Chapter 70

All the commotion and the detour, he lost his way and walked over to the maternity section and asked for directions at the front desk and a cute intern asked him out. She was cute, he replied maybe in the future and she volunteered to walk with him since she was on a break so that he won’t get lost and walked with him half way through. Couple of eyes gave him an smile and showed him the way to the parking lot and he followed the directions and walked past the visitors lounge from the orthopedic and walked towards the corridor that was almost empty and was totally silent and there was hardly anyone to be seen except someone near the coffee machine.

In a split second, he caught her just in time to break her fall and the coffee spilled all over the floor, but she managed herself and looked at him and to his surprise, she had not expected to see her here and walked her over to a chair and got her a glass of water and picked up a board, ‘Wet Floor’, placed it over the coffee spill and walked over to her, with a surprised smile adorning his face. ‘Akshar’, hey thanks for breaking my fall, I hope I didn’t spill coffee all over you?’ she said with an apology in her voice. He was surprised to see her there, but a bit concerned about her state and why she was here.

She explained to him why she was here and her concerns about Pryag, he realized that he had hardly eaten anything the whole day and had been surviving with just drinking coffee. He insisted that he get her something to eat, but she wouldn’t budge and it was at that time a petite lady, in a white coat, with her name tag, Dr.Collins walked over to her and enquired, ‘Die A Sharma’, ‘Sorry how do you pronounce your name Dr.Collins asked her in a apologetic tone, struggling to pronounce her first name and managed to pronounce her last name correctly. She smiled and said, its ‘Diya’.

Chapter 69

She was starting to get restless, there was no news about what was going on in there and she had been sitting there for hours and it was almost 5.00 in the evening. Since they had to leave early she had skipped her breakfast and the doctors had asked him not to eat anything, and with all the anxiety around her she didn’t feel like having lunch either and had had two three coffees and was starting to feel exhausted. He face was pale and tiered and she had hardly had any sleep last night after talking with Pryag. The book she was reading explained about the brain and its functions, and the types of tumors and how they can spread and how it could affect other functions in a person.

She realized that reading further was only making her nervous, so she put it back on the table and walked towards the corridor towards the coffee machine, which was free and figured that all the people both waiting and the professionals working would probably need the caffeine to get through the tension and anxiety that surrounds the place. There were a couple of people here and there and it was almost empty when she walked over and reached for a cup. Every nurse, or a doctor that passed by she was looking at them and wondered if they had any new about Pryag.

She walked over to the receptionist and enquired if there was any new about Pryag and asked them to inform her immediately and asked them if she could wait near by instead of waiting in the visitors lounge. Since the corridor was almost empty she nodded and added that she will call her as soon as she hears from the doctor. A bit relieved, since the nurse mentioned it shouldn’t take long, she walked over to get her coffee. She felt a bit queasy and a little dizzy while reaching for a cup to get some coffee. She managed herself and got the sugar and the milk and started to stir.

Chapter 68

He was ready to leave and had called in his sister and spoken to his niece and she was very happy that he will be spending the night at their house. He picked up a black jean and a simple blue and white striped t-shirt and wore his sneakers and was ready to go. He locked the door and remembered he left the bouquet of flowers he had ordered with the get well card, came back in and picked it up, checked if had signed it and locked the door and got into the car and looked at the directions once more and plugged in his wireless and switched on the music and started driving. The traffic was going smooth but came to a complete halt when he was almost near the exit, and he could see the lights from the cop’s cars and the sirens form the ambulance and it took at least twenty minutes for the traffic to get moving.

He remembered his friend had mentioned that he had to go the west gate parking, but since there was quiet a commotion, a security guard directed him over to the other side of the building and he had no idea which side he was in, and just followed all the other cars to the parking lot and found a spot and parked it. With the card and bouquet in his hand and he walked towards the elevator and stood there for a while and realized it would be much better to walk and walked towards the direction that said ‘STAIRS’. He felt the breeze brush through him as he walked and he was in the building and asked for directions at the reception and he thanked her and continued in the direction she pointed.

The hospital was well maintained and had a lot of visitors in the visitor’s lounge of each section. He had to walk through the ophthalmology department, neurology and through the cafeteria and the nurse’s lounge to get to the orthopedic section. It took him almost fifteen minutes and he was there to see a colleague who was recovering. He gave him the bouquet and the card and spent a few minutes with him and decided to leave since the room started to get crowded with more visitors. Well he didn’t want to pay through his nose for his parking since Stony Brook was famous for its expensive hourly visitor parking.

Chapter 67

It was a fairly smooth drive, since there was not much traffic at such an early hour on Saturdays. It had taken exactly an hour and a half as the directions in map quest said it would take from Fairfield, Connecticut to Stony Brook in Ney York. The initial ten minutes had been totally silent, but he had broken the silence and they had spoken about the traffic and she had slowly worked her way through and had convinced him that he needs to talk to his parents after they get back with the test results. He had agreed on one condition that she will help him break this to his parents.

