36. Blossoming Spring Days

Neethu's POV

A sudden fear arose in me once Rahul informed me about Rithick's stage. I couldn't see him in such a situation. How would I go to see him? I had no courage to see my Rithick struggling for his life.

I stepped in the ICU ward slowly. My life, my love was in bed with an oxygen mask on his mouth. His head was bandaged with white cotton. "Rithick!" I cried out. "Rithick! What happened to you?"

I stepped near to him slowly. I held his right hand tightly. "Rithick, can you hear me? Please, try to concentrate, Rithick. Please, come back to me. Do you know? I love you madly, Rithick. I need you. My life is with you, Rithick. I can't give you to anyone anymore. I love you, Rithick, the same way you love me. I know you love me only. Why are playing this game? Even now, you are playing a game with me. Please, Rithick, come back. I can't imagine my life without you. Please listen to me. I am in love with you. I love you, my sweetheart. I love you. I love you." I kissed his hand. I kept my head on his arms and let out a sigh.

Rahul was on his left side. I couldn't control my emotions. We both tried a lot.

Suddenly, I felt a shiver in Rithick's hand. I informed it to Rahul. We rushed out to inform the doctor.

"Doctor, Rithick is responding to our conversation. Please check him," we said.

"After a few hours of fighting back, Rithick crossed the danger zone and he is safe," the doctor informed.

Happy tears spilled from my eyes. I thanked God for giving me my Rithick back.

Rithick gained his consciousness. The doctors permitted to see him one by one. Rithick's mom became normal, she went to see him, then Rahul, and Riya.

Finally, Rahul requested me to see my Rithick. I felt hesitated to see him because I couldn't see him in pain. Controlling myself, I went inside.

Rithick looked at me with a smile. He stretched his right hand towards me.

I held his hand tightly. I sobbed hard. He wiped my tears.

His mouth was covered with an oxygen mask. He gestured me to sit on the bed. I sat down. "How could you think of leaving me, Rithick? I knew you would come back to me. Love you, Rithick. I love you so much." I proposed him without thinking about anyone.

He pulled his oxygen mask from his mouth.

"Neethu... Are you sure? Do you love me?" he asked innocently. He brought my head closer to his face and kissed my forehead. Someone opened the door harshly. We turned back to see who it was.

I was shocked to see Shantra, who was standing near the door. I took away my hands from Rithick's. I stood up from the bed. I gazed at Rithick fearfully. She walked closed to Rithick. She looked at him for a while. Unexpectedly, within a second she held my hair in one hand and slapped me with the other. I screamed out due to pain and then she pushed me down. I fell down on the floor.

"Shantra! Stop it!" Rithick yelled. He tried a lot to get up from bed, but he couldn't. Blood oozed out from his nose and he fainted again.

"Rithick!" I cried out.

I stood up. "Why did you come here? Do you want to kill Rithick?" I screamed and ran out to call the doctor.

Meanwhile, Rahul entered the room by hearing the sound. He shouted at Shantra and his family members opposed her presence there, so she went out from there.

The doctors warned everyone present there to not disturb the patient. They started the treatment for Rithick.

I burst out in tears. Rahul and Riya consoled me. They were loving and caring towards me.

After an hour, Rithick came to a normal state. The doctor suggested to keep Rithick happy. His happiness would help him recover faster.

If Shantra visited again and if she saw me here, then she would create a problem again. To avoid the issues, I came up with a decision.

"Rahul... I am feeling tired due to sleepless nights. Now, Rithick is alright so I will come to see him whenever I am free. Take care of him." I wiped the tears flowing from my eyes without the notice of Rahul. I wished to be with Rithick until he recovered but fate was playing in another way. So, I took this decision. 'I am sorry, Rithick' I said to myself. I didn't say anything to Rithick because he wouldn't allow me.

"Ok, Neethu. Take care. Let me drop you to the hostel," Rahul said.

"No, Rahul. You be with Rithick. Bye," I said goodbye to everyone, except Rithick.

RITHICK'S POV

I begged my life to give me a chance again at the moment I met with an accident. Many untold incidents and memories were buried in me.

Neethu's love for me gave my life back. Like me, she was a very good actress. How could she hide my love for me, pretending that she hated me? What to do? It was our fate that ruined our lives. I was so happy that Neethu proposed me and I wished to tell everything to her but unexpectedly Shantra had entered.

How could Shantra behave cruelly towards Neethu? I tried a lot to stop her but couldn't get up from his bed. Later I don't know what happened to me.

Where was Neethu now? I wished to see her immediately.

Rahul and Riya entered the room. Rahul hugged me, his eyes were flooded with tears. We were emotionally bonded.

"Anna, it's enough. Wipe off your tears. I am tired of crying. Rithick anna is alright now. We should be happy again," Riya said, making us laugh. Still, she is a kid to us.

"Riya? Did you cry that much? I am sorry, kiddo."

She closed my mouth with her palm. "Anna, I love you so much. I can't tolerate if anything happens to my family members," she said.

Rahul was sitting on the bed. He was taking care of me each and every minute.

"Rahul, did you inform dad?" I asked.

At the moment, my dad, and Rudra uncle entered the room. They had cancelled all the meetings in U.S. My dad was emotionally weak. It took hours to console him. Finally, we consoled him.

Rahul's POV

"Rahul, What happened to Rithick? How did it happen though we arranged safeguards for him? More than that, you are with him. Will you explain this in detail?" Sanjay uncle asked me.

