Against All Odds

Chapter 25 First Meet

Niyati's POV

I still remember the day vividly. I was ten years old and super excited to see how my mother was going to pop out the baby that she had swallowed. I couldn't understand why she had to keep the baby inside when she could have given it to me to take care of. I would have kept it inside my doll house. It would have been safer than inside any stomach.

If I remember it right, I cried a lot looking at the baby. It had wrinkles and the skin was also pealing off, just because mother had kept it inside her stomach. Ten years me, knew very well that skin gets wrinkly when you keep your hand in water for long. And mother kept it inside for too long, hence the wrinkles. I had asked her to remove it so many times but she kept telling me that the baby still isn't ready to come out. Had she listened to me the baby would have been beautiful.

I didn't go back to hospital again to see the baby. I was scared of it. I only saw it again when mother was brought home after a week.

When I saw it then I fell in love instantly. She looked so beautiful now. She was asleep when she got home but when I held her she opened her eyes and I kept gapping at her caramel color eyes. I had declared it there itself that she is mine and that I would take care of her.

I still remember helping mother with whatever a ten year kid could. When Ashu turned eight months old and started crawling after me everywhere I went, I was at the top of the moon. She would never leave my side. Going to school became a task because she would cry her heart out realizing that I was going out without her. When I used to return from school she would be near the door waiting for me, ready to jump into my arms.

The days were fun. Dad would bring a toy for Ashu and a chocolate for me everyday. Mom scolded him every day but he continued doing so.

Then one day things changed. I must be 12-13 years old. Mom and dad had to go somewhere. I don't know where, but it must have been urgent as they never left the two of us alone. Mom was always around. She must have repeated instructions about how not to open the door to strangers, how to take care of Ashu atleast a hundred times.

I waited and waited that day for them to return. But when I woke up the next day, grandma was home instead of my parents and she kept crying all the time. I didn't understand why mom and dad were brought on stretchers. It was when grandma explained that they won't ever get up now that I understood it was only me , Ashu and grandma from now on.  All other relatives refused to have any connection with our family as they were against my parents marriage.

Next couple of days were difficult. I missed my parents. Grandma had her hands full with Ashu who kept running around the house trying to find our parents, thinking they were playing hide and seek. While doing so she would either keep bumping everywhere or she would break things trying to lift them or shift them aside while yelling boo.

Life came to normal after a while. Grandma took good care of us. We weren't rich but I guess my parents had left enough savings for our future. I had accepted that life is beautiful when we had each other. But God had different plans.

I was preparing for board exams when grandma told me that she was suffering from cancer. I had no idea how to react. I wanted to cry and curse God for planning to take away the only support we had. How was I supposed to take care of Ashu alone? But I soon realized it wasn't going to work. So I decided to live one day at a time and see where life took us.

Life became hectic. Studying for the boards, taking care of Ashu while running between hospitals with Grandma.

One day grandma suggested we send Ashu to boarding school. I wasn't open to the idea. I had never been away from her since she was born. But grandma convinced me that it was good for her too. It was better that she wouldn't be here when she was battling with cancer. I kept delaying the decision as much as I could.

Grandma's treatment was going on and she was going strong. But my life became super hectic when I got admission in college. I had to get up early, cook food, get Ashu ready and run to college. After coming back I had to take grandma to the hospital for her regular check-up.

Hospital visits started taking longer and longer. Especially because we used to go to a government hospital. Grandma said my parents had saved enough for our studies but cancer treatment was costly in private hospitals and I didn't question her judgement.

Once you enter a government hospital it's like entering a whole new world. No matter which side you turn your head all you can see are the people who are sick. The place has a scent of its own. Even if you leave the place your clothes carry the scent with them reminding you of where you had been.

I used to get lost in the place. Not only was it huge but it had no one to guide you. Plus every single thing needed to be done at a separate counter. Like, enroll your name at one counter. Get the token number from the other counter. Fill the forms and submit them at some other counter. Once the doctor checked you the medicines needed to be billed at one counter while payment was to be made at the other and another for picking up the medicines. Oh and every counter had a huge line. It was endless. One mistake and you could spend your day running around in circles. I had started hating the word counter with passion.

I dreaded our visits to the hospital till one day I came across the handsome helping people in all this chaos. He sat in-between all the chaos as if he was some prince having no worries. Everyone, I mean everyone was polite to him. And him? I had never seen someone so humble.

One look at him, it was evident he was from a upper class family. His clothes and shoes were trendy. His hair always perfectly gelled. He always stood out between paled clothed and sick people around.

I don't even remember how many times he must have helped me. He would help me fill forms and accompany me, guiding me to right places. Life became easy with him around. I started looking forward to visiting the hospital just so I could see him.

Call it teenager hormones but I was smitten by him. I couldn't stop myself from dreaming about him. But whenever he came in front of me I would go mum.

Apart from asking him to help I could never talk to him. Every time I saw him I used to get a strange feeling in my stomach and my heart started beating faster. I used to get so flushed sometimes that grandma had to do most of the talking while I, like am idiot tried to hide behind her with flushed cheeks.

I think he must have noticed my behavior too. I am quite sure that one day he laughed while shaking his head looking at me. I as usual was hiding my face behind my grandma. When grandma confronted him he quickly composed himself giving some lame excuse.

I knew I was a goner. It's not like I had never interacted with boys before. I studied in coed school and was in college with many handsome boys. But he was different. Down to earth and polite to the core. The very fact that he used to spend time in cancer hospital just to help people spoke volumes.

I knew I was in love but had also convinced myself that it would always be one sided and for valid reasons. One, I don't know why I couldn't speak when he came in front of me. I didn't even have guts to ask his name. Two, he looked from a higher society while we on the other hand weren't poor but we had limited resources which our parents had left behind.

Soon the financial problems started arising and I decided to take a part time job. Hectic was a less hectic word now. I wished the day had more hours. I used to be running all the time. That was when grandma sent Ashu to boarding school. I also couldn't delay it anymore. Grandma needed my attention too as she was getting weak day by day.

As days passed it got better. Grandma had an operation. Though it ate all the savings my parents had left for us but I was more than happy it was used for a great purpose. Grandma was doing good health wise. Ashu was doing good in school. And my love life….
It took a turn I had never expected.