Ram hurried to the clinic Mark mentioned. He saw his brother and his friend lying side-by-side unconscious with pale paces. His heart ached, when he saw bandages on his younger brother.
He moved to the bed and sat down. Lakshman's lips are dry, his skin is tanned, he looked pitiful.
The doctor decided to go home since there are no more patients. But he didn't know what to do with these two sleeping bags. He heard Mark speaking with someone before collapsing, so he decided to wait till they come instead of locking them up.
When he saw a handsome man sitting on the bed. He felt relieved as if he had found an oasis in Thar desert.
"You are his friend?" he asked.
Ram turned to him and said "Brother."
"Oh! OK! That's good. Can you look after them for me. I'm going outside."
"Can't I take them home?"
"Umm. If you can carry them yourself you can. But wait till I'm back."
Ram looked confused.
The doctor sighed "I'm on a date. I'll be screwed if I'm late"
Ram observed him closely. He's in pink from top to toe. Ram's pupils dilated.
He understood the look in Ram's eyes. "No, my partner likes pink"
Ram giggled and said "Oh! Is that so? Your partner seems like a cute person"
"Cute my ass! That bastard is really cruel" He said with a mocking tone. He realized what he just said and with an awkward expression he fled "Wait for me"
Judging from the doctor's behavior, they are safe. Ram took a deep breath. When Mark informed about the situation, Ram didn't know what to do. His body reacted faster than his brain. He found himself driving.
He would never restrict Lakshman from doing something, if not for him not being able to swim Ram wouldn't have stopped Lakshman from going to the beach with Mark. He didn't expect him to go even when he said not to, probably Mark dragged him along. And now they are in this state. Ram checked Lakshman's pulse and the medicines on his bedside. Just from a glance at the prescription, he could tell that it's from a professional definitely not just an RMP.
He checked Mark too just in case, he's perfectly fine just some bandages on his hands. Ram's heart is now at ease. They might wake up anytime so in case they were hungry Ram went out to buy food.
8:30pm
Cool breeze from the ocean entered the clinic's room, creating a refreshing atmosphere. Mark slowly gained his consciousness, took him a while to come to his senses. He turned his head, Lakshman is still sleeping. Mark felt his head light, out of habit he woke up by taking support from his palms.
"Ouch" he totally forgot about his injuries. Slowly dragged his numb legs, sat on Lakshman's bed. "Why isn't Ram here, he should be here by now" Mark is both worried and scared. Lakshman is sleeping peacefully.
"You are going to cry when you wake up" Mark said while placing the back of his hands on his thighs.
Although the pain killers are working, his hands still somewhat painful. Mark didn't even want to imagine what Lakshman would feel after waking up.
Mark is blaming all this upon himself, if only he listened to Ram, if only. What would his reaction be when he sees Lakshman in this state? He wouldn't beat me would he? If Ram ends this with a good beating, Mark would gladly get beaten to pulp. It's worse if something else happens. Mark doesn't even want to imagine.
It started raining, soon it became a storm. Mark got up and closed the windows. He went to the desk, but the doctor was nowhere to be found.
"Where did that quack go?" Mark couldn't believe that he actually left his two unconscious patients alone in the clinic. What if a thief broke in? Mark casually opened the drawer to see how much would a thief get by breaking in. He grinned expecting some bundles, he ran his eyes but found nothing. It's empty.
"Huh? A poor quack" Mark heard some rumble, he quickly ran towards the entrance.
It was a familiar car, Ram's to be exact. When Mark saw Ram, he ran towards the patient room. He wanted to hide under Lakshman's bed. He heard Ram's foot steps, quickly jumped onto his bed and pretended to be asleep.
He placed the food he bought on the bedside
"when are you going to wake up?"
Mark's soul left his body. He thought that Ram has seen through him. Fortunately Ram didn't even spare a glance for Mark. He's busy checking his brother's pulse.
Mark sighed. Ram was patting his chest, he saw the slight movements on his eyebrow. Lakshman opened his eyes. His pale face turned eventually paler at the sight of his brother. "Why is Ram here? Didn't we agree not to tell him until we return." he thought.
"Ram, you are? How...."
