28. To the Hospital
Every person I attached myself to was snatched away from me by my kismet.

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As soon as Ashar opened the file, he froze.

His eyes scanned over each and every document.

I was going to kill Cecily with my bare hands!

"Ashar . . . " I cautiously walked around the desk to try to diffuse the impending storm heading my way. "I can explain."

"Go ahead." He shut the file and threw it on the desk. His jaw turned rigid, and he crossed his arms waiting for my explanation.

"Ashar, I—"

My phone rang but I dismissed the call. It rang again.

Roshan's name flashed across the screen. As soon as I cut the call, he called me again. Though I wanted to ignore him right now, my gut told me to pick it up. As soon as I accepted the call, this Christmas Eve became the worst Christmas Eve of my life.

"Annie, you have to come," Roshan said in an urgent tone. "This girl ran into my car and she's saying call 'Anmol Majhraut' on her phone. Do you know someone named 'Aara?'"

"Aara?" I had to repeat to make sure. That got Ashar's attention. "Roshan, where are you? Send me the location. We'll be there ASAP."

"What is it?" Ashar asked me.

"Annie, she looked drugged," Roshan said in a lowered voice. "I brought her to the hospital."

"Oh Roshan, just . . . send me the address," I said not knowing what to do.

I swallowed hard and looked at the worried brother in front of me. I couldn't hold back my tears as I showed him the text Roshan sent me with the hospital location.

Ashar wasted no second running out of the room and I ran right behind him. He grabbed his car keys and hurried out of the front door.

When I tried to get in the car with him, he asked spitefully, "Haven't you done enough?!"

"You'll need me," I stressed. "You can yell at me later, but I have to be there right now."

Rather than arguing further, he opened the door and let me in with him. The drive to the hospital was dead silent except for my crying and sniffling. If I was imagining the worst, I didn't know how Ashar was feeling. It was his little sister. I had fought by her side for him to let her go to the ball.

We arrived at the hospital rather quick as the roads were empty. Roshan was waiting at the front door as I had instructed. He ushered us to the emergency department where a nurse told us to wait outside the room.

"She ran into my car," Roshan said. He handed me Aara's phone. "When I went to talk to her, she looked completely high. She kept mumbling to me to call you. She said not to tell her brother. I didn't know what to do, so I brought her here."

Ashar threw us both death glares as if it were our fault.

"You set her up," Ashar accused, staring at me.

"What?"

"Just like you did last time with your friends," he said as if some revelation had dawned on him. "I was wondering why you had turned so kind towards her and us—"

"Ashar—"

"You got her clothes, you changed her look, and you sent her to the stupid charity ball!" he snapped. "On purpose! You and your friends still haven't changed at all! I was stupid for believing you had finally become a better person!"

"You're completely misunderstanding the situation," I said, realizing how he thought Roshan was involved. "This is a coincidence he is here. Ashar, I didn't trap anybody."

"You saw the file," he said not believing my words. "You know everything. And you thought why not ruin his sister's future too. I didn't think you could stoop this low, Anmol. You're disgusting!"

The hatred in his eyes made my heart sink.

"Look dude," Roshan stepped in. "That girl ran into my car. I came to the school ball as alumni. I don't know what your issue is, but you should be grateful I didn't call the cops."

"Why didn't you?" Ashar retorted. "So you and your best friend could enjoy this situation?"

"Ashar, shut up," I said.

Many staff members were staring at us. Thankfully, the doctor stepped out of the room after ten minutes. He asked for family and Ashar stepped inside with him.

"Annie, I'll be back," said Roshan. "I'll try to take care of the car she was driving. I just left it there on the side of the road. I don't want someone to report it stolen. That'd be terrible."

My thoughtful friend. I had ignored him all these weeks and he still wanted to help me.

"Thank you, Roshan," I said. "I'm sorry for Ashar's words. He's upset. Don't take it personally."

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I'll catch up with you after I figure out who that red Ferrari belongs to."

"Someone at the ball," I said as I tried to remember the name of the boy Aara had mentioned. "J—Josh! Josh something."

"Josh? Josh Campbell?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "John Campbell's son?"

"The school's trustee?" I asked slowly. John Campbell was a well known name in the private school kids sector. He was a trustee in every single private school in this area. In fact, he owned quite a few successful casinos in the area.

"I met him tonight at the ball and he introduced me to his son, Josh," said Roshan. "I'll go check. Maybe it's a different Josh."

"I hope so," I told him.

Even I knew my words were wishful thinking.

He nodded slowly and left. I had to apologize to him later for abandoning that film. First, I had to tackle my life's adventurous movie.

I called Jhanvi who answered on the fourth try.

"You better have a good reason for disturbing my beauty sleep," she said in a groggy voice.

"I need your help."

"What's wrong?" my cousin asked fully awake now.

"You remember John Campbell?" I asked immediately. "He's your dad's golf buddy."

"Yes, what happened?"

I quickly told her tonight's events. Even though Roshan said he would handle it, having Jhanvi's and my uncle's help would make it easier to get all of the night's details. How Aara had ended up drugged in that car only Aara knew. Until she was conscious, we had to solve the mystery ourselves.

"Don't worry," Jhanvi assured me. "I'll take care of it. Just take care of her. I'll give you an update once I have it sorted."

