Page 168 - Till the Last Breath . . .

‘Tomorrow?’ he asked.

‘That soon?’
‘I think it’s time. Also, I need to ask you a few questions before the
surgery,’ he added, his voice grim and stern. ‘I want you to talk to your

parents before you answer the questions.’
‘What are they about? You’re scaring me,’ she replied.

‘It’s nothing to be scared of, just the usual questions. It’s something you
should discuss with your parents,’ he said solemnly. Arman’s voice

quivered, which was a first.
‘What are they about?’ she queried again.

‘Umm … It’s about whether you are in favour of us keeping you alive
with external support if and when anything goes wrong. Do you want us to
revive you in case you lose your pulse … that sort of stuff,’ he whimpered.

The weight of the questions clearly wore Arman’s voice and spirit down.
More than anything else, Pihu was bothered by the look on the doctor’s

face.
‘I have already made that decision,’ she said.

‘You have?’ he asked nervously.
‘I want to live for as long as my body allows me to, even if it means

keeping me alive artificially,’ she explained. She knew she wouldn’t have
cried if the look on Arman’s face hadn’t changed from one of limitless grief
to one of relief. As she found herself in Arman’s embrace again, she felt the

warmth of Arman’s chest and rapid short breaths and felt something she had
been yearning to feel ever since she read the sexually charged Mills & Boon

collection of her mother. She felt close to someone in a way she hadn’t felt
before. The sense of it being forbidden, wrong even, heightened her

excitement. Maybe Arman was crying … she wasn’t sure. But the very
likelihood made her smile even though she couldn’t keep the thought of

being kept alive using by a machine out of her head. Back in medical
school, she had come across numerous cases of people hooked on to life
support and she had always wished to relieve them of their pain.

‘Are you sure?’ Arman asked again as he let her go.