Tere Liye | ✔

Chapter Sixteen - A Bleeding Heart

"Khushiiii!"

Arnav ran towards the cliff from where Khushi reportedly fell and stood at the edge of it with a pounding heart and heavy breathing, partially because of running and partially because of the panic that had made its home in his heart.

"Khu-khushiii!" He tried to shout again but his voice came out broken as his heart clenched tightly, seeing the smithereens of the car at some distances. He tried but failed to withhold his tears that started escaping in an unbroken stream. 

He felt it difficult to even breathe. The thought of Khushi being in the car that had been reduced to such an state clouded his mind, making it impossible for him to even think straight.

What if he lost her?

That mere thought was enough to kill him a thousands death and he stepped back, shaking his head in denial.

Khushi can't do that to him. No, she can't.. she had promised him forever, she can't leave him midway like this.. she just can't..

His sanity felt on the brink of disappearing as he constantly tried to console himself of Khushi's safety but as he felt a known pain gripping and biting his heart, the realization of her being distant aggravated. 

"I need to find her." He choked on his own words as he mumbled to himself, his anguish-filled eyes turning distraught with a sudden need - need to have her in his arms, so she could sooth his pain, just like she always did.

The knife of agony seared through him again and not knowing what to do, how else to find her, he took a step forward, his mind berserk with fret.

A grip latched on his shoulders pulling him back from the edge of the cliff.

"Bhai!" Akash's shout was horror-stricken as he tried to hold his brother in a firm grip.

The hell was he trying to do?

"Akash, Akash leave me! I need to find Khushi.. Leave me!" Arnav scuffled, his limbs flailing restlessly as he tried to break free so he could go and look for Khushi and tend to her wounds before they turn incurable. 

Pain again toiled through him at the imagery of her many injuries and how much she must be crying and he screamed again, his struggles growing more and more hard to control for a lone Akash.

Luckily, another pair soon wrapped around Arnav, keeping him at a safe distance from his doom. 

"Nan-nav." NK's voice was strangulated with a mix of shock and grief as he looked at his brother's condition, then down the valley where his best friend was currently lost. His throat constricted painfully and he pressed his lips together, ignoring the blood that sprawled on his tongue at the force he applied. 

"Calm down.. the police are looking for her.." He managed to mumble amidst his own ragged breaths, but then cried out louder when Arnav wriggled violently, pleading them to let him go.

His voice faded before it could even reach Arnav as with a new found force, the latter pushed both of them aside and took long strides towards the cliff and would jumped off when this time, several pairs of hands latched on him, pulling him back from where he began. 

"LEAVE ME!" He bellowed, trying to fight the officers who had reached on time to begin their search for Khushi - Akash and NK behind them all, staring at the scene in front of them with utter disbelief and devastation. Their limbs froze on the spot and they winced, audibly and visibly at the howls that escaped Arnav.

"Ju-just-" Arnav's face blotched with tears and he arched his head, letting out an agonized groan as he felt all his strength giving in, at last. A blurry green was what he last saw, before his world spun off its axis and he sprawled on the ground, blocking every voice that resounded after his fall.

________________________

Arnavji, help..

"Khushi!"

He snapped open his eyes and sat upright on the bed, looking around to take in his surroundings. For a second his throbbing nerves calmed, thinking all that he saw and heard had been just a cruel dream and that she would be here, laying by his side.

But as he recognized the colorless walls and the pricking on the back of his left hand, reality sank in.

A sharp panic lanced through his head and he yanked the drip that were attached to his hand - caring less about his bleeding hand as he sprinted off the hospital bed to continue his search for his Khushi.

"Chotte.."

He stood still for a second as the first thing he saw when he pushed the door ajar, was the pale face of his sister, which turned distraught as she registered his intention, followed by the wound he just caused himself.

"Chotte, where are you going?" She asked, and held his shoulders, unwillingly to let him go anywhere alone, "Just, just go back in-"

He held her hands when she tried pushing himself.

"I-I need to find her."

"No, you don't!" Anjali intervened, cutting him steely as her eyes pooled up. "You don't need to do anything, but rest! Why don't you understand that? Everyone is already looking for her, there's no need to hurt yourself more in this.."

Her firm tone faltered and turned into a plea as she begged through her eyes for him to stop the affliction he was causing on himself, but he seemed to be too far gone in his own misery to notice hers.

His own eyes stung but he withheld the storm inside of him this time, not wanting to weaken his body with grieve again. He needed to be strong, at least physically if he were to find her.

"Why don't you understand? I need to go. Just let me be, I'm fine." His hoarse voice insisted as he left her hands and tried walking away. She grabbed his arm and turned his frail body around to meet her enraged eyes.

"You're fine?" Incredulity hung at the edge of her voice and she shook him, bellowing loud and clear for him to hear her. 

"You've been unconscious for almost 40 hours! 40 freaking hours and you're saying you are fine? No Chotte, you're not! You're not.." Her tone quietened into an appeal again and she held his hands. 

"Don't do this to us right now, Chotte. We are all already devastated, don't break us more. We don't, we don't want to lose you too, please.." Her voice broke and she slumped against him, wailing loudly out of utmost exhaustion. 

"I don't want to lose myself either."

Her sobs halted abruptly when she heard his whisper and as she looked up in foreboding, she felt her heart freeze at his abyss-like eyes. He looked as if he was indeed loosing himself with each passing moment, and as an attempt to stop whatever was pulling him into darkness, he gathered all his remaining emotions and pushed her slightly away from him. 

"That's why I'm saying, just.let.me.go." A tear rolled down his face as he repeated himself with an intensity - a sheer intensity, one that robbed her ability to speak and she gasped, falling against the wall with a silent cry as her brother dashed off, not before snatching the picture of the one he was going to look for from the approaching officer. 

Her heart prayed for the safety of her sister-in-law yet another time, otherwise she knew she won't lose one important person of her life, but two.

__________________