Chapter 5 - The Purple Bench
At first, Arjun thought grief had created her.
Maya sat beneath the fluorescent lights wearing a dark-green hospital gown. An IV stand stood beside the purple bench. Her hair, once long enough to fall across her back, had been cut into a short bob.
She looked smaller than he remembered.
“Maya?”
Her head lifted.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Maya looked toward the nearest door as though she might escape.
Arjun approached carefully.
“Is that really you?”
“I’m only here for a few tests.”
Her answer came too quickly.
He looked at the hospital bracelet around her wrist and the folder beside her.
“You disappeared.”
“I moved.”
“You changed your number.”
“I needed a fresh start.”
Arjun knelt in front of her.
“You look ill.”
“I’m tired.”
“Please don’t lie to me. What happened?”
When he reached for her hands, Maya tried to pull away. But his fingers closed gently around hers, and the familiar warmth destroyed what remained of her control.
She glanced toward the medical folder.
“I found out before our divorce.”
Arjun stopped breathing.
Before he could ask another question, the doctor appeared and called Maya’s name.
The truth followed.
The lymphoma had returned.
Maya had endured treatment alone.
The divorce had never been about a lack of love.
Arjun listened until the doctor finished speaking. Then he sat beside Maya instead of across from her.
“I have an appointment tomorrow,” she said. “You should return to your conference.”
“I’m not going.”
“You cannot cancel your life every time something happens to me.”
“This is not something happening to you. This is something you hid from me.”
“I did what I thought was right.”
“So did I when I signed those papers because I believed staying would hurt you.”
Maya looked down.
May you like
Arjun picked up the folder.
“You made your choice eight months ago. Now I’m making mine.”
