Chapter 38
The moment they entered the emergency department, Dr. Sinha was already waiting.
Druve carried Riya straight towards him, her body still completely limp in his arms. A stretcher was rushed forward, and he lowered her onto it immediately.
Dr. Sinha reached for her wrist.
"Pulse?"
"Dangerously weak when I checked," Aadhira answered, already moving with him. "She collapsed suddenly. Her hands and feet turned cold, and she hasn't responded since."
Dr. Sinha checked Riya himself.
"Get her inside. Now."
The stretcher was rushed towards the emergency room.
Druve followed, holding Riya's hand until they reached the doors.
"Druve, I'm going with her," Aadhira said.
His eyes moved to her.
"Aadhira..." His voice shook. "Please."
She understood.
"I'm with her."
Druve looked at Riya once more, squeezed her cold fingers and let go.
The doors closed behind Dr. Sinha and Aadhira.
Only then did the fear Druve had been holding back break through.
He stood staring at the closed doors, breathing unevenly, his empty hand still curled as though Riya's fingers were inside it.
"Please, Sruthi..."
He dragged both hands over his face and began pacing, only to turn back towards the doors within seconds. He couldn't stay still. He couldn't sit.
Through the glass panel in the door, he could see enough of the room to make waiting worse.
Riya lay completely still on the bed while Dr. Sinha and Aadhira worked beside her. A nurse fitted an oxygen mask over her face as another attached leads to her chest. A blood-pressure cuff tightened around her arm while an IV line was being started.
Druve moved closer to the glass.
He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he saw Dr. Sinha check the monitor and immediately reach for Riya's wrist again. Aadhira said something to the nurse, and another bag was quickly connected to the IV.
None of them stopped moving.
Druve's heart began pounding harder.
Vikram wasn't any better. Sharada clung to Rana, crying despite his attempts to calm her, while Rana's attention remained fixed on the emergency room.
Inside, Aadhira pulled the blanket higher over Riya before warm coverings were placed around her. Dr. Sinha checked her again, his attention repeatedly shifting between Riya and the monitor.
Druve's eyes followed every movement.
The oxygen mask.
The IV.
The monitor.
The doctors surrounding her.
And Riya lying motionless in the middle of all of it.
He pressed closer to the glass when Aadhira suddenly looked towards the monitor.
Inside, the treatment continued.
Gradually, the frantic movement around her began to ease. Dr. Sinha looked at the monitor for several seconds before speaking to Aadhira. She checked Riya again and nodded, but neither of them looked relieved.
Druve noticed that too.
His fingers tightened around the edge of the door.
Minutes passed before Dr. Sinha finally stepped away from the bed. He spoke briefly to Aadhira, and she looked towards Riya before answering him.
Whatever passed between them did nothing to ease the tension on either of their faces.
Then Dr. Sinha turned towards the door.
Druve moved before he had even opened it completely.
"How is she?"
Rana, Vikram and Sharada were already behind him.
Dr. Sinha looked at all of them before his attention returned to Druve.
"We've managed to stop her condition from deteriorating further. Her pulse and blood pressure have come up, but she still hasn't responded."
Whatever little relief those first words brought disappeared with the last.
"The next twenty-four hours are very important. We'll continue monitoring her closely. If she starts responding within that time, we'll be in a much better position."
He paused briefly.
"But if she remains completely unresponsive, there's a possibility she could slip into a coma."
Sharada's fingers tightened around Rana's arm. Vikram lowered his head, while Rana's face hardened as he held her closer.
Druve said nothing.
His eyes shifted back through the glass.
Riya was still lying exactly where he had watched them place her, the oxygen mask covering part of her face, monitors surrounding her.
Dr. Sinha continued, facing Rana.
"I don't want her staying here unless it's absolutely necessary."
Rana understood immediately.
Dr. Sinha continued, "You already know what hospitals do to her. If she starts regaining awareness here and panics, it isn't going to help her in this condition."
Dr. Sinha looked towards Rana. "I want her within immediate reach of the hospital. If there is even the slightest change in her pulse, breathing or responsiveness, she comes straight back. No waiting."
Rana nodded immediately.
"We'll arrange somewhere close."
"I have a place."
Everyone turned towards Druve.
His eyes were still on Riya through the glass.
"It's ten minutes from here. It's private, quiet, and we can set up whatever medical equipment she needs there."
Dr. Sinha considered it for only a moment. "How quickly can you have it ready?"
"By the time we reach."
Druve had already taken out his phone.
Rana looked at him. "Druve—"
"I'll arrange everything."
There was no room for discussion in his voice. He stepped aside and made the call immediately, giving short instructions for the place to be opened and prepared before they arrived.
Dr. Sinha turned to Aadhira. "Go with her. I'll come for the transfer and make sure she's settled before I leave."
Aadhira nodded.
Within minutes, preparations were underway.
Riya was shifted carefully onto a transport stretcher without removing the monitoring already attached to her.
The oxygen remained in place, the IV continued running, and Dr. Sinha checked her pulse and blood pressure once more before allowing them to move.
Druve stayed close enough to see everything.
The urgency from earlier had eased, but that did nothing for the fear sitting heavily inside him. Riya still hadn't opened her eyes.
When they began wheeling her out, Druve walked beside her.
This time, nobody stopped him from taking her hand.
