Chapter 139 - Should I share Innaya's past without her consent?

|Eshan|

I'd just finished with putting a bathrobe on for Innaya when the doorbell rang. I did not wish to leave Innaya alone, but someone had to check who was at the door too. I was put in a tight spot. I did not wish for any visitor at the moment. If it were my friends at the door, then I certainly did not fancy to see them. I looked at Innaya's face. She had suffered because of them. I wished that they were not here to create anymore scene.

I would have to call back Amma soon. It would be better to have her around. There was one more truth I had concealed from her. Innaya did not know about Amma's return. Amma had returned a month ago, and now was staying with Ayush. I did not know how was Innaya going to react after getting to know about it.

Would she blame herself? She had a habit of unnecessarily worrying. It was not her fault, but my wife would not understand that easily.

Things were bad between us at that time.

It was Arjun who took matters in his hands and made arrangements for Amma at Ayush's place. He could have taken Amma at his place if he did not have to look after Innaya. He did not want to worry Amma either. So, he did what he felt was right.

I brought my hand near her face to caress her cheek. Her feverish skin greeted me. My eyes widened, she was running a high fever.

When did it happen? She was fine beforehand. Last night I had held her in my arms, and in the morning also I had held her too. I would have gotten to know if she had a fever earlier. Did she break into fever because of her panic attack?

My mobile rang along with the insistent doorbell. Fortune's barks also sounded from the downstairs. I did not know what to do. I left Innaya's side with a heavy heart, and I picked up my mobile from the chair. I almost ran out of the bedroom after taking that mobile with me. Rushing down the stairs, I answered the call not bothering to check who it was.

"Hello?" I barked into the speaker. I was losing my control. I needed to calm down for my sanity.

"Eshan, open the door. I'm waiting outside," the familiar calm voice of Dr. Mittal came through the speaker. I stared at the screen of my mobile pulling it away from my ear. "Sorry, I'm coming," I apologized as my tone mellowed down.

Was he superman? How did he manage to appear so swiftly?

Shrugging those thoughts about how he managed to reach so quickly, I immediately reached the door. Fortune also ran towards me, warily looking at the door.

I did not have the time to comfort him. "Not now, buddy."

I hurriedly opened the door. "Thank you for coming doc," I said once Dr. Mittal came before my eyes.

"Where's she? Let's go," Dr. Mittal replied. He was in a serious mood. His eyes glanced around before they came to rest on Fortune, who suddenly started barking.

"Woof, woof."

"Fortune," I sternly called out his name as I patted on his head. Maybe, seeing the strange man with a black bag in his hands made him wary. Perhaps he sensed something was not right.

"She's upstairs, let's go," I answered him.

He nodded at me. I closed the door after Dr. Mittal entered inside.

*

I entered our bedroom first followed by Dr. Mittal. The first thing I did after entering was to rush to Innaya's side. She was shivering. I was yet to dry her hair, they must be making her uncomfortable. She seemed unconscious but she was not.

"Tell me in detail what happened," Dr. Mittal said as he placed his bag on the bed.

I hesitated. Should I share Innaya's past without her consent?

"Eshan, you need to cooperate if you want me to help her," Dr. Mittal's voice broke my reverie. I still could not decide if I should tell him or not. He had taken out a stethoscope from his bag.

He sat beside Innaya when I did not reply.

"Remove the duvet. I need to examine her," he ordered as he gave me time to do as he said.

I picked up the duvet and lowered it to her waist. It was a good thing that I made her wear that bathrobe over that towel, otherwise, I knew, it would have been embarrassing for her.

I knew my wife was not comfortable around the opposite gender. She maintained her distance from those whom she hardly knew. She never voiced it out, but her actions made it obvious.

"Well, she has PTSD. I don't think I'm the right person to tell you about it." I moved to the right side of Innaya as Dr. Mittal started checking her.

He nodded after listening to me. He handed me the thermometer to check Innaya's temperature.

"Are these panic attacks regular? Yesterday she didn't have a fever. Does she always get sick after that? Have she received any treatment for her PTSD?" He asked me many questions as he started checking her eyes.

I placed the digital thermometer in her armpit and pressed her arm as I thought about how to answer his questions without revealing full details. His questions did not dwell deeper. I could answer them.

"No, it happened only this time as far as I know. We'll have to ask her about past events," I answered truthfully.

"Everything was okay, but suddenly she started having a panic attack. She was clawing at her throat and before I could understand, her mouth was clamped and she had stopped breathing. I performed CPR on her, and it worked. However, she was still stuck. I had somewhere read that showers helped in handling panic attacks, so I made her stand under the shower," I recited the events from the morning in brief.

This was the first time when she had such an extreme reaction. Looking at her closed eyes, pale and lifeless face something broke in my heart. The digital thermometer beeped, and I took out the thermometer, it read 102.6 °F.

"It's 102.6 °F," I gasped. How did she suddenly have such a high temperature?

I pulled the quilt back over her upper body and covered her well. She was still shivering.

"It might be because of her panic attack. We'll have to wait for her to answer. I'll give her an injection, now," Dr. Mittal replied as he prepared the syringe.

***