Chapter 43 When Everything Shook

The next morning felt normal.

Poornima got ready for college, adjusting her bag and looking at Veeresh with a soft smile.

“I will call you,” she said.

He nodded. “Take care.”

She smiled once more and left.

There was no sign that anything was about to change.

At the office, Veeresh was in the middle of a meeting when his phone rang. It was an unknown number. He almost ignored it, but something made him answer.

“Hello?”

“Sir, is this Mr Veeresh Qureshi?” a hurried voice asked.

“Yes.”

“Sir, there has been an accident. The person in the car is Poornima. Her car got crashed. She has been brought to City Care Hospital. Please come immediately.”

The call ended.

For a moment, Veeresh stood still.

He could not process what he had just heard.

Then suddenly, everything hit him at once.

He rushed out of the office without saying a word, ignoring everyone who tried to stop him. His hands trembled slightly as he drove, his mind filled with one thought again and again.

“She was fine.”

“She just left.”

“This cannot happen.”

His grip on the steering wheel tightened.

“Nothing will happen,” he whispered.

When he reached the hospital, he ran inside, his eyes searching desperately.

“Poornima Qureshi,” he said at the reception.

They directed him toward the emergency ward.

Doctors and nurses were moving quickly. The tension in the air was suffocating.

He stepped forward.

“I am her husband. How is she?”

The doctor looked at him, his expression serious.

“There is severe damage to the head,” he said. “And multiple injuries.”

Veeresh felt the ground slip beneath him.

“We are doing everything we can,” the doctor added.

Veeresh did not respond.

He just stood there, staring at the doctor as if the words refused to enter his mind.

Severe damage.

Head injury.

Poornima.

The same girl who had smiled in the morning.

The same girl who had said she would call him.

He slowly sat down on a nearby chair, his hands trembling.

“No,” he whispered.

His chest tightened painfully.

Memories flooded him all at once.

Her laughter.

Her anger.

Her trust.

“You are mine and I am yours.”

Her voice echoed in his mind.

He shut his eyes tightly.

Fear rose inside him.

Raw and uncontrollable.

Not something he could manage.

Not something he could face with strength.

“I did not even tell her properly,” he murmured, his voice breaking.

He stood up again, unable to sit still, pacing restlessly.

For the first time in his life, Veeresh felt completely helpless.

No power.

No control.

No answers.

Just waiting.

And breaking.

Because deep inside, he knew one thing.

If something happened to her, he would never be the same again.