Page 49 of Someone to Love

‘I don’t know.’

‘When did the school call?’ His voice was calm but his heart was thumping madly.

‘Three hours ago.’

Atharv paled. Every bit of him wanted to scream at Jane but he said nothing.

‘I … the operation so … I …’ Jane was mumbling, but Atharv had already dashed out of the hospital.

Three hours, he kept repeating to himself, aghast.

For the first time in years, Atharv found his hands trembling as he turned on the ignition of his car. At every red light, he dialled the school, but because it was now beyond office hours, no one picked up and that made it all the more worse. His mother was travelling in the remote parts of Nepal with some friends and there was no way the authorities would have reached her.

Mansha, his Mansha, his little baby Mansha, was hurt and alone. The image of her lying in the hospital, heavily bandaged and alone, simply refused to leave him, and he pressed harder on the accelerator, panic rising with every passing second.

By the time he reached the school, Atharv was a mess. He hastily parked his car, dashed into the building and ran for the school infirmary.

‘Mansha Jayakrishna,’ he breathed out to the nurse at the reception.

‘Down the first corridor,’ she said after checking her computer and Atharv found himself running faster than he had ever run before.

Breathless, he opened the door of the room ready to burst in, scared of what horrendous sight would meet his eyes, and stilled in surprise. The room was dimly lit at the moment and the soft glow of the only table lamp bathed everything in a gentle yellow.

Mansha was there.

But not all alone as Atharv had feared.

Instead, she was curled up in a woman’s lap, arms wrapped around her waist and head buried in her chest.

Atharv craned his neck to get a better look, curious about the woman. At first look it did not appear to be anyone he recognized. He strained his eyes. ‘Koyal,’ he mumbled, his eyes widening in surpise as he recognized the woman holding his child.

Koyal, dressed in office formals, her hair loose, was humming a song and gently rocking Mansha in her lap. It was, if anything, the most peaceful scene Atharv had set his eyes on in the recent past.

As Atharv stared, he felt all the stress that had been building up inside him over the last one hour begin to recede from his body.

He exhaled sharply and pulled out of the room without a sound, too shaken still to meet or speak to the girls. He closed the door behind him as softly as he could and rested his forehead against the cool metal of the door, trying hard to even his breathing.

‘She’s okay, she’s okay,’ he mumbled to himself, forcing his heart to begin beating at a more normal rate.

He stood unmoving like this, his head against the door.

Breathing.

Thinking.

Trying desparately to calm himself down.

Nothing worked and his heart, restless as an angry lion, refused to listen to him. Finally, he opened the door and went in.

Koyal looked up.

Their eyes met.

She is okay, her eyes said to his.

He nodded. He stood like that, at the door, his hands folded against his chest for a few minutes, and then walked towards Koyal and Mansha.

Koyal’s eyes, kohl-lined and beautiful, followed him.