Chapter 13 #2
A violent shudder ran through her, her neck tilting at an odd, painful angle.
Panic surged in his chest. He dropped to his knees beside the bed. He gently cradled her head and eased it back onto the pillow. ‘Easy, easy,’ he murmured, though he had no idea if she could hear him.
‘Kashvi, hey… baby, look at me. What’s happening? Where are you hurting?’
Her mouth hung slightly open as heart-wrenching cries slipped out, her eyes still squeezed shut.
‘Should I call someone? Just nod if you need me to call an ambulance,’ he urged softly, his thumb brushing lightly against her temple to move the strands of hair clinging to her skin.
Her skin was cold and clammy beneath his touch, and she was beginning to look unnaturally pale.
‘I’m calling Siya. She’ll know what to do,’ he decided out of sheer desperation.
He looked around the room, trying to find her phone.
Swayam felt a weak tug on his T-shirt and turned to see her clutching the edge of the fabric with trembling fingers.
‘Okay, okay. I’m not going anywhere. You won’t get rid of me that easily,’ he assured her, engulfing her hand in his. It was too much agony to see her in pain like this, and his voice broke as he pleaded, ‘Just… please help me understand what’s happening to you so I can do something. Anything.’
Her lips barely moved, but she managed to mumble one broken word.
‘Sei… zu… re.’
He scrambled closer, wondering if he had heard her correctly. Then another convulsion tore through her, and he finally connected the dots.
Seizure.
In a small, laboured movement, she pointed a finger towards her bedside table. Swayam turned and found a strip of medication half tucked under the lamp.
He slipped his hand free just long enough to reach for it and tear a dissolvable tablet from the foil. ‘Just open your mouth a little, okay?’
Agony flashed across her face as she tried to force her mouth open, her tongue pressing weakly upwards. Understanding immediately, he slid the tablet beneath it. ‘That’s it, baby. You’ve got this.’
Though he didn’t want to, Swayam left her just long enough to run his handkerchief under cold water.
‘Here. Just breathe. It’ll be okay soon,’ he murmured, kneeling beside her as he gently ran the damp fabric over her face.
The helplessness refused to loosen its chokehold on him. All he could do was pray, pulling together every thread of faith he could find as he wiped the sheen of sweat from her hairline.
As each slow, agonising minute passed, the violent jerks gradually lessened, giving way to tremors. He clung to it as a sign that the medication was working.
A faint groan slipped out of Kashvi as she shifted towards the middle of the mattress, silently making space for him. The urge to pull her close, to hold her and reassure himself that she was okay, burned through his hesitation.
Swayam eased onto the bed, and with a strained whimper, Kashvi burrowed into his arms. He slid his hand behind her back as he drew her closer, and she rested her head in the crook of his shoulder.
He lowered his chin to the top of her head, and the tightness around his heart finally eased enough for him to breathe. ‘I’ve got you, baby.’
The tension in her body slowly began to fade, the tremors softening into light twitches. Kashvi whispered, ‘Talk to me.’
Swayam said the first thing that came to mind. ‘Do you remember the first day we met?’
She gave a small nod. ‘London.’
Swayam chuckled, relief threading through it. ‘Yeah, yeah, I know. You’ve been to London, and I haven’t. When will you let it go?’
‘Never, grumpy,’ she whispered, her quivering lips curving into a fragile smile.
‘That’s what you remember out of everything?’
She made a faint sound of agreement.
‘Siya had called me at two in the morning, practically shouting about how your father was a selfish jerk who had taken her car.’ A hint of amusement touched his lips.
‘Then she told me there was a taxi strike across the city, so I had to go pick up her younger sister who was finally coming home after two years in London.’
‘Is that why you acted like I was testing your patience?’ she asked slowly in a hoarse voice.
‘All I wanted was silence, but you just kept talking. You complained about the flight, the food, the seat, the person next to you, the airport staff…’
Kashvi snuggled closer. ‘Di warned me you might not be up for company. She said you hated having your sleep disturbed and she wished to blast music on the call with you just for fun.’
Swayam shook his head. ‘So you took inspiration from her?’
‘It’s practically a family tradition to annoy you. Meera does it too,’ she said in such a low voice that he had to lean closer to catch it.
‘And you followed in their footsteps,’ he chuckled, tracing slow, absent-minded patterns along her arm.
‘I remember thinking that if you just took one breath, maybe I’d finally get a moment of silence.
But somewhere between the airport and your old apartment, I realised I was having fun and didn’t want you to stop. ’
‘I don’t recall saying anything that interesting.’
‘I don’t know what it was, but for once, I felt a little less empty with you around. When I dropped you off, I said goodnight, but what I actually wanted was to ask you to stay with me a little longer.’
She tilted her head back, and Swayam finally got a glimpse at her bloodshot eyes. With a yawn, Kashvi mumbled, ‘Why didn’t you?’
‘That’s a question I’ve asked myself more times than I’d like to admit, but I’ve never found an answer.’
Her fingers curled tighter around him as she shifted closer, but she flinched when another tremor ran through her.
Swayam went rigid. ‘Hey, are you okay? Is it happening again?’
Kashvi swallowed, her breathing laboured. ‘Yeah. Just sore.’
‘Do you need anything? Water? Something sweet?’
‘No, this happens. It’ll go away… in a day or two.’
‘Oh.’
That meant she had been through this before. His gaze flickered to where he had found the strip of medication. She had kept it within reach, like she had expected this to happen.
Yet she had not told him.
Swayam looked at her, taking in the fatigue on her face as he recalled the day he had found her at her old apartment. There had been the same exhaustion lingering in the depths of her teary eyes. Had she been hiding there because of this?
Had she chosen to suffer alone in silence rather than ask me for help?
‘What I can tell you is that I hated watching you walk away from me that night. It didn’t make any sense because I didn’t even know you. But… it felt wrong,’ Swayam said, his thoughts tumbling over one another.