Darkhaast

~ 38 ~

Mahi didn't know where she was.

She could hear some mumbling around her. People were talking over one another in hushed voices. Who? She didn't know. The voices melded together like five cheeses in a fondue. Her face scrunched up, frustrated that she couldn't tease them apart.

Someone stroked her hair, which felt reminiscent of her childhood when she lay in her mother's lap after a headache. A small smile came upon her as she snuggled deeper into the bed - into her dreams - grabbing the warm blanket around her.

The voices became distant as the sea called her. The waves were inviting. Small ripples pooled at her feet, relief against the scorching hot sand beneath her. She ran into the water-

"Maasi?" A high-pitched sound tried to pry through her barrier. "Maasi?" It hollered again, like a hand pulling her back onto the beach. She shrugged it off.

"Mahi, please."

Naaz.

Mahi's eyes shot open.

Her niece lay with her, staring into her soul with small glass eyes. Naaz's mouth was slightly parted as if it were muttering prayers under her breath.

"Mahi, tum-" Mahi didn't know if the surprise of seeing her awake or the fatigue from crying made Naaz's voice croak.

"Pushpa, I hate tears." Mahi rested her hand on Naaz's and mustered all her strength to wink. It seemed to bring Naaz down from her mountain of worries.

"Mahi?" Another small feminine voice called, and Ayra's head poked out from behind Naaz's. "Aap theek ho?"

Mahi racked her brain, trying to recall what spooked everyone, even Ayra, who retreated at Mahi's presence.

"Haan Ayu-." Mahi lied through her teeth.

"Nahin," a stern voice cut her off. Abhimanyu came into the picture, along with her mother and Dr. Faiz from the hospital. Abhimanyu clenched a file so hard Mahi could see his veins prodding out.

Nayanthara helped her up, and Naaz fluffed the pillow so Mahi could rest against it. Mahi surveyed the room and noticed she wasn't alone with the kids; Nayanthara, Jai, Ammi, and Aarohi were there too. Who knows how many others were outside her cramped bedroom?

"What's going on?" Mahi asked.

"You had a vasovagal syncope where your heart rate and blood pressure-"

"You fainted." Abhimanyu cut Faiz to the chase. The reasons behind her syncope (loss of consciousness) didn't matter. He wouldn't let a lengthy physiological explanation behind the syncope derail the real issue. What the hell was going on in Mahi's head that triggered the plunge?

Everyone looked to Mahi for her reaction, expecting some fear or confusion.

"Okay." Mahi accepted the diagnosis with the ease of getting a chocolate bar. In her head, the puzzle pieces were coming together, and the fuzzy memories of a party cleared up.

A thali was resting on her living room table, with small presents and a bridal oodhni.

"Toh shaadi-" Manjari started when Mahi came in booming with glasses.

"Shaadi ki planning kaise chal rahi hai, guys? Have you decided whether a Sikh wedding or a Tamil-Hindu Ceremony? You should do both!" Jai wondered if this party was a second engagement party with the vibrancy that Mahi gushed over them. When Manjari brought up wedding planners, she pushed Nayanthara into the conversation, making it about her wedding planners and shutting down Manjari's subtle hints of a proposal.