Page 27 of Substitute Bride
Both Jhankar and Chitrali have a smile on their faces because Raghunath is responding well to the treatment.
The doctor moved him to the ward in the morning, and when he opened his eyes in the evening, he saw everyone.
However, the heavy medication hindered his speech, and the doctor, not wanting him to experience any stress, decided to let him rest for now.
Both Jhankar and Chitrali have been sitting near Raghunath for a while, but Jhankar's eyes are only on Vikrant, who is constantly talking to the doctor every hour and trying to understand everything very well.
As soon as Vikrant enters, he notices Chitrali and gives her a slight smile.
“He is responding very well to the treatment, and the doctors are also thrilled with his progress. But no matter what happens, he will have to stay here for the next seven days. Even after that, if he doesn’t have any problems, then the doctors won’t keep him here.
But I say we should keep him in the hospital for a few more days because at least we’ll be sure that he doesn’t develop any new issues. ”
Jhankar feels a great sense of relief upon hearing his words, while Chitrali gently holds Jhankar’s hand and speaks to Vikrant.
“You are absolutely right, but we’ll see all that later. Right now, it is a matter of immense relief that he is responding very well to the treatment.”
Vikrant doesn’t say much; he just nods his head after listening to her and goes outside so that both daughter and mother can sit comfortably and talk to each other.
“Jhankar, this hospital is much more expensive. An excellent NGO provided Papa’s treatment, but we’ve been in this hospital for a long time, and we cannot afford the additional expenses.”
“You don’t need to worry too much. I talked to him very well, and this whole expense will not cost us much. Don’t worry too much; I’ll also talk to the doctor about this matter.”
Chitrali feels very relieved after hearing Jhankar’s words. She just sits quietly and looks at Raghunath. Chitrali is closely observing Vikrant, who is working right in front of her. With a gentle smile, she addresses Jhankar.
“If Vyom were here today, he would have stayed here day and night for his father. If I forget for a moment what this boy did to us, then I’m telling you the truth—I am feeling a lot of love for this boy.”
Jhankar glances at Chitrali, then shifts her gaze to Vikrant, who is seated in front of her, and begins attentively listening to Chitrali.
“We can’t even imagine what time can make a person do. Even today Vyom is not with us—we had never thought that such a situation would arise because of Vyom. And today, this unknown boy is with us day and night, which we don’t like at all. But still, we are here together.”
Jhankar shifts her focus from Vikrant to her mobile and begins her new search. She would rather not dwell on this matter, as she is already noticing it quite well.
A few hours later, Vikrant looks at his watch—it is quite late. He comes to the room and tells both of them.
“You both go home; I’ll stay here.”
“You haven’t gone home for a long time, so you and Jhankar go home. Tomorrow, I will go home. Today, you go and rest.”
Vikrant glances at Jhankar, who is clearly exhausted. She nods her head, gets up, approaches her father, gives him a kiss on the head, and then quietly walks out. Chitrali starts smiling a lot after seeing Jhankar like this, and this smile is not hidden from Vikrant’s eyes at all.
Both of them sit in the car quietly to go to Dhanraj Mansion.
Jhankar has not slept well at night, and she wants to do an online job to earn something—as much as she can—after going home, because she is unable to do many things due to already being in the hospital.
As a result, she sits quietly, resting her head on the seat and gently closing her eyes to relax.
Vikrant looks at her cautiously and signals the driver to slow down the car.
The driver drives the car slowly, following his instructions, until they reach the mansion.
Vikrant looks at Jhankar, who has probably fallen asleep, and signals the driver to get out of the car.
The driver quietly gets out, and Vikrant opens his laptop and sits down so that he can work comfortably.
He doesn’t want to leave Jhankar alone here, nor does he want to wake her up, as he is well aware that she hasn’t slept well in a while and may have fallen asleep due to fatigue.
He looks at his watch—it is 9:00—and then he gets himself busy with his laptop.
At around 10:30, Jhankar suddenly wakes up and finds herself in the car itself. She looks toward him unexpectedly.
“We have reached…”
“Hmmm… We reached just a while ago.”
Jhankar looks at her watch, and it is around 10:30. Upon observing this, she turns her gaze toward him and utters,
“We left the hospital at around 8:30. Could you please help me understand why it took us so long to arrive here? I fell asleep. You should have woken me up.”
“There was a lot of traffic on the way, and you were asleep. I didn’t think it was appropriate to wake you up. Anyway, we have just arrived. I had some pending work, so I thought I would wake you up after completing it.”
“Ohhh….”
Jhankar leaves, and Vikrant also follows her. Both of them come to the room and order their dinner there because it is already very late. Once they finish their dinner, Jhankar settles down to do some online typing work on her laptop. Vikrant tells her,
“You should rest. You have been through a lot in the hospital. It will be better if you rest.”
“I am unable to do it at all, so I will do my work for a little while, and after that, I will go to sleep. You go to sleep, and if you have any problems, I’ll go somewhere else from here. The lights will remain on.”
