Chapter 35
"Shaurya... come to Emerald Hospital immediately. It's Akriti."
Dev's panic-filled voice completely snatched away the remnants of Shaurya's sleep.
Without wasting another second, Shaurya rushed to the hospital. He didn't even take his guards along because he didn't want anyone finding out about this situation.
The moment he entered the hospital lobby, he spotted Dev talking to a doctor. Shaurya waited until the doctor left before quickly walking toward him.
"What happened to Akriti?", Shaurya asked anxiously.
He still didn't know what exactly had happened, but hearing Dev's voice on the phone had terrified him enough to rush there immediately. And the fact that Dev refused to explain anything over the call only made things worse.
"Akriti attempted su**ide", Dev said quietly, trying hard to stay composed. "If I hadn't gone to her room with dinner on time... we would've lost her today."
"Su**ide?"
Shaurya stood frozen in shock.
"Akriti attempted su**ide? But why?"
For a moment, his mind simply stopped functioning. If there were two people he loved more than his own life, it was Dev and Akriti.
And now one of them had tried to end her life.
"I don't know", Dev admitted helplessly. "She has been skipping meals frequently these past few days. The maid informed me only a few hours ago after I returned from camp. I freshened up and took dinner to her room so I could talk to her properly..."
Dev's voice cracked slightly.
"But when I entered... she was lying unconscious on the floor in her own pool of blood."
"Dev..." Shaurya whispered, feeling his chest tighten painfully. "What could possibly be the reason? Do you think..." He hesitated before lowering his voice further. "Is it possible she somehow found out the truth?"
Immediately, Dev shook his head.
"No. There's no chance. Who would tell her? Only you, Dad, and I know the truth, Shaurya. Don't even say things like that. We can't afford it."
Shaurya nodded silently.
"Then what else could it be?" he muttered while rubbing his forehead.
His heart felt unbearably heavy. He was terrified even to ask about Akriti's condition. A tiny cut on her finger was enough to keep him worried for days, and now... now he couldn't even process the fact that his sister had been suffering this much internally.
"We'll only know once she regains consciousness", Dev said tiredly. "And we can't even directly question her friends right now."
"We can, Dev", Shaurya immediately said. "Call them casually and tell them she hasn't seemed okay lately. Say she wasn't talking to you properly and you were just worried about her. We need answers."
Dev nodded.
"I'll handle it carefully. This is about her safety now, Shaurya. We can't let this turn into a police case. For now, I'm involving only those doctors whom I completely trust."
Shaurya nodded again, still visibly shaken.
"Shaurya... she's out of danger now. Stop panicking. You're sweating badly", Dev said while holding his best friend by the shoulders.
Only then did Shaurya finally gather enough courage to ask the question he had been avoiding.
"What did the doctors say?"
"We brought her in at the right time", Dev replied. "There was significant blood loss, but thankfully they managed to save her. But according to the doctors..." He paused while rubbing his forehead tiredly. "There are chances she may attempt it again."
Shaurya closed his eyes painfully.
"We need to find the reason behind this and end it permanently. That's the only way to save Akriti", Dev added firmly.
"She just needs to tell us what's hurting her, Dev", Shaurya said, his eyes filling with tears. "We'll do anything... literally anything to make her feel better. Why did she do this? Didn't we give her everything she ever wanted? Didn't she think about us even once?"
His voice finally broke.
"What would've happened to us if something happened to her? What would've happened to me?"
"Calm down, Shaurya", Dev said softly. "Once we find the reason, we'll make sure to remove it forever."
Shaurya nodded weakly.
The next few days passed with Akriti unconscious, and during that entire time, Shaurya refused to leave her ward even once.
Finally, the day she opened her eyes arrived.
"Akriti... bacha... how are you feeling?", Shaurya asked gently while caressing her hair.
But the moment Akriti realized she was alive, she became violently aggressive.
"No... let me die... leave me, Shaurya... leave me!" she screamed hysterically while trying to free herself. "I don't want to live... please let me die..."
In panic, she began pulling out the IV drips attached to her body, causing blood to drip from her hands.
"Akriti, please bacha... calm down... I'm here..." Shaurya held her desperately, completely terrified. "I'll fix everything, okay? I'm here..."
Then he shouted loudly, "DOCTOR! DOCTOR!"
Akriti continued struggling uncontrollably.
