Fixing the Regrets

Fixing the Regrets

Priya opened her eyes, the constant beeping of the machine breaking through her unconsciousness. She blinked her eyes for a few seconds till she got used to the brightly lit room, and then she looked around. She was on a hospital couch. She looked at the bed, where the other Priya lay.

“I died?” she croaked out. 

“You lied to me?” she asked the doppleganger who shook her head and pointed at the bedside table. Priya’s eyes fell on the calendar. July 2025.

“No. You are safe. But without your accident, your future is...simple put, uncertain.”

“So, to have a future, I must have a near-death experience orchestrated by my father? Did I at least set everything right with all that time-hopping?”

“You did. I cannot tell you what happened, but your every action in the last few hours is what brought me here. And about the accident, it was important because, without it, Ram wouldn’t find the courage to accept his feelings for me... for us.”

Priya scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

“I know you won’t get it, at least not now. But when you understand, it will be one of the most beautiful moments of your life.” 

“Can’t you just tell me what it is?” Priya whined. She was tired of whatever was going on and wanted to either go back to sleep or wake up from this nightmare.

The other Priya smiled and moved aside. There was a crib on the other side of the bed. 

“We couldn’t conceive naturally, so we chose IVF,” she shared.

Priya walked to the crib, but it was empty.

“The doctors have taken her for a checkup. Ram is with her.” 

Tears of happiness brimmed in Priya’s eyes.

A girl! She could have a girl! There was a future that wasn't tainted by Mr. Sood and his curses. If she chose wisely, she will have a future where she is happy and has a child.

“And a husband who loves you so much.”

Priya looked at her doppelgänger in shock. Was she reading her mind?

“Mr. Kapoor loves me? But he said that there was no place for love in his life?”

“Priya, your biggest regret is that you never saw the love you had, and that you were feeling for Ram, until it was too late. You may not realize it, but at this moment, in your time, Ram knows that he is in love with you. And in the future, you will realize your feelings too. But don’t shut yourself from those feelings. We have suffered enough. You and Ram have seen enough pain. It’s time to heal now.”

“And about Vedika, you moved on from whatever feelings you had for Neeraj, so can’t your Mr. Kapoor do the same?” she smiled.

“I don’t understand,” Priya said, still scared and confused.

“You don’t need to. Just close your eyes.”

Priya tried not to, but her eyelids had gone heavy at her words, and she closed them.

“Priya, wake up, Priya!” Ram’s voice was distant, like someone had pushed him away from her.

~~~~~~

“Mr. Kapoor?” she whispered, and then there was noise of doctors and nurses, and Ram calling her name. She opened her eyes and looked up to see a blurry image of the man in white before Ram pushed him aside.

She was tired, so she closed her eyes again until tears rolled down her cheeks and moistened them. Did she really live? She thought she would never see Mr. Kapoor again.

“Is my face so horrible to look at that you started crying?” an emotional Ram said.

“It’s very bad,” Priya whispered. She heard Brinda taunt, but she couldn’t focus on what she said or what Ram replied.

This time, she was falling asleep to wake up to a better future, with no mistake from the past to haunt them.