Later that afternoon, after making sure Anushka had eaten and taken her medicine, I stepped out to buy some groceries.
But I didn’t go to the market.
Not immediately.
Instead… I found myself dialing a number.
Raju.
He picked up on the second ring.
“Bhaiya?” he said, surprised. “Everything okay? How’s bhabhi?”
“She’s better,” I replied.
A brief pause.
Then I said it.
“Raju… yesterday… when you came into the bathroom…”
He didn’t answer right away.
And that silence?
It said more than words.
“I heard a sound,” he repeated carefully. “Like I told you.”
His voice was steady.
But not natural.
Not like yesterday.
And suddenly, that uneasiness inside me grew stronger.
“I’m not asking to blame you,” I said quietly. “I just… want the full truth.”
Another pause.
Longer this time.
Then he sighed.
A tired, reluctant sigh.
“Bhaiya… can we meet?” he said softly. “Not on the phone.”
We met at a small tea stall near the corner of our street.
The kind of place where people come and go without paying attention to anyone else.
Raju was already there when I arrived.
Sitting.
Quiet.
Different.
As I walked toward him, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before.
Guilt.
Not fear.
Not nervousness.
Guilt.
I sat down across from him.
Neither of us spoke for a few seconds.
Then I said, calmly:
“Tell me.”
Raju looked down at his hands.
Then finally… he spoke.
“Bhaiya… bhabhi didn’t just slip.”
My chest tightened.
“What do you mean?”
He swallowed.
“She was already feeling weak… but that’s not why she fell.”
Every word now felt heavier than the last.
“She fainted.”
I frowned.
“That’s the same thing.”
Raju shook his head slowly.
“No… it’s not.”
He looked up at me.
And this time, there was no hesitation.
“She’s been hiding it from you.”
A cold wave ran through my body.
“Hiding what?”
Raju hesitated again.
But only for a second.
Then he said it.
“She’s been having these episodes for weeks.”
Silence.
The world around me blurred.
“What… episodes?”
“She gets dizzy… loses balance… sometimes even blacks out for a few seconds,” he explained. “Yesterday wasn’t the first time.”
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