TOP UP

Reading History

Sign out

Get the APP

Heal Me Anyway

Author: Vicky_writes

Chapter 1 Not From Her Hands

Word Count: 1195 | Released on: 31/10/2026

funeral was that a town can stop lov

way. The fish carts rattled down Mill Road at six, the temple bell ran

too bad for the morning steps, and she had never once been late. She rolled up the shutter, switched on the tube l

ir back with the black band she kept around her wrist. Every morning went in that order

ight, Mrs. Pi

Mrs. Pillai used to hand her a fistful of roasted peanuts every Sunday.

ya said. "Is it the same

e is

he new stock. I can get

looked at the shelf. Then she looked at Aya's hands

for him,"

uing had never worked, and the one time she tried,

urned her head and called, "

the exact spot Aya would have, and counted them into a paper cover. Mrs. Pillai paid him in

in the drawer and sighed.

en six yea

gave her a small, tired smile that sa

nd wiped a counter th

Mensah's clinic to have her baby, and she had not walked out. The police had cleared Aya's mother

ns. Aya did not need to look. She knew the sound of that engine, and the wa

st a quick glance, ov

rolled to the elbow. He looked taller than last year, or maybe she had only remembered him smaller because it was easier. H

ane behind the pharmacy where his family kept their

footsteps came closer. They did not slow down. They did n

looked at h

rself. That is ex

three times and could no

ss the counter. "Your mother's order is ready. Ta

e used to be a line outside every morning, people sitting on the steps with their elbows on their knees. Now there were six plastic chairs in the

ed into his fist. He was one of the few w

Raghu uncle. Has

t. I ca

n her hip and pushed open her mother's door wi

the door moved, she went completely still. Then, faster than Aya had ever seen her mo

s loud in th

knock," her

Aya set the carton on t

accou

accounts. They are on the

calm, and that was what scared Aya, because her mother was only calm l

t is in th

d acco

down, and that was when she noticed what her mother had missed. A corner of paper had caught in the edge

t name written down

said, without looking at her

say a word. But all the way down Mill Road, with the sun

se six years ago. So why was

Chapter End

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open

Heal Me Anyway

Vicky_writes Others

“In the small town of Brindle Cove, everyone once trusted Dr. Nalini Mensah. Then Shubham Rao's mother, Meera, died while giving birth under her care. Shubham was seventeen. He had no one else to blame, so he blamed the doctor. He shouted at her in the street, told the whole town she had failed his mother, and even took the case to the police. Dr. Nalini was cleared, but patients stopped coming, and the clinic that fed her family nearly closed. Her daughter Aya, now twenty-two, learned to live quietly. She works long hours at the clinic and the town pharmacy, never tells anyone how bad things are, and never asks for help. Years ago, she tried once to calm Shubham down and tell him that anger wouldn't bring his mother back. He sent her away. Since the town was now sneering at her too, she decided it wasn't her job to care about a boy who was hurting her family, and she stopped trying. Shubham, now twenty-three, runs his family's shop with his silent, grieving father. He has noticed that Aya no longer looks at him, and the silence bothers him more than her pleading ever did. Slowly he starts to wonder if he was wrong, but his pride won't let him say it. When he finally tries to talk to her, she cuts him off: "Do you want to call me the daughter of a bad doctor, or the daughter of the one who killed your mother? I'm not interested." Then life pushes them together. Shubham's father falls ill and the town clinic is the only place nearby, and Aya is the one who has to help. Through small, awkward moments, they start to see each other clearly. He sees the girl who has been carrying her family alone. She sees a boy who never got to finish grieving. Anger turns into curiosity, then care, then love. But Dr. Nalini will not allow it. She is hiding something about the night Meera died, and she knows the truth will break Shubham all over again. When Aya finds her mother's private notes, the secret comes out: Meera had been warned to go to the city hospital, and she refused, because she wanted her baby born in the town she loved. Dr. Nalini stayed silent for years to protect Meera's husband and son from that pain. Shubham is shattered, and in his first instinct he pulls away from Aya again. This time, though, he has learned what pride costs. He clears Dr. Nalini's name in front of the whole town, and it is Aya who has to decide whether love can start from a place this broken.”