“Amrit ji?”

“Rupali. How are you?” Amrit was coherent. Rupali thanked her stars.

“I am fine. How are you?”

“It’s all God’s grace. You came alone?”

“Yes. Can’t I?”

“You can. Why can’t you? You can’t imagine how happy I feel when you visit me.”

“Aditya has also been visiting you now, right?”

“Yeah. I have so many people to look after me now. I am so lucky.”

Rupali smiled and felt sad at how little Amrit expected from life. She, then, asked her for a favor and explained Aditya’s and Sunidhi’s relationship.

“You do not hold a grudge against me for coming in Paritosh’ life, do you?” she asked Amrit.

“Not at all. Didn’t I tell you how happy I was? He deserves happiness.”

“And so do your brother and my friend. Will you talk to him, please?”

“Of course, I will. Just pray that I am well enough to talk when he comes next.”

“I am sure, you will be. Thank you so much.”

“You don’t need to thank me. In fact, thanks to you. If I can play a role in bringing my brother some happiness, at least I would be of some use to somebody.”

—

“Rupali. Where are you?” Paritosh’ call came as soon as Rupali switched the phone on after coming out of the hospital.

“I… What happened?”

“We have to go to the hospital. Right now. They were trying your phone.”

“Oh my God!” Rupali turned pale, “What happened?”

“Where are you?”

“I will reach the hospital directly. I am slightly far. What did they say? Is she…” her voice quivered.

“I don’t know, Rupali. Why don’t you tell me where you are? I will come and pick you up.”

“It will waste too much time. I will meet you at the hospital.”

—

They reached the hospital at almost the same time. Paritosh pressed her hand as they walked towards Mouli’s room.

“Final hours, Prof. Khanna,” the doctor informed them, “Perhaps last day or two. You might want to spend the time here.”

He nodded. Rupali sat down beside Mouli, who would gain consciousness occasionally, but was in extreme pain.

“Who all should we inform, Rupali?” Paritosh asked gently.

Rupali picked up Mouli’s phone and gave Paritosh the numbers of her friends and old colleagues, as well as the CEO of their company. “He would inform others at the company,” she said, “And  also inform the lawyer.”

Paritosh nodded and went out to make the calls. He also called Sunidhi, who came over immediately. Many people came and visited Mouli during the day. But Rupali did not leave her bedside. She sat there as if glued to the seat.

“Get some fresh air, Rupali,” Sunidhi told her in the evening.

She shook he head in refusal.

“At least have something to eat.”

Rupali refused again.

Sunidhi looked at Paritosh. He came forward and sat down beside Rupali.

“Do I have to scold you now, Rupali? How do you think Ma will feel if she came to know that you sat here the entire day, hungry and unwell?”

“She can’t feel anything, any longer, can she?” Rupali spoke for the first time in hours and choked on her words.

“She can’t speak. But she can feel. She can feel everything, especially if you do something to hurt yourself.”

She looked at him as if trying to understand what he said. He nodded to assure her and looked at Sunidhi, who handed Rupali the roll she had brought from the hospital canteen.

Sunidhi drove to Rupali’s home and brought her clothes and other necessary items. Then she stayed with her when Paritosh went home to bring his stuff. He also informed at work of his and Rupali’s forthcoming absence from work.

“One of us needs to be well-rested, Sunidhi. Come back tomorrow,” Paritosh told Sunidhi when she sounded unwilling to leave. So, she left for the night. When Rupali refused to leave Mouli’s side even at night, Paritosh shifted the sofa close to Mouli’s bed and made Rupali lie down on that. He went outside and sat down on the chair in the visitor’s area.

He was woken up from his slumber by the sound of her sobs. She was sitting on the floor and was sobbing with her face buried in his lap.

“Rupali! What happened?” he was still disoriented from his sleep. Then he saw the doctor and the nurse on night duty coming out of Mouli’s room. There was no need for an answer from Rupali.

“I am sorry,” the doctor told Paritosh and left, while the nurse stayed back to help them with the hospital formalities before they could take the custody of Mouli’s body.

—

“Except for the cash that she has given to the NGO she worked for, everything else is under your joint ownership Prof. Khanna and Rupali. This house, the shares in the company and other investments and properties she owned,” the lawyer informed them of the will and handed them the relevant papers.

Rupali just smiled weakly, still not quite recovered from her mother’s death, while Paritosh was surprised, “Joint ownership? With me? Why?”

“I won’t know,” Mr. Mehta smiled and then handed him an envelope, “There is this letter for you. Perhaps it will explain. I will take your leave now.”

“Thank you, Mr. Mehta,” Paritosh and Rupali shook hands with him and he left.

“Rupali. This is weird. What am I supposed to do with all of this? I will ask Mr. Mehta to prepare papers for transferring these to you.”

“Why? How does it matter?”

“This is your family property. It belongs to you, Rupali.”

“And isn’t it as good as belonging to you?”

“You don’t understand–”

“Why are you behaving like this?” suddenly her eyes welled up, “Do you also want to leave me alone?” It happened too often these days. She started crying at the slightest pretext, especially if there was even a hint of Paritosh reproving her. Mouli’s death had really shattered her.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Rupali. Please don’t cry. You know that’s not true. I am here, right? You know I am always here and not going anywhere. Never,” he hugged her and patted her affectionately until her tears stopped.

“It has been three weeks, Rupali. You really need to gather yourself together and come out of this.”

“I want to. But… She is not there, Paritosh. She is not there any longer.”

“This won’t do, Rupali. This won’t do at all. Listen. We are going out today. Call up Sunidhi and see if she can also come. You need a change, Rupali. And from Monday you will get back to work. Okay?”

“Okay.”

—

Paritosh tossed and turned in his bed that night thinking about Mouli’s will. He was experiencing the same restlessness that he had experienced when Rupali had insisted on gifting him that expensive phone. He had thought about a thousand things related to his and Rupali’s relationship, but not this. She belonged to a rich family and was the only child. He was, by no means, poor. After his father’s death, he had sold off all his family land and property and the money was invested profitably. That along with his salary ensured that he had more money than he could ever use for himself. But while he could afford to do it once in a while, he wouldn’t be comfortable just walking into a shop and spending fifty-five thousand rupees on a phone. It wasn’t the lifestyle he had grown up with and he didn’t have money to live like that on a daily basis. But her lifestyle was like that. She had grown up with that kind of wealth. It would be unfair to expect her to give that up. But he couldn’t just splurge her family money, could he? How will it work? Could they live two separate lifestyles when they are together?

—

To be continued