Anurakti

21: Sick

Sahaj left after that. Samidha was way too shocked to say anything, so even when he was leaving she was just watching him leave quietly.

He didn't attend the classes after that. A week passed with no trace of Sahaj or Shubham. No one has replied to her messages.

Samidha sighed as she looked at the time once again. 3:55 p.m. He's not going to come once again. It would be the tenth day Samidha has waited for Sahaj so expectantly.

She rubbed her face. What has happened to her? She was never like this. It never mattered to her if people were present or not. And honestly, she has just been wishing for Sahaj to get out of her life and stop dragging her into his drama and irritating her.

Maybe it would have made her happy that he wasn't coming to the class about a month ago, or anyday before their last meeting. But since then, she has not been able to stop thinking about him and his smile. Why in the world did he smile at her so sadly?

Maybe he was not as bad as she thought. He wanted her to stay away from him for her safety, maybe he wasn't as stupid as she thought he was.

Maybe he wanted to change, and maybe he was scared to.

"Thinking about something?"
Priya asked when Samidha mindlessly scribbled in her notebook.

"Hmm."

"Is that a boy?"

"Hmmm."

"Sahaj?"

"Hmmmmmmm."

"Is his absence troubling you?"

"Hm. No. Nothing troubles Samidha Sharma. Absolutely nothing. He doesn't matter. Who cares what happens to him? I don't."

Priya smirked. Then why was she sending consistent hellos to Sahaj even when he has not responded to any of them in the past ten days?

_________________________________________________________

Well, she did. Why else would she sigh in an unknown relief when she saw him sitting there in the self study room, slumped like a dead body.

"Hii."
She greeted putting her bag in the seat next to his and sitting down in front of him.

He didn't look up at her. His eyes were invisible due to his very messy hair.

She tapped the bench twice.

"Hello! I'm not that bad that you are ignoring me this much okay?"
She said, suddenly remembering that this was the same place where he smiled that day. Even the same bench.

"I......... Can you call Shubham?"
Sahaj said, his voice breathy and sounding extremely tired.

"Sahaj. Are you okay?"
Samidha asked, worried at how weak he sounded.

"Ye....yes. I-I am."
He said and lifted his head up a little to look at her. He has asked her to stay away, then why was she being all friendly with him.

Samidha gasped looking at his face. He had big dark circles under his bloodshot red eyes, and his face was extremely dull.

"Are you sick?"
She asked but didn't let him answer. She already had her hand on his forehead to check his temprature.

"You are burning Sahaj. Have you taken any medicine?"
She asked, worried at the temperature difference they had. Samidha always had a cold body compared to others, but Sahaj was still burning.

He shook his head in no weakly and Samidha stood up to get him some medicine.

She fumbled in her bag and thank God she had a Dolo. It had high dosage, but she had that only and judging by the way Sahaj was looking, he needed a high power medicine.