“You know I don’t have any problems. Go to sleep early after whatever you are doing. Only when you sleep on time will you be able to take care of your father.”
Jhankar knows very well that now she has to find a job as soon as possible because they have reached a very difficult situation.
She cannot go for the interview tomorrow under any circumstances.
Because of this, she is busy with her work while noticing many things.
And she is not able to concentrate properly.
Jhankar goes to the kitchen to make coffee for herself and quietly starts making it slowly, but then a helper comes and tells her,
“Ma’am, if you needed something, you should have called on the intercom; I would have brought it for you.”
“No, I didn’t want to disturb anyone. I needed coffee because I had to study all night.”
“You go to the room; I will make coffee for you and bring it.”
“No, you go and sleep comfortably; I will make coffee for myself; don’t worry so much.”
“Madam, there is no problem; I will quickly make coffee for you.”
On hearing her words, Jhankar sits on the chair kept there and closes her eyes. Then the helper, while making coffee, says to her with a light smile,
“If you are feeling sleepy, then you should have slept; otherwise, you will sleep in the car again tomorrow.”
Jhankar speaks to her, pressing her head against hers with a gentle smile.
“Yes, I was very tired; that’s why I fell asleep, and it was good that we took a lot of time to reach because of the traffic jam, so I got a chance to sleep comfortably.”
“Traffic jam? But the driver was telling me that there was no traffic. Sir asked him to get out of the car after reaching here so that you could sleep comfortably in the car; your sleep should not be disturbed in any way.”
Jhankar suddenly starts looking at her and, while making coffee, starts saying more to her with a smile.
“When Sir’s car arrived, we started preparing to set his dinner because he dislikes any kind of delay in his work.
However, he did not come out of the car, which worried us.
The driver then informed us that Ma’am was sleeping in the car, and we would rather not disturb you.
Therefore, he asked him to get out of the car.
I have been working here for so many years, but this is the first time in front of me that Sir has had his dinner so late. ”
Jhankar, listening to her words very carefully, suddenly tells her,
“What time did we come here?”
“Maybe 9 o’clock…”
Jhankar becomes completely silent. The helper hands her a cup of coffee, and then she quickly comes back to the room.
Vikrant is sleeping very well; she sits on the sofa and starts looking at him.
She can clearly see the tiredness on his face.
She understands that the reason for his tiredness is her father’s illness, as he is fully dedicated to their needs.
Over the past month, he has made every effort to assist them, a fact that Jhankar finds difficult to comprehend. She looks at him and says softly.
“Are you regretting your mistake?”
She gazes at him for a while before becoming engrossed in her work and reading continuously.
~~~~
Vikrant wakes up at his usual time in the morning.
He looks at the sofa, where Jhankar is sitting with her eyes closed.
He looks at his watch. It is 6:30 in the morning, and the way she is sitting tells him that she has been working all night.
He gets up and walks over to her. Her hair is shedding on her face.
He has seen on her laptop that she might have found some online work that could help her earn a little money; she was doing that the whole night.
He begins removing her laptop from her grasp, but she gets up immediately.
“What…?”
“You were working all night; you didn’t sleep.”
Jhankar rubs her eyes and looks at her watch. She immediately closes her laptop and starts to stand up. However, the prolonged sitting with her legs crossed has caused her to become extremely rigid. She starts falling as soon as she gets up. Vikrant catches her immediately.
“Ouch…”she screamed in pain.
“Sit back…”
Because she had been sitting in the same position for a long time, her feet had become numb. When she suddenly placed her feet on the ground, they became crooked, and she continued to feel pain. Vikrant sits her back on the sofa and starts looking at her feet carefully.
“Ouchhh… Leave…” He is checking her leg, which causes her pain.
“Relax… it is muscle stiff…”
He massages her calves, then tries to relax her feet by rubbing the soles with his thumb.
Jhankar is experiencing severe pain, prompting her to gaze at him silently.
However, as a result of his massage, her feet begin to experience significant relief.
Soon her pain disappears completely, and she starts looking at Vikrant, who is massaging her feet very well.
Abruptly, she draws her feet closer to herself, prompting Vikrant to stand up and gaze at her.
Jhankar converses with him as she gathers her belongings.
“What time will we leave for the hospital?”
“Tell me when you are ready, and we will leave.”
She nods her head and starts leaving from there. Vikrant continues to stare at her, then abruptly calls her out.
“Jhankar…”
Jhankar turns toward him. Vikrant is looking at her and then says to her,
“If you want, we can send a message to Vyom that your father is unwell.”
On hearing this, Jhankar starts looking at him in a very strange way, and he says to her while looking toward the window,
“But it would be better if he stayed away from here because Viren Chandel is looking for them, and he will not leave Sonakshi and Vyom under any circumstances. It is better for both of them to stay away at this time… They both need each other right now.”
Jhankar gets a little confused after hearing his words. Vikrant looks at her again and says,.
“Sonakshi is pregnant.”