“He was scared. But I should’ve found a way to reason with him.”

“Didn’t the doctor say he would be fine to wait at home?”

“The fact is,” she says, numb. “If Sunil had gone to the hospital, he would be alive right now.”

“Kavita—”

“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

That moment in the doctor’s office was pivotal. An instant that could have changed their fates. But they chose another path, which at the time, seemed like the right one.

“When we left the doctor’s office, I swear to you Sunil seemed more optimistic. I didn’t just imagine it.”

“I suppose none of us really knows what goes on in another person’s head. You can’t blame yourself for that, though.”

“I must’ve missed something.”

“What do you mean?”

“We left the doctor’s office on the same page. Sunil seemed more at ease. But then something happened. Something changed his mind.”

But what?

From the doctor’s office, they drove to Sunil’s work, so he could fill out the paperwork for his leave of absence. Being there reminded Kavita she needed to work things out with her own office, too. She had taken a week of personal leave, but she would have to talk to her manager about a more long-term arrangement.

They sat in a couple of chairs outside of the hr department cubicles. As Sunil filled in the forms, he said in a low voice, “It won’t be long before everybody knows.”

“They wouldn’t talk about you behind your back. Would they?”

“hr is the worst. Cathy in particular has a bad rep for gossip.”

“That’s so toxic? How is that even allowed?”

Sunil bounced his shoulders.

“Well,” Kavita told him, “who cares what they think, right?”

“It would make it a lot harder to come back to work.”

“Then we’ll find you a better job.” In a better place.

“Yeah,” he said, doubtful. “’Cause that’s so easy. I’ve worked hard here. It’s taken me a long time to get to where I am now with my job.”

Kavita could see his point, perhaps in the sharpest relief she ever had. He had spent the last five years climbing the company ladder, and now he was finally the supervisor of the it department. Why should he have to start over?

“I can’t stand the idea of people looking at me differently or treating me differently after this.”

“Don’t worry about that now,” she said. “First, we need to get you healthy. We have time to figure out everything else.” Maybe there was an opening in it at her office. Kavita made a mental note to look into it later that day, when she planned on calling her boss.