t h i r t y f i v e. home
Jugnu rushed out in full speed when the bicycle rickshaw stopped at the entrance of the little cottage at the end of the road. Reyansh paid for the fare, and helped bring the bags out while Pranati absentmindedly looked at the cottage.
She was terrified to go inside.
Just like the first time.
"Prani?" Reyansh looked sideways to the woman who did not look quite good. "Let's go?"
Pranati turned to meet Reyansh's soft gaze and nodded, even though she would rather stay outside and not face the sick woman. The neighbors who had called her from Jaana's cellphone did not sound too promising and Pranati was gasping for breath when she took a step closer.
Pranati was Reyansh's kryptonite.
But vulnerable Pranati was like death to Reyansh.
"You can do this," Reyansh muttered from besides her. "Jaana is going to be okay, and if she's not, she'll be once she sees you."
That helped her gain composure and she walked straight towards the door. Her hands were fisted, her eyes moist and her heart broke when she saw Jaana laying like a vegetable on the wooden cot. Jugnu was crying as she hugged her grandmother who raised her feeble hand at the kid, and Pranati hid her tears as she turned her head away.
"Jugnu..." Jaana's voice strengthened, she tried getting up as the two women from the neighborhood helped her up. "Jugnu? Mera bacchu?" Jaana grasped onto Jugnu and held the kid closer, "is that you?"
"This is me." Jugnu nodded vigorously, wiping her tears and held the old frail hands of her grandmother. "I am here, okay, so you can now get up and not be sick."
"Does that mean my daughter is here?" Jaana asked, looking faintly around although it was blurry to see without the glasses. "Is my betu here?"
Pranati wiped her tears, taking a deep breath and walked towards the old lady. "Of course I am here, where else would I be?" Pranati held back on the tears and watched Jaana raise her other arm towards the girl, the one with the salines and the wires.
Reyansh watched the two girls being coddled in the warmth of the old lady who embraced them like it had been ages. He leaned on the doorframe, hands folded and his anxious heart beating aloud. To see Pranati warm up to Jaana in a way she should have warmed up to Shobna was both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.
"Now that your daughter is here, we'll take your leave." The neighbor smiled at Pranati and then at Jugnu, "we'll send the doctor over soon, they were supposed to visit anyway."
The reunion took half an hour with Pranati sobbing like a baby more than Jugnu or Jaana and hugged Jaana. The doctor arrived and helped Pranati run over whatever happened over the course of two days and each added sickness made Pranati glare at Jaana who lowered her gaze.
"Do you have any idea what you made me go through?" Pranati muttered, her hands around the sick lady, "Jaana how could not inform me earlier, how is this fair?"
Jaana chuckled, feeling much at ease now that Pranati and Jugnu were with her. "And ruin your Delhi trip? I am okay."
"Okay?" Pranati shook her head, reading the reports of the doctor. "BP high, diabetes high, cholesterol high," She then listed all the symptoms and all of the injections given, "it's like you wanted me to leave so you could just eat all trash things."
Reyansh chuckled at the change in tone from the sad/sobbing daughter to the very angry woman. Jugnu also had a grim expression on her face, equally mad at Jaana for neglecting her health.
