Page 162 - Till the Last Breath . . .

‘No one did,’ the girl looked straight into his eyes and answered. ‘I am

not stupid. I saw the reports and the frequent tests you have been doing on
the girl. Don’t worry; your secret is safe with me, sir. I am sure you have
something in mind.’ Her voice was now strong and resolute. ‘Yes, I did

something unasked for last night and I am really sorry about it. I will make
sure it never happens again. And that patient means a lot to me, just like

Pihu does to you. I will do anything to make him live. I am sorry to have let
you down.’

‘I don’t think he has much time left,’ Arman mumbled.
‘He doesn’t? What makes you say that?’ Zarah pried like a restless

relative. Arman didn’t have the heart to tell her, especially since his opinion
was based more on experience and instinct than a study of hard facts and
test results.

‘His whole body is shutting down. His liver has suffered irreversible
damage and now it’s his kidneys. He is weaker than we thought he was. Just

because he doesn’t cry out in pain doesn’t mean there isn’t any. He might
need a transplant which he won’t get due to his alcohol and drug-ridden

past. I don’t see him getting out of here alive,’ he explained.
‘But he was getting better—’

‘We just treated the symptoms. His body is a battlefield of diseases and
tumours, and we can’t treat everything. Any drastic treatments will kill him
sooner than you can imagine. And we can’t really transplant every living

cell in his body,’ he said. ‘It’s too late to save him, though I have been
wrong before.’

Arman, even with his tough exterior, never quite got used to delivering
bad news to anybody. Not even fellow doctors. He knew about the bond

Zarah and Dushyant had grown to share and it crushed him to tell her this.
Also, the fact that Dushyant had been recovering steadily over the last few

days gave everyone—Arman, Zarah and Pihu—hope that it was just a
matter of time before he would swagger out of the hospital with a joint on
his lips.

‘We can’t remove the tumours?’ she posed.
‘From a kidney that’s already dying out?’