ARNAV RAIZADA

I was getting restless now, it was early morning, around 6 o'clock and Khushi hadn't woken up yet, the doctor said she would be awake by night but the entire night had passed and she wasn't awake yet.

Why wasn't she waking up? Everything had gone well right? So why wouldn't she just open her eyes? What was wrong? I was worried.

The nurse came to check on her last night and said sometimes some patients take a longer time to get conscious but she was sure that Khushi would be awake but morning, yet here she was, still asleep.

I was getting really worried and now it was scary, a part of me couldn't stop thinking if I was going to lose her too like I had lost everyone I loved.

What was I going to do if I lost her? Did I even have the strength to see her leave? To know that she wouldn't wake up?

"Shut up Arnav! Nothing is going to happen, she will wake up and she's going to be perfectly alright, even the doctors said so.

You promised you would work things, you wouldn't run away and that's what you're supposed to do, you cant hurt her, you cant repeat the same mistakes you did with mom and Saakshi, you cant freaking run away!" I told myself.

I stood up as I paced around her room nervously. I dint want to lose her, and the thought of it was scary, only if she could wake up, I would feel at peace. Please wake up Khushi, please!

I kept on looking towards her every few minutes hoping now she would open her eyes but she wouldn't. An hour later, the doctor walked in to check up on her when I told her that she hadn't woken up, she seemed surprised herself.

"She was supposed to be awake by now at least, everything was okay, even her reports were normal, how come she isn't awake." She said worriedly as she grabbed her hand to check her pulse, she checked a few more things but it looked like she dint understand what was wrong.

"Can you please wait outside for a moment?" She looked at me, I just nodded as I walked out leaving her to check everything, I really hoped Khushi was going to be okay. Why was I the one to lose everyone that I ever loved? What did I do to deserve it?

"Hey, why are you out here, where's Khushi? I can't wait to see her." Jai said as he walked towards me happily hoping to see her.

"The doctor is inside checking up on her." I replied.

"Is everything okay? You look tensed."

"She... she hasn't woken up since yesterday, I don't know why. I mean everything was okay, why isn't she awake yet?" I looked at Jai nervously.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she is fine, maybe she's just taking a bit longer than everyone else."

"She was supposed to be awake by today, she isn't. It's scary. What if something happens to her, I don't think I can handle it." I said nervously as I started pacing the hallway now.

As soon as I saw the doctor walk out of her room, I rushed towards her in hope of good news, which dint seem like to come anytime soon by the looks on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"She's gone into coma. I don't know how it's even possible, she was perfectly alright when I came to check on her last, it's so sudden, I am so sorry."

I looked at her with my eyes wide open, she was joking right? There was no way Khushi could be in coma, it wasn't possible. How could it happen? She was supposed to wake up!

"You're kidding right? You said she would wake up!" I looked at the doctor angrily.

"I am not joking Arnav, she was supposed to wake up, everything was normal, I really don't know what went wrong, I'll have to carry a few more tests to figure out what exactly happened, but for now this is the truth." She looked at me seriously.

"Okay, but is she going to wake up anytime soon?" Jai asked.

"It's difficult to tell for a patient in coma, they can wake up tomorrow, months later or years later and sometimes, they never do."

"No! You have to wake her up! What do you mean she's in coma just like that, she has to wake up okay!" I said angrily.

I know it wasn't the doctor's fault, but she was fine, what went wrong suddenly? I just couldn't handle it, the thought of her never waking up was scaring the hell out of me, and a part of me already wanted to run away, but not this time.

"What's wrong, why do you two look tensed?" Aditi asked as she joined us.

"The doctor just told us that Khushi has gone into coma." Jai told Aditi, she looked shocked, well of course it was shocking, she was fine and now suddenly she wasn't. What were we supposed to do now?

"Well did she say if she's going to be okay or now?"

"She isn't sure."

"What's happening here? She said she was going to be fine and now she isn't. Like why the hell is this even happening." Aditi said in frustration, welcome to the club Aditi.

I dint say anything to her though, we obviously dint get along and I figure, if I'd say something to her she would just be rude to me or something so I let Jai do the explaining.

I decided to head down and get myself a bottle of water, all this was too stressful, all I could do was just pray that she was going to wake up, because if she dint, I don't think I was going to be able to survive the pain of losing her.

"Stop thinking negative for once Arnav!" I said to myself.

"So are you running away like you ran away when my sister needed you?" Aditi asked. Seriously, what was with her, even when I wasn't trying to bother her, she wouldn't leave me alone.

"What do you want from me Aditi?" I stopped and turned to look at her.

"I am just looking out for my best friend who cant see the truth, well I guess now it's going to come out isn't it? She's in the hospital, she's in coma, I give it a few days, maximum a week, she doesn't wake up and Arnav Raizada will once again run away like a coward."

"I promised her I would make us work, so for your information, this time, I am not running away." I looked at her confidently.

"Look at you thinking you can stay, you run away Arnav, that's what you do and by the time Khushi wakes up, you wont be here and she will realize that she made a mistake by letting you in her life because like always, you'll run away when the people that love you, need you the most."

"I don't even want to argue with you Aditi, maybe you don't see it, but I love her, and when I say I love her, I mean it so no matter what you say, this time I'm not going to be a coward!"

"Only time will tell that wont it?"

"Fine let time tell it then." I sighed as I walked away from her angrily. I get it, she was mad at me, I was mad at myself for what I did, but she dint have to keep reminding me of my past mistakes over and over again.

I had grown from them, I had changed, I was a better person, I had learnt a lot since Khushi came into my life and maybe, even though I feared losing her, I was no more a coward.

Even though I believed that this time things were going to be different, the way Aditi just said it, it kind of made me worried.

Maybe she was right, maybe deep down I knew I wanted to run away like I always did, leave her in trouble and go away from her so I wouldn't feel hurt if things went wrong, what if I did that? I would hurt Khushi.

I dint want to hurt Khushi, I dint want to run away, I wanted to be here, to stay by her side everyday and do everything possible to wake her up.

Maybe all I needed was to believe in myself like she always believed in me, she even believed in me when I couldn't believe in myself, maybe this was a text God had thrown our way, to see if I was worthy of her, and I was going to prove it that I was worthy of her.

I wasn't going to repeat the same mistakes again no matter what. I wasn't going to run away this time, and I would show it to Aditi so she can see that I am changed and I stayed for Khushi.