Parking turned out to be more complicated since they couldn’t find a lower level parking and had to park a bit far off much closer to the maternity section and walk the distance. She had insisted on taking an elevator since she didn’t want to feel exhausted, but he had been stubborn and they had walked over to the north tower and was seated by the receptionist and Pryag was given some papers to fill out. He started filling it out and that was the first time she even knew that he had a middle name. Pryag Anirudh Seshadari. He kept filling in the documents, from symptoms to insurance and referrals, allergies etc. He put her name down for the emergency contact and she requested him to give her cell number as the primary contact number.

After about half an hour he was asked to change into some hospital robe and get ready for the procedures. The nurse also mentioned that the doctor will be with him shortly and will explain to him all the procedures that they will be doing today. She was warm and nice and was quiet assuring and that made both of them feel better. She asked her to wait at the visitors lounge and took him in around 9.15 AM and she just watched them take him in, in a wheelchair and she walked over to the visitors lounge, hoping everything will turn out to be positive. All the expressions of sorrow, fear, sadness that she had been hiding from him, slowly started to creep into her face while she took a seat and picked up a magazine and started turning the pages, but her mind was completed overcome with pain.

Chapter 66

She stood there speechless, she neither had nor realized that he was standing behind her, with his hands around her waist and was talking about the sky and the stars and the moon and how beautiful they were. She wanted to scream at the top of her voice and confirm that she was dreaming and none of this is true and it was all a dream and once she opened her eyes, she will be in her bed and it would be all fine. He whispered in her ear how beautiful she looked that day in the moon light and gave a peck on her cheek and she looked at the moon, unable to look into his eyes, or his face, hoping it was still a dream. She felt like the clouds were crushing the moon and the moon was trying to get away from them, and she realized she was choking in sorrow.

She felt like she was deprived of oxygen, she could hardly breathe and the thought of Chari, who has been a father figure to her after her father, had passed away, how heart breaking this would be for him sent a chill through her spine. It took a complete ten minutes for her to swallow the truth and get back to reality. She was trying to look at the positive side of it and concentrate her focus on helping him get through this. She was determined that she was not going to let him go through this alone, if he didn’t want his family to be involved, she was going to be there, and eventually convince him that he needs his family there, but one step at a time.

She started throwing questions at him ranging from, if he knew it was malignant, which hospital he is going to be in, how many more tests etc. He laughed, but a little surprised with her questions at how calm she was, when he had know idea how shake up she was inside, and started answering her questions. I have to be at the Stony Brook University Hospital at Ney York and I believe I will be under the care of Dr.Martin, he is a renowned surgeon and I am not sure how long it is going to take. I don’t know if it cancerous or not, or how far it has spread or any more than you know. I believe I will find out tomorrow. She interrupted, we will find out tomorrow, I am driving you there and I am not taking no for an answer. He smiled as if he had expected that from her and nodded his head with an acknowledgement.

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Dr.Martin was looking at the file having the patient history. He was a young male, 35 years old, doesn’t smoke, healthy, no family history of tumors or cancers, well educated, not married. He wanted to go through the rest of the documents in the file but was interrupted by a nurse and he put the file down and walked out the door. Dr.Cooper Martin has been working at Stony Brook University Hospital for over twenty five years. He was a renowned Brain surgeon and was a very nice person to work with. His students admired him. He had an eye for detail and his thoroughness in going through a patient’s history, his dedication and sincerity had earned him respect among his peers and admiration from his students. He had taken up the position as a Chief Surgeon ten years ago and has performed quiet a handful of surgeries and he enjoyed doing them and it gave him a satisfaction of saving someone’s life, since most of the surgeries are critical since they could damage any body function depending on the affected area.

His reputation speaks for himself and his survival rate was more than eighty percent and the patient and their family are never left in the dark since he has the habit of spending time with them and explain the procedure in layman terms and prepare them before the surgery. He had had many offers all over the country, but he liked the environment at Stony Brook and preferred to stay there, especially after he had befriended one of his ex students with whom he had fallen in love with even though she was young enough to be his daughter, her intelligence was what had intrigued him the most, and somehow she brought the youth in him even though he was in his mid sixties.

