CHAPTER 3 #2
“The bed’s untouched. Her purse and phone are gone, too.”
For a moment, he couldn’t believe it. He exhaled slowly. So she actually left.
Everything he had heard about Mishti before their marriage painted her as the dutiful kind… like bound by societal norms, by her family’s name. He’d expected her to stay, if not for him, then for her precious brother. She wouldn’t dare bring the Goels to ruin, or so he’d thought.
But clearly, she’d just made his next move easier.
A shrill ringtone cut through his thoughts as his phone buzzed on the bedside table, flashing an unknown number.
“Get me my coffee, Maria,” he said absently as he picked up the call.
“Yes, sir.” Maria hesitated, still hoping for some updates about Mishti, but his cold stare made her leave without another word.
Karan pressed the phone to his ear. “Karan Wadhwa speaking.”
“Mr Wadhwa,” a woman’s voice said urgently from the other end, “I’m calling from the City Hospital. Your wife, Mrs Mishti Wadhwa, was brought in early this morning. She’s—she’s had an accident.”
“What?” He stilled.
“She’s under observation right now. The doctors are with her.”
Karan didn’t even realise he was already grabbing his keys and striding out the door.
“How bad is it?”
“We can’t say yet, sir. Please come to the hospital immediately.”
He took the details before ending the call and hurried out. By the time Maria returned from the kitchen with his coffee, the front door was already slamming shut behind him, making her wonder where he left so urgently.
***************
City Hospital
He parked like a man who wanted the world to get out of his way, then stormed through the hospital reception. The private ward nurse looked up, startled, but Karan shoved the door open and stepped inside without waiting for her permission.
Mishti lay on the bed, awake. There was a cotton pad at her temple while the nurse finished injecting in her arm…morphine for the pain. He looked at the bruise on her forehead, the bandage on her scalp, before he finally looked at her.
“You told me you were only going home, not to heaven,” he barked.
The nurse blinked, taken aback by the tone. “Sir, please. This is a hospital. Keep your voice down.”
Mishti’s hand caught the nurse’s fingers in reflex. “It’s okay. He is my husband, and that’s his normal tone,” she mocked.
The nurse, although confused, her face immediately softened. “Your wife is stable. She’s lucky. You should thank God it’s just a few contusions. Nothing major.”
His eyes hovered over her bruises again, then at her pale face and sleepy eyes. After their argument last night, she might have packed her bags and left. And this is where she ended up.
“I need to talk to my wife. Alone. Please leave,” he snapped at the nurse.
The woman hesitated, then sighed and left. Mishti tried to sit up, but she felt dizzy as pain flared through her temple. When she reached blindly for support, without wasting a second, Karan reached her and barked. “Stop moving.”
The doorknob clicked that very instant, and a lady doctor stepped inside. She looked young…neat hair, glasses pushed up on her head and a bit disappointed at what she just witnessed.
“Mr Wadhwa,” she said. “I’m Dr Komal from the emergency unit.” She moved toward the bed and, with sure hands, helped Mishti into a sitting position while still keeping her eyes on Karan. “She’s under my care since she arrived this early morning.”
Karan’s impatience was still there. “When can I take her home?”
Dr Komal’s mouth flattened. “Never.”
“What?” Karan barked.
Komal sighed. “I meant, a patient needs care and love, not intimidation. The nurse told me, and I clearly saw the way you reacted and behaved with her ever since you arrived. So, if this is how you want to treat her back home, then I am sorry, we are not letting her go with you.”
Mishti was tongue-tied, whereas Karan was already fuming.
“Don't presume you can stop me from taking my wife, Doctor,” Karan threatened.
“In fact, a single call from me and you'll be shown the door from this hospital. After that, feel free to try your luck at some NGO—protecting women from ‘intimidating husbands’ sounds like a job that would suit your talents.”
“Karan…” Mishti whispered, completely shocked by the way he was talking to Dr Komal.
But Komal just smirked.
“I wouldn’t expect any less from you, Mr Wadhwa.
It’s billionaires like you who give a few charities to hospitals and then think you can decide their fate.
But unfortunately, that’s not how it works here.
And if I ever join an NGO, I’ll make sure it’s your name on the wall as my first mission to save an innocent woman from her husband. ”
Mishti immediately intervened. “Doctor, I am sorry…he’s shocked I’m in this condition. That’s it. You are overthinking.”
Komal’s eyes softened for a half-second in Mishti’s direction, then hardened back on Karan as she announced.
“Well, her injuries are minor,” she said.
“A few bruises and some soft-tissue trauma to the shoulder. Her CT scan was clear. Labs are fine. She’s stable, otherwise.
Yet, she needs six hours of observation, neuro checks, and rest. And I still won’t sign her out until I am sure, you being her husband, don’t neglect her care.
That’s not acceptable. And if anyone mistreats her while she recovers, I will be the one to call the authorities. ”
Karan stared at the doctor, trying hard not to argue back over her personal comments. “Fine. Prepare the discharge papers. I’ll take her home after 6 hours.”
“Okay,” she nodded and left.
The moment Komal exited the room, Mishti bristled.
“I am not going home with you. I want to go to the Goel mansion.”
Karan’s patience snapped again. “If you wanted to go there, then why did you give my contact details at the hospital? Why did they call me here?”
“I didn’t give your information. Some Dr Pratham Sharma recognised me as your wife and asked the staff to call you.”
Karan remembered Dr Pratam Sharma. He was a respected, old surgeon, very famous in the city.
“Thanks for coming,” Mishti continued. “You can leave now. I’ll make my way to the Goel mansion myself. I can manage.”
“You can manage? Yeah, right. Just like how you left for the Goel mansion, yet managed to wake up in a hospital bed.”
“I didn’t end up here by choice,” she shot back, breathless. “I was driving carefully when those bikers racing late at night, came the wrong way. One of them accidentally hit my car, and I lost control.”
Her voice faltered for a second as flashes of screeching tyres and shattering glass filled her mind. “My car…???” she wondered where it was and under what condition.
“It’s gone for servicing. And your luggage already sent back to the Wadhwa mansion.”
Her eyes snapped up to him. “But I’m not going there.”
That pulled a bitter smirk from Karan, who stepped closer. “Your Daksh bhai hasn’t even taken down the reception decorations yet. He’s just got you married off and shrugged off your responsibility. He’s not expecting you home again, Mishti. Give him a little time to breathe.”
His words again pricked her.
“Why are you so concerned about that?” she asked. “Didn’t you say you and your company only believe in ruining and stripping others down? So, why show mercy now to my family?”
Karan’s reaction was instantaneous. He pressed a finger gently to her lips to shut her up. The gesture definitely halted her words, but his proximity made her skin hum.
“One more word,” he said, “and you’ll see what I do to people who test me.”
Mishti’s jaw dropped. She turned her head away, tears stinging. That’s when Komal walked back in that very moment.
“Mr Wadhwa,” she said, stepping inside, “you need to sign some paperwork at reception. And please wait in the visitor’s room. Your wife needs rest, not a bucket of tears. Also, if you would like, I will brief you in private in an hour about her follow-up next week.”
Karan’s hand slipped from Mishti’s mouth before he strode out.
As the door closed, Komal rested her hand briefly on Mishti’s arm. “I’ll make sure you’re okay. Don’t worry.”
She scribbled quick notes on the chart, already thinking ahead.
She had never met Karan Wadhwa before, but now that she had, she understood why people spoke of him the way they did.
The man reeked of power and was utterly devoid of empathy.
She felt a pang of pity for Mishti. No matter what it took, Komal decided she would find a way to help her.