INTOXICATED BY LOVE

My head was heavy and my eyes were sealed. With great efforts, I woke up. The moment I opened my eyes, I realized that it was not my bedroom. It was a hospital room - precisely known as the ICU ward. Questions like why was I here? What had happened to me and Roshan? What happened that night? piled up in my head. I saw someone opening the door but I couldn't recognize it clearly due to my blurry vision.

"Doctor! Doctor! He has awoke from coma," the nurse rushed to inform the doctor.

"Coma?" I wore a clueless expression on my face on hearing that particular word. 

The very next moment, I saw the blurry image of another person outside the ICU door. Slowly my vision and the image became clear. It was Roshan. He came and stood beside me. His existence answered half of the questions in my mind.

"You idiot! Next time, booze less!" He said concerned. I laughed.

"Don't create a scene next time or else I'll beat you to death." He warned.

"Scene?" Again I wore a clueless expression on my face.

All of a sudden, the doctor along with the nurse entered and inquired about my health. After a casual conversation, he advised me to take rest and asked the nurse to give a sedative to me. She gave me a sedative and left the room. Before she left, she also asked Roshan to leave as quickly as possible so that I would get a good rest which I didn't need.

It was only me and Roshan in the room now.

Breaking the silence, I asked him "What happened that night?"

"Don't you remember anything that happened that night?" He counter questioned me.

I gestured I don’t know and fell asleep due to sedative.

I tried hard to recollect what happened that day.

Earlier that day...

The honking sound from Roshan’s car was testing my patience and making me more nervous. Yet, it was not his fault but mine. I had a terrible fight with Madhu the previous night and switched off my mobile. I tried to sleep. But sleep was miles away from me. It was in the dawn just before my routine alarm I slept. I snoozed my alarm and slept for few more minutes. It was then Roshan called and informed me to be ready at the doorstep to leave to the office together. As I had an important presentation at the office, I asked Roshan to pick up me so that I won't be late. But things turned out to be worse. He was waiting for me outside my apartment for almost 20 odd minutes, honking every 5 minutes. I skipped my breakfast and rushed to Roshan who was waiting for me in his car. As soon as I joined him, the car cruised the busiest roads of the city and halted at the parking lot of our office. 

We rushed to the conference room of our department and made the necessary arrangements for the presentation. Once we were ready, we had a rehearsal presentation. Soon, one by one, all the officials of the meeting gathered. The presentation started and went very well. Though I was a bit tired, I managed to run the show. The presentation was adjourned for lunch. Meanwhile, Roshan was waiting outside for me with a pizza in his hand. I loved his care and friendship. He placed it on my table and went to have his lunch. The smell of cheesy pizza lured my focus. But my subconscious constantly reminded me of the meeting. I didn't want to spoil the second part of the meeting. So, I turned my focus to the laptop screen verifying the slides and rehearsing for the show. No sooner, the meeting resumed. By the time, the meeting got over, I was exhausted. But the meeting turned out to be fruitful for me. I called it off for the day and took the cold pizza outside. I switched on my mobile and saw Roshan's message which read: "Waiting for you in the parking. Come soon. Let's booze :D"

In addition to Roshan's message, there was an unread message from Madhu which read: "Goodbye, forever!"

While going to the parking, I tried Madhu’s number many times but the line was dead. I joined Roshan in his car and confessed about Madhu’s message to him. He asked me to dial her number once again. It also went futile.

The Resto Pub

We had the habit of going to pub occasionally on Saturday night. Though it was late, we went straight from office to our destination for the night – “The Resto Pub”. The foot-tapping music played by the DJ and the colorful ambience inebriated our mood for the evening. People were so engaged with their booze and danced to the peppy numbers played by the DJ. The atmosphere was a cocktail of boisterousness, craziness and happiness. We bought our usual vodka shots and started to booze together. Roshan went to flirt with one of the hot girls in the pub. He always does that without any fear because the pub owner was his close friend. Ever since Roshan helped his friend in getting the corporate party order from our office, he owed Roshan and me free entry, anytime, any day. I picked up my phone and dialed Madhu’s number again. There was no response from the other end. Every time a call went in vain, I gulped a vodka shot. In less than an hour, I almost gulped 7 shots of vodka which in turned had activated my brain cells.

