Abhir was immediately taken inside the operation theatre as soon as they reached the hospital.

Revanth already did all the payments and everything required beforehand, and also called Abhir's as well as Vaanya's family without Vaanya's confirmation.

When Abhir's wheeling bed was being rolled inside the dark room, his fingers were entwined so tightly with Vaanya's, as if he was scared of leaving her.

Scared of not being able to see her again if he goes inside tonight.

But his fingers were coerced to leave hers when the ward boys forcefully pushed his bed inside the OT room.

And that one last eye contact made both of them miserable. When a tear flew down Abhir's eye as he was being parted away from the love of his life.

His everything.

Vaanya sat down with a thump on the nearest seat aligned for people, in front of the OT. She completely hid her face with her palms, as her heartbeat was higher than ever, and her mind full of negative thoughts.

"Vaanu?"

And there it was, a few people running towards her to break off all her negativity, and add into a new stress.

Both the Birla and Agnihotri families.

Everyone came running towards her, but the group of people of their families was lead by Mrs. Chetna, her mother in law, who feared for her son's dear life.

"Vaanu beta, the- this much blood on your clothes?" Mrs. Chetna panicked, holding Vaanya's arms lightly.

And seeing her miserable state, Vaanya herself couldn't manage to not cry anymore either, and eventually tears left her eyes.

"Oh, my darling!" Mrs. Chetna cried, hugging her daughter-in-law tightly in her embrace as she now worried for both of her kids, unable to process what has happened in a day.

The rest of the Agnihotri family was on their way to Varanasi, back to home after a business meeting, when Atharva received Revanth's call during their ride. And that's how they directly landed here from the mid way to the hospital.

"How did this happen, baccha? How's Abhir? Is it fine? What happened to him? Revanth didn't tell anything to us on call either," Mr. Abhishek questioned Vaanya in a polite but worried tone, caressing her head as she hugged his wife in tears.

Mrs. Chetna broke the hug to let Vaanya speak.

"H- he-" Vaanya sniffed. Her breath kept breaking each second which was breaking their patience in her families, but they still gave her the time she needed to speak.

But since Revanth was the spectator of Vaanya's condition from the bunglow till here, he knew she wouldn't be able to speak clearly about Abhir's condition, so he interjected instead with a bewildering and traumatic statement.

"Abhir sir was shot thrice in his private bunglow by some unknown people while trying to save Vaanya ma'am's life," he disclosed.

A collective gasp from all the people present there was heard. And especially of Vaanya's.

Her heart as if- it stopped beating in the silent moment.

While trying to save her? What? How?

"Wh- what? What are you saying, Revanth?" Vaanya questioned. Her eyes big, and her mind blown away.

She forgot that her families were present too at this moment, because this came out as a bigger shock for her than seeing the families in the hospital without her knowledge.

Vaanya turns towards Revanth as her face was centrifugating different emotions at every passing second.

"Yes, ma'am," Revanth affirmed his statement, walking back to the memory when he was walking upstairs on the bunglow after Harsh was arrested, and everything seemed fine.

"I love you, meri sundar chhipkali," Abhir addressed his wife with a pretty name.

And to let the couple have some lone time with each other, under the clear sky, everyone vacated the place. But before anything, Abhir motioned to Revanth to bring their important files and CCTV footages pictures from the topmost floor.

Revanth adhered to the order, and walked upstairs. But as he was about to take the last staircase for the topmost floor, his eyes captured s view from afar.

The staircase had huge windows that allowed Revanth to take a clear view, where he could clearly see that Vivaan has secretly released Harsh from the handcuffs somehow, and Harsh had a gun in his hands.

There were limited police officers which is why it made it easy for the criminal brothers to aim straight at Vaanya, that Revanth noticed.

"Ma'am-?" The PA panicked, observing that his lady boss' life was in danger.

"Guards, onto the ground, now," he ordered through his microphone, as well as to the guards standing nearby him on the staircase to be alerted, and protect their boss.

Revanth saw Abhir has turned to Vaanya's side, completely unaware that Vivaan, glides Harsh's hand to change their target from Vaanya to Abhir.

"Abhir sir," Revanth screamed at the top of his lungs, but the soundproof glasses made it impossible for his voice to even reach the other surface of the glass window.

"Abhir sir, please move," Revanth danced, moving his arms and legs in an attempt to save Abhir from being attacked, but that's when he noticed that Abhir's smile dropped a little.

Why?

Revanth looked around, and saw the car behind Vaanya.

"Maybe... Maybe sir saw Vivaan from the car's mirror reflection?" A ray of hope sparked in his eyes, but he was too late to either be happy or sad, because as soon as Abhir noticed Vivaan in the rear view mirror of the car, he himself couldn't do anything, as it was a fraction of millisecond when Harsh's gun fired at Abhir.

All Abhir could do was, to open his arms as if he was going to hug Vaanya, so that the bullets won't reach her.

Vaanya fell back on the seat after hearing the new information.

Both the families were equally flabbergasted by the news they heard. And especially Abhir's family.

"Vaanya beta, just tell us the truth, who were those two people who tried to harm your life? We'll get them behind the bars as soon as possible-"

"No, maa," Vaanya stood up. Her eyes fierce and bold, endangering for Abhir's culprit as she looked straight with determined eyes.

"Now they won't go just behind the bars," Vaanya gritted, remembering Abhir's silent sacrifice for her. And Vivaan's face of a total demon in her eyes now.

