The next morning was waiting
for me to fill my life with full of
challenges since I had to engage
in a dreadful task under the close supervision of Mr. Karthik.
I could not let him down due to
my dernial, he was hoping me to
live up to his expectations. In fact, Mr. Luthra was needed to be impressed by my behavioral conduct to receive the stamp of approval from him.

Hurrying up with my kitchen
chores and having the breakfast of little sandwich and a glass of apple juice, I stood before the mirror again.

"First impression is the last
mpression.."

Mr. Karthik's words lingered
in my ears. He wanted my
impression to be perfect in front
of Mr. Luthra so that the latter could demonstrate me. But what did he actually mean by the word 'impression'? Was physical appearance meant to be everything to impress anyone?

I was really a critic when it came
to discussing about external
outfits and appearances. Why
did a person really need to be a
gaudy queen in order to influence someone's mind? Or were I interpreting Mr. Karthik's words in a wrong way?

I shuffled among the stacks of
clothes piled up in my cupboard to decide my attire for the day. After a ten minutes of conflict with my outfits, I eventually selected a long white colored tunic with a pair of crème palazzo pants. The narrow high ponytail had kept my hair intact, imparting a suitable match to my clothes. I spread a little of the regular peach foundation with a thin layer of kohl around the brim of my light brown eyes. Sticking to light makeup had always been my daily routine, or in fact my austere way of living.

I picked up a black faux leather
handbag while reaching for
the main door. To make my
impression more impactful, a
black wedge heels for the day
would be suitable I thought.
Though I had never been a fan of
wearing heels, yet it was supposed to be my first external best impression!

________

The bus to the city hospital
dropped me before time in front
of the hospital's lobby. There were still ten minutes left to seven and I preferred to take a brisk walk around the hospital. I gave Mr. Karthik a call and he reminded that he would reach in time, I mean exactly at seven. He was so punctual that he wouldn't stir even by a minute.

I was loitering around the hospital like a fool for an odd five minutes when I perceived something doubtful near the backyard boundary wall where people did not generally go. I had reached there unmindfully while roaming alone like a lost wanderer.

A young man in his early thirties was revolving his uncovered eyes around the hospital vigorously though he had kept his face hidden inside a hoodie jacket. I noticed him intensely staring at the hospital building floors above, trying to figure out something.

I started getting an immediate gut feeling that he had been searching for someone or something. It was only a few seconds later when I saw him trying his best to climb the pipeline and I alerted myself. I hid behind the second boundary
wall so that he wouldn't sense my presence.

I heard the man giving someone a call before climbing. "Are you sure you have reached the floor where Karan is? I anm coming to meet you there. Mind that you can get caught because of the security and you might be needing my assistance.'

I did not know what the speaker
on the other end responded but
I could see the first man moving
away while replying over phone.
"Fine, I am waiting downstairs.
Complete your task and move out quickly."

I was hesitating to take a decision in such a situation. Who was this Karan they were discussing about? Was it the same Karan Luthra that Mr. Karthik had spoken about? My sixth sense was pronouncing aloud that he might be the same because there were people lurking around to kill him and they wouldn't miss such a chance.

What should I do now? Should I
directly catch hold of the hoodie
man or should I go and attermpt to save Mr. Luthra? As the man said over phone, his other partner had already reached the floor where Mr. Luthra was kept.

Without wasting even a second, I rushed towards the reception in the lounge and fell against the counter, panting heavily. The lady receptionist with a short stature glanced up at me and frowned, waiting for me to speak. When I didn't, she leaned forward and casually observed me.

"Ma'am, compose yourself at
first. We're here to help. Please
proceed." She tried to calm me
down but I was not in a situation
to compose myself.

"I..I am okay Miss.. Please tell me the ward number where Mr. Karan Luthra has been admitted? I need to meet him urgently."I fell short of breath.

"The billionaire's ward? But I'm sorry Ma'am, we don't have the provision to disclose his details to any stranger." The lady simply refused to let me in.

What should I do now? How
should I reach his ward to save his life? Should I break all the rules of the hospital? I was not getting any clue until an idea struck my mind all of a sudden.

"I am would-be Mrs. Luthra,
I mean we are in a relationship
and will soon marry each other.
I'm also a doctor by profession."
I showed the lady my identity
card and other professional
details. All thanks to Mr. Karthik's mastermind that I could cook up some stories.

