The Househelp

Chapter 2 : The boy she loves

Well read the chapter and do tell me .......do u PPL feel like the plot is very monotonous and I m making shubman suffer way too much? Do you want me to change it?..... initially this was supposed to be a fluffy angsty one shot but i realised that it's too long to be a os!

As the days wore on, Shubman’s fever continued to rage, leaving him in a state of near-constant delirium. His frail body trembled with the effort to fight the infections ravaging him, and the fevered dreams pulled him deeper into memories long buried.

One evening, as Isana sat by his bedside, exhausted yet determined to stay vigilant, she heard him begin to murmur again. His voice, weak and trembling, called out in a way that made her heart clench.

“Maa… Maa…,” Shubman whispered, his tone filled with a childlike desperation that tore through Isana’s soul. His eyes were half-open, glazed with fever, but she could see the confusion and fear in them, the way they searched the room as if hoping to find the one person who could bring him comfort.

“Maa… please… I’m scared… I’m so cold…”

Isana’s breath caught in her throat, her chest tightening with a pain she hadn’t expected. Shubman’s mother had passed away when he was just a boy, leaving him orphaned and alone in a world that had been cruel to him ever since. And now, in his delirious state, he was reaching out for the one person who should have been there to hold him, to soothe his fears, to tell him that everything would be alright.

But she wasn’t there. And that knowledge broke Isana’s heart into a thousand pieces.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched him struggle, his face contorting with the pain and fear he must have felt as a child. She could feel his suffering as if it were her own, a deep, aching sorrow that filled her with an overwhelming sense of helplessness. She wanted to do something—anything—to ease his pain, to bring him the comfort he so desperately sought.

Leaning in closer, she gently cradled his head in her lap, running her fingers through his damp hair in an attempt to calm him. “Shubman,” she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion. “I’m here. I’m here with you.”

But he didn’t hear her. His fevered mind was far away, lost in memories of a time when he had needed his mother the most. “Maa… don’t leave me… please…,” he pleaded, his voice cracking with a vulnerability that shattered Isana’s heart. She could feel the tears streaming down her face, falling onto his skin as she held him.

“I’m so sorry, Shubman,” she choked out, her own voice breaking as she spoke. “I’m so sorry you have to go through this.” She wished she could take away his pain, wished she could reach into his past and give him the comfort he had been denied for so long.

As he continued to call out for his mother, Isana could only hold him tighter, her heart aching with the knowledge that she could never replace the woman he longed for. But she was determined to be there for him in any way she could, to give him the love and care that he deserved, that he had been deprived of for so long.

“Shubman, I’m here,” she whispered again, her voice filled with a fierce, protective love. “I’m not your mother, but I care about you so much. I’m not going to leave you. I promise.”

Slowly, his cries grew softer, cries that were never meant to be answered......his delirium ebbing away as exhaustion finally took hold. His breathing became more even, and though he still shivered with fever, the desperation in his voice faded, replaced by a quiet, almost peaceful resignation.

Isana continued to hold him close, her fingers tracing soothing patterns on his forehead, her heart still aching but now filled with a determination to see him through this, no matter what it took. She would stay by his side, through every fevered dream and every moment of fear, until he was well again.