His Favourite Book

Chapter 7 - Hospital Visits

Aashna had been too busy to check her phone since morning. Girisha had left for her parents' home and on her way, dropped Aashna at her university. The Book Cafe had settled well, so Aashna would be at the campus regularly. She attended her classes and then went to the Student's Hall. It was still under construction.

"Oii! Aashna! Here!" Kartik called out from a nearby bench. Kartik and a few others were sitting in the Open Cafeteria, on a round table, under a tree. There was nobody else because of the construction noise from the Student's Hall.

"Hello!" Aashna came up to them. "Why's the hall not ready yet?"

"Who knows? They keep building, destroying and rebuilding the same thing again and again." Muskan, a girl replied.

"That's why we're sitting here today. Alright. What are we doing?" Aashna asked while taking a seat beside Muskan.

"Practising active listening and jotting down observations and suggestions," Kartik said.

"Cool."

They split up in pairs, spread across the Open Cafeteria, so no third person could hear them. They had been given professional training in 'Active Listening', a skill that focuses on their listening skills, sitting posture, eye contact, time tracking, regulation of facial expressions and body gestures, and many more sub-skills. They had decided to hold practice sessions for the same every once in a while.

A few minutes into the session and loud noise began making its way from the Student's Hall. They couldn't hear each other because of the ear-piercing noise. That's when Aashna's phone rang. It was an unknown number. She picked up the call expecting it to be a spam contact.

"Hello? Who is this? He- Hello?" Because of the noise, she couldn't hear the other side.

"Hello? Am I Speaking to- umm... Am I audible?" The caller couldn't hear her either.

Aashna felt it was rather an important call so she gestured to Muskan, her partner, and came out of the area to where the noise was a little subdued. "Hello? Can you hear me now?"

"Yes. Am I speaking to Kush Singhal's guardian?"

"Yes, I know him..."

"Umm, he got into an accident and we're currently waiting for an ambulance."

"WHAT!?!? I- I will be there right away. Where are you now?"

"The ambulance will be here soon so please come directly to the hospital."

"Okay. Okay. Right Away. Th- Thank you! Sorry-"

"Relax, no worries. Please be there soon. He'll be fine"

Aashna was shocked beyond words. She ran towards her seat to pick up her bag. Kartik saw her panicking and ran after her with his bag.

"Aashna, what- who was it on the call?"

"I don't know. He said Kush got into an accident. I don't think it was a fake call. Bring out your car, quickly."

Upon reaching the hospital, Kartik stopped to call Kush's parents and Aashna went running towards the desk to inquire about him. They told her that he was being treated at the moment. Meanwhile, Kartik came from behind and asked, "Could you tell us who brought the kid here?" The nurse signalled towards a guy coming out of the washroom, wiping his hands. He had blood stains all over his clothes.

"Abeer?" Aashna went up to him. She was surprised to see him there. That too, in that condition.

"Umm... Hi? You... here?" he asked.

"You brought Kush here? How did it happen?"

Abeer explained everything to both of them and in return, learned how they knew Kush. By that time, Kush's parents were there. After some time, they were called into the doctor's cabin. The doctor assured them that the injuries could be administered well and that Kush would get better soon. He'll have to stay admitted until the next day. All of them were relieved. Coming out of the hospital, Kush's parents thanked the three of them, and especially Abeer for everything that he did. After all, he was the reason that Kush was saved from any major injuries.

- X - X - X - X - X -

The next morning, Aashna and Kartik visited the hospital to meet Kush before going to their university. While they were waiting outside the room, Abeer arrived, with a flower bouquet, for the same reason as them. Entering the room, they saw Kush already sitting there tightly hugging his bag, and with thick bandages all over his head.

His mother, sitting in front of Aashna, said, "He was going to your home to study. Only if I knew this would happen..."

Kartik interrupted her saying, "It's okay, Auntie... We're glad that he is fine now. Please don't blame yourself."

Aashna kept looking at Kush every few seconds and always found him quietly looking down. For once, Kush looked up to see Abeer and then towards his mother, signed, <Can I go with them?>

Aashna saw his mother looking at them and nodded assuringly. "We'll drop him home."

Abeer and Kush sat inside Kartik's car with Aashna in the passenger seat. Abeer looked at Kush and found him fiddling with his fingers, probably in fear, or maybe anxiousness, or that he assumed to be. He slowly kept his palm on Kush's tiny hands and covered them with his fingers, in an attempt to comfort him. Kush looked up to see Abeer soothingly blink once with a soft smile. He saw him for a few seconds and carefully took out a bunch of pages from his bag. They were all saturated in dried blood. Kartik saw them from the mirror and thought of softening the mood a bit.

"Why did you keep these in the bag? They have blood all over!" Abeer said, worrying about Kush's ruined bag.

"He can't hear, Abeer," Aashna said and turned around to sign it to Kush. But she realised what he had just said and continued, "Wait, what is that? Show?" She extended her hand while eyeing the crumpled pages.

"Just some pages I pressed on Kush's head to control the bleeding." He said, keeping them in her hand. The blood was dried to an extent enough for people to touch the papers, so she, at least, didn't mind holding them.

She opened the pages one by one and was fascinated by the beautiful art pieces printed on them. Even through the blood stains, they were visible just fine. Kartik sneaked in some glances as well, grabbing his awaited chance.

"Damn, that's some real good quality paper. Where did you get it from?" Kartik asked.

"The printing shop near my college... I don't think it's that big of a-"

"No, no it is! Believe me! They were drenched in blood but are still so intact." He coughed before continuing, "UNLIKE the ones some ma'am gave me in that file the other day."

(A/N: R.I.P. in advance for Kartik.)

Aashna gasped, just as expected by Kartik. "E.X.C.U.S.E. Y.O.U.?!?! The pages were very well maintained okay? Unlike YOUR life decisions."

"My life decisions are not maintained, you mean?"

"Very much. Everyone knows that." Aashna folded her hands and rested her whole back on the seat.

"Hah! How would you know what everyone thinks with that stupid social life of yours."

"My. WHAT? So we're taking this paper discussion to this level now! Unbeliev-"

"You started it."

"Oh? Really? Whaaaaa. Great so you stop it. This car. Now. Right here. No wait. There. Stop it."

""What?! No."

"Kartik, stop it or I'll pull the handbrake." She held the handbrake, ready to stop the car by all means.

A terrified Kartik didn't know whether to look at the road or on the brake. "Have you lost it??? Leave it!"

"Stop the car then"

"Leave it, I said!"

"Stop it, I said, too!!"

"Aaaaaaaaaarrgjensiwndm"

"Youuuuu jsks sjwd"

Their argument at this stage couldn't be comprehended by any living being.

Abeer waited for a space to speak in between. "Umm... guys? This kid can't hear anything but I can. May I not die here, please? I really have a very important competition coming up so..."

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A/N: Welcome to episode 7492 of 'Me and Who?'

Don't forget to engage and look forward to the upcoming chapters!