33 ~ Desparate Samaira #2
"Stop fighting it. You're only making yourself feel worse."
She reached toward him again. He caught her wrist and pushed it away.
There was barely any strength behind the command, but the rejection was unmistakable.
She leaned closer, trying to get him to look at her.
"Just let me take care of you."
He immediately pushed her away. "Don't touch me."
She stumbled back half a step.
For a moment, silence filled the room.
Then she looked at him with something disturbingly close to desperation.
I was only thinking about getting him out of that room.
I couldn't stand there anymore.
Before I could think about the consequences, I shoved the glass door open and barged inside.
"Samaira!"
She barely had time to turn before I pushed her away from Kartik.
I immediately dropped beside him, my hands going to his face.
"Are you okay?"
His eyes fluttered open, but his gaze was unfocused. He looked at me as though he was struggling to understand whether I was actually there.
"Chahat..."
Hearing my name from his lips made my heart ache.
Before I could say anything else, she grabbed my arm and violently pulled me away from him.
"Get away from him! He's mine." She screamed.
My head struck the edge of the nearby desk with a sharp crack.
Pain exploded through my skull.
For a second, everything went silent.
I touched the side of my head and looked at my fingers.
There was blood.
Something inside me snapped.
I turned toward her.
"You..."
My palm connected with her cheek before I could even think.
The slap echoed through the room.
She staggered sideways, staring at me in disbelief.
"Are you sick? Have you completely lost your mind?" I shouted, my voice shaking with fury. "How dare you drug him?"
She stared at me.
I stepped closer. "And how dare you push me?" My fingers twisted into her hair, forcing her to look at me. "You psychotic woman!"
I shoved her backward.
Her body struck the same desk against which she had thrown me moments ago.
She winced, her hand immediately going to her forehead.
A thin line of blood appeared near her hairline but I barely noticed.
"Agli baar mujhe haath lagane se pehle das baar sochna."
(Next time think twice before touching me.)
I then sat beside kartik
He was still slumped against the couch, breathing heavily, his face damp with sweat.
The sight made my anger burn hotter.
"Kya haalat kar di hai mere husband ki," I whispered, looking back at Samaira. "What the hell did you give him?"
(What a state you have put my husband in.)
"I didn't..." She got nervous and began to stammer.
"Don't you dare lie to me!" My voice cracked across the room.
The confidence she had carried only moments ago seemed to disappear.
I slipped my arm around Kartik's shoulders, trying to take as much of his weight as I could.
He barely managed to stand. His body felt strangely heavy against me, his breathing still uneven as I supported him toward the door.
But before we could leave, she stepped directly into our path.
"You can't take him away..."
I stared at her in disbelief.
Suddenly I heard footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Ayaan came.
My relief was immediate.
I looked at her with nothing but disgust.
"She drugged him."
"She's lying..." Samaira protested.
"She was with him when I found him. Look at his condition!"
In the middle of the chaos, I learned that Samaira had already been granted bail the previous day.
She had been out for barely a day and today, she had done this.
I couldn't even comprehend it.
Ayan came to my side and helped me support Kartik.
"Let's get him out of here."
I nodded.
Together, we managed to get Kartik into the car.
The drive to the hospital felt endless.
I couldn't stop looking at him.
His eyes remained mostly closed, his breathing gradually becoming steadier, but the sight of him like this terrified me.
I reached over and carefully held his hand.
"Please be okay..."
At the hospital, the medical team immediately took him inside.
A doctor began asking questions.
"What was he given?"
I shook my head helplessly.
'We don't know."
"Any medication? Alcohol? Recreational drugs?"
"No... I've no idea doctor."
The doctor exchanged a concerned glance with the other medical staff.
Without knowing the substance, they couldn't safely administer a medication intended to counteract it because an unknown drug could interact unpredictably with another medicine.
"We'll monitor him closely," the doctor explained. "We need to determine what substance we're dealing with. His symptoms suggest that something may have caused significant stimulation of his nervous system, but we cannot identify the substance from symptoms alone."
My stomach twisted.
"So he'll be okay?"
"We're going to do everything necessary. Right now, the safest approach is monitoring his breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and consciousness while we run the tests. Don't worry, we're watching him very closely."
I nodded, but my eyes remained fixed on him.
I couldn't understand it.
How could Samaira do something like this to him?
If she believed she loved him, how could she deliberately put his life and health at risk?
And why?
Hadn't she already claimed that there was something between them?
Then why had she needed to drug him?
I looked at Kartik lying helplessly on the hospital bed, and something inside me twisted painfully.
Whatever had happened between them, whatever I had believed after seeing that photograph...
This wasn't love.
Maybe I had misunderstood everything.
And if that was true, then what did that make me?
A horrible person who had tried to seduce her own husband just to secure her freedom, believing he was cheating on her with another women.
The guilt twisted inside me as I looked at Kartik lying unconscious on the hospital bed.
For the first time, I hated myself for doubting him.
To be continued...