Page 163 of 12 Years
‘You fainted. Good thing it happened in a hospital,’ Akanksha said. ‘They admitted you immediately.’
‘Which hospital?’ I said, still disoriented.
‘Kokilaben, where else?’ Akanksha said. ‘Your dad is on the same floor, five rooms away. You slept through the night. They took him for his angio early in the morning. The procedure went well.’
I nodded. She panned her phone to take a close-up shot of the IV bag.
‘What are you even doing?’ I said.
‘I’ve never done a hospital video. I thought, let me record something since I’m here anyway. I’ll figure out how to use it later.’
I sat up on the bed.
‘Relax, you’re okay,’ Akanksha said. ‘The doctor said you haven’t been eating. Your blood sugar dropped too low, hypoglycaemia.’
‘What time is it? I have to go to work. There’s a live deal I’m working on,’ I said.
‘Can you calm down? It’s the perfect excuse to take a day off. The hospital will give you a certificate,’ Akanksha said.
‘Still. I don’t want to be here.’
‘They’ll discharge you today. But next time, don’t diet so much. This exact thing happened to me when I skipped meals. To lose weight before my marriage.’
‘What?’
‘Yeah. Suraj said we’d go to the Maldives for our honeymoon. He wanted a relaxing place. Instead, it made me extra stressed. How would I look in a bikini? I cut down to one meal a day. One week later, I fainted. I told Suraj, no Maldives. That’s why we shifted our honeymoon to Switzerland.’
‘Good solution,’ I said, my voice too weak to make the sarcasm obvious.
‘You’re also doing this for Parimal, right?’
I shook my head.
‘Then? What happened?’
I remained silent.
Her eyes widened. ‘What? Oh, that guy, Saket? Payal, you have to forget him. Parimal is your man now.’
‘I love Saket. Every cell of my body does. I can’t just switch off, Akanksha.’
‘You can switch off. It’s all in the mind, babe. You haven’t met or spoken to Parimal. You haven’t spent any time with him. You haven’t given him a chance.’
‘No. I don’t want to,’ I said, looking out of the window.
‘Why?’
‘I can’t think of a life without Saket,’ I said. ‘And I’d rather die than marry Parimal.’
‘That’s what you feel right now. You’re not thinking straight. Let it go, Payal. Spend time with Parimal. Think about the future. You can have a nice family with him. Your parents will also be happy.’
I felt shaky and woolly-headed. Was she right? Was I unable to think?
‘Anyway, I have to go now. I promised my mother-in-law we’ll make dhokla together today,’ Akanksha said.
‘Are you sure you can take on more?’ Nimit said. ‘You’re already working on two deals.’
I sat in my boss Nimit’s office. I had requested him to give me more work.
