"Did you call emergency?" Iresh inquires as his fingers work feverishly over Samhita's hands and feet. They're stone cold. Like he's touching a corpse pulled fresh from the river, or worse like something that had never been alive at all.

"I did. They'll be here in ten minutes." Tarakshay drops the phone onto the bed and starts working on her hands. Rubbing, squeezing. 

Iresh swallows something thick and bitter. His jaw clenches so hard it hurt. "I shouldn't have let him near her. Not even to say goodbye. This is his fault. All of it."

"Stop being so goddamn inhuman, Iresh." Tarakshay's anger flares hot. "Have you even looked at him? He's worse off than Samhita. And still, he was out there, battling it alone. We didn't even let him in."

"Why are you so eager to defend him? You've known him what? Days? And now he matters more to you than Samhita?"