CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Muffled voices were travelling through her ears but her head couldn't register anything, she felt like she was in some dreamland but the voices started to get more clear and she realized someone was calling her name.
"Sharon"
Swayam. It was Swayam's voice. She slowly opened her eyes to find Swayam watching her with worry. It took her another moment before she could realize she was lying on a bed and it wasn't her bedroom rather the room had a pungent smell of medicines.
"Sharon, are you okay?" Swayam's voice caught her attention again and this time she tried to get up as he helped her.
"Feeling Good Sharon?" Sarah came into her view and it was then that she recognized she was in her clinic.
"Yeah!" She answered as her mind started reeling her last thoughts, flashbacks from the earlier day crossed her mind and involuntarily she gripped Swayam's hands tighter and he held her close.
"Sarah, what had happened? Why did she faint like that?" Swayam asked.
"As I said Swayam, nothing to worry her blood pressure level dropped. Are you stressed about anything Sharon?" Sarah asked adjusting her spectacles.
"What? No! No! I am absolutely fine." She said motioning her eyes at Swayam's face that held suddenly an unsure and uncomfortable look in his eyes.
"Oh! Then it's fine. No big deal." Sarah smiled as Swayam followed her leaving Stephie beside her.
"You took his breath away!" She remarked stating about Swayam and Sharon smiled listening to it.
She hadn't lied. She was less stressed more confused. It was her confusion that was eating her up.
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Swayam was driving the car back to their home while Sharon sat beside him lost in her own world and Stephie took a nap in the backseat. He glanced at Sharon but didn't disturb her seeing the look on her face.
Sharon was replacing so many things in her mind that she had no conscious of her surroundings. She was trying to connect things, she was trying to find one single clue.
Amaira Mehta- as Stephie told her, she had seen her for the first time with Swayam outside a caf, a meeting about which Swayam never mentioned later and even she had dismissed it as an unimportant event but she had created havoc in her life with her mere pictures in Swayam's arms, it was something which still made her uncomfortable to think of. Her mystery had deepened with the phone call of that doctor on Swayam's cell, he had mentioned Amaira but the more disturbing thing was Swayam had asked him to not share any information about her with anyone else, it suffocated her to think of how Swayam had shouted on her that night. The images hurt her and she tried to dismiss them out of her head right now. She tried to look at the bigger picture lying in front of her eyes, there were two things that were clear now that the girl in those pictures and Amaira were not different persons. They were one and that she was connected to Swayam in some way.
"Sharon, all okay?" Swayam's voice broke her chain of thoughts and she looked at him to give him a reassuring nod.
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Swayam made her lie down on the bed slowly and stared at her. He had acted strong in front of her but now watching her he couldn't spare himself the moments he had gone through. He had panicked when Stephie had called him in an urgency that knocked his breath out.
"Swayam, Sharon has fainted suddenly." Her words had made his heart pound.
"I wasn't this scared when I had fallen off the stairs of my school building at the age of fifteen and I had blood all over me. I wasn't this frightened. You. . . you left me terrified you know." He said with the tears in his eyes.
Sharon wanted to smile through her own tears but resisted seeing his accusing face.
"Swayam, I am fine. Plus if you are going to behave this paranoid. . ." Swayam's eyes grew wider and Sharon realized her mistake.
"Whoa! No, Not paranoid. I mean, I mean anxious yeah, it was the wrong word!" She said defending and gulped.
"So I mean you know Iits just in nearly one and a half months my water will break and you'll need to take me to the hospital."
"Oh yes! I know!" Swayam said imagining the moment and swallowing a lump down his throat in fear.
"You don't look so confident you know." Sharon said trying hard to resist her laughter.
"Oh! That's because I am not!" Swayam confessed not realizing about any word that was coming out of his mouth and Sharon chuckled softly.
"You know Anish, our marketing head, he just turned a father to a babyboy and I asked how was it, the whole thing and he said it was a bit scary. Though I think he was just trying to be a man about it saying it was just a "bit scary." Swayam said like a small child and Sharon just wanted to pull him in her arms and kiss his cheeks for being so innocent at times but it was crossed by her laughter.
Swayam looked at her like he didn't know why was she laughing at all because for him he thought they were talking about something serious. When he couldn't handle her laughing over nothing he said
"Sharon, Stop laughing! Aren't you afraid?"
This actually made her stop and she looked at him with her eyes full of love. She smiled at him and took his hand in hers
"I was very scared about it till two weeks before because I thought I might have to go through all of it alone in a way, you know that I won't be having you in every sense. But now I am not. I am scared because it's the first time but it doesn't match my earlier fear in any way. Because I know I will have my husband beside me that day. And I won't be alone in any way."
Swayam looked at her teary eyed and intertwined their hands with more force telling her that she was right.
"I am never going to leave your side. I won't lie to you; I am very scared for D-Day and I have a feeling that you will be consoling me that day rather than I consoling you but I promise I might faint seeing all the stuff I saw in few birth giving videos happening in front of my eyes but I am not leaving your hand, not today, not on that day, not ever. I love you too much to do that." Sharon couldn't hold back a chuckled and Swayam hugged her and she held him close.
The moment just reminded her why she did love him in the first place. He had just redefined their bond in his few words unknowingly and had given her the courage to deal with all the present odds in their relationship. She thanked her father in her heart for telling her to stay because today she knew the home that she built with so much of love and care and trust wasn't fragile and it could withstand any storm with him by her side.
