Page 145 of Since You Stole My Heart

Thin cuts marked both her arms in angry, bleeding lines that burned relentlessly, while the slash on her palm throbbed with vicious force.

Maithili leaned closer to inspect the wound. Blood seeped around the embedded glass shard when she pressed lightly against it.

‘The cut is deep, Kashvi. I’ll have to stitch it, and I don’t have any anaesthesia right now, so it will hurt. We need to go to the hospital,’ Maithili insisted in a firm voice.

Fear climbed hot and suffocating up her throat, but Kashvi only shook her head.

Maithili glanced at the closed bedroom door. ‘Do you want me to call Swayam inside? It helps to have someone to yell at.’

Kashvi stared at the door. Swayam was probably pacing outside the room the way he always did when panic took hold of him. She wanted him with her so badly that her free hand curled into a fist.

But she shook her head. She didn’t want him to see her like this.

With a sigh, Maithili pulled sterile gauze, thread, and a curved needle from her bag. Kashvi rested her head against the wall and looked away.

Now that the adrenaline had worn off, the pain burned through her in hot waves. Even swallowing pulled painfully at her swollen cheek.

‘Take a deep breath for me,’ Maithili said as she gripped the piece of glass with tweezers.

Kashvi bit down on her lip, and Maithili pulled the shard out in one quick motion.

Pain exploded through her palm. Kashvi nearly lurched away from the wall, nausea rolling through her stomach hard enough to make her ribs tighten. The ceiling blurred as tears spilled over.

‘Shh, that’s it. It’s out. Breathe,’ Maithili urged softly as she pressed the gauze against the wound.

Sweat gathered at the nape of her neck, and Kashvi felt feverish from the burning sting. Every tremor through her abdomen reignited the deep agony left behind by Viraj’s kick, making it difficult to sit upright.

Maithili cleaned the wound with slow, methodical care. The antiseptic burned savagely despite her gentle touch.

When the needle pierced her tender skin, a brutal scream tore out of Kashvi. ‘Oh my God,’ she gasped brokenly, grabbing blindly at the bedsheet.

‘I know it hurts. Just hold on. This will be over soon,’ Maithili told her, trying to comfort her as best she could.

Kashvi nodded weakly and forced air into her aching chest. Though she clenched her teeth hard, another cry scraped out of her throat when the needle pierced her skin again.

A knock sounded immediately at the bedroom door.

‘Kash? Are you okay?’ Swayam’s muffled voice came through, strained with alarm.

She bit down harder on her lip. ‘I’m fine,’ Kashvi called back.

After a brief pause, he said, ‘I’m right outside, okay? If you need anything, just call me.’

‘Okay.’

Kashvi gestured for Maithili to stop for a moment as she picked up a scrap of fabric from her torn top. She rolled it into a tight bundle, then clamped it between her teeth.

Maithili chuckled softly. ‘You should know it was nearly impossible to keep him out of the room. The only reason he agreed was because I told him I’d need privacy to check you for injuries.’

Kashvi could picture it too easily. That sounded exactly like her husband.

The frantic look in his eyes when she’d regained consciousness still sat heavily in her mind. She remembered his broken voice as he kept begging her to open her eyes. Even afterwards, he had been unwilling to leave her side, even for the few seconds it took to open the door for Maithili.

Maithili tied off the final stitch carefully before wrapping fresh bandage around her palm. ‘There, done.’

Kashvi let out a slow breath as she pulled the cloth from between her teeth.

Maithili began packing away the needle and thread. ‘Do you have any other injuries I need to look at?’