"You are a doctor by profession.
Okay wait let me check if your
name is entered in our register
among the lists of allowed
visitors for Mr. Luthra." The
lady started going through her
database.

I kept sending prayers to God in Heaven so that the lady allowed me to move inside or else I would have to break all the rules. I took a look at the clock on the wall behind the lady receptionist and found that there were still two minutes left for the minute hand to strike seven. I also kept wishing that Mr. Karthik arrived in time and rescued me out of everything.

"Ma'am, your name is entered
here. Sir Ghoshal..." the lady
declared but before she could
complete her sentence, I
disappeared along the stairs
within seconds. Upon reaching
half way, I realised of not knowing the exact ward or the floor Mr. Luthra was in. I rushed downstairs again and impatiently enquired from her.

"He is admitted in ward number
205 on the second floor." I heard
the details from the lady and
rushed as hastily as I could. I anyhow needed to save Mr. Luthra's life and also prayed that Mr. Karthik reached in the
last minute to assist me.

_________

Skipping the number of steps and reaching the second floor in some odd forty seconds, I stood gazing at the narrow passageway before me. It had already started giving me negative vibes since the floor
was void of public and I feared
for the worst to have had already taken place.

Ward nunber 205...

I tiptoed near each of the locked
doors to read the number plates,
searching for the correct door to
coincide with. My heart began
pounding inside my chest as I
moved from one door to the other.

I was already palpitating until...

203..

204..

205...

Ireached ward number 205!

"Ain't there anybody inside? The
gate seems to be locked." I thought to myself. I could not decide whether I should knock or wait for some time. What if the murderer was inside and had already done his intentional deed? Why would Mr. Luthra keep himself locked when the doctors and the nurses needed to visit him from time to time?

Before more questions could clog my brain, I decided to break
into the room. Flinging the door
open with an unsure mind, I felt
myself colliding with someone
much stronger than me. I rolled
over to the corner table of the
patient's private room, hurting
my knees in the first place. I took
a few seconds to recover myself
from the collision and then finally looked up at the person who I had actually crashed with.

I could see the strong figure
standing next to the door and
glowering at me with bulging eyes. He has worn a pair of big round spectacles that covered half of his face and a white smock wrapping the upper half of his body. Before he could blurt out anything to me, I sensed something wet near my
lower belly.

Blood!

Was it blood oozing out of me?Had the person who I collided
with, stabbed me first instead
of Mr. Luthra just becauseI
barged into the room? Was he the other murderer?

My white tunic was entirely
drenched in blood but I was not
feeling any pain. The strong figure was still staring at me instead of running away. Was he planning to kill me entirely?

I slowly skimmed the surface of
my stomach to resist the outflow
of more blood, but then I made a
strange discovery. There was no
wound inflicted upon me and the blood was real patches that was spread all over my white dress!

My suspicion was true, the
murderer must have surely
drenched his hands with Mr.
Luthra's blood and pressed it
against my body when I entered
the room all of a sudden. Now he
was planning to kill me because I
was the sole witness to his crime.

As I rotated my eyes arournd, I didn't find any patient inside the room except for the person who I had collided with. I found it extremely difficult to understand where he must have hidden the dead body of Mr. Luthra.

"What have you done to Mr.
Luthra?" I directly threw my
question at him, taking the risk of my life.

The person took a step towards me before howling, "What did you do, girl? You crushed the only pouch of O-positive blood that I was going to supply to Mr. Luthra. You messed up everything."

Ugh! I had definitely ruined
everything. I could see him
holding the emptied pouch with
some blood stains in it and the
rest were put on me. But it was
difficult to trust him until I saw
Mr. Luthra alive.

"I'm sorry but I was in some sort
of a hurry. Who are you and
where is Mr. Luthra?" I asked
him, looking straight in his eyes.

"What do you mean by that? Im
his doctor and I am not liable to
answer you at any cost," he yelled, pointing his forefinger at me.

"You might be a doctor but you
don't hold the authority to behave rudely with the patient's party or their kith and kin. Please behave yourself." I screamed even louder, audible enough to whosoever were present on the same floor of
the building.

