18-03-2026, 11:09 PM
Chapter 20: The Breaking Point
The private lab on the outskirts of Mumbai smelled of sterile chemicals and burnt hope.
Jeeva sat shirtless on the cold examination table while Madhavan’s machines hummed around him. Blood reports glowed on multiple screens. Hormone panels. Neural scans. Tissue samples.
Madhavan rubbed his eyes, exhausted after nearly twenty hours of non-stop testing. His salt-and-pepper hair was disheveled, lab coat wrinkled.
“Everything else is stable,” he said finally, voice heavy. “Organs functioning normally. Bone density perfect. Muscle mass holding. But the hormonal imbalance… it’s worse than I expected. Testosterone spiking, dopamine receptors overloaded. That’s why the mood swings. That’s why the constant sexual seeking. Your body is in overdrive — it wants to breed, claim, release. It’s the machine’s final gift… or curse.”
Jeeva stared at the floor. “And the monkey?”
Madhavan hesitated.
“I still don’t know why it died. I tried every new formula I had. Stabilizers, neural buffers, hormone dampeners — nothing works. The reversal is holding for now, but the 100-day wall… it’s unpredictable. The monkey collapsed on day 92. Sudden organ failure. No warning.”
Silence stretched.
Jeeva stood up slowly, pulling his shirt back on. His hands were steady, but his eyes were empty.
another 24 hours went
“Stop it, Madhavan.”
The scientist looked up, surprised.
“I agreed to enter this machine. I will accept whatever comes after this. I just need to spend the rest of my life with my kids and my wife. I don’t want anything else.”
He turned and walked out before Madhavan could reply.
The flight back felt endless.
Jeeva sat in the window seat, staring at the clouds, regret burning in his chest like acid. He had doubted Anandhi. He had raged. He had let the machine turn him into a jealous, horny monster. All because of one fake video and three backstabbing friends.
He had wasted precious days.
When he reached the apartment, the door was unlocked.
Anandhi was waiting in the hall.
She looked exhausted — eyes red, hair messy, saree wrinkled from the day. The moment she saw him, anger flashed across her face.
“Your brother vanished just like that,” she said, voice shaking. “And now you’re doing the same. You said you’d come back in two days.
You arrived on the third day. You didn’t attend a single call. Why are you and Rahul both doing this to me? Can’t I be happy for even a few days?”
Jeeva realized in that moment — she had grown attached.
The way she looked at him — worried, hurt, almost desperate — proved it. The closeness these past days had affected her. She had started seeing him as someone she could lean on.
But he couldn’t let that happen.
If Rahul was going to vanish like the monkey one day… then Jeeva would vanish too.
He kept his voice cold, distant.
“Don’t worry. I’m not your husband. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll stay for a few more days and then leave.”
Anandhi’s eyes widened — hurt flashing across her face.
He shut the door to the guest room before she could reply.
Inside, he sank onto the cot.
He couldn’t let her get attached. Not when his time was running out.
But he knw one thing for sure, he cant let t hem crumble after he vanishes, he wanted them to safe, secure, even without him.
He decided to cash all amount in his bank and to settle it to debt collector himself anonymously and settle their account.
The next morning he was silent.
He ate breakfast with mechanical nods — no conversation, no eye contact. Anandhi kept glancing at him, confused and pained, she thought may be he feels dejected after she rejected.. but he was cool right what happen suddenly. she was confused, she did'nt want to speak further.. When she left for college with the kids, he followed a few minutes later.
He headed straight to the debt collector’s office.
The man didn’t recognize him.
But when Jeeva approached the counter, the collector picked up his phone and made a quick call.
Minutes later, John arrived.
Jeeva watched from a distance — hidden behind a parked scooter — as John and the debt collector spoke in low voices, laughing.
Everything clicked.
The person who had given them the original loan — the one that snowballed into 20 lakhs — was John’s man. All these years, the trio had been playing them. High interest rates, never settling the principal, keeping the couple trapped and desperate.
Money wouldn’t solve it.
Even if Jeeva paid everything off anonymously, They would say no amount has been settled.
the trio would find new ways to trap her.
He realized the truth with painful clarity:
Anandhi needed someone strong to stay beside her. Permanently.
A strange, bitter thought hit him.
“She is not that old. She has kids… my kids. The money won’t be sufficient. But someone who genuinely cares for her…”
The thought killed him inside.
He had no one to share it with. He want to ask someone a idea.
He pulled out his phone and dialed Madhavan.
The call connected.
“Doctor… I need to talk.”
Madhavan’s voice came through — cautious.
“Jeeva?”
