The officers at the station were having a hard time figuring out a motive behind the crime. Shubham's interrogation wasn't going smooth either, he was sobbing uncontrollably, but the investigators assigned to the case were very accommodating, and after a long interview with the detectives, Shubham was cleared of suspicion as a suspect in the double homicide of Atreyee's parents, Shivani Maitra and Rudransh Maitra.
Shubham slowly exited the station and was dragging himself towards his car, parked right across the quiet street. He felt dazed, nothing made any sense to him, and it was as if his world came crashing down and he could do nothing about it. Although he was cleared as a suspect, he was one of the prime witnesses to the crime, other than Atreyee herself, but considering her condition, the prosecution was keen on summoning him as the witness after the suspects are apprehended.
Shubham entered his car, sat down at the wheel and stared at the steering wheel, trying to make sense of everything that was happening around him. Adrija hasn't woken up since the day the incident occurred, he lost a part of his family, in front of his eyes, but nothing made sense to him. And on top of that he was a witness to the crime, and at the same time he wasn't. Shubham was found tied up and drugged inside the washing machine in the apartment, and although the investigators had pushed him for anything he could possibly remember about the intruders, but the drug had messed with his memory it seemed, and all he could remember was a blur and a silhouette of a person in a long flowing garment. He was thinking of so many things at the same time he felt like he was going mad. He grabbed his hair and pulled it hard enough to make himself scream in pain. Just then his phone, which was lying on the passenger seat of the car started to vibrate. He quickly glanced at the phone number; it was someone unknown. He stared at the phone for some time, nervous and scared for reasons he didn't understand, then slowly extended his hand and picked up the phone which was still vibrating.
"Hello, this is Shubham Roy. Who am I speaking to?"
"Hello Mr. Roy, this is Dr. Chatterjee, I'm the doctor assigned to aide your wife, and I'm happy to inform you that she has regained consciousness."
"..."
"Mr. Roy? Is everything alright Mr. Roy?"
Roy was just crying at this point; he was so emotional and just so relieved that he kept crying. "T..Th..Thank y..you doc..tor", that was all he could manage to say in between his sobs, at least that's what Dr. Chatterjee heard. But he was happy. After checking up on Adrija, while exiting her cabin, he whispered to the groggy Adrija, "Your husband is a very good man, hold him close my dear."
Even though Adrija's vision was almost totally hazy, and her head felt like a mountain, she could still recognize the old man who helped her reach her sister's apartment. Slowly information trickled into her mind, and she remembered that he was a doctor, and it was him, yet again, who saved her. Although she was in no condition to speak, she mustered all the strength in her just to make a sound loud enough to make Dr. Chatterjee, who was now standing at the door, updating two officers on Adrija's condition, notice her. And he did, very promptly. He put his briefcase and files on the desk in the cabin, took a chair and sat beside her bed. All she could do was slowly move her hand and place it on his, when he looked at her and smiled affectionately. Dr. Chatterjee took his other hand, held her palm tightly, and bowed his head in prayer. Although he was a doctor, a man of science and logic, he never renounced the divine grace. Adrija felt a sense of relief rushing through her, she felt alive even though she was hanging on the verge of death for three days now.
In the meantime, Shubham has rushed himself to the hospital, and was running through the passages and staircases like an absolute lunatic. He was running so fast that he had to make an abrupt stop in front of Adrija's cabin. The two officers outside the cabin were on alert mode, and almost instantly tried to pin him down, but Dr. Chatterjee, taking notice of the commotion outside, decided to intervene and diffuse the situation. Shubham was let into the cabin after a formal identification check-up by the two officers, who apologized profusely for pinning him down, but Shubham wasn't even listening. He rushed into the room and teared up at the sorry sight of his dear wife. Dr. Chatterjee was sitting right beside the bed, periodically checking on her pulse to make sure her heart rate returned to normal. Other than that, he was writing something in a notepad, which Shubham obviously had no idea of. He bowed down in front of the old, now bewildered doctor, and thanked him profusely for saving his wife. The doctor asked him to raise his head and hugged him lightly. Shubham was slightly surprised, but he was relieved and happy at the same time, because he realized that his wife was under the care of a very caring yet professional cardiologist.
After spending some time comforting Adrija, Shubham and Dr. Chatterjee decided to have a talk in his private office.
"Mr. Roy, Mrs. Roy will recover from this ailment very soon, but I had a few extra tests conducted on her. There is a slight abnormal growth in Adrija's chest cavity, and that as a result, puts immense pressure on her heart and her left lung cavity, resulting in breathlessness and blacking out. Although this is a pretty rare condition, and in most cases require surgery at the end, but Adrija's case hasn't become as bad, and she can stay in check with lowered stress work and preferably staying more at home."
Shubham was gravely disturbed by the things he heard Dr. Chatterjee say, but he had developed immense faith on the doctor, and after their discussion ended, Shubham stood up, went over to him, and shook his hands very calmly and bowed down to him yet again.
"Please save my wife sir, any possible way you can adopt, just please save her!"
Dr. Aniket Chatterjee slowly looked at Shubham's face. He has been a doctor for more than thirty years now, but he had never seen such distress, such love, such concern on a husband's face before. Shubham's pure presence brought a subtle smile to his face. He assured Roy that he would do everything he possibly could to cure Adrija's condition.
The bodies of the victims were sent back to the grieving families after an autopsy, and a funeral was held to lay them to rest. Shubham had to attend the funeral, along with a few of Rudransh's colleagues and Shivani's business associates. All the people stood before the graves, and as the priest ordered the caskets to be lowered into the soil and started chanting prayers, everyone present there bowed down in respect and paid their final homage to Shivani and Rudransh. Although Shubham still felt it hard to believe that both of the people, he held close to his heart were no more, he was too tired to cry anymore.
Among the mourning visitors at the funeral, nobody noticed the slender figure of a woman draped in a white shawl, covering most of her face, who just stood at one corner, staring blankly at the caskets being lowered to the ground.