Betrayal

She stood clutching the blood report,
Her face etched with anguish, fear, and pain.
At seventeen, young and beautiful, full of dreams,
She married her sweetheart.

Life was bliss—a daughter to cherish,
His business thriving as an autorickshaw driver
In a town shadowed by a red-light district,
Where brothels stood amidst the auto industry.

Now, she was pregnant again,
Yet the joy was drowned in a wave of anguish.
Bursting into the clinic, sad and furious,
Her cries broke into uncontrollable sobs.

The truth was undeniable—
She was HIV-positive.
Dreams shattered, her future a question mark.
What of her daughter?
What of the baby she carried?

The agony was unbearable.
Her beloved, the one she trusted most,
Had betrayed her in the cruelest way.
How could he? Didn’t he care?

Was it fear of the disease?
Or fear of her knowing?
His silence had brought destruction
To their family, their lives, their love.

He was dying—and so, it seemed, was she

(When HIV had no cure, no hope)