BROTHER-IN-LAW
"See, I told you my health is getting better," she muttered proudly as she walked beside me through the hospital corridor, while I carefully went through the medical reports for what felt like the hundredth time.
I scanned every page again, comparing the latest results with her previous reports, and for once, there was nothing alarming staring back at me.
There was nothing more relieving than seeing her health finally improving after everything she had been through.
"Don't be so serious, Mr. Menon. You are making it look as if I am going to die," she said, peeking at me from the side with a mischievous grin.
I immediately glared at her, but she only laughed and tightened her hold around my arm as we walked toward the hospital exit.
"Don't say things like that so casually," I muttered, though I couldn't completely hide the concern in my voice.
She looked up at me and smiled innocently. "Why? I'm perfectly fine."
"You will be, as long as you stop behaving like you are invincible," I replied, glancing at her. "If you be a good girl and take your treatment regularly, you will be out of these disorders quickly."
She nodded obediently for approximately two seconds before looking at me with a suspicious expression.
"Good girl?" she repeated.
"Yes."
"Are you talking to me like I'm five?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
I smiled. "Apparently, that's the only way you'll listen to me."
She scoffed and leaned her head against my shoulder while we continued walking.
"Fine. I'll take my treatment properly." She paused for a moment before adding, "But I expect a reward."
I looked down at her. "What reward?"
"You'll figure it out, Doctor." She grinned, and I shook my head, already knowing that keeping this woman out of trouble was going to be much harder than treating any illness.
"You're getting late," I said while glancing at my wrist watch.
I had practically dragged her here for her regular check-ups even after she refused to come.
Now, we both need to get back to our works.
"I own the whole company. No one dares to complain that, I'm late." She said proudly.
"Well, I don't own the hospital." I shrugged as I walked towards where my bike was parked. I took my helmet and wore it quickly. As I turned around, I found her, still standing beside me.
"You car is in that way." I pointed out behind her.
"So eager to leave me?" She glared at me.
I shook my head in disbelief and sat on my bike as I started it. "Bye." I said.
She suddenly held my helmet and pulled it off my head.
"What!?" I asked in confusion as she took off the helmet and pulled me closer by my collar. Before I could ask something, she pressed her lips on mine.
My eyes widened as I immediately pulled away.
"We are at the hospital!" I whispered, my face heating up with every passing second.
"So?" She raised her eyebrows teasingly.
I blushed profusely and yanked the helmet from her hand.
"Zero civics sense."
I muttered under my breath even though my heart was pounding louder as if this was the first time this woman was assaulting me publicly.
I started the bike and drove off while she waved a energetic goodbye to me. I couldn't help but bite back a smile as I saw her retreating figure in my rear-view mirror.
I found myself smiling like a fool all the way down the road.
This woman was something and at the same time, my everything.
I could spend an entire lifetime trying to put into words what she meant to me, and I still wouldn't come close to describing the place she had carved for herself in my heart.
Maybe I was simply lucky, absurdly lucky, to have ended up with someone as extraordinary as Viyana Sinclair.
She was beautiful, bold, stubborn, fiercely independent and strong enough to face things that would have broken most people, yet somehow she had chosen to let me see the softer parts of her that she hid from the rest of the world.
I never went looking for someone like her, and I certainly never imagined that a woman like her would become my life partner, but life had a strange way of giving us things we never knew we needed.
She had entered my life without my permission, disrupted everything I thought I wanted, and somehow became the one person I could no longer imagine living without.
I hadn't asked for her, hadn't searched for her, and hadn't even wanted her in the beginning, but now, if someone asked me what I wanted for the rest of my life, there was only one answer my heart knew.
Her.
I parked my bike in the designated spot and walked into the hospital, heading straight toward the changing room.
After changing into my hospital outfit, I cleaned my hands with sanitizer, put on my face mask and stepped out, already mentally preparing myself for the long day ahead.
I was halfway toward my ward when a familiar figure caught my attention at the end of the corridor.
Vihaan.
He was standing there talking to the managing director, looking far too comfortable for someone who had absolutely no reason to be wandering around this hospital.
What was he doing here? It wasn't like he owned this hospital too.
I immediately decided to pretend I hadn't seen him and continued walking, hoping I could disappear into my ward before he noticed me.
Unfortunately, my luck had never been that generous.
"Adithya,"
I heard him call from behind me.
I stopped in my tracks and slowly turned around, only to find Vihaan standing beside my manager.
I would have happily ignored him if we were alone, but with my manager standing right there, walking away would only make me look rude and unprofessional.
I forced myself to turn around and walked back toward them, wondering what the hell he wanted now.
Why was he even calling me in the middle of the hospital?
Did he really want everyone here to know that I was his brother-in-law?
I whined internally and walked toward them, trying my best to look like I hadn't been desperately planning my escape a few seconds ago.
"Okay, sir. We'll discuss that later," Vihaan suddenly said, cutting off his conversation with the manager before gesturing for him to leave.
My manager looked between the two of us with a confused expression before awkwardly walking away, probably wondering why a businessman had stopped a nurse in the middle of the hospital to have a private conversation.
The moment the manager disappeared around the corner, I turned around and decided to walk away as well.
"Where are you going?" Vihaan asked from behind me.
I stopped and glanced over my shoulder.
"I have nothing to talk to you about," I muttered, already feeling my patience disappearing.
"But I have something to talk to you about, so come with me," he said casually.
I turned around fully and folded my arms across my chest.
"Don't order me around," I said firmly, glaring at him.
He stared at me for a moment before raising an eyebrow, clearly amused by my irritation.
"I'm not ordering you around, Adithya. I'm asking you to come with me."
"It sounded like an order."
"Fine," he sighed. "Please come with me." He said pressing the on the word please.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Where?"
