HE RESCUED ME

“Here’s another one,” saying this Captain Larry handed a limp body of a lady to the doctor.

After wrapping up the whole fire and finishing off the work, Larry was changing when he saw the chief in the room.

“Chief, any idea where they have taken the fire victims?”

“I think it’s the usual t one, St. Anthony’s. Why are you asking?”

“I need to check on a person.  I thought her face looked familiar.”

“Well, you guys did a hell of a job rescuing the people and all that,” Said the Chief and left the room. Larry quickly changed out of his fire-fighter's uniform to head straight to St. Anthony’s Hospital. He asked the receptionist for the whereabouts of the patients and quickly went to the designated room.

She was lying on the bed fast asleep with bandages on both her hands. They had put her on saline. Larry went towards her and gently touched her cheeks. Aria opened her eyes slowly and exclaimed, “Larry, what are you doing here?” Before he could explain, Aria drifted back to sleep.

He patiently waited for her to get up. When the nurse approached him to ask him to leave, he said, “she is my fiancé. She doesn’t have any other relative and I am not leaving her alone.”  As next of kin, he was allowed to stay with Aria. No one came to check on Aria.

He was still waiting in the room sitting on the sofa, when she opened her eyes. Meekly she asked him again, “what are you doing here, Larry?”

“I rescued you from the fire.”

“Thanks,” she said.

“How have you been?”

“Good until now. How about you?”

“Heartbroken since my fiancé left me.”

“Bastard. You were the one who cheated with Amy.”

“No, that was Amy seducing me and I did have a weak moment, but I didn’t do it.”

“Rubbish, I saw you kissing her.”

“That was my weak moment. But I didn’t do anything with her. I was called to duty for an emergency. When I reached home, you had left without a trace.”

“You want me to believe you after 2 years?”

“You should have trusted me. I know it was my fault. But I am human. I made a mistake but I was ready to pay the price.”

“I trusted you. You were all I had. And to see you kissing your best friend, I thought I better get out of the way.”

He got up, adjusted her bed to make it upright and just stood next to her.

Looking away, she asked, “So did you marry, anyone?”

He smiled, “My bride left me before we could reach the altar.”

Aria looked at him and smilingly said, “Do you still think there is time for us?”

He leaned in to kiss her on her forehead and said, “I never had a doubt!”

~ A Story By Fizaah Faiyaz

NEXT WEEK: Living With Parents