Secrets

Ishaan rushed towards Manya after seeing her lying on the couch in an unconscious state. Holding her hand with one of his hands, he pulled out his phone with the other and started dialing a number- the call was answered after two rings!

“Oho! How are you jiju, or should I say soon-to-be-Jiju?! Don't tell me you already feel stuck in a limbo, losing your courage at this moment when all the preparations for your proposal to Di are underway! Trust me, just go ahead and tell her how you feel,she has always had a soft spot for you…” Sia was thinking out loud on the other end and Ishaan was getting impatient, he raised his voice slightly and said, “Sia listen-Manya is unconscious...she is not in a good state, I am sending you an address- come as soon as possible with Uncle and Aunty.”

“Don't panic, sweetheart- she will be alright. I think she might have had another panic attack. Just try to hurry,” Ishaan said softly, trying to comfort the girl, as she had also started panicking.

Sia managed to gain some control over her shaking voice and said “I will be there in less than half an hour...till then just stay with her, please and keep me updated”.

“Yeah, I will be right by her side, don't worry. Just try to get here safely.”

After this conversation, Ishaan looked at the other person present in the room and assuming he must be the doctor, he asked timidly, with a shaking voice “What has happened to her? Why is she not gaining consciousness? She has a history of panic attacks and she has also been diagnosed with claustrophobia and prosopagnosia, is this information useful regarding her prolonged unconsciousness?”

“Calm down, Mister. She will be alright once her Massi is here, her voice can soothe her subconscious. She might have something to say to her, or some sort of fear about losing her.”

After hearing this, all colour drained from Ishaan’s face, because he had never thought that Manya might have been close to her Massi; weirdly enough, she had not mentioned her in the past ten years even once. All he knew about her was that Sia was her Massi's daughter- Manya's cousin, whom she loved more than anyone else. He somehow gathered the courage to speak again and clearing his throat, said “Ahm...actually her Massi died twelve years ago and I don't think she was close to her because I have known her for the last ten years and she never mentioned her in front of anybody...but, I have informed her family and they will be here soon.”

The Doctor gave him a look full of pity, as if he wanted to say, “You have known her for a decade and you never suspected that these symptoms might have been the consequence of some traumatic incident?” But he just sighed and asked, “Do you know how she passed away?”

“Hmm…..as far I know, she lost her life in an accident.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

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The sound of Arjun's body hitting the ground drew the attention of the staff once again, but this time with concern instead of curiosity- the office was a total mess today, they had never experienced this level of chaos in the office before. Everybody rushed towards him, and after splashing some water on his face, he regained consciousness. It took him a while to recall the events that had transpired right before he passed out, but suddenly he remembered Ishaan's last words to him...“she passed away twelve years ago” and he stood up quickly and rushed towards the secret room, leaving his staff behind to gossip and speculate about what had been going on since the day began.

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Dr.Maheshwari had just begun to inquire about the details of the accident from Ishaan, while Arjun entered the room, looking haggard - his hair was disheveled, face white as a ghost, and it looked like his body had given up on the situation. Paying no heed to his appearance or anybody in the room, he headed towards Manya and knelt by her side; finding her still unconscious, he couldn’t control his emotions and broke down, tears rolling freely down his cheeks.

Arjun looked up after hearing Ishaan's phone ringing. Ishaan quickly picked up the call- “Yes Sia, where are you? Alright I am just coming to get you, just give me a minute...I will be right there, please stay put”, saying this, he rushed out of the room and Arjun sat on the position that was now vacant. He took Manya's hand in his own and finally stopped crying. Eyes bloodshot, he started to whisper, “Everything is going to be alright, it has to be...it will be, trust me Minnie...” as if to soothe her as well as himself.

Within five minutes, Ishaan was back, along with three people- a girl in her late teens and Manya's parents. Both of her parents were frozen in their place, seeing her in this condition. Sia was distraught, she ran across the room to her sister and started pleading for her to open her eyes. Seeing her distress, Arjun reached his hand out to comfort her, but stopped midway when he recalled Manya’s reaction to him revealing his identity- he quietly got up and went to stand by the door, racked by guilt and trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible.

Manya was still unresponsive, but her faint chants of ‘Massi’ could be heard clearly, because of the deadly silence which dominated the room.

Suddenly, Mrs.Rahal took some steps after getting over her initial shock and put her palm on Manya’s head, tenderly. She started speaking in a low voice, “Manu, wake up my child- you are going to be late for school. Look, it's almost time for you to go…” She felt Manya stirring beneath her hand, but her eyes were still shut, so she assumed that it was just her imagination. She moved her hand to cup Manya's cheek and repeated herself. She then smiled softly and added, “If you will not open your eyes, I am gonna tickle you, my little princess!” She then started tickling her daughter.

Everybody was watching her distractedly, thinking how to calm her down; only Dr.Maheshwari looked on patiently, impressed with the technique.

Within a few minutes, Manya responded. Sia jumped out of excitement, “Doctor, look! Didu responded, I noticed her fingers move, I think she even smiled!”, as Arjun, Ishaan and Mr.Rahal looked up hopefully.

The doctor nodded and came forward, took an injection out of his bag; when she saw the syringe, Mrs.Rahal got up, without saying a word. She still couldn’t watch her little girl get an injection without getting emotional. Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, she stood beside Sia, facing the other way.

After the doctor had administered the dose, she came back and sat beside Manya where Arjun had been sitting previously and Mr.Rahal finally found the courage to cross the room to approach his daughter.

Everyone was waiting with bated breath; it had hardly been ten minutes when Manya opened her eyes slightly, the first thing she saw through her blurry vision was a hand she could feel on her forehead, she smiled weakly and murmured “Massi, you’re here...I have been waiting to see you again…”

Mrs.Rahal’s heart started thumping, she knew a cyclone had started forming- the eye had been created, and it could start raining anytime now. Mr.Rahal could feel her tense up at the prospect and squeezed her shoulder to comfort her, as he could do little else to mitigate the tension.

Everyone else in the room was blissfully unaware of the secret that clouded the Rahal family and they were eagerly waiting for her to gain full consciousness- Arjun could finally breathe again, while Sia was hugging Ishaan and sobbing out of relief.

It took another few minutes for Manya to open her eyes and take in her surroundings, but her expression hardened on seeing her mother's face. She sat bolt upright immediately and glaring at her mother, whispered in a low growl, “How dare you touch me?!” She then got up to face her father, completely ignoring her mother beyond that point. Feeling a pang of betrayal from him, Manya said “Even you, daddy? Why did you bring this murderer near me? I want her to leave, NOW!”

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A/N : Hello, it’s me again! What do you think the secret is? I hope you like the story so far! ?