Chapter 05 : Adopting her

It had been a week, since the girl woke up from her vegetative state and she was doing well under the supervision of doctors from "The MAX".

But, a strom was going on behind the scenes, of which everyone was aware except the poor girl.

The owner of "The Max " have shown enough mercy on the girl and had given her a place in his hospital from past 7 years but now he was in no mood to continue doing that.

A meeting was organized regarding the same to discuss the next step in her case. They were in touch with the police but unfortunately the officer's couldn't find anything about her family. On the Top of it....she has lost her memory! 

The owner, Mr. Victor Max was a man in his late 50's, although he was a kind-hearted, god-fearing man who believed in charity and this was the only reason why Natalie was not thrown out of the hospital. Instead, the hospital bore her expenses and took care of her. 

Mr. Victor, with a grim look on his face cleared his throat and had a quick look at the people sitting in the meeting room.

 He saw they were sitting patiently looking at him anxiously. Mr. Victor had already taken the updates from Dr. Andrews on the current condition of the patient and was here to conclude the final decision in her case.

After a while, he started speaking" All of you are already aware about the situation we are dealing with! Dr. Andrews has informed that the patient on bed number 37 is doing fine and co-operating as well" 

He stopped for a while and took a sip of water from the glass,

 kept it down and continued "According to Dr. Andrews , her body will take time to overcome the weakness, but she would be able to walk and carryout her normal activities in a month's time...but....he is not sure about her memory. It might or might not come back"

"but we can't take any chances and it's better we shift her before anything adverse happens landing us in trouble!" as he finished, a trail of concern was visible in his eyes.

Then after a few minutes, he allowed his lips to slightly curve upwards and spoke with an assuring smile "Don't worry, we won't leave her on the roadside to die...after all we have saved her!!! I have done all the arrangements....after she would be able to stand on her feet, she would be transferred to an NGO facility nearby meant for supporting the sick and differently-abled people who are abandoned by their family" 

Dr. Andrews who was listening to all this, suddenly spoke" Sorry to interrupt you Mr. Victor, but she is a girl...who has lost her memory. Even if she recovers it, it would be of a 13 year old..so, she is just like a child...how would she survive among the outside world, without her family by her side?"

Hearing this, another doctor said "Dr. Andrews we know, that you are a good human being but it doesn't mean our chairman is not one! Our hospital has already supported this girl for past seven years without even knowing her identity.... isn't that enough? And also, their are many people outside who are differently-abled ,but still surviving....she is still  a properly normal sound person."

Dr. Andrews was about to say something, but restrainted himself as he heard Mr. victor 's voice again.

Mr. Victor said" Dr. Andrews dont worry it's an NGO run by one of my relatives and they are doing a good job! Moreover, i had a word with the State Authorities and they will be issuing her a citizen identity card and other important documents to establish her nationality...all we need now is to give her a name"

After these words of Mr. Victor , the tensed environment in the meeting eased up and a round of applause was heard, along with the praises for the Chairman.

Mr. Victor had a sigh of relief,  after sometime the meeting was over and everyone left the meeting room.

Meanwhile, .......a different battle was going on in Natalie's Mind. All this week, she kept dreaming of her family in her sleep and trying hard to push her body to bring it back to it's normal functioning, as soon as possible.

She often thought as how would she deal with the situation, if she continued to be in this helpless state? No, she need to be on her feet as soon as possible!!! and she would try to push herself harder.

Witnessing her struggle,the motherly feelings in Mrs. Wade became more stronger for her. Mrs. Wade not only helped and took care of her medication. But,she would also calm her, love her and, motivate her. As a result, the bond between her and Natalie was becoming stronger and stronger. Natalie used to feel calm with her presence around her, but her situation didn't allow her to trust anyone whether the person is Mrs.Wade herself. 

So, Natalie would respond to her affection with warmth but never entrusted her with her little secret and, continued pretending to not remember anything from her past life.

To be honest, a part of Mrs. Wade didn't wanted Natalie to recall her memories, as she was afraid if they weren't favourable ones...the poor girl will end up enduring sufferings for life.

It's better to have no memories than to have bad memories. Moreover, as nobody came looking for her all those years, clearly meant either her family was dead or they didn't want her in their lives. 

Whatever be the case, Mrs. Wade was not going to let anyone harm the poor girl.

It was a Monday Evening, and the meeting held by Mr. Victor  in the afternoon had become the hot topic for discussion among the hospital staff.

Some were pitying the poor girl other's were optimistic that the decision would benefit her and the hospital. Mrs. Wade just completed her shift and went to the staff changing room to change to her Normal clothes. As she was doing so, she heard the fellow nurses discussing about the meeting held that day.

She felt as if struck by a lightening bolt listening to their conversation.

After a while, she collected herself and deciding something, she went straight to Dr. Andrews cabin.

Dr. Andrews was somewhat not happy with  Mr. Victor's decision and as he couldn't oppose it , so he diverted his thoughts and decided to go through pending case files of some patients. 

He was sitting in his office reading one of the case files when somebody knocked at his cabin door. 

He asked the person to come in and was shocked to see Mrs. wade as by this time she should have been home but she was here at his office.

He impatiently asked her about the same and Mrs. Wade told him about what she heard about today's meeting.

Dr. Andrews shook his head in disappointment and resumed flipping the pages of the case file in his hand. Seeing this... Mrs. Wade was confirmed now, whatever she heard earlier was true. 

To this, she said something that almost made Dr. Andrews look at her in disbelief. Was she serious? 

To this Mrs. Wade said again" Yes, you heard it right Dr. Andrews....I want to adopt the patient on bed number 37!!!!