Along the Lines of Love | ✓

Chapter 9 : Pending Decisions

~ ~ ~ ♡ ~ ~ ~

Nikhil had spent two hours reading about PCOD— polycystic ovary disease. It's cause was unknown. One school of thought was it was due to genes. However, study was in progress and the cause was still unclear. A woman suffering from it developed multiple small cysts in the ovaries and had hormonal disorders. These two contributed to many symptoms, making it a complex disease.

The more he read, the more confused he got. Each site came up with a different list of symptoms. The information weighed heavy on his head. The number of times he saw the word 'infertile' in the articles further fuelled his apprehension.

When he had opened the medical report Sharanya had handed him. He was partly relieved to not find thag word anhwjere on it. However, there were small pictures of some sort of scan. A closer look revealed the title as an ultrasound of the pelvic. He couldn't make out a thing from it. For a minute the doctor's handwriting distracted him. He had never seen a neater sample of handwriting from a doctor. 

Reading through he saw a bunch of words listed— weight gain, hirsutism, bloating, headache, cramps, irregular periods. He had to google a few of them to understand. At the end of the page, the doctor had mentioned findings from her report. In the final sheet, there was the BMI and a bunch of points written.

As far as he understood, they were suggestions from the doctor.

Get eight hours sleep, drink plenty of water, reduce weight, physical activity like walk/yoga, and quarterly scans. 

He was surprised to find no medicine. A little more effort of typing away on his keyboard and Google search engine revealed that the disease had no cure. It was something one had to live with. It could only be controlled by making lifestyle modifications.

It was way too much information for Nikhil to digest. He put the file away into his cupboard and walked out of his room to the balcony. It was close to his bed time. He preferred early to bed early to rise. At nights, he usually spent some time in the balcony. He peeped into his mother's room. She was fast asleep.

Running a hand through his hair, he stepped into the balcony and took a deep breath. Sharanya's words started making sense to him now. His respect for her had doubled up. She could have chosen to keep him in the dark. It could be due to embarrassment or fear of rejection. But she gave him a copy of the file. Honesty had simply crawled up on the list of her virtues displacing responsible nature to the second position. 

Unbeknownst to himself, his lips curved into a smile remembering her joking about the bee. She cooked well too. She was mature, sensible and it was so easy to be around her. She didn't make him feel like... he was the odd one out in the room. She didn't make him struggle to start a conversation. Conversation though a little clumsy, was comfortable with her.

However, he craved for a normal family life too. Not in immediate future but he'd probably like to have kids. A loving wife, lovable kids, a happy family. He wanted that. This being alone just became harder with every passing day.

* * *

Sleep was away for Sharanya. She was okay in the evening and even happy about not hiding anything from Nikhil. If she wanted anything close to a real relationship she had to be honest. There was no other way round. Nikhil seemed like a nice person.

But the more she thought about everything, the more it began to irk her. She hadn't told anyone about her rendezvous with Nikhil. She had informed Gargi that she was going to meet him but hadn't spoken to her since after it.