Destiny's Game

Ch. 3 Sanjay Khurrana

The front door opened and in came Swetha, her kind face stretched with exhaustion. Next to her was her husband who walked with the help of his wife. His face was weak as if all his energy had been drained out of his body. She made him sit down on the grey couch and Swetha sat next to him, closing her eyes for a second. Today had been awful to say the least. The numerous amounts of tears she and her daughter had shed for Deepak. She had told her husband a lot of times to stop smoking but he was never the one to listen and now...Swetha swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, not wanting to think about this. She knew she would end up crying again. 

"Deepak, do you need anything?" She asked her husband who shook his head. 

"I am fine, Jaan. Don't worry about me." 

This sentence annoyed her and her nostrils flared as she felt a slight fury bubbling inside of her. "Don't worry about you, Deepak?! If you are forgetting you have cancer and it's not like cold which will go away after a few days; it's terminal!" Her voice broke in the end. 

"Please, don't cry. You know what the doctor said, Chemotherapy will make me cancer-free in a month and I promise I won't die until you say so." 

She glared at him and looked away after a second as she realised that their daughter was nowhere to be seen. "Where is Naina? Naina! Naina!" Walking upstairs, she bellowed her name and upon reaching the small storage room that she and her husband used for storing their old memories and possessions, she paused. The door was slightly ajar providing her a view of Naina shuffling through stuff.

"Naina, what are you doing here?" Swetha questioned, baffled and confused about why Naina was here in the first place.

"Mumma...is Papa here?" Naina asked immediately, ignoring the question that her mother had posed beforehand. Swetha nodded briefly before sighing.

"Yes, he is downstairs." 

"Well, let me go see him then!" Naina said in a hurry to meet him. She loved him so much and hearing such dreadful news about her father's health had made her beyond upset. "And the therapy?"

"We will think about that later."

"Mumma but 15 lakhs..."

"Naina, I will sort it all out. Don't worry."

Naina didn't say anything and came out of the room. She could feel her mother's gaze on her but she didn't dare look up. She really wanted to help her mother out but she knew Swetha would tell her off for it, saying that she will manage everything by herself.

"Naina." Her mother called out. She turned around and looked up. "What were you doing here?"

"Just looking for something."

Her mum didn't seem to believe her but she didn't say anything either. Smiling slightly, she pulled Naina's left cheek and patted it lovingly. "He will be alright, baccha. Don't worry." 

"Maa, I know." Replying that, she walked downstairs and rushed to her father's side. "Are you okay?" He nodded his head and she hugged him tight. "You scared me so much." 

I am sorry." He muttered to Naina and her mother who just stared at him.

"You should be, Deepak. You frightened us to the core and I hate you so much for it. You made your wife and your daughter cry for you." She cried and he stretched his arm out for her. She took it 

"Sorry, Jaan."

"I told you so many times but you never listened. Koi meri baat ki parwah nhi karta hain. Sabko apni hi manmani karni hain."

(Nobody cares about what I have to say. Everyone does whatever they want to do).

Deepak's head hung in shame and Naina could see his eyes getting wet with tears. He was upset to see his family so broken because of his addiction to smoking which she only found out about. She felt angry about it. Did he not care for me and my mother? Naina thought. Why would he want to do this to himself when he knows we both were dependent on him completely? What if we never found out about him having cancer and what if he--? She couldn't even bring herself to say it.