A gynaecology doctor's room. Dhun and her father were sitting in front of the doctor as the doctor is explaining things to them. Sameera stood near Dhun and her dad. Rithvik was at the door of the room, with his hands crossed and leaning to the door.

The doctor had a scanned image of Dhun's uterus on display. "See here... Here is the part that suffered the injury." Dhun and her father listened in keenly. "It's not of any immediate problem. You will be able to function normally. And will get your periods normally. But...in case of your next pregnancy, you will be able to get pregnant. But your uterus is not in a condition to keep and raise the baby for nine months. It would not take the weight."

Dhun nodded. Her father looks really disappointed and sad.

"Don't take it to heart too much." Sameera said, "You are still young. And the medical field is making new discoveries and developments constantly. And you will heal a lot in a few years. Who knows in the next ten years, you will be healthy enough to bear a child."

Dhun nodded.

Dhun sat on the bed, and her dad was packing a few tiffin carriers in a bag. "I will be back just after dropping Dhruv home." Her father said. Dhun nodded. "Will you be okay alone?"

"Yeah, dad."

He nodded and walked away.

Dhun looked around and the book she was reading was lying on the table near the bed. She tried to reach for it, but her stomach hurt. She winced a bit audibly. There was a movement at the door of the room and Rith looks in. Dhun looked up at him. " Are you some kind of sentry to stand there at the door all the time?" She asked.

He walked in and grabbed the book and hand it to her, with a stony expression. She looked up at his face.

"Hm...Since u are still here, I guess you don't want to break up."

"Is it that easy for you? Break up?" He asked.

"No. Not at all. Really don't want to break up at all."

"Then tell me where the time turner is."

"I told you I don't want to change this." She insisted.

Frustrated, Rithvik sat down beside her. "Do you know what I went through?"

"Yeah. I know exactly what you went through. I have been through that several times."

"No. Mine was an accident." He said, "How could you? How could you choose to die in my stead?"

"If not. I am left alone pregnant with your baby."

"Again. Why did you not just tell me?"

"If I did. What could we have done? We are 19."

"So?"

"I needed to kill the baby anyway."

"Kill? Is that why you did this??" he asked bitterly.

"I told you, it was all my selfish decision. For me and me only. Not for you. Not for the baby. For me."

Rithvik was confused now.

"Because..." She said with tears. Her voice went low since she was crying and could not say it easily, "I simply could not just kill it. I guess you automatically love a baby when you have one inside you. Especially if you love its father."

Rithvik softened up now. " So...if it needed to be killed, I needed to go along. Or else, wouldn't it be too unfair." She cried, "It's not like it's the baby's fault." Rith kept looking at her and then go on to hug her. He held her close, "I am sorry." He said, finally understanding her reason, but still not accepting it fully.

Rithvik was at the Dhaba again with Ansh. Rithvik was again looking around the place.

"What is that you are searching for exactly? Why are you here every day searching?" Ansh asked. Rithvik looked calm but he was still searching for it. "Did you drop Roli at school in the morning?" He asked Ansh.

"Yeah."

"Okay. Do take care of her and keep an eye on her, as neither I nor our parents can be home for a while. I am worried if she is left alone."

"Don't worry. I am there for her."

A child, the son of the owner of the Dhaba, came and stands at a distance watching them, curious about what is happening. The child was about 8 years old and was a Punjabi child with a turban.

"What is the problem between you and Dhun?" Ansh asked. "You had not been talking with her ever since the accident."

Rith go back to look behind stuff, "She did it on her own."

"What?"

"She jumped in front of the car."

"WHAT? WHY?" Ansh was startled.

Rithvik pause for a second. He know she did to save him, but then he also knew that that was not the only reason, "Because she was..." He looks at Ansh, "you know..."

"Because she was pregnant? Whoa????!!! I agree that pregnancy before marriage is messed up. Her life would have been turned over. But still... Suicide is not a solution. We could have done something. Abortion or got you guys married. Why would she even think of killing herself for that?"

"She did not try to kill herself for that," Rithvik said, still searching.

"Then?"

"She just loved the baby too much to be alive after its death." Rithvik's voice was soft. He understood Dhun's intentions perfectly clear now, "I guess she felt too guilty to abort it. But then to give birth and raise it, she did not have the confidence to give it a bright happy future either. But then to kill it... In her own words wouldn't that be too unfair to the baby?"

Ansh looked confused but nodded.

"Maybe she did not want to send it alone," Rithvik said, "It is stupid. But - me and Dhun, we are kind of like that. If we are causing someone to lose something, we have the habit of making up. We give up something of ours. In this case, she chose to give up her life." It was still stupid in Rithvik's logic. Also, he did not know when Dhun made this decision. She had a lot of time to think this crap idea up.

"But it's really great that she did not die," Ansh said.

"Yeah," he smiled, thankfully, "yeah it is."

"Tell me what you are searching anyway. I will help you search. You are searching for days. Maybe I will be of help."

Rithvik turned to look at him. "It's a small pocket watch like thing. Golden colour. Really old."

Ansh nodded. Rithvik continued to search for it. And Ansh joined in. The child of the Dhaba come to Rithvik suddenly. Rithvik stopped his search and looked at the child.

"Bhayyaji, are you perhaps searching for this?" the child asked and took out the time turner from his pocket. Rithvik turned to the child and take the time turner from his hand with excited happiness. "Yeah. Where did you get it?" he asked.

"It was in my pocket. On the day of the accident..."

