"We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it."

- Tennessee Williams

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Dedicated to sangy1989 who motived me to update earlier than I had scheduled. Thank you for your kind word and for your sweet gesture... *hugs*

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The snowfall...

That sure was a sight he was not used to. He lived in India after all, a country which was warm even when the rest of the world was freezing from the cold winters.

It was somewhat fascinating. Never before he had the time to appreciate any sight and it had more doing with the impatient nature of his than the places he has always lived in. Even though he was sure it never snowed in Mumbai.

So how come it was snowing now?

It was fascinating, the way snow fell on an already white ground. Now lying on the bed, incapable of moving, he was forced to do nothing more than gaze at the snowfall whenever he got bored with the task of glaring at the ceiling. Why was it snowing all the time? Whenever he got around to look outside of the window, it was snowing - He had enough! How much one could admire the snowfall in its beauty? Why was it that it was suddenly snowing so much in Mumbai? He thought, frowning. Was he somewhere else? He must be.

Wait! He was in a hospital in some other country, wasn't he? Was that the reason why everyone that had walked in the hospital room had pale skin and talked with a perfect British accent? Not that his parents couldn't call in the doctors outside from abroad. They did so almost every time he fell ill or had any kind of accident. And he sure had fallen ill or had accidents many times in the short span of his nineteen years. Or was it twenty, now? How much time had passed, anyway?

Suddenly he realized as the time passed, he didn't feel so numb or dizzy, even though slowly the pain was making its presence known. He was remembering more and more details and could connect the thoughts passing in his mind. Which was good, he assumed. As it meant he now could remember what happened the last time he was conscious, but could he really?

He forced his mind to remember 'the last time' and then suddenly it came to him, in pieces and chunks of this and that, but it did. Nothing made sense to him but he could always work on to find a connection, could he not?

Did that mean he remembered more 'last times' than he thought he did? Good, it was good. He was somewhat sure of it.

The silence he was surrounded with drove him crazy. But he couldn't run away from it. Hell! - He couldn't even move. He was blocked and trapped. As he looked down at his body, even though half of it was wrapped in the warm blankets, he knew it was more broken than he thought it was. While his body was heavy due to the bandages and the plasterers it had on it, his mind was dizzy under the effect of sedatives they kept injecting him with. Trapped he truly was, he thought as he let out a deep sigh.

Used to the life of Mumbai, he found the silence around him deafening - add the snowfalls and things got worse for him than ever. He must be somewhere in the north. Somewhere his father had power, control, and business companies. His mind worked more efficiently as he forced it to think. London? New York? Or was it Toronto?

Wait, didn't they say he was in London? He remembered someone telling it to him. He didn't remember who, he just remember a voice telling him that he was in London. So, here it is, one more thing he knew now, he was in some hospital in London.

God, he missed Mumbai. His city. The rush, the hurried life, the noise, even the pollution, he missed it all. But more than anything, he missed the people of Mumbai, his people. And more than anyone else he missed her. Nandini...

With a heavy sigh, he changed his sight, glaring at the ceiling it was then. As the more time passed, the dizziness he felt started to wear out and the light pain he always felt, got more intense. Good. It was good. Because that meant someone soon would enter into the room they confined him in and inject him with whatever it was that made him more dizzy, incapable of forming a rational thought and made his speech slurred, incomprehensible. And more than that, it made him crazy enough to admire the sight of snowfall that was what it reduced him to do! And the worse effect of it was that it made him forgot that what he had to do, must, ask for Nandini. Demand them when the hell he would be free from all of the silence that did nothing but suffocate him.

That was what he had to remember to ask. Now, as he was more of himself than ever before, he must know all of that.

Then all of sudden, all of it came to him; he remembered the last time he wanted to remember!

He did the same thing last time too. He tried to tolerate the pain, denying the fact that he felt any so they would not inject him with sedatives, as he could tell that it was the only time his speech would be understandable, the only time when the sound of the words spoken by him were under his control. But they always knew - they somehow always did know that he was feeling pain and they always made sure he had more than enough sedatives in his system.

Why? Couldn't they understand he did it so he could ask for her? He had, many times if he remembered correctly, done the same but they had no answers to give him. No one had any answers...

As he breathed in, he realized, the angrier he got, the more frustrated he felt, the less hazy things became. That wasn't a problem, he thought, feeling the anger came to him as easy as breathing to others. He could do that, after all, what he felt was more, rage was the word, that is what he felt whenever he thought about the situation he was trapped into.

Were they playing some weird mind games with him? Well, then, if a war was what they wanted, a war was what they were going to get. After all, no one played mind games better than he himself, Manik Malhotra.

'Let them come this time', he thought with his eyes now fixed on the door, the only entrance. Willing for someone to come, anyone to enter into the room, this time, he was going to get an answer.

