glared at Vijay. "Just an hour earlier you were yelling to everyone that you didn't have a daughter, only two sons, and now suddenly you've decided Pallavi is your daughter again?"
"I was angry, I didn't—" Vijay replied, his voice breaking.
"You didn't think, because you and the rest of your family is beyond stupid. Now, get the hell out of my wife's room, before I call security and tell them there are three people in my wife's room who are not related to her at all, bothering her."
"Raghav," Keerthi walked up to him, "this is Pallavi's family, they should be—"
"Keerthi, I know you've hated me for years, but you still think of me as your brother, because you know that a family supports one another no matter what. This egoistic and selfish man is not Pallavi's family. He never was. What are you three looking at me for? Get out!"
