18

Chapter 10

"I am not coming tomorrow for college." Nisha typed and sent that message to Nil and Aarush. It was 2 AM and by now the night was calm. There was after effect of rain on the environment and on Nisha. She was feeling pain through her body like a thousand punches.

She put her phone aside and laid back and glanced at Riya's bed. Riya, who stayed up than usual to take care of Nisha, finally drifted into deep slumber. Nisha tried to sleep but ended up thinking about the library incident. She was tossing and turning all the time to stop the thought process but got easily mad at it because it wasn't helping her.

"Why it's so complicated to let go of that thought?"

"Oh.. maybe because I am sick." She got a point.

"What if that's not a case at all?" She slipped from her point. Again tossed and turned.

"It's not crush...don't worry...."

"What if it is?" Her eyes winded up, and she sat straight up and her body reacted with the same amount of pain. But her concern became different.

"Who will have a crush over the course of 5 months?" She tried to come up with a reasonable point, but many other points were attacking that single point.

"No...no...no way... I must have the highest fever in human history ever." And she looked for the thermometer. As she checked, the thermometer display showed 37.5.

"Do you need anything, Nisha?" Riya asked, who woke up when Nisha was searching for the thermometer madly.

"Nisha?"

For a second, Nisha was shocked, and then her expression turned to zero. Even though her thought was uncertain, it made her completely blank.

[Nil's stay]

"What's wrong with her? It's Sunday." Nil said after reading her message. He put the phone aside and rubbed his eyes since his eyes and brain asked for rest after a long study session. He picked up the phone again and sent a message to Nisha, which said,

'You don't have to worry about that since it's Sunday. Rest well.'

As he rubbed his eyes again, he accidentally touched his nose, and pain coursed through his face.

"Ouch...." And he looked into the mirror and fixed his newly applied bandage.

As he was fixing it, he heard something against the window. He looked at the window excitedly and saw his furry cat friend. Leaving his seat, he went towards the window and opened the doors for her.

"Kikii.... Where you were, huh? I was worried about you." Nil said, and she replied with a purr. With a purr, she started searching for something. Nil realized what she was searching for and said in a low voice,

"He is near my study table."

He guided her towards the study table and as soon as she met her baby, that baby started 'meowing'.

"I am sorry to shift him from his usual location. Because my dad came back" And Nil watched as she cleaned her baby and fed him. After the furry baby drifted to his meowland, she came near Nil.

For Nil, she was her diary where he could tell everything.

"I am kind of okay. Just Dad found out my Mechanics result. 11/20. And I ended up with this." He said while pointing at his fresh scars.

"Oh...wait you must be hungry." And he rose and grabbed cat food which was secretly kept inside his wardrobe.

Looking at her eagerness, he was sure how much hungry she was. She started eating 'cat food' as soon as he served it. After a full meal, she returned to him and sat beside him while cleaning her pink paws. He looked at her with a smile and patted her head gently.