Reading Between the Lines

Chapter 28: Prowl

"Tushi?" I get her attention. She turns to me, trying to keep a brave face for me so that I don't get scared. But I know that she's just as terrified as me.

"I'm scared," I confess candidly, grabbing her hand as she looks at me empathetically.

"Honestly? So am I. But don't worry, I'll be here with you the entire time. And if he comes here, then he has to deal with me and Adagio. And trust me. He knows better than to deal with that," she reassures me, making me feel a little better.

The pain comes back even more intense than before, but this time, an unfamiliar feeling comes too. My entire body burns and aches, like I'm severely dehydrated. Shit, it even hurts to roll. I get more uncomfortable than before. My stomach starts feeling uneasy, and before I know it, I run to the bathroom and aim for the toilet before I go all over my bathroom floor.

The bathroom, and soon enough, my entire room reeks of vomit. The worst part? All of that good oatmeal is in it.

"Oh, no. This is the worst part of the cycle," Tushi follows me to the bathroom and holds my hair up. I just keep going at it, and the vomiting doesn't seem to die down. I think the actual smell of the puke is making me do it more.

Tushi lets go of my hair for a second before she chants to herself again. The sounds of words are muted by the retching and gagging, so I have no idea what she did. But as I inhale the air, preparing to face the wrath of my sickness, I realize that it smells different. Surprisingly, better. Like someone sprayed rose water all over the room.

I look over at Tushi, who's using her hands to spread scented mist all over the room using some fallen rose petals from the flower near the windowsill. I stare at her in awe, watching her effortlessly do her thing. She gives me a little wink, a simple way to say "you're welcome".

"It's just to distract you from the smell. Unfortunately, you're gonna feel pretty shitty for a while, but this will make the situation better for you. Here, let me clean you up. You have... something on your mouth," she grabs a towel to clean me up. At this point, I definitely look like a rat's nest.

A loud bang against the wall immediately startles both of us before the same roars from before come back again. I was so focused on the puking that I completely forgot about the fact that there is a straight up war going on in the house.

"How are you so calm right now? I'm here vomiting my guts out, and I feel like I can't move. And you're here making rose-scented air and helping me stay comfortable," I ask her tiredly as she laughs.

"When my older sister Tripti and the twins' other older brother Manoj were having their heat cycle, it used to be really bad for them. The funny thing is, her situation was just like yours," she describes casually, but I dash my eyes up to her upon hearing the first part. I look at her face, her eyebrows pursed up and her lips in a closed smile, making a face as if she's saying "I'm dead serious".

"Wait. Your sister and their brother?"

"Yup. They're mates. In fact, they got engaged in the summer before we started school! Their engagement rings are absolutely beautiful. They used amethyst and diamonds and-," she starts to go on about the ring, but she stops herself and smiles dorkily. So it runs in the family, turns out.

"Damn, so your siblings are together? Come on, add onto it and ask Naishal out," I joke, trying to make myself feel better. She blows a raspberry at me to deny the very obvious truth, but her wheat-brown skin tints red all over.

"Anyway..." she segues. "Tripti and Manoj were just like you and Prashanth. Our families have known each other for years, and for their entire life, they were always best friends. In fact, when they found out they were a pair, they thought it was a massive joke. They were actually considering rejecting each other but decided to give it a chance just to see how it goes," she starts as she laughs to herself.