There were only five passengers on that chartered plane—a pilot, a co-pilot, and three travelers—along with just two crew members, a nurse and an air hostess. The plane had been chartered in great haste.
One passenger was lying on a stretcher, an oxygen mask covering his nose. His head was wrapped in so many bandages that it appeared like a large bundle of cloth. One leg was plastered up to the thigh, and one arm was also covered in a cast up to the shoulder.
A middle-aged doctor kept checking his pulse and heartbeat repeatedly. At times, deep concern flickered in his eyes.
The third passenger was a young man. He was dressed in an expensive suit, but his beard was unkempt, his hair disheveled, his necktie loose, his lips dry, and his face clouded with worry. His eyes looked tired and hazy.
Once, when the doctor checked the injured man's pulse and heartbeat, the young man swallowed dryly and asked, "Doctor Uncle, how is Papa now?"
The doctor straightened up and reassured him, saying, "Don't worry, Mr. Shekhar! He will survive."
"When will we reach Houston?"
"You are very nervous. Please sit down."
"But Papa..."
"He is all right. And besides, I am here with him."
Then the doctor sat beside Shekhar in the adjacent seats. The nurse, who had been standing near the stretcher, adjusted the oxygen mask and cylinder before taking a seat close by.
The doctor turned to her and asked, "Sister, where are the extra oxygen cylinders?"
The nurse sat upright and replied, "Sir, they've been placed in the smoking room—since there are no smokers here."
"That's okay."
At that moment, the air hostess approached respectfully and asked, "Anything you need, sir?"
The doctor said, "Bring me a small peg of Scotch."
"I'll bring it later," she responded.
"Okay, sir," she added before leaving.
The young man licked his dry lips and said, "Doctor Uncle, you ordered that drink for me, didn't you?"
The doctor smiled and said, "You're very tense—a peg or two will help you relax, and then you should also have some dinner."
"No, Uncle. I have no appetite."
"Shekhar, please! Do you want to fall ill before we even reach Houston? You haven't even had a glass of water in the last six hours. How will you even stand if you keep starving yourself like this?"
"But Uncle..."
"Mr. Shekhar, I assure you—getting your father-in-law safely to the hospital in Houston is my responsibility. Nothing will happen to him until then."
Shekhar said nothing.
The doctor then asked, "It seems you love your father-in-law very much?"
With a heavy throat, Shekhar replied, "Uncle, he is less of a father-in-law and more of a father to me. In a way, he adopted me, an orphan. Out of his office staff of three hundred people, he chose me as his son-in-law. Isn't that a great blessing from fate?"
"It certainly is."
"Just think of him as the medium through which fate gave me that blessing. Just like some people see God in a stone idol, I have found God in Papa."
As he spoke, his voice choked, and his eyes filled with tears.
Just then, the air hostess returned with a tray carrying two pegs. The doctor and Shekhar each picked one up. The air hostess noticed Shekhar's teary eyes deeply before turning and walking away.
The doctor turned to the nurse and said, "Sister, you should have a small peg too. Have dinner and take some rest. Otherwise, none of us will be fit to care for the injured."
The nurse stood up and said, "Yes, Doctor. I'll go sit with the air hostess."
"That's fine."
The nurse made her way through the seats, descended the stairs, and passed through a small corridor to reach the area where the air hostess was preparing food and drinks. The air hostess smiled at her arrival.
"I was just thinking the same—you should come so we can keep each other company."
The nurse sighed and said, "Let's see if that poor man even makes it alive."
"Seth Oberoi...? Oh God, I have never seen a case like this! When some strangers brought him to the hospital, no one even knew he was Seth Oberoi."
She prepared a small peg for the nurse and continued, "His head was crushed—there's no telling how many fractures are in his leg and arm. It took a full four hours just to bandage and plaster him. Luckily, Dr. Madhukar turned out to be his family doctor—he recognized him and informed Sethji's family. Then, another two to three hours were spent completing the formalities."