There was something strange about Arjan’s skin.
Not sick, not bruised — but burnished.
As if the sun had soaked into him and never left.
“You’re glowing,” his co-worker joked, tapping his arm.
“Like a Metallic statue in a temple.”
But Arjan didn’t laugh. He just blinked, slowly.
He’d been feeling odd lately — tired all the time, like his blood had turned to syrup.
He was 41, a schoolteacher in Amritsar.
Never smoked, barely drank, and only indulged in sweets on holidays.
But now he couldn’t make it through a lecture without wiping sweat from his brow or forgetting what he was about to say.
Then came the weight loss.
And the thirst.
And the peeing.
“It’s just diabetes,” the doctor said.
“Nothing unusual. Happens at your age.”
But Arjan knew something was off.
His sugar wasn’t that high, yet his body felt… heavy.
Like something was sinking inside him.
“Something in His Blood”
His wife noticed the changes first.
His once-bright eyes dulled.
His skin — now unmistakably a distinct tan colour, even in winter.
His libido vanished, and with it, the easy joy they used to share.
She thought he was cheating.
He thought he was dying.
Then one morning, he doubled over in pain after a heavy dinner.
Upper right abdomen, deep, searing.
They rushed him to the hospital.
The ultrasound showed something strange.
Mild hepatomegaly. Fatty changes. But not alcohol-related.
“Do you drink?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then why does your liver look like this?”
What could be the cause?
What could be the cause?
