"Is she coming around?"
"Is she up?... careful, her hand!" feeling returned to my battered and bruised body. "She's up, she's up" The concerned voice caused a cacophony of emotions to rush through me.
"Water" I croaked out, still not being able to open my eyes. Someone placed a straw between my lips. I took a long draw and sighed.
"My baby, Elena, darling, open your eyes sweetheart" A sob finally broke out of me.
My eyes opened and I saw Ammi Jaan's face hovering over mine. She smiled and stroked my hair. "Good job. You're here, you're safe" I smiled and grabbed her hand. I did not want to let go. She sat with me, her hand stroking my hair as I took in my surroundings.
I had been placed in my room, on my bed. Bouquets covered every inch of the room. Roses in all colors, Jasmine, Freesias and who knows what else was placed in vases, on tables or near the balcony. Many of them had small cards attached to them. Still examining the room, I looked at the IV stand next to my bed. There was a drip attached to my left hand. My right hand was in a sling and I could feel a multitude of bruises peppered across my face.
"Uncle Azhar, Duchess... Zaroon" the last word came out as a pained cry. Tears started to fall out of my eyes.
"Shh... I know. He's right here. He never left"
"Uncle Azhar, his father. How, Ammi Jaan..." she gestured to someone behind her.
"He knows. You need to recover. Get some rest" my eyes started to drop and I settled into the comfortable pillows. Slowly, I surrendered to the cool dark waters.
"She's not ready for this" Ammi Jaan's voice woke me up. I felt the sunlight on my face. I had zero sense of time. Was it a day later? Had it been two days?
"She has to be... I'm sorry, but we need her" Was that Feroze? What was he doing here? Weren't the elections today? I opened my eyes at the noise and sure enough, I was greeted with his face staring at me with relief.
"Thank God you're up. Elena you genius, you pulled it off. We did it, we won the elections. They've called them" relief and happiness flowed through me and I laid back on the pillows, satisfied.
"Congratulations, Prime Minister to be,"
He winced at my scratchy voice. I sighed and frowned at his reaction.
Embarrassed, he came forward to sit on the seat placed beside the bed. A soft click of the door told me that Ammi Jaan had left the room.
"How have you been? I heard about what happened, I couldn't leave the campaign trail. Everything was happening so fast..."
"It's fine. You did what you had to. I'm glad someone was using their head"
"Everyone had lost theirs, Elena. Uncle Ehsan was frantic, your mother refused to eat, Izzy and Rania were desperate for news and the Major? I have never seen someone lose their mind but still be in so much control. The guy was a whirlwind." I could not keep my expression from falling.
I loathed showing any weakness in front of Feroze, but I could not help it. Tears sprung in my eyes. Feroze nodded in sympathy and offered me his handkerchief in a silent show of compassion. I turned my head to the side to have a moment to compose myself.
"You mentioned something about needing me?"
"I... yes, I have decided to announce my victory from Gulzar Mahal. Will you be by my side?"
"I'm touched, wouldn't Naila mind?"
"Uh, she's not here." at my questioning glance he cleared his throat to offer an explanation. "She told me everything. Honestly, I never thought you had it in you" a small laugh escaped my lips at that. That seemed to be a running theme around here "We're thinking of getting a divorce. Things have been a bit intense lately" understatement of the century.
"I'm sorry"
"Don't be. It was bound to happen. We were keeping it together for Hassan" silence fell around us after that. "So, will you?"
"Feroze, I'm glad you've won. I'm ecstatic, but..."
"Oh no," he groaned.
"Oh yes. Aunt Mamo deserves to be by your side. She believed in you from the start. No, listen to me, you are a child of both worlds. You grew up in the north and the south. You have had both feet in two different worlds. You're the bridge that will stitch this country together. You owe this to the place where you grew up. Your constituency awaits you. They deserve to be the ones to celebrate this win" he looked at the ground, his hands shaking.
"I know"
"Good."