I thanked her before disconnecting.

Ashar came out of the room and sat down on a chair. He held his head in his hands. I didn't know how to ask him her condition without risking another accusatory outburst. He considered me the culprit behind his sister's situation.

Though I had set them up in the past and abandoned them at the party, I wasn't going to hurt him now. Why didn't I hide the stupid file somewhere else?! I should've thrown it in the fire!

Aara's phone rang. Ashar wasn't paying attention. I stepped away to pick up the call from "Josh."

"Aara, where are you?" asked the teenage boy.

"Hi," I said slowly. I quickly explained the matter to him and told him to wait for Roshan and Jhanvi.

Though he was shocked at first, all he said was a meek "okay."

The hospital was dead quiet as time edged closer to midnight.

Knowing he had deemed me responsible for her condition, I stayed quiet and stood a few feet away from Ashar, leaning against the wall. I could see him wiping his eyes continuously until it looked like he was praying. I prayed to the almighty to not give Ashar and his family any more pain and restore Aara back to her normal self.

It was the first time I had asked God to do something for someone else.

It was almost six in the morning when Aara woke up. I wanted to go inside the hospital room when the doctor came, but I didn't want to risk Ashar's anger.

As soon as the doctor left the room, I crept up to the open door and peeped in. Ashar had a chair pulled up next to Aara's bed. Aara was still resting on her back but Ashar helped raise the bed higher with a remote.

I saw darkness under the young girl's eyes. Her lips were discolored and her cheeks pale. Tears slipped out of her eyes as she looked at Ashar. He shushed her and promised her he wasn't mad.

"You're going to be okay," Ashar assured her.

"I'm sorry."

"What happened?" Ashar asked her in the gentlest tone. He held her hand. "Tell me everything."

"I don't kn—know." She sobbed. "Everything was going great, b—but then after I ate dinner . . . I vaguely remember I went to Josh's car to get my jacket. Some guys followed me. I was scared. I locked myself in the car and they were scaring me by tapping on the windows. My head was so heavy and fuzzy. I drove a little to get away from them, but I ran into a tree or something. Then, I woke up here."

"It's okay," Ashar told her calmly.

"I'm sorry," she said as she started crying again. "I'm sorry I fought with you to to the dance. I'm really sorry. I should've listened to you. I thought I was finally fitting in. But people aren't nice. I don't even know what happened to me."

"The doctor said you had a drug overdose," Ashar explained. I almost gasped. Roshan wasn't wrong that she looked drugged. "They gave you sedatives to counter the drugs. You'll recover soon, don't worry."

"I'm sorry," she kept repeating. Her eyes fell on my face. "Annie."

Ashar looked over his shoulder at me. He didn't seem happy but I risked taking a few steps in.

"Annie, you were right," Aara said. "I wasn't careful. Even though you warned me about the alcohol and drugs, I didn't care."

"What?" Ashar said before I could say something.

She explained to him how I had warned her before she left. I didn't know how Ashar took it because silence sealed his lips.

I managed to tell Aara some words of a speedy recovery before the doctor returned. Ashar and I waited outside for a few more minutes.

"So you also knew drugs were supplied at these events," Ashar accused. "Fantastic, Anmol. You're an excellent story writer. Even a better director with the execution of your plan."

"Ashar, I didn't hurt her."

"You hurt me."

His words stung.

Roshan texted me he couldn't return because he had early morning shoot. But he had dealt with the Campbells. Jhanvi shot me a text that she was waiting for me at home to give me more details.

"You should go home," Ashar said. He didn't say it kindly either.

"She'll need me," I told him.

"I can take care of my sister."

"Ashar, she's a girl. She's weak right now," I said. "She'll need help changing her clothes or going to the bathroom or something else."

"The nurse can help," he shot back.

"The nurse is not family."

"Neither are you."

His glassy eyes were full of hatred and frustration. I pursed my lips as his words hurt me deep somewhere. Maybe a few weeks earlier, I wouldn't have called him and his sisters my family. But now, I had begun accepting them.

God had a vendetta against me. Every person I attached myself to was snatched away from me by my kismet.

Ashar's harsh words reduced me to tears. I stepped outside the hospital and texted my driver to pick me up.

It was a half hour ride back home.

Cecily opened the front door.

"Get out of my house," I told her quietly.

"What?" she asked surprised.

"If you don't disappear out of my life in the next ten seconds, I promise you, I'll kill you with my bare hands!"

"Annie!" Jhanvi's sharp voice behind Cecily didn't waver my anger.

I stared hard at Cecily until she stepped around me and left the property.

"What is wrong with you?!" Jhanvi asked.

I moved forward and wrapped my afms around her. She relaxed slightly.

"Everything, Jhanvi. Everything."

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A/N

I really hope the chapter wasn't bad.

So I wrote this chapter a while ago. I wrote another version of it but that wasn't moving my story along. Had to do this. Don't worry. Some twists are coming up.

My updates are late, I know. I apologize. Just my new job. I'm trying to get the hang of this corporate world. I have no confidence in anything anymore.

How is life going for y'all?

How is your love life? (Covid killed my chances of having any haha).

Next chapter is 3/4ths written. I will try to post it this week to compensate for the long wait.

—K-K-Kiran