Page 244 - Till the Last Breath . . .

As Dushyant finished reading the letter for the second time, he realized two

things: though Kajal meant a lot to him and always would, he had paid his
dues, and that he had suffered a lot to love her again as insanely as he used
to. The sleepless nights he had spent wondering if he still meant anything to

her had extracted every bit from him. Loving her was tiring and he didn’t
know if he had the strength to go through that again. Even so, the last line

brought a smile to his face. She would still be around, be a part of his life,
be there when he threw the big parties, and be with him in his heartbreak if

he had any. That in itself meant a lot to him.
Maybe he needed someone damaged, like Zarah, and not someone with

the perfect life like Kajal. For one thing, he was sure he wasn’t in love with
Zarah yet. But it was an infatuation, and it was growing. She was with him
in the worst of times and she had helped him keep his shit together. Who

knows where it might lead him? He closed his eyes and fantasized about
him asking Zarah out on a date. And he thought about how Pihu was doing

in the surgery room. Quite a few hours had passed and, ideally, it should
have been ended by now.

He closed his eyes and the monitor showed a flat line.

There were shouts across the corridor.
‘CRASH CART!’ Zarah shouted and two ward boys came rolling in with

one. Dushyant’s heart was a flat line, his body had had a violent seizure
seconds ago and had now gone limp. His parents were shrieking, wailing,

shouting at the top of their lungs, ‘HOW COULD HE …!’, their faces pale
and hands flailing wildly.

Zarah rubbed the paddles together, ripped his robe apart and sent an
electric shock flying into his heart. Nothing happened. She tried it again.
Nothing. And again. Finally, the heart picked up and Dushyant started

breathing again in short coughs. All his stats were still low and dipping.
Zarah asked the ward boys to shift him to the Intensive Care Unit and

rushed out, ignoring the pleas and the shouts of his parents.
‘He needs surgery. NOW!’ Zarah shouted to someone on the phone.

Zarah face drooped. There was nothing she could do. There were no