Her fingers were warmer than they had been when he'd carried her into the hospital.
Not warm enough.
But warmer.
Druve held them carefully between his own as they moved.
The transfer took less than ten minutes, but to him it felt much longer.
Dr. Sinha and Aadhira travelled with Riya, and the necessary equipment accompanied them. By the time they arrived, everything Druve had requested was ready.
Riya was taken straight into the prepared room.
For the next several minutes, Druve stayed out of the way while Dr. Sinha and Aadhira settled her. The monitor was reconnected beside the bed, her IV checked, oxygen kept ready, and her vitals taken again after the transfer.
Druve watched from nearby.
Only when Dr. Sinha finally straightened did he move.
"How is she?"
"The transfer hasn't affected her. Her pulse and blood pressure are holding."
Druve's eyes went to Riya.
"But nothing changes about what I told you," Sinha continued. "The next twenty-four hours are still important."
Druve nodded.
"Aadhira will stay with her. If anything changes, even slightly, call me immediately. I'll have a team ready."
After checking Riya once more, Dr. Sinha finally left.
The room became noticeably quieter without the constant movement of the medical team.
Aadhira remained close to Riya, keeping watch over the monitor while Rana, Sharada and Vikram stayed nearby.
Druve stood beside the bed.
For a long time, he simply stared at Riya.
His hand remained around hers, his eyes fixed on her face. The fear that had consumed him at the hospital seemed to have disappeared completely. There was no restless pacing now, no panic, no desperate glances towards Aadhira or the monitor beside the bed.
He was strangely calm.
Too calm.
Sharada watched him from across the room. Vikram noticed it too. Even Rana's eyes remained on him for several seconds, trying to understand what had changed.
No one could tell what was going through Druve's mind.
Then, as though he had finally decided something, Druve released Riya's hand.
Without saying a word, he walked out.
Vikram frowned and looked towards the door.
"Where is he going?"
No one knew.
It was unlike Druve to leave Riya at all, especially now.
But he didn't return immediately.
Nearly ten minutes passed.
By then, Rajveer had arrived.
The moment he entered, Rana took him aside and quietly told him everything that had happened—from Riya's nightmare to her sudden collapse and what Dr. Sinha had said about the next twenty-four hours.
Rajveer listened, his expression growing serious.
Rana lowered his voice. "What if this isn't only physical? What if it has something to do with the merging?"
Rajveer looked towards the room where Riya lay.
"If that's really what is happening, then I'm not worried about Sruthi letting go."
Rana looked at him.
Rajveer's gaze shifted past him.
Druve had returned.
"With Druve here," Rajveer said quietly, "he'll never let Sruthi go."
Druve had clearly heard him.
But he didn't stop.
He walked straight past them without saying a word and entered Riya's room.
That only confused everyone more.
Druve went to the bed and sat beside her.
For several seconds, he looked at her again. Then his hand slipped into his pocket and closed around something he had kept for years.
"Sruthi."
His voice was quiet.
"I wanted this to happen with you standing beside me."
He looked down at her still face.
"I wanted you awake. I wanted you to know exactly what I was doing."
His fingers tightened around what he held.
"But I'm not delaying it anymore."
Druve took out the nuptial chain.
The gold caught the light, and for a moment he simply held it between his fingers. Something he had prepared years ago. Something that had waited with him through all the years he had waited for her.
"I'm sorry."
He leaned closer.
"But alive or dead, Sruthi belongs to Druve... just as Druve belongs to Sruthi."
His voice remained steady, but his eyes had begun to burn.
"Nothing separates us anymore."
Carefully, Druve lifted the chain around her neck.
"If you dare leave me alone again, I'll follow you without a second thought."
His fingers secured it.
There was no hesitation.
No one outside the room had realised what he was doing.
By the time Rana, Rajveer, Sharada and Vikram followed him inside, the nuptial chain was already resting around Riya's neck.
They stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Druve didn't even seem to notice them.
He had taken out a ring.
Sharada's eyes widened as understanding finally struck her. Vikram stared from the gold around his sister's neck to the ring in Druve's hand. Rana stood completely still, while Rajveer said nothing.
Druve gently lifted Riya's left hand.
"I have yours."
He slowly slipped the wedding ring onto her ring finger.
"So I'm waiting for you to wake up and put mine on me."
The ring settled into place.
Druve lowered his head and pressed a small kiss against her hand before enclosing it carefully within both of his.
"Don't make me wait again, Sruthi."
Aadhira's attention suddenly shifted towards the monitor.
Then she looked at Riya.
Druve felt it before anyone said anything.
Something moved against his palm.
His head snapped down.
Riya's fingers had moved.
Barely.
But they had moved.
Druve stopped breathing.
"Sruthi...?"
Everyone in the room went completely still.
Druve leaned closer, never releasing her hand.
"Sruthi?"
This time, her fingers weakly curled around one of his.
Aadhira looked at him, then back at Riya.
"Her pulse is improving."
Druve closed his eyes.
His forehead dropped against Riya's hand again, and this time he didn't try to hide the tears that escaped.
"You scared the hell out of me, Sruthi."
He lifted his head and looked at her.
The ring he had just placed on her finger rested between his hands.
"Now wake up."
His thumb moved carefully over her fingers.
"You still owe me mine."