Beautiful disaster (completed)

Chapter 37 - Recovery

 Kiara's pov

"I'm so bored just lying here all day," Kabir complained from his position on the couch. "At least unlock my phone. I can't even text anyone."

Over the past week, since Kabir's typhoid diagnosis, we had fallen into an unexpected routine. Each morning, I would bundle him into a cab to get his IV antibiotic doses at the hospital, and then we would return to his apartment where he would rest while I worked remotely. Afternoons were quieter, with Kabir dozing on the couch or grumbling half-heartedly as I fed him bland meals according to the diet chart.

Kabir slept a lot—the fevers and chills still stole his energy—but he seemed to be responding well to the medications. My impromptu work-from-home situation meant that my laptop and documents were scattered across his coffee table, creating an odd collision of our professional and personal lives.

By the fifth day, Kabir was starting to regain some of his strength, but I was still strict about his screen time. I had confiscated his laptop earlier that week, knowing his inability to stay away from responding to work emails despite medical leave.

That afternoon, I set up my laptop on his dining table to work while Kabir rested on the couch nearby. We had developed an unexpected ease in our new temporary arrangement - two people bound by circumstances beyond our control, yet eerily compatible.

I gave him an exasperated look, not glancing up from my laptop perched on the dining table. "I can understand you're bored .But you're supposed to be resting, you know the rules, right? No screen time more than 30 mins a day"

"Come on, Kiara, I am not a child. stop treating me like one" Kabir persisted, shifting restlessly. "I can't sleep all day. I'm losing my mind just lying here with nothing to occupy me. Can we at least watch some movie together?"

I bit my lip, hesitating. I knew boredom must be getting to him after being confined for days, but I worried any stimulation might slow his recovery.

"I'm working from your home out of compulsion, not to entertain you by watching movies. So focus on recovery." I replied pointedly, although my tone remained gentle. "And need I remind you that you're still *my* team lead? You can't order me to slack off when you don't have that luxury! Don't make me tell Sakshi you've been harassing your teammate!"

"You've been working non-stop all week," Kabir argued. "One movie isn't going to kill me or derail my recovery. Come on, Kiara!" His tone turned coaxing. " Is this your way to take revenge on your team lead for making your life difficult in office?

"At least you are acknowledging that you made my life difficult in office"

"You've hidden my laptop, if you remember? you are making me bore to death. So I guess we are even now "

I shook my head, returning my gaze to my laptop screen. "Because you can't be trusted not to work," I retorted.

"What do you expect me to do for entertainment then?" he asked, a hint of plea in his tone that made my heart do a little flip. Get a grip, I scolded myself.

"Read," I suggested, pointing towards a stack of novels I had arranged on the coffee table, next to a vase of fresh tulips I'd brought to cheer up the room. "There's a whole world in those books."

"But I've already read a few books you got me," he whined, and I raised my eyebrows at his tone. "I am not much a reader you know. I think I've done enough reading over the past few days to last me a lifetime. My brain needs something different, like a movie or show. Please, Kiara, a little mercy for the sick man?"

"You're a worse patient than you were at fifteen when you had chicken pox," I muttered.

"And you were a control freak nurse even then," Kabir shot back