Page 22 of Substitute Bride

UNBEARABLE PAIN

“Where are you...?"

As soon as Jhankar hears Vikrant's voice on the phone, she is stunned. She quickly pulls the phone away from her ear and checks it carefully—his name and number are properly saved. She puts the phone back to her ear and shouts.

"How did you even touch my phone?"

"Tell me where you are; I will come there and tell you how I touched the phone."

Jhankar gets furious after hearing him and is about to hang up when Vikrant immediately tells her.

"Your father is unwell, and it will be better if, instead of fighting with me, you tell me where you are right now so that I can come to pick you up so that we can go to him together."

"You don’t need to come with me. I’ll go myself. I’ll be late. I am informing you because I know you will quickly order me not to stay there, and I don’t want you to go there right now."

“I am already going to your house, so you can come with me.”

Jhankar takes a deep breath, immediately provides him with the address where she is currently, and then waits for him to arrive.

In a few minutes, Vikrant was around her because his men had already told him where Jhankar was, but he would rather not make a big deal out of it, so he called and created a situation.

As Vikrant pulls up, Jhankar watches him.

He walks to the passenger side and opens the door.

Silently, she goes and sits inside. Vikrant gets in the driver's seat and starts tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. Without looking at her, he says,

“Seatbelt…”

Jhankar begins to scrutinize him more intently, aware that it's mandatory to wear a seatbelt after sitting in the car.

However, she believes that if he had driven the car, she would have worn the seatbelt more comfortably.

She gets frustrated and starts wearing the seatbelt while staring at him.

Vikrant can feel her sharp gaze on him quite well, but he is looking ahead, still tapping on the steering wheel, and patiently waiting for her to put on her seatbelt first. As soon as the sound of the seatbelt click reaches his ears, he immediately starts driving the car.

Jhankar is looking outside when Vikrant informs her of the situation.

“Uncle has gone to the office despite being unwell. He is not listening to anyone.”

Jhankar turns to see him with a sudden turn, and he is driving his car comfortably, but Jhankar gets frustrated with Raghunath's situation, due to which she starts saying in anger.

“He never listens to anyone, no matter how high the fever he has or if there is some other problem, but if he has to go to the office, then he has to go. As if it is not obvious, he has a second wife, without whom he cannot live.”

Vikrant suddenly looks at her, but Jhankar is so angry that she doesn't keep quiet at all and starts speaking continuously in a frustrated tone.

“I have always had the habit of doing what I want, and I have been doing the same (to mimic her father). He has never listened to anyone. If you love your work so much, then why do you marry, have children, and start a family? Marry your work, marry your office, live with it, and spend your life happily; neither bother yourself nor bother anyone else.”

Vikrant understands her frustration very well; this is the anger of many days, and along with that, the care she feels for her parents, right now not being able to show them.

After hearing about her father's health, she has already been very upset since last night; she did not sleep properly the whole night, and he guesses that she must not have gotten a proper response from any company, which is quite surprising for him too.

He casts a fleeting glance at Jhankar. She is still talking in a low voice, and her breathing is also getting faster and faster due to anger, which is why she is muttering in anger.

He pulls out a water bottle and hands it to her.

She snatches it from his hands and attempts to calm herself by drinking water.

However, after taking two or three sips, she turns back to him and begins to speak.

"You knew my father was sick. Your surveillance of my house is so thorough that you could have just sent someone inside and tied him to the bed. That would’ve solved everything.

He could have rested and stayed home. But no—men like you are in love with their offices, as if they’ll die without going! "

Vikrant nods silently.

"Sir, why are you nodding?" She snaps.

"Next time, if your father tries to leave the house, we’ll have to tie him to the bed."

"What’s the use now? He already went and worked the whole day. If he missed his medicine, his condition could’ve worsened! He’ll come home coughing and miserable."

"I think we should call the doctor now—he’ll be home soon."

"You really have no brains. That should’ve already been done!"

Vikrant rolls his eyes and checks his watch. He presses the accelerator slightly, eager to get her home faster. Soon, they arrive.

Jhankar doesn’t wait—she rushes inside. Vikrant watches her disappear before turning to his men.