"I just wanted you to be my side. You've always had a huge role to play in my life," a sad smile ghosted over his lips.
"I am on your side, but I belong by someone else's side now. You will have me as an ally as long as you do what you've promised" he nodded, his gaze still lowered. "Will you do as you've promised?"
"I promise"
"That's a relief"
"About the meeting of the southern leaders, we've postponed for two days. It's this Sunday..."
"Wait, today's Friday?"
"Yeah" I'd been kidnapped for a mere two days? It had felt longer "The whole city is waiting for you. We're waiting for you" He got up and smiled widely. "Get well soon Elena, we need you"
"You'll be a mess without me"
"Don't get too cocky," he said, walking out of the room laughing. The door closed behind him and I smiled. Glad to see one of the biggest problems was over. A knock sounded on the door.
"Come in" I called out, rearranging the pillows for my back.
"Oh my God, Eli" Izzy and Rania burst into the room with a billion brightly coloured ballons. My eyes widened as they tried to put them in several different places.
"Uh..."
"I know you would have preferred flowers, but you've already got so many" Izzy muttered as the nurse took them away.
"It's fine"
"How are you? How are you feeling? Oh my God, I was so scared! I did not know what to do... you weren't there and then Ammi was freaking out, Zaroon bhai lost it, he had actually lost it. I have never seen someone so angry. Uncle EJ had to calm him down. I was afraid he was going to kill his own father"
"What? Rania, he didn't"
"No, he did not. Rania isn't being chronologically correct" Izzy said seating himself on the bed. Rania ignored him and plopped herself on the chair.
"I was summarizing everything," she said sticking out her tongue.
"Where is he?" they paused their chatter and refused to look at me. "Tell me" I hated the pity in their expressions.
"He's with Uncle EJ," Izzy said. I sighed. "Uncle EJ was the one who stayed with you throughout the doctors' check-ups. Ammi Jaan could not bear it, so he stepped in. Zaroon, well he went sort of ballistic"
"What happened? Tell me everything"
"After you were kidnapped, we searched the castle for you. We called the police. Feroze had to take up the mantle and he went into extensive campaign mode. After he made sure that no one from the New Revolutionaires was involved, he hammered out a deal"
"He hammered out a deal? Please tell me one of you looked at it"
"Relax, we had Maryam go over it. She came over just after you were kidnapped. She stepped in to help"
"Oh thank God. I still don't trust him"
"Anyways, so we had the whole city on alert. We could not decide if we should keep the story under wraps or let it out. Both Rania and Feroze decided that you'd want political traction"
"Good call" I replied giving Rania a small smile. She smiled back, her face tense.
"We were so scared. We thought we'd lost you. Uncle Azhar said someone took you away from him and he had no idea. He played us." Rania said scathingly.
"I was in the woods. There's a cabin there. He probably just dumped me there"
"Yeah, he confessed to the police. He was furious. Nice job stabbing him in the back."
"So yeah, we were on a wild chase until the police showed up at our door, election eve. We saw you running towards us, we heard the shots and I saw you fall..." Izzy wiped his eyes. "I swear Elena, I felt as if I was dying. We ran to you but he was right behind you. He stood there with a gun in his hand ready to shoot you. I was so scared, I thought we'd lose you" I laid my head on his shoulder to comfort him.
Rania sniffed, her hand over her mouth.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm here. It's all good"
"It's only okay because Zaroon bhai shot his father"
"He what?" I screamed and then winced at the pain that action caused.
"Yeah, he shot Uncle Azhar's hand, the one that was holding the gun. The police arrested him after that" my head was reeling from the details and I could feel myself shutting down.
"Rania put a statement out. Gulzar Mahal is happy about Ferozes win, the south will be his ally, he'll announce his victory soon, probably around noon. Also, send a congratulatory message to everyone who's won"
"Are you okay Elena?" Izzy muttered.
"Just, tired. Rania, do it today, please. Word it like I'm present. Word it like me..." and then I blacked out.
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