Kande Beach

20. Panic room

Nishaan's POV:

I didn't know what was happening to me but I was clutching Mr. Jackson way too tightly. Because of me, his clothes were drenched in cold water too. But all I could see was darkness. I saw sharks, I saw whales, I saw... teeth...

I shivered. I got goosebumps everywhere.

I opened my eyes but all I saw was darkness.

"Please, make this go away," I pleaded. My breathing was getting shallow. I felt something heavy on my chest.

I could still feel the water around me.

"Nicole said, bring her to the hospital," I heard a voice. A panicked one.

"Nishaan, Everything will be alright," I felt a hand caressing my back as I felt someone's lips placed on my head. I was rushed to the hospital. Soon, I could see nurses hovering over me as they moved me to a room. I was supplied oxygen and a few needles were inserted. I kept my eyes shut and held the hand I was holding tightly.

After a few minutes, I went into a deep sleep.

After a few hours:

"This is not right, why are you doing this yourself!" someone partially yelled, causing me to gain consciousness.

"This..." The same person continued. I didn't open my eyes. I decided to listen to the conversation. "... you and her, gonna hurt you both. I don't care about her. But you'll be breaking your heart twice... and I can't afford this for you." I immediately recognized the voice. It was Eric's voice.

"I can't... " Mr. Jackson spoke.

"You're here... you left everything because of that incident in Italy..."

"STOP IT ALREADY!" Mr. Jackson yelled.

"You're telling me to stop?..." Eric raised his voice. Eric chuckled. "... I don't understand why do you have to endure all of this? and it's not one timing thing... you're creating history."

Suddenly I felt him caressing my hand and I shivered and I knew he would notice that.

"Shhh, let's not do this right now," Mr. Jackson shut him up. I felt Eric storming out of the room as he slammed the door shut.

Who were they talking about? Who broke his heart?

What happened in Italy? and why was Eric so frustrated with Mr. Jackson?

I was left in more confusion because of this half-finished conversation. Lots of questions were arising here and there were no answers found. I realized how little I knew about Mr. Jackson.

I decided to wake up by slowly opening my eyes. I was feeling quite well. I was no longer in that dark state. I felt fresh and energized.

I turned to see that my hand was connected with Mr. Jackson. He had his head resting down on my bed.

I squeezed it to let him know I was awake. He immediately moved. I almost smiled at how cute he looked. His hair was messy, He had a 5'o clock shadow, the first few buttons of his black shirt were opened, his sleeves were folded and my favorite part - the puffy eyes.

"You okay?" he moved closer to me.

I nodded and smiled widely. I moved my hand forward and rested my palm on his cheek. I just wanted to touch him.

"In my sleep, I missed touching you!"

His eyes softened and in response, he did something cuter. He cupped my face too and brought our forehead closer and closer until they were touching. I closed my eyes to feel him. It just felt good.