• Eternal Night •

35

"Good morning!"

Pinky brightly greeted Shivaay. He smiled and groggily answered, "Morning...what time is it?"

"It's 9..." she replied and opened the curtains. "

Shivaay's eyes widened at once. "Whoa! That late? I really overslept today."

Pinky chuckled. "Yes. I guess it is because of the outing yesterday. You got tired. You were out the moment you stepped in the room last night."

"Ah, yes..." Shivaay nodded.

He didn't know if he slept well because of the tiredness or because Annika had told him something. She loved him? What? He still didn't know what to make of it, but he would be lying if he said that it did not feel good. The logical part of his brain was still sniggering. What was he going to do with that confession? In a few days, he would be gone and then it wouldn't matter if Annika liked him or not. His heart felt like it had skipped a few beats. He didn't know if he was supposed to bring it up again or just forget it all.

"Shivaay?" Pinky caressed his head. "Shall we go to the washroom?"

Blinking, he nodded. "Yeah, I..."

"Uh," Annika appeared out of nowhere and she cleared her throat awkwardly. Looking at Pinky, she said, "Can I take him?"

Pinky wipped around in a second. "Of course you can. Go ahead. I am going outside for a bit."

Annika bobbed her head. As the door closed, Annika kept her eyes on the floor and walked towards Shivaay. She gingerly sat on the bed and hoped that Shivaay would start the conversation. He did.

"You can look at me, you know. I am not exactly a solar eclipse..."

It made Annika chuckle and she raised her eyes to look at him. His IV lines were already removed and he was ready to walk. She kept a hand on his and gently pulled him up. "Let's get you cleaned..."

Shivaay got up. "Yeah. Like a dog."

Annika instinctively slapped his back. "Shut up."

He chuckled and slowly made his way towards the washroom. Inside, he sat down on the shower seat and patiently waited for Annika. Shivaay knew that she was terribly flustered. Hoping to ease her a bit, he remarked, "I always thought that showers are romantic. And then there is us. You will now pour water on me slowly so it does not get into the IV lines."

Annika wanted to smile. She knew that he was making an effort to make her smile. But it was tough. It was difficult to look at him sitting like that, waiting for her to help him with a mundane task and not feel like all the blood from her body had drained out.

She tried to smile but she was sure that it looked like a grimace. She shifted on her feet and said, "So you are going to take your shirt off?"

Shivaay smiled. "Yeah. I will have to if you are not in the mood to rip it off."

This time around, she did smile. "Funny."

She kneeled down in front of him and tugged at his shirt. Shivaay raised his arms slightly and let Annika peel it off.

"God I hope no one walks on us right now..." Shivaay whispered.

Annika had to laugh. "What is with you today?"

He smiled lightly. "Nothing. It's just that my body is so hot that I am using humour to deflect the sexual tension that might linger in this dingy washroom."

Annika narrowed her eyes at him. "Seriously? Where is Shivaay and why did he send Rudra here?"

Sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, Shivaay said, "I hope you know that Rudra and Shivaay share the same genes. It's just that Shivaay has learned to control his tongue better."

Shaking her head, Annika covered his IV line. Then she pulled down his pants while fervently hoping that he wasn't embarrassed. She heard him giggle and say, "You know, this looked way more romantic in my head."

"Shivaay!!" Annika warned. "Stop. Let me concentrate."

"On what?" asked Shivaay.

Annika looked up to see an amusing smile on his face. She blushed furiously. Then her face fell and her eyes smarted. "On you. I figure, I haven't done that in a while."

The smile faded from Shivaay's face too and he looked away. Sighing, Annika picked up the hand shower and checked the temperature of the water. She then slowly let the water flow on Shivaay. As the warm water soothed his muscles, he expelled a breath.

Annika pumped some body wash on her palm and then rubbed it on his shoulder blades. She tried hard not to look at how thin he had gotten. He had never been the muscular kind but he had never been that weak either. She hoped that her eyes remained dry.

She changed the topic. "So, I hope that you had a great time yesterday."

Shivaay nodded. "Apart from the people staring at my hand and the disgusting soup you made, sure, I had a good time."

"We should do this again..." mumbled Annika, trying hard to keep her voice level.

"Yeah..." Shivaay said quietly.

He watched her hands clean his body and felt something at the base of his spine. His eyes welled up. It was a good thing that his face was wet and she wouldn't know if he cried. Why did she have to say what she said yesterday? He was doing fine without it. Now, he again didn't know what to make of her or her words or her love. He almost screamed at the last bit.

"Annika..." he whispered and she gazed into his eyes. 

She swallowed. "Yeah?"

Shivaay also gulped the leaden weight in his throat. But he had to ask her. "Did you mean what you said yesterday?"

She exhaled and averted her eyes. "Yes. Cross my heart."