He came back to his desk and continued going through the files. There was a note that mentioned shooting pain near the Parietal Lobe area, patient complains of occasional hallucinations, other than there seem to be no complaints. Referred by Dr.Swarupa Misiri. He surfed through pages and went through the records that indicated that the patient has suspected it to be a migraine and had taken Excedrin pain reliever for at least two months and once the hallucinations had started had visited the ophthalmologist and everything had turned out be normal. Once the pain and the hallucinations started occurring more frequently, he had visited Dr.Misiri who had suspected that it was a tumor and had sent him over to Dr.Martin. At Stony Brook University Hospital, he had under gone CT scans that confirmed that it was indeed a tumor. On further reading the chart occasionally the patient had difficulty reading and reasoning, but to the most part he was doing fine. So Dr. Martin wanted to run more CT scans to confirm his suspicion of the location and the size.

Chapter 64

It turned out to be a beautiful Friday evening. The food had been a delight, it was his choice and the restaurant had some show going on and she was not sure how they had gotten in without an advance reservation, but it all turned out be very relaxing. She noticed that he seemed very happy and content and they were on their way back home. She looked at the time, it was 8.30 and the full moon could be seen and the street lights were on, she asked him if she should drop him home or somewhere else he wanted to go. To her surprise, he asked her to switch and he took over the wheel and she had no idea where they were going.

It was a nice long path covered with trees, since it was wide enough, she guess it must be the entrance of a park and after he had parked the car, she found out it was an open movie theater that only a few people were there and he walked passed them and went further in and to her surprise, there was a huge lake and she could see lovers, and couples and hanging out there. She was so amazed and wondered it was hardly an hour drive and she had never known that such a place even exists. The found a good spot and sat next to each other and he started talking about the moon, and its cycle and the clouds and she was just looking at the sky in the direction he was pointing at.

He asked her if she wanted to go for a walk with him, and he took her had in his and they started walking and slowly his hand slid into her hips and kissed her before she could react to it. She stared at him, not able to comprehend what had happened and what was going on, he continued talking. I love you and I always will and I always have. I had a great time tonight and I have something to share with you. Tomorrow I am checking myself in for some procedures that would probably help define weather I am terminal or not, sorry I even forgot to tell you, I have a tumor in my brain, I don’t know the outcome of it, so I wanted to life my life to the fullest if today happens to be the last day of my life. I haven’t told my parents yet.

Chapter 63

Life went on as usual except for the fact Pryag was staying longer than expected and no one knew why the sudden change in his plans, well no one questioned him either, Chari’s was just happy that everything went well and that his son will be around longer. Shyam had Kathy left on their next trip and Mike at work announced that he is going to be a father and shocked everyone, since no one really knew that he was married and had been married for more than an year now. Lisa went on with her everyday work and things were going pretty smooth and he plans for expanding was growing and Pryag was involving himself in more matters of her life that she had expected, instead of feeling relieved that some weight has been lifted of her shoulders she started to fell a little uncomfortable, which was a result of not knowing what brought the change in him that made her more uneasy.

Pryag had been a great help with her portfolio, he worked with her on weekends and helped her through her procedures, it was just that he seemed full of life, but the light in his eyes were slowly starting to fade away, even though he convinced everyone he was tired and nothing else, she had a nagging feeling that something was wrong with him. As far as she could remember he had always looked younger than his age, for some reason today he looked older than usual. The spark in his eyes were disappearing, he still had his high spirits. She could take it no more so she that she is going to talk to him later that evening after their discussion and during dinner. She had made up her mind to find out what was going on with him.

Pryag arrived as usual, well dressed, with his usual smile and his sunglasses and with his documents and papers and the same enthusiasm. She was busy with her work and didn’t notice what time it was until he arrived. She remembered their appointment had been changed from Saturday to Friday evening since he had mentioned that he had to go somewhere on Saturday. She showed him a seat with a smile on her face and continued with her work and joined him after she was done and he was ready to go. She was a little surprised when he asked her if they could just hang out and spend the day and have some fun.

Chapter 62

The wedding went on well, she was a bit disappointed that he didn’t show up, but ignored it since she had his number and could call him later. She wondered why he was not curious to find out who had placed the call the first time she had called him. Kathy was all excited about the rituals and Shyam had a tough time explaining things to her. Pryag was busy playing his role as the bride’s brother and looked very handsome with his traditional dothi and a jippa. She had seen his in that outfit when she had stayed in their house a few years back.

Chari had handed over his personal and valuable accessories to her to take care of and he looked tiered but relieved once the wedding ceremonies were completed. She guessed he must be hungry and was busy talking to the grooms parents and relatives and shaking hands with everyone. His daughter and son in law along with the other relatives all walked over to have their lunch after all the rituals were over and seemed exhausted after enduring all the heat and steam from the fire. Kathy and Shyam were no where to be seen and she was not interested in finding them either since she had enough difficulty coping up with Kathy’s questions.

She wondered how Shyam and Kathy’s wedding will be, Chinese ritual or Indian or neither. She thought Kathy would want to have both, maybe Shyam knowing him all her life would want a simple wedding but a grand reception or a cocktail party instead of a traditional one. She knew pretty sure that Kathy can not convince him on this matter. The thought of her brother getting married brought a smile on her face. She had never though that he would think of getting married and settles in life, at least not before he was forty, which is seven years from now.

