Chapter 1

It was a quiet night. Mira was preparing dinner while merrily singing songs. After all it was not everyday that her little sister visited her. In fact, it was a very rare chance for her. Rick, her husband was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching highlights of an old cricket match on TV.

A quiet family, they have been married for 5 years now. They are often asked about their plans on starting a family. The topic always makes Mira sour. She doesn’t hate kids, it’s just that due to a huge age gap between her and her kid sister, she has had to take care of Jane all this time, constantly cancelling her plans. The only reason she agreed to marry Rick was that he was just as uncomfortable with the thought of having kids. They had nothing much in common other than their dislike for taking responsibility. They constantly bickered and fought over everything. But today, Mira was paying no attention to Rick’s annoying habits. She was looking forward to meet Jane after all these years. She had been worried about her. Jane was performing badly in her studies and seemed to be unhappy in her personal life as well. She had been rebellious for years, refusing to open up about her problems to anyone in the family. Mira held herself responsible for this. She should have taken better care of her sister, she thinks. She has planned to talk to Jane properly this time. Thinking about how to start the conversation without making Jane uncomfortable, Mira continued cooking.

It was already 8 by the time Mira finished cooking. “Change into something proper, Jane should be here in an hour” she said to Rick. Rick didn’t understand why he had to get dressed. They had a small fight over it and finally Rick changed into a shirt and trouser. “This is ridiculous, it’s just her younger sister”, he thought to himself. His grumbling was interrupted by the phone’s ringing. Mira went to answer it and Rick stood in the hallway listening to the conversation.

“Hello, yes I am Mira Sen…. Yes, she is my sister”. Mira’s face turned white all of a sudden and she dropped the phone. Rick rushed towards her, He asked her what happened, but she still seemed to be in a shock and didn’t answer. Rick noticed that the phone was still connected. He picked it up, there was a woman on the other side. The woman told him that the flight Jane was travelling in, crashed while landing. Jane was admitted to the hospital she was calling from, and was in critical condition. Rick quickly noted the address of the hospital. Mira had started crying by this time. Rick took the car keys, held Mira’s hand and rushed out of the house. He drove as fast as he could, while Mira tried to stop her tears.

At the hospital, they were asked to wait outside the operation room in which Jane was being operated on. Mira sat on the bench, crying. Rick sat right next to her, staring at the floor. He kept looking at Mira time to time, thinking about what he should say to her. Should he tell her it will be okay? No, how can he be sure if it will all be okay, it might just give Mira false hope. Maybe he should tell her that he is there for her. No, that is lame. He is her husband after all, of course he will be there. This was exactly the kind of situation Rick did not know how to handle. He tend to run away from any situation which had too much emotion involved. He kept staring at the floor thinking about all the lame things he should not say to Mira.

They waited for about an hour after which the surgeon came out. Mira rushed towards him. “How is Jane now?”, she asked with a red face and watery eyes. “She is out of danger but she has gone in a coma. Sorry, we don’t know how much time it might take for her to recover from the coma.”, he replied. Mira was just staring at the surgeon, not sure on how to react. She was feeling relieved knowing that Jane was out of danger. “The child is safe however, you don’t need to worry about it. Not a single injury”, he continued with a smile. Mira looked at her husband as she could no longer understand the language, the surgeon was using. Rick stepped in. “What child?”, he asked with a surprised expression. “The patient is pregnant. I am sorry, I thought you knew that already.”

It took them a few minutes, but after Mira and Rick recovered from this shock, they finally went to see Jane. She was lying down on the bed, unconscious. Her face was covered with injuries, but it still looked peaceful. Rick’s gaze kept moving to Jane’s belly, which was a little swollen. Mira kept looking at her face with tears rolling down her cheeks. Both of them kept staring from a distance, unable to gather enough courage to touch her.