PROLOGUE
The red light flashed off. Everyone around me had fallen into chaos, but I could barely think. The only thing I could see, feel, or hold onto in that moment was the bracelet she had given me, with a sign of Om engraved on it.
I clung to it tightly, and thoughts of that day came rushing back. Strangely, my mind didn't fail me then.
"Wear this. It will always keep you safe. My Mahadev always does everything for our good. Even if we can't eventually feel it, always believe in Him. He is always with us, ready to protect us," she had said.
And the only thing I could do at that moment was stare at that bracelet, play with it, and of course, admire the one who gave it to me.
Before I could think any further, a voice struck my ears.
"Mr. Advik."
A hand rested gently on my shoulder.
I lifted my head, only to see that it was the senior doctor.
I got up from the floor, my eyes red, my heart beating at a pace it never had before, my ears refusing to hear anything, and my mind rejecting whatever I was about to listen. My clothes were soaked in blood, and my hair was a mess.
"What... what?" I closed my eyes for a moment, and all I could see was her face in front of me - that same smile, those deep eyes, and her messy hair. But I tried to come out of that.
I instantly opened my eyes again and asked, with all the little courage I had left, "Is she there...?"
The doctor looked down at the floor, avoiding eye contact with me, and spoke in a heavy voice filled with sympathy.
"We were fortunate that she didn't suffer many internal injuries, and no organ transplant is needed. With proper medication and care, her physical injuries will recover soon. But regarding her mental and emotional condition... I'm sorry, I can't say much."
My eyes froze at that moment.
"But... but what do you mean?" My heart sank into the deepest ocean of emotions.
"But," he continued, "as you know her past,..... this incident will make her more aggressive. .....Not only that, it is highly possible that she may become emotionally and mentally disturbed. I... I actually don't know.....I don't know how to say this, but I am afraid,...she may never be able to live the life she once lived."
He took a deep breath and, after a pause, said, "Advik, you need to have a lot of strength now, because you are going to see a side of her you never imagined."
He placed his hand gently on my head and said, "Bless you. May God give you strength. May you be able to face your life from now on with courage. May you get through this. May... may God bless Aadhavi and take her out of this storm."
He stood up, murmuring softly to himself in a calm yet heavy voice, "God, give them strength... give them strength."
I just kept staring at him until he slowly disappeared from my sight.
The emotions, the anger, the tears, the frustration, the guilt - whatever I experienced in that moment was beyond what I could explain or describe. That moment was beyond my imagination, beyond anything words could ever capture.
For the second time in my life, I was truly heartbroken.
Tears kept falling from my eyes as if they would never stop. My eyes were flickering as they would never want to tell me that your bad luck has just started off.... My mind started to shut off as it will never want to accept the fate. And my heart...it rejected every word, every statement of the doctor. My whole body was just in a state it didn't ever wanted to face.
I kept staring at the ICU ward where she was.I had no courage left to see her in that condition.
I leaned against the wall of the room. Tears were still falling. I closed my eyes, and it felt like my whole imagination had entered another world.
I smiled.
Everything inside me felt broken now. I didn't know if it was my heart or my mind creating a strange coping mechanism. It felt like shock - but I stepped into that shock like a safe place.
I smiled again, even though nothing inside me felt right.
I stood there, motionless, staring at nothing. The hospital noises faded. The voices around me became distant echoes. Time felt slow, heavy... unreal.
For a moment, I convinced myself this was a dream. That I would wake up, and she would be fine. That this pain wasn't real.
But deep inside, I knew.
And still, I smiled - not because I was okay, but because I no longer knew how to react.
Everything inside me went numb.
I smiled again, just to see that rude yet cute Aadhavi in my thoughts.
It felt like I went back in those old, unforgettable days of mine when we both were young. It felt like my mind went into a rewind mode. I started seeing my life again, though imagination, I felt I am living my life again.
I began to dream while sitting there, on the floor, and everything slowly started to feel good again - just like it used to be.
