Maya did not think about the file again immediately after leaving Caspian's office, not because she had forgotten it, but because she refused to give it space in her mind. She returned to her desk and tried to focus on her work, but the words on the screen did not hold her attention for long. Her thoughts kept shifting back to the hospital, to the doctor's voice, and to the number that had been mentioned more than once.
By the time the day ended, she had already made up her mind about one thing. She would find another way.
That night, she did not rest. She sat with her laptop open, going through options one after the other, searching for anything that could work. She checked for part-time jobs, late shifts, remote work, anything she could add to what she already had. The more she searched, the clearer it became that nothing would be enough on its own.
She did not stop there. The next morning, she called a few places, asking about payment plans, extensions, and support options. Some listened, some did not, but the answers were the same. What she needed was more than what those options could give her.
Later that day, she visited the hospital again. She spoke to the doctor, asked more questions, tried to understand if there was any way to delay the treatment or reduce the cost. The answers were careful but clear. Waiting would not help, and the cost would not change.
Maya nodded as she listened, but the weight of it stayed with her as she stepped out of the office. She walked down the hallway slowly this time, not because she wanted to, but because her thoughts were heavier than before. She stopped briefly outside her mother's room, taking a breath before going in.
Her mother was awake.
"You came again," she said softly.
Maya gave a small nod and sat beside her. "I had time."
Her mother looked at her for a moment, as if trying to read something in her expression. "You shouldn't be stressing yourself like this."
"I'm not," Maya replied.
It was not true, but she said it anyway.
They spoke for a while, about small things, about nothing important, but it helped keep the silence away. Maya stayed until her mother fell asleep again, then sat there a little longer, watching her.
Her mind did not stop moving.
When she finally left the hospital, she did not go home immediately. She stopped at a small office she had been told about earlier, a place that handled short-term loans. The man she spoke to listened, asked a few questions, then gave her a number.
Maya did not respond right away.
It was not enough.
Even if she took it, it would still leave a gap she could not cover.
She thanked him and left.
By the time she got home, it was already late, but she still did not rest. She sat down again, going through the same process, searching, calculating, trying to force a solution to appear.
Nothing changed.
The next few days followed the same pattern. Work, hospital, searching, trying again. Each option she found either fell short or came with conditions she could not accept. She began to feel it clearly now, not just as a thought, but as something real.
She was running out of options.
At work, she kept her behavior the same. She did her tasks, spoke when necessary, and avoided anything that was not required. She did not look toward Caspian's office, and she did not think about the file on his desk.
Not directly.
But it stayed there, at the back of her mind, quiet but present.
One afternoon, she paused in the middle of her work, her hands resting on the desk as she stared at nothing for a moment. Her thoughts were no longer moving in different directions. They were narrowing.
Everything she had tried had led her back to the same point.
She did not want it.
But she could see it.
Maya closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. She picked up her phone and checked the time, then looked toward the direction of Caspian's office without fully turning her head.
She stayed like that for a second.
Then she looked away.
Not yet.
She lowered her gaze back to her desk and continued working, even though her focus was not fully there.
Because she was not ready.
But she was getting closer.