"Just outside the hospital, so we can have a private conversation. Do you have any work?" he asked
"Yes, I am very busy," I lied casually and turned around as I started walking away.
"It's about Viyana," he muttered from behind.
I stopped in my tracks so abruptly that he almost walked into me. I slowly turned around and looked at him.
" Let's talk," I said, already hurrying toward the hospital exit.
Vihaan followed behind me with an amused expression.
A minute ago, I had been desperately trying to escape from him, and now I was practically dragging him outside.
If the conversation was about Viyana, then I had all the patience in the world.
My wife could be the topic of conversation for the next twelve hours and I wouldn't complain even once.
We walked outside the hospital block and stopped beneath a large tree, away from the busy entrance and the curious eyes of the people coming and going.
Vihaan turned toward me and stared for a moment, almost as if he was trying to figure out how I had gone from desperately avoiding him to practically dragging him outside.
"Just a few seconds ago, you weren't interested in talking to me," he pointed out with a small smirk.
"Just say what you wanted to say," I muttered, glancing around nervously to make sure none of my colleagues were nearby.
The last thing I needed was someone seeing me standing outside with Vihaan and deciding to turn it into a hospital gossip story.
He seemed to notice my restlessness but didn't comment on it.
Instead, he suddenly asked,
"How are you?"
I stared at him blankly for a second, completely caught off guard by the question.
"I don't have time to answer your stupid questions," I muttered, looking away. "You dragged me all the way out here saying it was about Viyana, and now you're asking me how I am?"
He chuckled softly. "Can't I ask my brother-in-law how he's doing?"
"I am just Viyana's husband, not your brother-in-law," I said firmly, still not liking the way he casually threw that relationship around.
"That's not how relationships work," he said.
I glared at him. "Well, that's how I see it."
He chuckled and shook his head before crossing his arms.
"Fine, Mr. Sinclair's Husband. Tell me something more important. Are you taking good care of my sister, or should I be asking whether she is taking good care of you?"
He paused deliberately, and the smirk on his face immediately made me suspicious.
"Because, apparently, you're the submissive one in this marriage."
I rolled my eyes and turned around to walk away, but Vihaan immediately caught my arm and gently turned me back toward him.
"Chill, man. I was just joking," he said, raising both his hands in surrender.
I sighed and looked at him with an exhausted expression.
"I am fine. My wife is fine. Our marriage is fine, and even our little kitten is fine. Now tell me what you actually want," I said, trying to get him to stop wasting my time.
Vihaan's amused expression slowly disappeared as he sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. For a moment, he simply stared at the ground before looking back at me.
"Has Viyana ever talked about her trauma to you?" he asked suddenly.
My brows furrowed at the unexpected question, and I shook my head slowly.
"N-no."
The way he asked it made my chest tighten. This wasn't another joke. Something about Viyana's past was clearly bothering him, and whatever it was, he seemed hesitant to tell me.
"Why are you asking me that?" I asked, watching his expression carefully.
Vihaan took a slow breath before answering.
"Because there are things about her that you should probably know, Adithya."
My stomach sank at those words. "What things?" I asked.
He remained silent for a few seconds, as though he was deciding how much he was allowed to tell me.
"I don't want to tell you something she hasn't told you herself but I need to know something first," he finally said.
"What?"
"If she ever starts talking about her past, will you listen to her without judging her?" He asked.
I stared at him, confused by the seriousness in his voice.
"Of course I will," I said immediately. "She's my wife. Whatever happened to her before I came into her life doesn't change who she is to me now."
He gave me a faint nod.
"Okay, then. Bye," he muttered before turning around.
I stared at his retreating back for a second, completely baffled.
Wait. That was it?
He dragged me outside, asked me whether Viyana had ever talked about her trauma and then decided to leave without actually explaining anything.
I immediately reached out, caught his arm and stopped him.
"Wait," I muttered, and he turned around with a slightly surprised expression, probably because I was the one who had been desperately trying to escape this conversation a few minutes ago.
"Is this something serious?" I asked, my voice losing all its earlier irritation.
"I know she has PTSD, but she has never told me anything about her trauma. She used to get panic attacks a few times, although they've become much less frequent now, but she still never opens up about what happened to her. Is something bothering her?
Is she keeping something from me because she doesn't feel comfortable enough with me? Or does she not find me comforting enough? Should I change something about myself so she'll find it easier to share her pain with me?"
Vihaan simply stared at me for a few seconds before he slowly shaking his head.
"Adithya, don't do that to yourself," he said quietly. "Her silence doesn't mean you're failing her."
I looked at him, still worried. "Then why doesn't she tell me?" I asked.
"Because trauma doesn't work like that," he replied. "Sometimes people can love someone completely and still struggle to talk about the things that hurt them. It doesn't mean they don't trust that person. It doesn't mean you aren't enough."
I swallowed hard and looked down at the ground.
"Everyone has their own way of dealing with trauma. Some people talk about it with the people they love, while others don't even want to remember it, let alone talk about it. Maybe she simply doesn't want to remember anything about what happened," he said.
I nodded slowly, fidgeting with my fingers as his words sank in.
Somehow, I still felt a little useless.
I was her husband, the person who wanted to stand beside her through everything, yet there was a part of her pain that I couldn't even reach. I hated the thought that she might be carrying something heavy inside her while I was completely unaware of it.
"Will you do me a favour?" I asked quietly.
Vihaan looked at me.
"Tell me about it. I swear I won't tell her that you told me anything."
He studied my face for a long moment without saying anything, and I could tell he was weighing whether he should actually tell me. Finally, he raised an eyebrow.
"You can't order me," he said firmly.
I groaned. "Can you please tell me about it?" I asked.
He chuckled and nodded faintly, but I saw the way his fingers trembled slightly.