"How dare you raise your voice
like that? Who are you to teach
me my manners?" He groaned, his eyes red from the direct insult.

I took out my identity card from my bag and held it before him. "I'm the representative of the medical board officially but unofficially, I'm here as Mr.
Luthra I mean Karan's
girlfriend."

I didn't know if I played my tarrot card right but I needed to strongly hold the strings to find out more about Mr. Luthra.

"I am sorry but I was instructed
by the police not to entertain
anybody as Mr. Luthra's visitor that casually." He apologised while my eyes kept searching for my would-be client.

"Now will you tell me where he
is?" I was getting nervous with the passage of time.

"He has been shifted to the ICU
again because blood was still
oozing out of his wounds. I was
here to fetch the last pouch of
blood but... " He briefed me,
getting nervous on the spot.

"Is his condition severe?" My
mouth fell open, eyes filled with
guilt.

"Yes... You've messed up
everything. Now we don't have
any leftover stock of blood." He
shut his eyes in apology.

What blunder had I created
in a haste? I had spoilt the only leftover blood due to my stupid actions. I know that the murderer's issue was true and I
was sensible enough to barge into the room. But I was at fault now.

It's true that Mr. Luthra was now not in the risk of getting murdered because he was not present in his ward, he was in fact shifted to the ICU. But on the other hand, I had put his life at stake. Mr. Karthik would never forgive me unless I compensated for the loss.

"Im O-positive too. Can I donate
mine?" I pleaded and it brought
a satisfactory smile to his lips.
He nodded and led me to the test
room, most probably to examine
my blood and allow my donation
later.

_________

I don't remember when I opened
my eyes and everything had
turned hazy around me. A medicine palette was lying on
my right and my veins had been
pinned using the intravenous
therapy. My body was aching
while I was stretched on to a
hospital bed.

With a little headache and pain behind my eyes, I slowly turned to the other side, careful enough not to hurt the intravenous procedure. On the stretcher to my left, there was someone sleeping soundly, a blanket pulled half way over his body.

His dark tousled black hair was
shimmering against the beam
of sun rays entering through the
miniature window pane of the
room. A gleam of unpleasant
worries was lurking over his pale wavering face, forehead forming creases and cheeks withered from the operation. Besides all these unfavorable situations, I would admit that his godly appearance and the unknown facial charm were captivating!

It was next to impossible to get a
clearer impression of him as he
was lying on the stretcher with
his eyes closed, the long sized
eyelashes covering the light dark
spots below the eyes. He seemed to be someone I could admire from far due to his striking features and sturdy figure. He possessed a good height, most probably six feet or more since his feet were almost hanging out by a couple of inches from the railings of the stretcher.

"Mr. Karan Luthra" I
inhaled a deep breath upon
thinking of the big name.

I had seen one or two of his
pictures in newspapers and
magazines, but witnessing
someone so famous with my naked eyes was an ultimate bliss. He looked a bit different from what I had seen him in the
photographs. His facial hair was
not cleanly trimmed and the hair
on his head was ruffled.

I might look into more of these aspects when he would open his eyes or speak to the one whose O-positive blood had been running along his veins for the past one hour.

My ventured thoughts returned to reality when the door to the room creaked open and a familiar face emerged in front of me.

"Ms. Arora, doing well?" Mr.
Karthik smiled while caressing
my forehead. I slightly nodded
and he gently reciprocated to my
adversity.

Mr. Karthik walked over to Mr. Luthra's stretcher and placed his palm on his shoulder. "Karan my boy, are you feeling
better?"

I kept staring at the two of them
when Mr. Luthra giddily opened his eyes after a brief pause of a couple of minutes, nodding his head to affirm the same.

Mr. Karthik spoke again, "There
she is, the one who restored your life. Not only once but in two successive occasions... Donating you blood and guaring you against some unusual activity..."

I wondered how Mr. Karthik got to know everything even though he could not be present at the scenes all the time. He was definitely speaking of the palpitation I had to face to save Mr. Luthra from the murderer earlier and secondly, I donated him blood. The security head was definitely a stringent vigilante!

Mr. Luthra tilted his face very
carefully to take a look at his
saviour, his light stubble coming
to my view. I didn't know how to
react in such a grave situation,
trying hard to suppress the stimuli rush within me when my eyes met his!

_________

To be continued...