Page 105 of Since the Night We Met
His soul was coming apart at the seams as he cried for her pain, cried for them and for their future. He closed his eyes, feeling the weight of her absence in every corner of the place, and prayed, ‘Just… come back to me,jaan.’
Chapter 26
The late afternoon sun hit the tiled balcony in slanted streaks, spilling through the potted basil plant Kashvi had once again forgotten to water. The old chair beneath her creaked softly every time she shifted, her knees pulled to her chest.
Siya hadn’t moved in over an hour, not since she began pouring over her old reports she’d found buried in the box of her mother’s belongings. It had sat in the corner of Kashvi’s bedroom for months, wedged between an unused suitcase and a stacks of books that no longer fit in the shelves.
She’d not meant to open it, but desperate for a scrap of comfort, she’d sought it out and made the mistake of opening Pandora's box. Tucked under her mother’s old sketches, she’d found her old medical reports.
She flipped the page again, even though she knew the line by heart now. Her fingers stroked over the slightly faded words, but the warning was unmistakable.
My recommendation is corrective surgery as soon as possible and within the year at the maximum. Any further delay may result in long-term damage to the uterus, leading to infertility. Signed: Dr Lalita Mehta.
It had been right there in ink, yet her family had refused for their self-serving reasons. Now, her life was stuck in limbo. A cramp in the lower abdomen made her tense, and shetried to soothe the pain by caressing where she’d taken local anaesthesia.
She’d come back home to Kashvi three days ago, and it had been chaotic ever since. Three days of appointments from one clinic to another, blood tests and imaging scans, and now her phone pinged with the comprehensive test results. She didn’t have the courage to open it, so she continued reading the report.
Just then, her phone buzzed on the table and she answered the call without looking at the caller ID. ‘Hello?’
‘Siya, it’s Dr Lalita here. Is this a good time?’
She sat up straighter, feeling the heavy thump of her heartbeat. ‘Thank you for calling, ma’am.’
‘Of course, I got your message. And please call me Lalita. Now, I’ve reviewed your new reports, even the hysteroscopy scans and… I thought we should talk.’
Her heart sank when she heard the hesitation in her approach. Her poor, hopeful heart nestled in her chest felt too brittle for the inevitable news. She’d seen the doctor’s medical profile listed in the top hospitals of the country, and with five decades of experience in the field, her verdict would be the final nail in the coffin.
‘I found my old reports,’ she told her. ‘I was just going through your notes, especially about the surgery.’
There was a heavy pause on the other end, then Lalita sighed.
‘There was no other option. You didn’t have a seatbelt on, so the brutal impact against the car headboard caused damage to your pelvis and uterine lining. When we began seeing early signs of scarring, I recommended the surgery. Even though henever visited the hospital premises and only spoke through calls, I insisted it over and over, but—’
‘But my father refused,’ Siya finished her sentence. It was a poison pill she had to swallow eventually, and it started with accepting it aloud.
‘Flat-out,’ Lalita agreed. ‘He didn’t even hesitate, just said that I was overreacting, and to not scare you with such nonsense. Your grandmother called when I threatened to go to the committee, and said how you’re young, healthy and you’d grow out of it. I told her that they were gambling with your body, but they didn’t really seem to care.’
‘Was it an extensive procedure that required long recovery?’ Siya asked the one question that kept nagging at her.
‘Due to your injuries at the time, a little longer, but the timeline could have been expedited with good care.’
Care? That would require her father or grandmother to take time out of their fun, busy schedule. So they chose to rob her of the joy of motherhood instead. Siya wasn’t even surprised anymore, not after seeing their true faces during the family dinner.
‘I even scheduled you for a pre-op consult without telling him, hoping I could change his mind. But the same day, his assistant got you discharged, and I never saw you again after that.’
She didn’t realise she had curled her hands into fists until her nails cut through the soft flesh. ‘And what’s the word now?’ she asked finally, unbearable to wait any longer.
Lalita sighed softly, and Siya braced herself.
‘The new scans show extensive scarring. Your uterine lining is very thin in some places, which makes it difficult for a fertilised egg to implant like and hold pregnancy till term. In your case, the chances for natural conception are likely to be nil. Even with assisted procedures, there would be massive and life-threatening complications. In my opinion, it’s too late, my dear. I’m sorry.’
Siya lowered her head, and a tear escaped from the corner of her eye. ‘I should’ve opened the box earlier when we moved in here. I should’ve read this back then. I should’ve—’
‘You were a grieving child who was suffering from a pelvic fracture and multiple injuries. You were too young to fight the choices your family made on your behalf. This isn’t on you, Siya.’
‘I do wish I’d fought harder, though,’ Lalita continued, when she stayed silent. ‘I tried to, but the Chief of Surgery rejected my appeal. It didn’t surprise me, since he was a well-known friend of your father.’
Siya shook her head. ‘I always thought I was exaggerating his cruelty in my head, that in some corner of his heart, he did care about me, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.’
