Page 70 of Mrs. Rathore

Why was she calling me?

I picked it up.

“Aryan, Ira wants to see you,” she said. Her voice was softer than usual, not as cold. “Will you be able to come in the morning?”

“I’m coming now,” I said, glancing at the clock as it was quarter to ten. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. Just asking about you.”

“I thought she didn’t want to see me.”

“She’s been feeling guilty about how she treated you,” she paused. “You know how things turned out between you two, but it wasn’t either of your faults. It was that middle-class girl who came between you and ruined everything. Ira knows you didn’t mean a word of what you texted her…”

“I’m coming, Mrs. Solanki,” I cut her off and hung up.

I glanced over at Avni, now turned to the other side of the bed. I grabbed a sticky note and scribbled a message:

“I’m out for urgent work. Will return as soon as I’m done.”

I stuck it on the nightstand, grabbed my shirt and left the room.

Grandma would be furious when she found out I’d left Avni during our so-called honeymoon. I was ready to face her wrath.

But I couldn’t ignore Ira, not after everything she had gone through because of me.

______

Ira’s fingers were cold in mine as I led her out of the hospital. She looked fragile, weak, and lifeless. Her clothes hung looselyon her thin frame. Still, I was grateful she was out of danger and able to stand on her feet after two long weeks in a hospital bed.

I tried not to look at her too much and tried not to think about all the ways I had failed her. I had made her believe I was her prince in shining armor, but I had become her worst nightmare. Everything she had suffered was because of my stupidity.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, opening the car door and helping her into the passenger seat.

She nodded a bit too quickly. “Yeah. I just want to get away from here. I’m sick of the smell of disinfectant and the sound of patients screaming every day.”

I got behind the wheel and started the car, heading toward her home. The silence between us was thick and heavy like monsoon clouds about to burst.

I wanted to say something, anything to make this less cruel, less complicated, and less painful.

I missed the way she used to talk to me, filling every moment with her light. But now she seemed distant, lost in a world I could no longer reach.

“I shouldn’t have called you,” she said quietly, barely above a whisper. “I didn’t mean to ruin things for you and your family.”

“You didn’t ruin anything,” I said, eyes fixed on the road. “I did that all by myself. I just… I wanted to see you. That’s all.”

She didn’t respond. I glanced over. She was curled into herself, like she wanted to disappear. And I hated myself for every reason she felt like she had to.

Does she hate me now?

When we reached her house, I helped her inside, careful of her fragile body. In her room, I laid her down gently on the bed while Mrs. Solanki gave her the medicine.

“I’ll stay here, if you...”

“You don’t have to,” Ira cut me off.

“I want to.”

There was a beat of silence. Then she looked up at me with those wide, tired eyes and whispered, “Why are you doing this, Aryan?”