"Uncle... I am sorry. On that day, I came home early, leaving Rithick at college." I hide the fight that happened between me and him due to Shantra.

"Sanjay, Rithick being a good bike rider. I believed in his driving.  There would probably be no mistake on Rithick's side. Definitely, I will investigate the case. If it was an accident then no problem, otherwise we should be cautious. We should find out the culprit and punish him," my dad said.

"Sure, Rudra but investigate it secretly. By God's grace, how the media doesn't promote the accident issue as we expected? Anyways, It is good for Rithick," uncle said.

"Money played Sanjay. As you told, I have transferred the demanded amounts to news, press, and media" my dad said.

"Rahul, don't say anything to Rithick. To find out the clues, Do you have any accessories of Rithick used on the day?" my dad asked.

"Wait a minute, dad." I handed over his mobile phone and wallet to my dad.

"Where did the accident happen? Do you know?" I said everything to my dad.

Immediately, he called the police and started investigating the case.

After that, I went to see Rithick. The doctor checked his body conditions.

"Rahul, there is a good improvement in Rithick's condition. We can shift him to a normal ward now itself," the doctor said. I felt very happy for him.

Rithick was shifted to a normal ward. Only glucose was injected in his vein. My family members and I were relaxed to see our Rithick back.

Rithick was trying to say something to me but he ignored. What was that? Due to lots of issues, I couldn't guess properly. I waited patiently to hear from him.

We had good conversation after a month. Rithick was happy as before but he was hiding his body pain. He asked for his mobile phone and purse.

"It is with Rahul anna," Riya replied innocently.

I didn't know what to tell at that moment. "I kept them somewhere in tension, Rithick. I don't remember, I will search for them," I said.

"What? You are too careless, Rahul. I need it immediately." Rithick showed his stubbornness after a long time.

"Ok wait. I will find out soon," I said to convince him.

"It doesn't matter if you lost my mobile phone. Where is my wallet? I want it immediately." He was too stubborn this time.

What happened to Rithick? He never behaved like this. Usually, he teased Riya because of this behavior. He was stressing on 'wallet' and why? His mobile phone was not that much important to him then why was his wallet? Had he kept something important there? My mind rewinded and I remembered the photo and the keychain gifted by Neethu. Now I got the point. As he couldn't ask about Neethu to me, he was struggling to see her

Without asking straight about the keychain, Rithick was asking about the purse. The keychain was with me. I had handed the purse to my dad after taking the keychain. "Rithick... I will bring out the truth from your mouth itself that you love Neethu." My mind voiced.

"I am sorry, Rithick. I think I lost the wallet," I said simply.

"What? How could you tell this to me? Did you know the value of that wallet?"

"Just Rs. 4000. I will buy another wallet for you, Rithick. Why are you getting tensed for little things?" I asked him but I didn't want to make him tensed.

"Money is not a matter for me but My love..." he paused.

"What do you mean, Rithick? Love? What?" I pretended like I didn't know anything.

He got tensed and nervous. He couldn't even miss a keychain gifted by Neethu during their first meeting, then how could he miss his Neethu? I know you, Rithick. You are in love with the one and only Neethu.

I could see nervousness on Rithick's face. As his health was not good, I didn't want to play a prank on him. "Rithick, are you searching for this?" I took the keychain from my pocket. A smile blossomed on his lips but he acted like he didn't mean it for that.

"Anyways, keep it with you, Rithick."

He got it from me at once.

He was unable to share his feelings to me. I didn't know the reason but I should help Rithick to come out of it. I could read his mind, he was longing for Neethu.

I informed this to Neethu. She visited the hospital often to make him feel comfortable. In between, Shantra too visited Rithick. Thankfully, Neethu and Shantra didn't meet each other these days. Though we didn't like Shantra's presence there, we didn't make it an issue.

Two weeks passed by like this.,

The doctors prescribed some medicines to him. He had to take them for about one month. As per the doctor's suggestion, we discharged Rithick from the hospital.

Day by day, Rithick's health improved. We were happy about it.

One day, my dad and uncle called me for a personal talk. I was shocked to know about the fact told by dad.

"Sanjay, we didn't get proper clues regarding the accident so that it was delayed to find out the truth. As I told you before, It was a planned accident to kill Rithick. The culprits have traced our presence here. It is not safe for Rithick to stay here," my dad said.

"Who is the culprit? How cruel is he to kill my son? I will punish him with my own hands," Sanjay uncle said seriously.

"Be patient, Sanjay. We will reach the culprit soon. Give me some more time. I will pull out the root cause and make him/her to stand in front of you and before law," my Dad said.

"I am sure he/she will see the hell in me for touching my son. Also, it is not necessary to shift our place from here. If we ran again and again, we will become weak in front of our enemies. We should stand and fight. These many days, for the sake of my son I decided to keep him safe but they touched him. They have touch the worst and will deserve the punishment," Uncle said with fire in his eyes.

"Rahul, take care of Rithick. You should know everything happening around," my dad said.

"Ok dad," I said and went to see Rithick.

He was not on the bed. I called out and searched him in rest room and living room. He was found nowhere. I went upstairs and noticed him standing in the balcony. I stepped closer to him. By hearing the footsteps, he became smart and wiped off his tears. I knew he had lots of hidden worries. If he shared them to me, I would definitely help him to sort them out