'Where are they when needed?' he thought glaring at the door of the room they had him confined in.

After what seemed like a long time, the door opened and an old doctor and a nurse walked in.

"You are awake!" the female cried out with a smile.

"Well, hello, young man. How are you feeling this morning?" The old doctor asked while smiling down at him.

"Fine," he growled while grinding his teeth. "Now can you tell me where Nandini is?" He asked, clenching his jaw.

He didn't sound as clear as he thought he did - his voice hoarse, words slurred, what he said was still somewhat incomprehensible. If it wasn't for the fact that he has been asking the same question for almost a week, Jenifer or Dr Waltz wouldn't have understood what or about whom he was asking.

Taking a deep breath, the old doctor tried to find an answer that could bring a less violent reaction from him than it did all the other times he or any of his team members had answered to their all-the-time angry patient. If any of them would be asked, Dr Waltz was sure they would say that they would take the looking-out-of-the-window sedated version of the patient over the angry version they were facing now.

"Who, Nandini?" He asked hesitantly. Not a smart move from his side, he knew. But what else could he do? He had to do it to buy some time, he knew the answer. Anyone of them could almost predict the answer the patient gave to the question, word by word.

"Nandini, she must be somewhere in the hospital. Send someone to call her in," the patient growled the order impatiently, his eyes fixed on the door, waiting, even before the given order was put in the act.

'An order? This is new,' Dr Waltz thought amused as he looked down at his patient.

"What? Do it!" The angry patient snapped at the old doctor who still looked frozen in his place.

As he looked at the frozen duo standing in front of him, with a sigh, Manik thought maybe a description was needed.

"She is short, almost 5-5, black long hair, open, or it would be tied now? She does that whenever she is sad. She must be sad now. She always wears earrings. No, wait! She doesn't wear them when she is angry at me. She must be angry at me now. I broke the promise I made to her by getting myself hurt."

As he described her, his voice lost its fierceness, becoming almost a whisper at the end.

Sighing painfully, he glared at the ceiling. He hated being so unsure about her, it felt as if she was getting hazy even though he knew she wasn't. He remembered her, all of her. It was just the sedatives that were making his memories fuzzy. It made her feel so out of the reach, so far away when he was sure she must be nearby. She always was whenever he needed her.

"There is no one here close to the description you just gave, anywhere in the hospital," Dr Waltz said, hoping the reaction to his answer would be different this time, but for caution, he signaled Jenifer to call in the nurses needed to stop the patient from reacting violently.

"What? How is that possible? Are you sure?" Manik asked shocked. How come she was not there? Wait, he was in London, so it may be possible. Maybe.

"Since how long I am here?" He asked, trying to keep calm so he could think.

"Almost six months," Dr Waltz answered truthfully as he realized the patient was keeping calm and trying to have a conversation.

"Six months? That's a long time! Did she call? She must have at least called. No matter how angry she must be. I am sure," he said, nodding to himself.

It was not possible for her to stay that calm and aloof when it came to his health. A fact that was proven every time and even used by him to have his way, many times. He now knew something was wrong, but what? He tried to think of a reason which was stopping her, keeping her away, limiting her from reaching out to him.

"You must be in pain, let's get some painkillers in your system, then we can talk all you want," Dr Waltz called him out after taking in all the signs that told him the patient was in pain.

"No, no. No painkiller, no sedative, no anything till I get all my answers," he shouted suddenly, hastily trying to move away from the injection the old doctor was coming near him with.

"Okay, okay! No painkillers or sedatives. Just calm down," Dr Waltz said in the hurry, pacifying the panicked patient.

Manik let out a sigh of relief as the old doctor moved away and put his weapon down. Because to him, that was what it has become, a weapon used against him. They were keeping him sedated because he would panic and move around after they answered him, he realized. So, that is what he had to do differently to get the answers he needed, he thought as he willed himself to keep calm.

That was what he didn't do, he could tell as he analyzed whatever of the past interactions he remembered. Taking a deep breath, Manik tried to keep himself calm, to not panic and give the old doctor, standing near his bed, a reason to sedate him.

"So, did she call?" He asked after making sure he wasn't giving out the panic or pain he was feeling.

"No one has been in contact with us other than your father," Dr Waltz informed him as he sat down on the chair near the bed.

Manik let out a shaky breath. No! How can that even happen? And then he realized what it was. The 'only family' clause! It must be what was stopping her from calling.

Closing his eyes, he sighed frustrated. He should have added her name in the emergency contacts when the last time he was in the hospital. Also in the family one, if he could have. He should have, especially after knowing how Nyonika had stopped her from visiting him. Shaking his head, he glared at his ceiling, angry at his own self.