Dhun might have dropped it into the child's pocket.

Rithvik smiled at the boy. "Thanks. This belongs to me. Can I have it back?"

"Sure. What's it's of my use anyway?" He said. And the child walked off.

Ansh came to Rith and looked at the time turner. "Why is this thing so important for you? Rithvik looked at the time turner in his hand. It was not glowing now. It appeared to be a normal pocket watch. Rithvik smiled looking at it. But then Dhun's words rang in his ears.

Don't change. This is what I choose.

He gave out a breath and put the time turner into his pocket with a calm expression.

Ansh walked back to his house and found Roli opening the door and looking out. "Oh, nice timing," Roli said, happy to see him, "I thought I heard the elevator chime."

Ansh smiled at her and walked over to her. Roli stepped outside. "Don't you have homework and assignments today?" Ansh asked her.

"I do have. But..." she put her hands around his neck, "I have a bit of time to hang out."

Ansh smiled and step away from her hand's touch "Not in front of my house. Mom may see."

"So how about coming in. No one's home." Roli put her hand around him again.

Ansh smiled and push her off. "Nope..."

"What?

"Okay, let's admit that that night was a mistake.

" Why is everything a mistake for you?"

"Roli... Come on. I need to be more responsible in your case."

Roli pouted, " So you won't touch me anymore?"

"Hm... That's better for both of us."

"That words do not suit coming from the mouth of the guy who went that far with me. I mean I can still feel the pocking on..." Ansh loudly cleared his voice. And looked away blushing. Roli giggled.

Ansh looked back at her. "But jokes apart, go study. If you get any less than great ranks in the entrance, I am going to scold you as much as your parents or Rith. If you need help with maths or Physics, ask any time."

Roli stepped closer, and touched his hand, "How about Biology?"

Ansh pushed her back, "Nope. Not going to work. Stay away. And go study."

Roli frowned. Ansh smiled. "Come on. I will take you out for a move on Sunday. Now go study. You have a test coming up na."

She nodded. "Bye then." He nodded. She turned around.

"And Roli..." he called her. She looked back. " You look really nice today."Roli kind of blushed and smiled. "I will call you at night." He added.

She nodded. "Bye..."

And they walked into their respective houses.

Dhun stood in the corridor leaning against the railing/wall looking outside. In the garden, there were a few kids in patient gowns playing. She was watching the kids. Without her realizing it, Rithvik came and stand along with her. He set his hands on the railing/wall and set his head down the hands. "They are cute, right?" He asked. Dhun turned to him. "Don't you want to have one of your own someday?"

"It's okay even if there is not."

"If I ever want one." He asked without looking at her.

"Then marry someone else." She plainly said.

She turned away, to look in the other direction, standing with her back pressed to the railing. Rithvik kept watching the kids. Dhun looked at him with doubt. " Do you want kids later?"

"I have never thought about that. I have not even thought about marriage. I am too young for all that. But I know one thing."

"What?"

"That I love you."

Dhun looked at him. Rithvik turned to her and took out the time turner from his pocket. Dhun was startled to see it. "You found it? How? When? Why?"She is scared and looked up. But Rith's expression calmed her. "You found it and didn't use it?" Rithvik nod.

"Why? You were so eager to change things?"

Calmly Rithvik took Dhun's hand and placed the time turner on her palm. "You make the decision."

"Huh?"

"You can still change this. If you want to. You can still have a chance to have kids and never go through that."

Dhun looked at him. "But I want to let you choose. Because I love you, I want things to be how you want them. Since I respect you, I want you to have the final say. Do you still don't want to change things?" Dhun closed her hand and let her hand down.

"Hm. I don't want to change it."

Rithvik nodded.

"It's okay to not have kids. And even if I want one in future, I can adopt or as your mom said, in future maybe technology is advanced enough to have my own kid. So why change things. I am happy as of now." She said. Rithvik nod. "Okay. Do what makes you happy." Dhun smiled. Dhun extended the time turner back to Rithvik. "I don't want it. You keep it." Rithvik said. "You are now the owner of it anyway. Or since I am not forgetting about it, I think it may have switched back to co-ownership. However, I don't want to keep it. You do."

"Should we do it like we did last time? Hide it somewhere? We won't forget about it this time around, right?"

Rithvik nodded. " Let's just live a normal life... And take this out only if it's like really really an emergency and necessary situation."

"Yeah. Okay."

*

Rith and Dhun were inside the locker room of a bank. And they had a locker open. They placed the time turner inside the locker and closed it and locked it. And then with a satisfied expression, walked out.

"I guess I did not die because there was another life that extinguished in the place for me, right?" Rithvik asked her.

"Another life?"

"The baby"

"Ah... Right." She said, guessing he may be right.

"Dhun??"

"Hm?"

"Let's just enjoy life fully, for now. Date, love, have sex – with double protection – and just live"

"Yeah, sounds good," She said.

"And hope that we will never need that thing again." And they both looked back and kept a smile. And then walked away hand in hand. And now Rith's wrist had a proper tattoo of a 'D'. And so their 'R' and 'D' tattoos are side by side. They walked out holding hands. 

THE END

Note from the Author :

So that is it, guys... Hope you liked this story. 

I know that the format has been a bit weird. That was because I had initially written this as a screenplay. That was three years back.  Now, I changed it into a novel format. Most were copy-paste from the screenplay. And hence, I apologise for any discomfort in reading and for the 'too many dialogues' situation. LOL!

Still thanks for your votes, and please comment your thoughts about this story. :)