"Yes, sir..."

"Where is Mr. Dixit?"

"Sir, I think he will be arriving in a few minutes. We have sent a man to follow him so that he doesn't face any kind of problem, and we are getting constant updates from our men that he is about to come."

Vikrant nods his head, and a car stops there.

From which many doctors come out who are checking Raghunath regularly.

Raghunath starts talking to the doctors.

Meanwhile, Raghunath's scooter turns into the street.

Vikrant observes him intently; he looks so pale and worn out.

Observing Vikrant standing in front of his house, Raghunath speaks to him as he gets off the scooter.

“There was no need for you to come here and do all this. I am okay now.”

“Jhankar is waiting for you inside.”

As soon as Raghunath hears Jhankar's name, he forgets to say anything and smiles instantly.

He immediately comes inside quickly. Vikrant is also behind him.

As they come inside, Jhankar is sitting quietly on the sofa, and her eyes are on the door.

As soon as she sees Raghunath, she instantly becomes frustrated with him and utters the following words.

"When you know very well that you are not well, then what was the need to go to the office? Why don't you sit at home and take some rest?"

Raghunath feels a sense of joy upon seeing his daughter after a prolonged absence. Raghunath says this while trying to control his emotions.

"My health is not that bad."

As soon as Jhankar hears him, she immediately stands up and comes to him, touches his head and neck, and then stares at him and shouts even louder.

"Your health is not too bad; your whole body is burning, and you are saying that you are not feeling well.

I don't understand whether you are a small child or we are your children who are explaining this to you. You say that there should never be any problem, and I say that both your legs should be fractured so that you can take a rest, and even if one leg gets fractured, you will be able to walk on one leg and go to your office.”

Hearing Jhankar's words, everyone there is laughing while suppressing their laughter; only Vikrant is looking at Jhankar cautiously.

Jhankar forcibly makes Raghunath sit on the sofa and turns to look at Chitrali, who is just looking at her husband and daughter while holding back tears in her eyes.

Upon catching sight of Chitrali, Jhankar addresses her.

"You have prepared something for him; he will have to take medicine; the doctor is also standing here; let's give him all the injections so that he gets rid of all the urge to go to the office."

"Hotchpotch..."

"Then the hotchpotch will fly into his mouth on its own… Bring it to me; I will feed him."

"I will not eat hotchpotch. I find it very tasteless."

"So should I get a pizza delivered for you from Domino's? You will sit here and eat it comfortably, then go to the office, right? First, get well."

As soon as Raghunath complains to her about the tasteless hotchpotch, she immediately replies to him, due to which Vikrant sits quietly on the single sofa with a slight smile.

The doctor begins administering his injection while simultaneously examining Raghunath.

Chitrali quickly brings hotchpotch, then Jhankar takes the plate from her and sits in front of Raghunath; with an angry expression, she puts a spoonful of hotchpotch in front of him.

Raghunath is staring at the hotchpotch, but he doesn't feel like eating at all.

Suddenly, Jhankar places the plate on the table, holds his jaw, and forcibly begins feeding him hotchpotch.

Vikrant, observing the scene with his palm pressed to his lips to conceal his smile, finds the beauty of it all so captivating that he can't help but smile.

Raghunath even eats something forcefully from Jhankar, and the doctor has also given him an injection, resulting in him sleeping effortlessly and feeling sleepy, so the doctor helps him and takes him to his bedroom, and Chitrali also goes with him and asks a few questions of the doctor who was treating him. Jhankar turned to Vikrant.

"They told me his blood pressure is low and he's under stress, but he had a very high fever... I am totally unaware of this."

The doctor quickly looked towards Jhankar and informed her about Raghunath's condition.

“His blood pressure was causing several problems. The stress lead to fatigue and chest pain, for which we were treating him. But due to a change in weather, he also developed a fever. You can see how careless he is with his health. I clearly asked him not to go to the office and to rest instead, but this morning when I came, he had already left. That’s when I informed Sir. ”

The doctor tells her while looking at Vikrant, and Jhankar starts looking at him again. He says.