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The new information had done nothing but made her restless, she sat in her room alone thinking. Stephie and Swayam had tried to talk to her but every time she came up with an convincing excuse to stay away.
On the fourth day, Sharon waited desperately for Stephie to come. Her heart beat was fast and unsteady, She felt nervous, her legs refused to stay calm, an anxious feelings crawled from her legs to her stomach and spread in her chest. The doorbell rang and she heaved a heavy breath out of her mouth. She stood up and opened the door to see Stephie standing there with a serious look for the first time since she had known her.
Stephie sat on her bed looking at her waiting for her to say things. But Sharon stayed client. She had called her late in the night and had told her she wanted to talk to her about something important to her, about Amaira. Sharon knew if she wouldn't have make the first step with her gut feeling then she would back out from everything she had been thinking about. To go ahead she needed her to know, she needed to let it out so that even if she changes her mind Stephie would be there to persuade her to tell her everything she knew about Amaira.
"Sharon, what were saying over phone yesterday? How come you know Amaira?" Stephie asked her, her eyes displaying perplexity.
Sharon gulped. There was no backing out now.
"Look Stephie, even I don't know a whole lot of stuff about her but there is something I know. Few months back I heard she was in hospital. I have the doctor's number who was associated with her, probably treating her."Sharon tried to tell her but she felt her voice had never sounded so unconvincing before.
"What? Hospital? Doctor? And how do you know all this? Do you know Amaira?"
"Not much!" Sharon stated tearing her gaze apart from her.
"Look Stephie what is important here is that I know she was in the hospital. I don't know here is she now. But she was. From our last conversation I thought you really missed her so I assumed I should share whatever information I have of hers with you." Sharon said and Stephie looked deep in thinking.
"Can you guess what could have been wrong with her?"
"No. I don't know. I cannot guess." Stephie replied and Sharon looked disappointed.
After a few moments of silence, Sharon started talking again.
"Look Sharon, maybe we can find it out. I have the doctor's number maybe we can call him and get to know things." Sharon said and Stephie's eyes went smiling.
"Yes, we can do that. Oh YES! Sharon we can definitely do that!"
Sharon punched in the digits of Dr. Jatin's phone number as a hint of guilt made its way into her chest. She had practically stole this number from Swayam's cellphone.
"Swayam, I have no signal in my phone and I have to talk to Mom about something important related to baby. Can I use your phone?" She had acted it out effortlessly in appearance.
"Yeah Sure!" Swayam had given her his phone without any hint of doubt.
"Thank you. I am thirsty. Can you bring me a glass of water?" Sharon had asked him with a smile.
"Oh come on! Of course!" He had disappeared from her sight and in those few minutes she was successful in finding and copying Dr. Jatin's number to her phone.
When he had returned she was already talking to his mother over call.
Now the thought made her guilty but had convinced herself to that she had no other choice except for tricking him. It was the only way to find about Amaira and now when the bell was ringing of his phone all she could feel was anticipating the moment when he would pick up and she would take her one step closer to the solving the mystery it had become, Amaira.
"Hello!" The voice from the other side of the phone made her quiver and she handed the phone to Stephie as per plan.
"Hello! Am I talking to Dr Jatin?"
"Yes that would me."
"Oh great! Hello Doctor, umm. . . Actually I have trying to reach out to my friend from a couple of months and I just got to know that she was in some hospital under your treatment. I just wanted to know if you could you know, if you could just tell me how is she."
"Oh it will be my privilege. Please ask about whom do you want to know!"
"Umm. . . The name is Amaira Mehta." She was met with a silence as Sharon gulped a lump down her throat. This was the make it or break it part. She knew he will deny but that didn't help her from hoping against it.
"Umm. . . I wish I could help you with the matter but I am sorry. We have some special instructions to keep her details confidential." The doctor said with finality in his voice.
Sharon couldn't stop herself now. She couldn't just take a no now for an answer, not when she was so close to finding her and her truth. She practically snatched the phone from Stephie's hand and started talking.
"Listen Doctor. . . I . . .umm I mean we, we really need to know about her. She is our friend, very close, very dear friend. Please Sir, it would be really great if you could just help us." Sharon pleaded and the silent moments from the other side wasn't doing any good to her.
"Okay, lemme just talk to the concerned people. If they allow it I can help you, No guarantee though.What should I tell them who is calling?" The doctor replied in a cool manner and that was all Sharon needed to hold herself stable for another few moments. A ray of hope.
"Umm. . . Its Stephanie Scott from the University."Stephie said at once and Sharon looked at her in approval of her timing.
She held the line as Stephie prayed jumping beside her and it was after really long four minutes that he came back on the line.
"Okay, well I talked to her family and congratulations they are okay with it. I think I can now give you the details."
Sharon's heart hadn't felt elated like this since a long time. She thought a block of bricks were just removed from her heart.
"Okay so Ms. Mehta was in our hospital initially. But she was shifted to Delhi after a few weeks. So right now she is under Dr. Smriti Gupta's care, she is a psychiatrist. You just send me your email id and I will just mail you the other details." Dr. Jatin completed and Stephie replied with a yes sure to him while Sharon stood frozen and confused beside her trying to comprehend Doctor's last words.
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Cricket
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