As Dr Waltz looked at his young patient who was focused on glaring at the ceiling - so intensely as if he was doing it so he could crack it with the power of his third eye. Laughing at his thought, he asked his scientific self since when he has started to believe that there was any truth to the Indian mythology, even though his wife read it to him all of it out loud? And because of whom it happened? Because of the thirty years he has lived with his wife or because of the patient he was interacting with?

Shaking his head, Dr Waltz again focused on the young patient who winced and hissed in pain now and then, without realizing it. The more time passed, the more the pain got intense, he could tell. The patient sure was as stubborn as he was determinant. And the old soul that he was, Dr Waltz knew the difference, and the boy laying on the bed in front him was both and how!

Shaking his head, he thought to give it another attempt, to convince the patient to let him give some painkillers.

"At least let me give you a light dose of the painkiller," Dr Waltz said tiredly after many failed attempted to convince him.

"Only if you let me talk to my father!" The young patient tried to trade with him while looking more confident and stronger than he should have.

'With all the pain he must be feeling, he should be the one asking, begging even, for whatever relief he could get,' Dr Waltz thought as he looked at the strong-willed patient.

'And here he is, trading with me.' Amused at the young one, Dr Waltz thought. After letting out a deep breath, he gave in.

"Your father calls in the evening almost every day, you can talk to him then," he informed.

"Then in the evening you come," Manik smiled at him sarcastically, and then moving his eyes from him to the door and coming back to rest them on him again, clearly indicating him to make his move and get out.

Laughing out loud, Dr Waltz was surprised and fascinated. The boy was sure something else!

"Okay, let me see if he is available to take our call," he said before passing him the phone.

"Yes, Dr Waltz? Is everything okay?" He heard the firm voice of his father respond.

"It's me, Manik," he informed.

"Manik? You? What? How?" He heard his father's shocked voice soon after a gasp.

"Manik, son, how are you feeling now?" His father's voice sounded shaky as if he was overwhelmed.

"I am fine. How are you feeling?" Manik asked formally.

"After hearing your voice, I am more than fine. It has been so long since the last time I heard your voice. I am glad you are awake, son," the man on the phone choked out.

'Son? Glad? He sounded so emotional. Was he talking with his father? He sure didn't sound like his always-in-control self?' Manik frowned. What was wrong with him all of sudden?

"Are you okay, dad?" He asked unsurely.

"I am now. I thought I lost you, Manik. I don't want to lose you. I know I never told you, but I do love you," his father whispered emotionally.

"I know. Why you think I tell that to Nyonika all the time, always knowing I have the upper hand," he joked as he closed his eyes in pain, stopping himself from wincing out loud.

"Are you still in pain?" Mr Malhotra asked.

"With the number of times I have been hurt, admitted in the hospital, you should have gotten used to all of this as Nyonika and I have," he said with a sigh.

Only realizing it after, that most of the time, Nyonika had made sure his father never got to know about him being in the hospital. But he knew what Nyonika didn't. Mr Malhotra knew about every freaking thing Madhav knew. And Madhav knew more than Nyonika would like him to know. His father never let out the secret, nor did Madhav, but he knew it.

'Ah, the games the supposed elder around him play with each other,' he smiled, amused as always.

"I am fine. Don't worry about me," he said after having only silence as the answer.

'Nothing new, as always he has no answer. Doesn't know what to say,' he thought, letting out a tiring sigh. The pain was getting too much to tolerate.

"Dr Waltz says you are coming next week. Are you, really?" He asked after a while.

"Yes, your plasters are coming off early next week, so I have to be there. And I will be, Manik, " Mr Malhotra assured him.

"Okay. Bring Nandini with you," he requested.

"Nandini, who?" His father asked.

"Not you too! Out of all the people I have asked about her, you don't get to ask who she is!" He snapped, irritated by the same question.

"I know you know about her. You always do know about everything that is needed to be known about me. She must have contacted you, it isn't possible for her to go on for six months without worrying about me," he said, body shaking with pain and anger.

It was impossible for Nandini to not be near him, to not ask about him, something was wrong, he was sure. Before his father could answer him, he interrupted him again.

"If still you are going to deny knowing about her then get Madhav to find her. She must be in some kind of problem if she hasn't contacted you till now," he asked him, now more worried than ever as the thought of all the wrong reasons crossed his mind.

"Okay, I will see what I can do," Mr Malhotra answered him.

"Bring her with you, please! Dad, I need her here with me," he requested again, faintly. But still, the pain and worry he felt could be heard in his voice.

"I will do whatever I can, Manik," Mr Malhotra promised.

"Okay..." he whispered before ending the phone call.

As he closed his eyes, he could only worry about her. After all, he could never trust her or anyone else with her safety, but all he could do now was to pray. So, he did.

For the first time in his life, he really did pray. For her, for her safety and then to ask for her, her presence here with him.

Always!

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A/N:- Here is the update that you hopefully liked. Thank you for reading, liking and voting for the story so far.

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