Disclaimer and Trigger Warnings
- Any resemblance with any person living or dead is coincidental. All characters are 18+.
- Any choice of names is random, and not indicative on any caste, religion etc. The setting is in India, so readers need to NOT PROJECT THEIR BIASES on my work.
- I write for my pleasure. At my pace. I'm mindful of trigger warnings where they matter, but I don't overapologize. I am aware of FL limits, legal limits, boundaries in general.
- A lot of my fictional work is dark and deals with themes of depression, violence, rough sex, non-consent self-harm, suicide etc. So, if any of these themes are potentially triggering for you, I request you to please not read thhe work and focus on self-care.
- Apart from that, I take time to build my stories. The way I want. So, if this is too harsh, too mild, too little, too much, whine elsewhere. If this is too much sex, too little sex, too realistic, too unrealistic, too much plot, too much dialogue, take your judgement / opinion and put it where it belongs. Unless you're my writing mentor. Because - YKINMK.
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"Come. I'll take you to him." His heart went out to her. His own grief hidden behind that mask of professional politeness. He took her to the room just next to hers and held her close. He didn't want her to panic. He needed her to have a grip on herself right now.
Dr. Krishnan had known Dr. Mathur's family for a little more than a decade now. Anurag and Krishnan had become friends in the final year of their degree. He knew Dr. Mathur understood the consequences of the accident. Dr. Mathur understood that his younger brother might not survive these injuries. As the head of the family, perhaps he would also be able to handle and calm down the rest of his family. Krishnan knew that the Mathur family would grieve. For long. But, they would survive.
This girl, however? In a family of 5 siblings, she was the youngest and almost 11 years their junior. Anurag was the second eldest brother, and the lifeline she had for the last 10 years since the Mathurs lost their parents. She was only 12 when they passed away in a similar accident. She was with them. She had miraculously survived.
She had made multiple attempts on her own life over the next few years. Anurag had been the one to pull her out. His unfathomable love for her, his endless patience, his vigilance.
10 years later, the girl had grown into a remarkably intelligent, beautiful, and strong young woman. No one could even imagine the extent of the darkness she had gone through. The only remnants left in the wake of that accident were the scars on her wrists and the way she clung to her brother.
But this? Krishnan knew Anurag won't survive. But his baby sister? Will she be able to recover? Will she survive this? Krishnan didn't have any answers.
As he held her and walked into Anurag's room, there was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was too much of a coincidence to happen to a family and a young girl like this. The Mathurs were a well-respected, well-known, powerful family in the country. All of them had been very respectable doctors for 3 generations now.
They owned multiple multi-specialty hospitals. Yet they had kept this hi-tech, yet nondescript facility completely out of the public eye; strictly for family and friends. And then they meet with two accidents, both equally devastating, taking down someone critical to the family, and the businesses. And the survivor was the same in both cases.
There was this niggling feeling that Krishnan was unable to shake off. He didn't know what to make of all this. But he was uneasy. Significantly so.
He wondered if he was in danger too. Not that he cared. He had no family. The Mathurs had been his family since the word 'go'. It was all the more important that he listened to his intuition.
Was there something sinister at play here? He had his suspicions. He also knew who to share this with. He needed to talk to Anurag's elder brother. Dr. Mathur was the only person who Krishnan could trust right now. But this would need to wait.
Right now? He needed to deal with Anurag. And his baby sister. Right now, she needed him.
©Asmi Uniqus Dec 2022
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