Chapter 61

She was surprised to see him at Chari’s daughters wedding. She wondered if he had seen her and figured even if he had he wouldn’t have recognized or remembered her. She guessed he was probably related to the bride’s family or maybe to Chari’s wife’s, she was not sure and it didn’t matter to her anyway, she just wished that he would show up the next day. She had seen him when he had picked up his niece and was talking to her, almost when they were about to leave the building and called out to him hoping he would hear.

He went to bed thinking it was someone else and probably not her and felt stupid for not asking her name when they had met. He wondered if his sister was going to the wedding the next day and wondered if she would be there. He knew that he can’t ask his sister if he could go with her the next day, especially after giving her a hard time today. He wished he had spoken to her today, or gotten closer to her to confirm if it was she and that would clarify his doubts. He was so involved in his thoughts, he didn’t realize that he had not changed and fell asleep.

She wished that she had seen him earlier; she could have strike up a conversation with him and escaped from all this boring rituals, which she ended up doing in order to spend time with Kathy. She liked her but her interests were different, they were totally different. She wondered if Akshar was going to show up the next morning for the wedding. She also wondered who the lady was that he was with and the kid he was talking to and left with. The thought that he might show up the next day gave her the enthusiasm to pick up a nice outfit. She got up and went to her closet and picked out a saree that brings out her eyes and something simple but elegant ornaments to go with it. Then she had a change of mind and changed her outfit a couple of times until she decide on one along with some accessories and went to bed satisfied.

Chapter 60

His sister and his niece had almost walked over to grab a bite and his niece noticed him and tried to pull him over to join him, but he stood still not realizing until his sister shook him off. He came back to senses and his sister bore a smile and enquired, looks like you were quiet distracted. He walked over reluctantly, occasionally turning back to see her. He could hardly concentrate on his food; seemed very distracted and one could tell his mind was on something else. His niece even noticed and asked him a lot of questions, which his sister ended up answering, since she didn’t want her to disturb him. She was very happy that her idea to bring him over to the wedding had turned out to be quiet fruitful.

He was stunned by her not because she was simply elegant, more because he felt like he knew her, she looked a lot like the girl he had spent his whole evening at the presentation, but yet she looked different. He was also taken by her simplicity, yet her charm and her eyes and something about her just convinced him that it was her. Since he didn’t know her name he was not sure if he should even go and talk to her. He was puzzled; he had liked her the first time they had met, if it were her that he had seen earlier, he wouldn’t pass a chance to talk to her.

He finished his dinner rather quick, hardly realized what he was eating, excused himself and disappeared down the stairs looking for her. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find her, she had vanished into the crowd, he felt like she had vanished into the thin air and he was looking around if he heard anyone calling a girls name and that was of no use. The rituals seemed to have ended and the crowd was dissipating and he was hoping that he could spot her somewhere. His sister came over with his niece and offered him a pan which he instantly turned down without looking at her still searching the crowd. His niece was tiered and was ready to go home and he was left with no choice, but to leave. He left the building with his sister a bit puzzled, not hearing someone calling his name in the back with his niece telling secrets in his ear.

Chapter 59

It was already 8.00 PM and the first batch had already started their dinner. Some rituals were going on over there. Akshar was definitely getting bored and to his disappointment his sister was busy with the women over there, she could just get along with anyone, he thought to himself, sitting on the chair along with the others. Further, his niece had a few kids of her age and she was playing and didn’t really bother about him sitting there. A man about sixty years of age introduced himself as Chari’s neighbor and sat next to him and started talking to him. After a couple of minutes Akshar figured out where the conversation was going and wanted to escape from there and couldn’t think of a single idea to do so.

He noticed a couple of teenage girls checking him out and he ignored them and to his surprise, two older women were watching him and smiled at him when he turned towards them and he felt like he was trapped. He stood up and decided to walk over to his sister and tell her that he is going to step out and will be back after a while. He excused himself and was trying to get closer to his sister, he could clearly hear the pandit and the others on the stage performing the rituals and waited for a minute and got to his sister. He took her away by her hand and spoke to her in low voice that he wants to get out of there and at the same time his niece came running over to her mom saying that she was hungry.

Finally he agreed to have dinner and was waiting down the stage while his niece was holding her hand for his sister something caught his eye. There she was in the brick red Mysore silk saree, with a simple elegance that could surpass anything smiled at Chari’s wife and turned and handed something over to her. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, the simple elegance had sent him into a stage of trans and he didn’t notice that his sister was standing besides him and taking to his niece, nor did he notice that the engagement was over or that quiet a few people around him did notice that he was literally starring at her.