"Please beta... bhai will die if something happens to you..." Shaurya pleaded helplessly, tears already falling from his eyes. "Please calm down... I'll do anything to fix this. Anything, beta... anything..."
Within minutes, doctors rushed into the room and sedated Akriti again.
Once they finished treating her and left the room, Shaurya completely broke down.
The tears he had been suppressing all these days finally escaped freely.
Dev rushed inside after hearing the commotion, and the moment he saw Shaurya collapsed on his knees beside the bed, shoulders trembling, Dev immediately shut the ward door behind him.
Then he looked toward Akriti lying unconscious again after sedation, and his own eyes filled with tears.
"S-She tried to kill herself... and I couldn't stop her", Shaurya whispered brokenly. "It hurts so much, Dev... I feel so helpless... so useless..."
His voice lowered further.
"Exactly the way I felt years ago... when she was just a few days old."
Immediately, Dev sat down beside him and pulled his devastated best friend into his arms.
"Shaurya... handle yourself. She's safe now. Akriti is safe. We won't let anything happen to our sister. We're together in this... and you know very well that when we're together, we don't lose."
Still, Shaurya shook his head weakly.
"It's been almost two decades, Dev... but I still live with the fear of losing her... of someone hurting her..."
And Dev understood that fear better than anyone. Because Akriti wasn't originally Akriti Rajnath Bisht. She was born Akriti Virendar Singh Shekhawat.
The day she was born, little Shaurya had been extremely excited to welcome his baby sister into the world. But barely a day after his mother returned home with the newborn, violent arguments began between his parents.
And one night, he accidentally overheard one such conversation.
"This is all your fault! You gave birth to a girl!" Virendar screamed furiously.
"How was I supposed to know it would be a girl?" Shobha replied coldly, shocking young Shaurya completely. "If I knew, I wouldn't have taken such care during the pregnancy. I thought it would be a son."
"Shut up!" Virendar shouted again.
"This happened because of you", Shobha accused him bitterly. "Despite knowing the consequences of having a daughter, you got greedy for another son."
"Yes, because what if Shaurya refused to enter politics? Who would've inherited everything then?" Virendar snapped back.
"But now we have a daughter. Think about how we'll deal with Param", Shobha whispered anxiously.
Param was a powerful local goon whose influence extended far beyond state borders.
Years ago, he had loaned Virendar a massive amount of money, and when the time came to repay it, Virendar had no way to arrange such a huge sum.
Moreover, taking Param lightly was never an option, considering his dangerous network and influential connections spread across the country.
Param's own seven-year-old son had been born physically disabled, and after repeated failed attempts to recover his money, Param eventually made a disgusting deal with Virendar while drunk.
If Virendar's next child turned out to be a son, the entire loan would be forgiven.
But if the child was a daughter, Virendar would have to marry her to Param's son and legally transfer his entire property to them in the future. Drunk and desperate, Virendar had agreed.
"We only lose everything if the child is a daughter..." Virendar muttered coldly. "Not if she's a dead daughter."
Little Shaurya's hands and feet turned ice cold hearing his father's words. Even then, a part of him desperately hoped his mother would stop this madness.
But instead, Shobha asked calmly, "Will this actually work? What if Param still forces us to repay him?"
"The agreement only mentions two situations", Virendar explained. "Either we have a daughter... or we don't. If we don't, we lose nothing."
Then Shobha uttered the words that shattered Shaurya completely.
"We can bury her and ask the doctor to declare her stillborn."
Virendar nodded immediately.
"That's exactly what I planned. I've already spoken to the doctor."
Then he added casually, "First let me check on Shaurya. He was excited about the baby. I need to make sure he's asleep before we proceed. He's our only hope now, so we need to handle him carefully."
Young Shaurya's heart broke for his little sister. What had that innocent baby done to deserve parents like this? That very moment, the little boy silently decided he would save his sister no matter what.
Shaurya immediately ran toward Mrs. Sudha for help, but unfortunately, she wasn't home that night. Instead, the old gardener found him sitting outside crying helplessly.
The moment the man approached him kindly, little Shaurya revealed everything. And thankfully, the elderly man agreed to help him.
While Virendar and Shobha remained occupied planning how to cover up the newborn's murder, waiting for Shaurya to fall asleep before carrying out their plan, the gardener quietly took the baby from the room and handed her over to Shaurya.