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Please God. Give me one more chance to hug Tara and tell that I love her.
***
Aarav woke up to pain. There was incredible pain. But pain was good because it meant he was alive and not dead.
He woke up to the rhythmic sounds of machines beeping and the smell of antiseptic stinging his nose.
A hospital.
He realized he was at a hospital. He tried to open his eyes, but couldn’t. His eyelids felt unnaturally heavy.
He heard the low murmur of feminine voices.
My angel.
He had dreamed of Tara holding his hand and kissing his forehead with her beautiful face twisted with tears and worry. He even felt the wetness and warmth of her tears when they fell on his face. He wanted to tell her he was okay and that he loved her.
“Please open your eyes…”
Hearing Tara’s desperation, he willed his eyes to open. The sudden bright light nearly blinded him, but he blinked and kept his eyes open.
A blurred vision of a woman appeared in front of him. But slowly, the vision became clear.
It wasn’t Tara. It was someone else. It was a nurse who worked at the military hospital. Disappointment hit him hard until he remembered why Tara wouldn’t be at the hospital. Tara didn’t even know where he was.
“Can you hear me, Lieutenant Rathod,” a woman asked.
He began to nod, but stopped halfway as blinding pain hit him. Closing his eyes briefly, he tried to move his fingers and toes. He was thankfully able to feel them and move them.
Opening his eyes, he replied. “Yes,” he said, his voice scratchy. “I’m able to move as well.”
“Oh, that’s good. You were in a coma for three weeks. We almost thought we’d lost you.”
Three weeks.He was grateful that it wasn’t longer than that because it meant he could return home to Tara on time.
“How are Veer and Rohan?” he rasped, praying his friends had made it like him.
“Oh. Lieutenant Pratap and Lieutenant Shetty are doing well. They are in the recovery ward.”
He was fiercely glad.
“When can I leave?” he asked.
The nurse didn’t look shocked by his question. She was used to military men who were half dead yet wanted to know when they could get back home and then back to the field.
“You have sustained injuries to your head and spine, Lieutenant Rathod, which will take a few weeks to recover completely. You also have a punctured lung.”
Aarav didn’t like hearing that. He was hoping to go home right away. Tara would be waiting.
But he didn’t have a choice.
“I need to make a phone call,” he rasped. He hoped to speak to Tara to let her know he was coming soon.
“Sure, Lieutenant. Your phone is next to you with the rest of your belongings. But wait until I return and help you. I’m going to first call Dr. Mehta and let him know you have woken up.”
“Okay.”
When the nurse left, he couldn’t wait. He had to speak with Tara. He turned slightly, looking for his phone, but piercing pain gripped him in the middle, leaving him breathless. Pressing a hand under his chest and breathing through his mouth, he slowly reached for the transparent sealed plastic cover on the side table next to the bed.
