My heart aches for the nineteen-year-old Daksh who would have been in a cold hospital room with a brain-dead mother, a father in surgery, trying to explain to a three-year-old what they were doing there or why they didn’t have a house any more.
Numerous questions ripple through my mind.
‘Zeenath? You said her dying later was the worst part. Do you mean that if she had died too in the accident, they wouldn’t have to pay the families of the dead?’ I ask.
‘Daksh told us you’re very smart with choices in life,’ rasped Zeenath. She nodded.
‘Daksh had the choice,’ explains Jagath. ‘He could have taken her off the ventilator as the doctors suggested. There was a 2 per cent chance of her coming back. He refused to do that.’
‘Had he done that, he wouldn’t have had to lose all their money. Because he’s stupid or whatever,’ says Zeenath. ‘No trial for a dead person, no money to be given.’
‘Even Uncle asked him to do it,’ adds Jagath. ‘His mother was dead anyway.’
‘He wanted to pay the families,’ I guess.
‘Correct, but stupidest decision ever,’ snarled Zeenath. ‘Had he taken her off life support, he would have been in a much better place. What did he get by being noble? Nothing. Bullshit he got.’
Jagath rolls his eyes. ‘He has never complained about his decision, you have,’ reprimands Jagath.
Zeenath rolls her eyes and then says, ‘He’s looking.’
‘Not at us,’ corrects Jagath. ‘He’s looking at you, Aanchal.’
‘He called you beautiful again today,’ says Zeenath.
‘He keeps doing that, doesn’t he?’ adds Jagath. ‘He never looks away from Rabbani, and he’s doing that.’
‘This biryani is great,’ I butt in.
‘Good deflect,’ says Zeenath. ‘Look at you blush. Don’t you have a boyfriend or something?’
‘I do,’ I respond.
‘Then why are you here?’ hisses Zeenath.
‘Don’t mind her, but we wanted to talk to you about something,’ interrupts Jagath.
‘Zeenath warned me already.’
Jagath continues, ‘So, you know, Daksh is in an emotionally vulnerable place. You can see that. It’s a miracle he’s holding up. We have seen his bad days.’
I turn and see Daksh changing Rabbani’s clothes and putting her to bed.
Jagath continues, ‘He keeps referring to you as his crush and that’s absolutely untrue. You’re notjusta crush. We got to know about the depth of what he feels only a couple of days ago. When we asked him why he is calling you to this party, he told us you were a source of strength for him.’
‘We don’t hang out with anyone else,’ gloated Zeenath. ‘We were pretty pissed off, but he didn’t listen.’
Jagath continues, ‘When we asked him, he said he used to look at your LinkedIn profile and your success and tell himself that he too could emerge from his sadness. Essentially, he was turning to you in his weakest moments.’
Zeenath’s piercing gaze makes me uncomfortable. ‘Even though the circumstances of both of you were entirely different.’
‘He didn’t tell me this,’ I stutter.
‘Neither did he tell us this,’ snaps Zeenath.
‘Both of you are making me feel as though I’m at fault somehow when I have done nothing.’
‘You haven’t, that’s true,’ Jagath says. He pushes Daksh’s phone towards me. ‘Do you want to guess the lock code?’
