SECRETs (Not edited)

Past 33

     Damn this cold! I took the towel that lay by my side and rubbed my flowing nose. I hate being sick when mom isn't here to take care of me. "Achoo!!!" I sneezed. I again rubbed my nose with the towel. My nose had turned red with the constant rubbing, it even pains. I look like a joker with a painted nose. And this fucking headache. Its taking the life out of me. 

Placing my hand under my head I laid down on my bed in the dorm. The dorm was empty. Some were in their rooms, some were out. I was spared a day rest because of this cold. Karan was in college. Avni and Naina were out shopping for their competition. It still feels strange to think about Avni and shopping being in the same sentence. How people change. 

It has been three days since Avni's revelation, and I still felt uneasy. I don't wanna remember her past. It doesn't really matter that she had a boy friend. What matters is that he is back. And he once tried to molest her. I never met him, but I am sure that I truly hate him a lot. The worst thing was the expression in Avni's face when she was narrating her past that night. There was an overwhelming look in her face. I have never seen that in her. That dreamy look in her eyes on the happy parts, I didn't like it at all. At the time when she recounted the molestation. There was a sign of regret, pain and.. love. No, I don't even want to think about it. But yet, it just keeps on getting to me that she still has feelings for him. 

Why I can't let the thoughts leave me, that she might give him a chance if he asks for it. She might have become really strong at heart, but a vulnerable part of her life is joined with him. A part when I wasn't there. I am supposed to be her best friend and yet in all these years, I never knew that she had lost her mother, that she was molested, that she had such a painful past. And it bothers me to think that Sayan knew every bit of her life, every single strand. This...

My thoughts were interrupted with my phone ringing out loud. I went for my pocket and pulled it out. It was mom calling, just when I needed her.

"Hello ma." I answered.

"Hello beta.(son)" My mom returned "How are you?"

"I'm good ma. I hope you are doing fine."

"I am. You sound low." How do moms come to know such things even when you don't tell them?

"No no. I am good. I am just really missing you. I love you ma." I mumbled.

"Now I know something is definitely wrong. What is it?"

I knew that mom won't stop until I gave a reason "Just a bit sick ma."

"I knew that something was the problem. I could feel it in my old bones.  Now listen to me carefully and note them down. Do it exactly as I say. Its a cold remedy. First find honey, lemon and cinnamon. Put some honey in a pan, fill it to half and use a double boiler until it is thin. Then add a pinch of cinnamon and add lemon. Drink the entire glass. Don't throw it away. Got it?" I noted down whatever mom advised. Just in case I want to follow it.

"But ma how will I make it? I don't carry this utensils with me." I asked, pretty logical.

"Go to the canteen in wherever you are staying and make it there. You are training to be chef, you must know this things."

"OK.. I will do it." I agreed when I felt my headache getting worse.

"Remember Mina mashi's daughter's wedding? I have emailed the pictures to you. Seema asked me to send them to her. But I don't know her email. So you send them to her." Seema was mom's friend who lived in California.

"Oh god! Ma just whats app me na. My laptop broke down and I don't like accessing my email from my phone."

"Now stop whining. Your dad is not at home and I don't know how to send pictures through whats app."