He was no longer the sweet, innocent, caring, and lovely guy that she once called her best friend in life.

He was now nothing more than ferocious criminal in her eyes. And he was also now her prey.

She'll won't hesitate even a bit to become a hunter if needed, to take revenge from Vivaan for Abhir's condition.

"Now they'll straight away-"

"We urgently need B positive blood group," a sister interrupts Vaanya's speech. "We've asked in the blood bank, they're retrieving it for us, but seeing the patient's condition, we might need more, so if any of you can donate, do it ASAP," the nurse told.

But Vaanya's gaze slipped down at the bloody hands of the sister, scaring her of the consequences that Abhir was facing inside, because of her, bringing tears in her eyes.

"I'm O positive," Vaanya told, running behind the sister to another ward and donate blood to her husband.

She laid down on the stretcher for about 15 minutes, and the sister took that 1 bottle of her blood straight to the OT. Vaanya was asked to lay still on the bed, and rest for a while before she could walk.

And there was just one thought fogging her brain as she blankly stared at the cream walls of the hospital.

"Now Vivaan and Harsh, both of you will see what Vaanya Birla is." She says to herself, as her teeth grinded against each other.

"My husband is a pure soul, who hates fighting and revenge. He's a simple man, who loves love, and loves to spread love. And a kind man like him? I'd never want him to ruin himself in this cruel world, and lose his sanity for some trashy people like you, Vivaan,"

Vaanya gritted in fret, pumping the yellow-smiley sponge ball in her fist to contain her aggression, and save it for the future instead.

"But me? I'll make sure that you two brothers rot in hell, Vivaan. You rot in hell," but she couldn't contain much of it, and harshly threw the ball on the wall, that almost bounced back to her, but fell before her bed.

And after a while of resting, Vaanya escaped the ward to check upon her husband's condition and get the updated from anyone.

"Vaanu,"

Kartik and Atharva, who were standing in the corridor of the OT, away from the families as they were sitting on the benches in front of the room.

Vaanya's eyes filled with tears seeing her brother after so long. She missed him. She missed him a lot.

The last time she saw him was when she came back from Norway after her accident, and he stayed with her for a few days to take care of his little sister.

After then, with Abhir's assurance, and Vaanya's trust in her husband helped Kartik understand their now faithful bond, and made it easy for him to hand over her to Abhir, and take care of her.

"Bhai," she sniffed, running towards Kartik as he engulfed her into a tight hug. "I missed you, bhai. I missed all of you," she drew her face closer in his chest, while Kartik caressed her head.

Atharva sidelined himself a little to give space to the lost siblings.

"Don't worry, Vaanu. Now we're all here with you. And nothing will happen to Abhir as well, don't worry, okay? He's a strong man," Kartik's eyes splashed water, but he couldn't call weak in front of Vaanya who's already going through so much.

"I'll forever be his debtor for saving your life. He's a real hero after what he did tonight," Kartik broke the hug, cupping Vaanya's cheeks with a pretentious smile as he was worried sick about Abhir right now.

But Atharva jumped in between the siblings this time.

"Kartik Bhai, aap kaisi baate kar rahe ho? Bhaiya ne jo kiya, apni biwi ke liye kiya. Vo bhaiya ka farz tha, unhone vahi nibhaya hai, to isme karz ki baat kaise hui, Kartik bhai?" Atharva kept a hand on Kartik's shoulder to disagree with his previous statement, leaving a smile on Kartik's face with his sentence.

[T: Brother Kartik, what kind of things are you saying? Whatever Abhir did, he did it all for his own wife. Whatever Abhir did was his duty, and he just did that, so where did debt come from in here, brother Kartik?]

And being proud that Vaanya is married off in such a household, Kartik couldn't feel more relieved after seeing Atharva's gesture, and he just trapped Atharva into a hug as well.

"Thanks, Atharva. Really, I never thought Vaanya would be so lucky to come into your fa—"

"We are lucky that bhabhi came to our family, Kartik bhai," Atharva corrected with a chuckle, as both looked down at Vaanya with smiles, who jumped into a group hug with the two males.

"Ma'am, sir," the nurse called, gathering the attention of the trio who ran towards the sister. "The operation has been completed, but the patient has lost so much blood, so his condition is still critical, and we can't confirm anything until the next 36 hours. So, we'll be shifting him to an ICU as of now for meticulous care. Only one person can stay here, rest of you are required to please leave the hospital now since the patient is fine,"

She concluded, and left with a small smile with the Doctors to assist them further on Abhir's reports.

"I'll stay," Vaanya raised a hand in air, and the families nodded in an instant.

"Bhabhi, call me if you need anything. And I'll be leaving five to ten guards outside the hospital for yours and bhaiya's safety," Atharva lightly kept a hand on Vaanya's shoulder to uplift her spirit with a smile.

"Sure," Vaanya weakly smiled up at him.

And saying goodbyes to both the families, Vaanya reaches upstairs, peeking inside the ICU where Abhir was shifted, and her eyes were watery again seeing him so feeble and lifeless for the first time in life.

Through the small glass window on the door, she placed her hand over it to feel like she's caressing his cheek from a distance, as it was hard to go and sit beside him after realising, he sacrificed himself for her.

"When did you start loving me this much, Abhi? That you didn't think twice before taking three bullets for me?"