But they could not meet her after going back. She had a seizure and had to be sedated. The doctor was with her. They waited for the doctor to come out.

“Prof. Khanna,” the doctor shook hands with him and was surprised to see Aditya there, “Aditya?”

“He is Amrit’s cousin.”

“Cousin? How come you never came for her earlier? If I remember correctly, nobody other than you has ever visited her, Prof. Khanna.”

“I didn’t know she was here. She is from my real father’s side and she is the cousin I had told you about.”

“Oh!” Dr. Sondhi figured out the connection.

“Her parents never visited her?” Aditya asked Paritosh surprised.

“No,” Paritosh replied looking sad.

“I am sorry, Prof. Khanna. I have to rush back to the OPD now. Aditya, remind me about this when you come for your next session,” the doctor said.

“Yes, doctor.”

“I am sorry, Aditya,” Paritosh said after the doctor left, “You could not meet her today. Unfortunately, we have to rush back now; Rupali’s Mom is not well. But I come here every Sunday. If you want, you can come next week with me.”

“Sure, I would like to do that.”

“I would try to get your name on the approved visitor’s list so that you are not dependent on me. But it is better that the first time you meet her, it’s with me. Also, these processes take time.”

“I understand.”

Rupali and Paritosh parted ways from Aditya in the parking lot.

“Give me a minute,” Rupali told Paritosh and went after Aditya.

“Aditya, I wanted to talk to you for a minute.”

“Sure.”

“About your sister and Dr. Khanna–”

“You don’t need to explain Rupali.”

“Not for my sake, but for his, Aditya. Please listen to me. You probably hold a grudge against him. But trust me; he has always been nice to her. She herself says he has the heart of gold. Keeping her here, instead of at home was necessary for her own safety. With her seizures–”

“I understand Rupali. I have to go now. Bye.”

Rupali was disappointed. Aditya did not see the point.

“What were you talking to him about?” Paritosh asked her when she got back.

“Nothing. Just making sure he wasn’t upset.”

“Is he all right?”

“Yes, I think.”

Paritosh looked at her searchingly, but did not say anything and they drove away.

—

“How does it look?” Rupali asked when Paritosh finished reading the draft paper she had given to him.

“Looks great. I can’t believe our good professors have written it,” Paritosh remarked on the language.

“Well. I did a lot of editing,” Rupali laughed pleasantly, “But the content of the paper is not mine. What do you think? At the current rate, we are going to win our challenge.”

“I think so. And looking at all these papers your group is producing, you will make a great advisor. We should seriously think about strengthening our Ph. D. programme.”

“That would be a great. It is a long shot though.”

“You, Rupali, are no longer allowed to call anything a ‘long shot’ now. What you have been able to do till now, even motivating your colleagues to this extent, had always sounded a long shot in this system.”

“They would be easily demotivated, if the papers don’t come out. This is no achievement.”

“I know. But don’t worry. We will make it happen.”

“So, are you motivated as well?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Of course not, Sir.” Rupali smiled.

“By the way, Dr. Banerjee, I hear that your students call you by your first name.”

“Yeah. So? Does the director have a problem with that too, now?”

“No. Not the director–”

They were interrupted by Rupali’s phone ringing.

“It’s Aditya,” she said and picked it up, “Hi Aditya.”

“Rupali. I am in your institute. Could I meet you and Dr. Khanna for a while?”

“Yeah. Sure. Where are you?”

“At your department’s entrance.”

“I will inform the security. They will escort you here. Dr. Khanna is also here.”

“Okay. Thanks, Rupali.”

“Aditya wants to meet us,” she informed Paritosh and then called the security.

—

“I just wanted to thank you, Dr. Khanna,” Aditya spoke to Paritosh after exchanging preliminary greetings, “And also say sorry.”

“What for? I don’t think either of those is warranted.” Paritosh replied.

“I spoke to the doctor and… Rupali, what you had told me at the hospital was right. Dr. Khanna, you have done so much for my sister, when you could just have left her to her devices. You were deceived into this marriage and still–”

“Aditya. It wasn’t her fault. How could I–”

“Not many people would take it this way. You have helped me too. You are a hero for our family, I think,” Aditya smiled as he said that.

“A very accidental hero I am then,” Paritosh also smiled, “Anyone in my place would have done the same.”

“You are humble too. So, I won’t press it further. Do forgive me if I was rude yesterday. Even if expected, it wasn’t a comforting news that my sister was in the mental health facility–”

“Aditya. I understand. Trust me,” Paritosh cut his apology short, “Come on now. All is well. Let’s get some coffee in the canteen. What do you say?”

“Sure.”

—

“So, you had gone to Aditya in the parking lot to explain, right?” Paritosh asked Rupali later in the evening. They were at her home.

“You know it now.”

“I already knew it.”

“I didn’t like it that he thought you had abandoned her.”

“Yes. But you know what, Rupali, if someone decides to hold a grudge against something, somebody, you cannot really talk them out of it. The acceptance, or forgiveness, whatever is required has to come from within them. So, he didn’t see your point until he had verified for himself.”

“You read through his mind? And mine?”

“I just have been there myself. I have held grudges, against people, against life. Nobody could help me then. It was the acceptance that finally gave me some peace.”

“You are a saint or what?”

Paritosh was amused, “Explain!”

“You have always done right by everybody. You never went against your parents. You don’t have any complaints against Amrit ji, because the deceit was not her fault. But it does not look like you have anything against her family either. You cared for everyone your entire life, accepted your responsibilities even if there was no love to motivate you. You have never hurt anyone, even when they deserved it. And after all this, when someone misunderstands you, you don’t feel the need to correct them. You don’t get angry? What is this? How do you do this?”

“I wish that were true.”

“What is not true in this?”

“While trying to do right by everyone else, I ended up hurting that one person I really loved.”

“Who?”

Paritosh looked at her intently for a few seconds before replying, “You Rupali. Who else?”

“Me?”

“And the worst part is that in all these years, I hadn’t even realized how much–”

“Shut up, will you?” Rupali interrupted, “You are still bothered about that? I don’t even think of it now. It was my childishness. It wasn’t your figment of imagination. I was indeed pushing myself on you. I used to be around you to get your approval, making things more difficult for you. It wasn’t your fault. Plus, in trying to push me away, you were trying to do right by me, weren’t you?”

“But–”

“No. Listen to me. The only thing you need to remember with respect to me is that… that… you are my hero. It’s okay, if you don’t believe it when someone else says it. But you must believe it, when I say it. Tell me, you believe me. Tell me, please.”

“I believe you. Of course, I believe you.”

“And if you had ever hurt me, if that childish willfulness can even be called a hurt, you have more than made up for it. I don’t ever want you to think about it.”

“Calm down, Rupali. With you getting worked up like this, do I have an option but to stop thinking about it just like you want?”

Rupali suddenly felt embarrassed about her outburst. “I am sorry,” she said sheepishly.

“But say that hero thing again.”

“Why? You don’t believe me.”

—

To be continued