My body was shaking. I heard someone calling my name. It was Roshan. He made me to wake up to have lunch. The very first thing I asked him that afternoon was “What happened that night at the pub?”

Roshan took over the story from where I left.

You were completely insane and under the influence of the alcohol that night. You started dancing alone violently at the pub after 7 vodka shots. You went to the bartender and fought with him for further shots. When he refused, you created a scene. You stood on the bartender's table, took the costly beverage bottles and started juggling like him. To your bad luck, you almost broke almost half a dozen of it and set the table on fire and danced on it like a mad man. You got us kicked out of the pub! Do you know something? The next day, he pasted both of our photos under "No stags allowed" with the words "especially these two".

Roshan was fuming while narrating the story.

I remained quiet and all I could do was give him an innocent kiddo look.

All of a sudden, a police officer entered the ICU ward and inquired about me with Roshan. He also gave a paper that he had. I was puzzled as to why he was here, inquiring about me.

“Take care, young man! Don’t booze much!” The police officer told me and left patting my shoulder.

“Who is he? Why is he inquiring about me?” I asked Roshan.

Roshan continued the story.

Chucked out from the pub, I drove the car to your apartment. During the journey, your body was half inside and half outside the window. You started screaming and shouting at every vehicle. Since I was engaged in driving, I couldn't stop all your nonsense. You even shouted at the police. Because of you, we almost got arrested for public nuisance case.

"Do you know what you did to the police officer who caught us?" He said.

I gestured him I didn’t know.

When I bribed him ₹500 for our release, you pushed me aside and almost gave him a lip-lock thinking that he was “Madhu”. When the other officers rushed, you landed onto that police officer's leg and started pleading

"Please don't leave me Madhu. I beg you please don't leave me!"

After saying those words, you puked and fell unconscious at his feet. Due to this, the police filed a charge sheet for “Drunk and Drive” case on me. Since I didn’t produce proper papers, they seized my car. In addition to that, they filed “public nuisance” case on you. During the whole scene, you remained as a log of wood at the police officer’s feet. We were so panicked because you neither responded nor woke up after falling at his feet. We gave you the necessary first-aid but you didn’t respond to that either. With the help of the police, we then took you to this hospital in the patrol vehicle immediately.

Due to fasting and binge drinking, you were diagnosed with "alcohol poisoning" which in turn had led to an acute increase in the alcohol level in the blood than normal. Even after cleaning the alcohol from your stomach, you were in coma for a day.

"You are entirely responsible for all the chaos, you bastard!!" Roshan screamed pointing his hand towards me.

All I could do was agree to his allegations.

"I'm sorry. I'm terribly sorry for whatever happened." I said and broke into tears.

He tried to console me.

“Does Madhu know about this?” I asked in a weeping voice.

“You please ask her. She is waiting outside.” Roshan said and left the room.

The moment she entered the room, my heart beat accelerated to its top speed. My fear grew as I knew that it was going to be the end of my relationship no sooner than later.

"Don't you dare touch the alcohol next time. In case if alcohol doesn't kill you the next time you booze, I will kill you for sure. Only I have the right to kill you and not the alcohol. So, promise me that you won't booze hereafter." She warned concerned.

"Yes! Only you have the right to kill me. Please kill me with your love. I'm ready to die at this moment or on a daily basis. I'm afraid that I can't promise you. I will booze and even you can't take that right from me. The alcohol I'm going to consume is called 'Love' which is a 'highly intoxicating' substance." I said and held her hand.

She held my hand and planted a kiss on my forehead until I was “intoxicated by her love.”