My Partner in Crime-2

The Longing

Pranav sat there in the waiting lounge and every second felt like a year. After four long hours of waiting the operation room door opened and he saw Nikhil coming out with a few more doctors following him while removing their  scrubs.

Nikhil removed his scrubs and gave to the nurse following him. He turned towards Pranav and introduced him to the doctors.

"Pranav, this is Dr. Srinivas, a senior physician, Dr. Rohit, a resident neurologist, Dr. Kirti, an anaesthesiologist, they all assisted me today in Shivi's surgery. Doctors, this is Pranav my old friend and the girl we just saved is his sister." Nikhil and they all shook hands. Pranav thanked the whole team before they took leave.

"Thank you so much Nikhil" Pranav said wiping his tears.

"Pranav, why the hell are you saying thanks to me? Did you forgot what Shivi means to me? She was my whole world and she took it with her when she left four years back." Nikhil said with hoarse voice.

"I know brother and I know how difficult it must have been for you to perform the surgery knowing the risks involving her." Pranav said and both the males hug each other sharing the pain they felt for the girl lying inside the recovery room now still fighting for her survival.

The next few hours were like decade for both of them. It was 8:30 AM when Pranav's phone rang.

"Hello Anji baby" Pranav said answering the call from his wife.

"Pranav, what happened? I saw your note that you left to meet Nikhil, some emergency. I hope all is well." Anji sounded stressed.

"Yes, all is fine baby. There was some emergency case here and they needed some help with the blood. My blood matched so I just stayed to donate blood to help the patient." Pranav lied to his pregnant wife knowing how much she loved his sister and how badly it will affect her if she found out that her sister in law met with an accident and fighting for her life.

"Okay, are you feeling okay?" Anji asked worried.

"yes I am fine. I will be home in few minutes." Pranav said and went inside the room where Shivangi was shifted to recuperate.

Nikhil just got back from his rounds and sat beside her bed. Pranav walked towards them with heavy feet and placed a hand on Nikhil's shoulder.

"Anji called." Pranav said.

"You should go home. Bhabhi must be worried. We don't want her to worry too much in her condition. I am here, don't worry. I will call you as soon as she opens eyes." Nikhil said and Pranav left after placing a small kiss on Shivangi's forehead.

Nikhil held the hand of the girl lying lifelessly on the bed.

"Shivi, this is really not fare alright. You went away for freaking four years and now you meet me like this. Do you have slightest of idea how much we tried to find you? Pranav searched almost every possible place in the country to find you. I almost left hope to ever find you because I knew you were hiding yourself deliberately. You need to wake up soon and answer our questions, you can't runaway." Nikhil said and stroke her hand carefully as if she was a delicate porcelain doll who will break if not handled carefully.

Just when he left her hand he felt her fingers move. He looked at her hand confused thinking that he might have imagined the movement. But soon he saw her hands moving again, he quickly pressed the button beside her bed to call the nurse.