"Eat this" Lakshman was given some fruits.
"What is in that parcel?" he pointed to the food Ram brought.
"Lemon Rice. It's light to eat and you'll need vitamin c to cure your wounds"
"Then give me" Lakshman's mouth is watering at the thought of its sourness.
"You can't eat it" Ram denied to give him food.
"Why I can. I've got some damn teeth" Lakshman is gonna fight fair and square for food.
"Just eat what is given"
"Fruits are good for you now. Your prescription already has proteins included in it" Ram said in a soft voice.
Mark is relieved to hear this. So he's not gonna scold us afterall.
Lakshman obediently listened and ate all the fruits he's been given. He felt refreshed from inside.
He asked after some dillydally
"Are you angry?"
Ram didn't answer he just handed him some painkillers
"Rest. We'll talk about this later."Lakshman has a bad feeling about his tone of voice. He could only nod his head and eat the medicine.
Lakshman saw Mark lying on the bed beside him "What happened to him?"
"You don't know?"
"No. I remember I was about to.." be drowned to death. He definitely couldn't say this for God's sake.
"Ahh.. My head hurts" he decided to buy time till a certain moron wakes up.
Ram was genuinely worried "Don't talk" he tucked him with a blanket. He knows that he shouldn't give him painkillers but he couldn't watch him in pain. He told himself "Only this one time since it would be so painful "
"Is he alright?" Lakshman only remembered the feeling of his leg being crushed. He didn't know how he ended up here either. "If Mark is with me then he should've saved me"he thought.
"I checked him. He's perfectly fine. So fine he didn't even get a prescription." when Mark heard this, he could barely stop his fingers from shivering.
" It was me. I went too deep into ocean" Lakshman is speaking without thinking.
"And why are you at the beach again?" Ram retaliated.
Mark is not so fond of knowing where this conversation is heading. "At this rate Ram is gonna totally beat the crap out of me" his thoughts are running like horses.
"He asked me to come" Lakshman is half awake now.
"But I asked you not to go" Ram noticed that Lakshman's glance is soul less.
"I know. I wanted to go with him" Lakshman is being very honest.
Mark could't understand what was happening but he's eavesdropping anyway. Since he's involved it became interesting to him. "Why do I feel like I'm doing something bad. Forget it talking behind people's back is wrong anyway. And that too they're talking right to my face. I'm not eavesdropping, their words are voluntarily entering my ears" Mark feels better thinking like this.
This answer is expected by Ram, he continued "Why would you want to go? Don't you hate going into water the most" Mark knows that Lakshman can't swim, just that he didn't think he would hate it.
"I... wanted to go with him" Ram is used to this. Lakshman would only say what he wants to and avoids if he doesn't want to answer.
"So you would go to a place you hate just because he asked? Where is your pride" Lakshman slightly opened his eyes. Ram is surprised, he thought this is an involuntary conversation turns out it wasn't. Lakshman is somewhat conscious.
"He told me that only we two were the ones going" Ram casually glanced at the one they were talking about, he noticed Mark furrowing his eyebrows.
"So you wanted to go to your little adventure Huh. Guess who's adventure flopped now?" Lakshman didn't understand what Ram was saying but someone else did. Ram caught Mark gulping "This brat. He's awake the whole time"he thought
"What are yo.."Ram cut his words by saying "Just sleep don't cause trouble for me" he patted on his chest so that he could sleep. Lakshman is used to this so he closed his eyes real quick.
Ram realized what big of a mistake he was about to commit tonight. He was too careless. He should never let Mark find out about Lakshman's sleeptalking habits. Otherwise out of curiosity Mark might do something that would hurt both him and his brother.
Since he stopped at the right time, Mark is not suspicious at all. He just thinks that it was a normal conversation. Lakshman slept already, so Ram decided to wait till a certain brat wakes up from his fake sleep to eat.
He's causing so many problems for Lakshman, be it physically or psychologically. What's bothering Ram more is that he couldn't help his brother with this. He wouldn't say anything until someone asks, he thought that one day even if no one asks, Lakshman would start saying himself but it's not happening, neither with his brother nor with friends. He's hoping for his brother to open up to one person atleast, then he could feel at ease.