“Who is it?” He asked.
“It’s me.”
Atharva moved away, and a soft light flooded the room. When he returned, Samar could make out his eyes between the cap and the mask.
“How do you feel?”
“Nothing on the burns, paining like a bitch where they took donor grafts.”
“That’s normal. Donor sites are massive road rash, after all. The nerves under it are intact.”
Samar glared at him.
Atharva’s eyes smiled, but it did not look like he was amused. “They have taken skin from the front of your thighs, chest and forearms, and are planning to take more after a 14-day recovery. You are on the path to getting brand new grafts every two weeks.”
“Hmm.” Samar swallowed, moistening his rapidly drying throat. “What happened?”
Atharva went silent.
“Amaal ran away when I asked.”
He nodded, then reached inside his pocket to pull out his mobile. “I have a son.”
Samar felt a thrill pass through his head. The mobile screen came in front of his eyes and there was a newborn. In an incubator. His face was fully formed, hands and legs wiry but fingers intact. His skin was flaccid but that was expected with twins if delivered early.
“And the second one?” He glanced up.
Atharva’s eyes fell, then rose again. “She did not make it.”
They held each other’s stare. Samar wasn’t great at reading people but the dimness in Atharva’s eyes wasn’t just the loss of his second baby.
“Iram?”
“She is alive.”
“Alive?”
Atharva bent on his haunches, lowering his volume. “She may have possibly been abducted. Or left of her own free will. We are getting closer to the answer.”
“Left…”
Atharva pushed his mouth close to his ear — “I am saying this right now because you will eventually learn about it. She is not Aamir Haider’s daughter.”
Samar did not believe that.Could notbelieve that.
“She was the child sent here. She was exchanged with Aamir Haider’s son.”
His brain blanked out for a second. Then — “Sufiyaan,” he mumbled, feeling like he was in one of his nightmares and raving this up.
Atharva pulled back and their eyes met again. He had lost a daughter and his wife. Atharva rose to his feet.
“Why is he in the incubator?”
“His heart stopped at birth and then he got pneumonia.” Samar saw there was more if Atharva answered in bursts.
“Did you hold him?”
Atharva nodded.