“Will you have an answer? for my questions he asked!”
The private lab on the outskirts of Mumbai smelled of sterile chemicals and burnt hope.
Jeeva sat shirtless on the cold examination table while Madhavan’s machines hummed around him. Blood reports glowed on multiple screens. Hormone panels. Neural scans. Tissue samples.
Madhavan rubbed his eyes, exhausted after nearly twenty hours of non-stop testing. His salt-and-pepper hair was disheveled, lab coat wrinkled.
“Everything else is stable,” he said finally, voice heavy. “Organs functioning normally. Bone density perfect. Muscle mass holding. But the hormonal imbalance… it’s worse than I expected. Testosterone spiking, dopamine receptors overloaded. That’s why the mood swings. That’s why the constant sexual seeking. Your body is in overdrive — it wants to breed, claim, release. It’s the machine’s final gift… or curse.”
Jeeva stared at the floor. “And the monkey?”
Madhavan hesitated.
“I still don’t know why it died. I tried every new formula I had. Stabilizers, neural buffers, hormone dampeners — nothing works. The reversal is holding for now, but the 100-day wall… it’s unpredictable. The monkey collapsed on day 92. Sudden organ failure. No warning.”
Silence stretched.
Jeeva stood up slowly, pulling his shirt back on. His hands were steady, but his eyes were empty.
another 24 hours went
“Stop it, Madhavan.”
The scientist looked up, surprised.
“I agreed to enter this machine. I will accept whatever comes after this. I just need to spend the rest of my life with my kids and my wife. I don’t want anything else.”
He turned and walked out before Madhavan could reply.
The flight back felt endless.
Jeeva sat in the window seat, staring at the clouds, regret burning in his chest like acid. He had doubted Anandhi. He had raged. He had let the machine turn him into a jealous, horny monster. All because of one fake video and three backstabbing friends.
He had wasted precious days.
When he reached the apartment, the door was unlocked.
Anandhi was waiting in the hall.
She looked exhausted — eyes red, hair messy, saree wrinkled from the day. The moment she saw him, anger flashed across her face.
“Your brother vanished just like that,” she said, voice shaking. “And now you’re doing the same. You said you’d come back in two days.
You arrived on the third day. You didn’t attend a single call. Why are you and Rahul both doing this to me? Can’t I be happy for even a few days?”
Jeeva realized in that moment — she had grown attached.
The way she looked at him — worried, hurt, almost desperate — proved it. The closeness these past days had affected her. She had started seeing him as someone she could lean on.
But he couldn’t let that happen.
If Rahul was going to vanish like the monkey one day… then Jeeva would vanish too.
He kept his voice cold, distant.
“Don’t worry. I’m not your husband. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll stay for a few more days and then leave.”
Anandhi’s eyes widened — hurt flashing across her face.
He shut the door to the guest room before she could reply.
Inside, he sank onto the cot.
He couldn’t let her get attached. Not when his time was running out.
But he knw one thing for sure, he cant let t hem crumble after he vanishes, he wanted them to safe, secure, even without him.
He decided to cash all amount in his bank and to settle it to debt collector himself anonymously and settle their account.
The next morning he was silent.
He ate breakfast with mechanical nods — no conversation, no eye contact. Anandhi kept glancing at him, confused and pained, she thought may be he feels dejected after she rejected.. but he was cool right what happen suddenly. she was confused, she did'nt want to speak further.. When she left for college with the kids, he followed a few minutes later.
He headed straight to the debt collector’s office.
The man didn’t recognize him.
But when Jeeva approached the counter, the collector picked up his phone and made a quick call.
Minutes later, John arrived.
Jeeva watched from a distance — hidden behind a parked scooter — as John and the debt collector spoke in low voices, laughing.
Everything clicked.
The person who had given them the original loan — the one that snowballed into 20 lakhs — was John’s man. All these years, the trio had been playing them. High interest rates, never settling the principal, keeping the couple trapped and desperate.
Money wouldn’t solve it.
Even if Jeeva paid everything off anonymously, They would say no amount has been settled.
the trio would find new ways to trap her.
He realized the truth with painful clarity:
Anandhi needed someone strong to stay beside her. Permanently.
A strange, bitter thought hit him.
“She is not that old. She has kids… my kids. The money won’t be sufficient. But someone who genuinely cares for her…”
The thought killed him inside.
He had no one to share it with. He want to ask someone a idea.
He pulled out his phone and dialed Madhavan.
The call connected.
“Doctor… I need to talk.”
Madhavan’s voice came through — cautious.
“Jeeva?”
“Will you have an answer? for my questions he asked!”
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