Page 236 - Till the Last Breath . . .

as he was about to die himself. Her mother muttered something about the

unlucky room number and her eyes glazed over.
For a change, her father, too, sat on the other side and held her other
hand. Almost instantly, he discovered the gold chain with the little diamond

and looked at her with questioning eyes. She blushed stupidly and it became
apparent where it came from. Her father grinned approvingly. If only she

had more time to go on unnoticed dates and night-outs without her father
knowing and to stash Valentine’s Day cards in the corners of her wardrobe,

to save money to buy her boyfriend expensive gifts and to have her heart
broken and lose her love to someone else and get married. If only …

Her father’s grip tightened on her hand and though she couldn’t feel it,
she could sense it … the anguish, the irreparable loss, the defeat. Both sets
of parents sat near their kids. Often her eyes would meet Dushyant’s and

they would both smile. A little later, Zarah walked into the room and asked
Dushyant’s parents to follow a ward boy for the blood and tissue tests. They

wanted to check for possible donors. Zarah’s face screamed anxiety and she
never looked straight at Dushyant.

Pihu’s parents, too, excused themselves for lunch after she forced them
to. She was sure they hadn’t eaten anything substantial in days. Her mom

had been beautiful in her college days; now she looked dead and lifeless.
Zarah was checking Dushyant’s charts when Pihu finally greeted her:
‘Hi!’

‘Hi, Pihu. How are you doing?’ Zarah answered with a forced smile.
‘You tell me? You’re the doctor,’ she chuckled.

‘She is doing great. Ask me,’ Dushyant butted in and Pihu gave him a
reprimanding look. ‘Oh, wait, you don’t know, do you?’

‘What do I not know?’ a confused Zarah queried.
‘Pihu almost got married,’ Dushyant smirked. Pihu blushed.

‘WHAT?’ Zarah exclaimed.
‘I mean not really married. But look at her wrist. That’s Arman’s great-
grandmother’s pendant meant for Arman’s wife. Now, if that doesn’t sound

straight out of a clichéd Hindi movie, I don’t know what does. So