Separated Love

Chapter 16: Manish and Kartik's Problems

My head is throbbing! I start opening my eyes, and the sun is irritating me too. I look to my right, and there he is, fast asleep. I remember everything that happened last night. I am so lucky to have Kartik in my life. His gesture was so sweet. Forgetting about my headache for a second, I decide to go through with my plan from the previous day. I roll on top of him, and kiss his forehead. He scrunches his forehead together which makes me laugh. I go to his right ear and whisper his name.
"Mmm Naira please let me sleep." His voice in the morning is so husky it's hot. I kiss him on his right cheek and then his left. Slowly he opens his eyes and smiles. He wraps his arms around me and says, "Well good morning Naira."
"Good morning," I say with all the adoration I can put into 2 words. He all of a sudden shifts so I am now underneath him. This movement instantly makes my head hurt. I think the pain was clearly visible on my face because Kartik instantly gets worried.
"Are you okay?" He put his hand on my forehead. Naira, you're so hot."
"Thanks I know."
"Naira, this isn't the time to joke around! Let me grab the thermometer." As much as I want to mess with him, my whole body is aching way too much. He gets the thermometer and puts it in my mouth. "103!!! NAIRA!! What happened!" Just then there's a knock on the door. Kartik runs to go open it. "Dadi! Naira has a 103 fever."
"Oh my gosh!" She comes in speed walking.
"Guys, it's just a fever. I'll be fine."
"Naira, don't teach me." Dadi instantly sasses me. This makes me start laughing. "Naira, why are you laughing?" Even Kartik looks confused.
"Dadi, it's just that I haven't heard that line in a long time, and it has been a while since I've been scolded by you. I missed it." The angry/worried look on Dadi's face quickly fades away and even she starts laughing. Pretty soon all 3 of us are cracking up.
"Naira, I know my way of explaining can be mean, but I only intend well for you. Let me get you some medicine, and why don't you change into lighter clothes? 103 is a really high temperature. Let's try to bring it down so we don't have to get you an injection from the doctor." Both Kartik and I looked at each other terrified. Although secretly I think Dadi added that last part to scare me so I would follow instructions. It works. 
"I'll change!" I say quickly. Just then Dadi starts to notice all of the flowers in the room. Dammit! Kartik and I completely forgot about all of this because of my fever. Dadi looks down with a smirk on her face.
"I'll give you both some time. Till then, I'll make something light for you to eat." She says trying to suppress her laughter. She walks out, and I throw a pillow at Kartik.
"Hey! What was that for?" I swear he is so oblivious sometimes. "Kartik! I told you last night to clean up the room, didn't I? Dadi noticed everything and was laughing."
"WHAT! I didn't even realize that." The look on his face is so cute it makes me forget my embarrassment.
"Of course you didn't you mendak. Oh well, can't change anything now." I start to get up and feel super dizzy. Kartik quickly grabs me to give me support.
"Hey, I can get your clothes. You sit down on the bed." Kartik says being super gentle as he helps me sit down. He gets my clothes from the cupboard and helps me change. "I need to go use the washroom. Once I'm done, I can go check on your soup."
"Actually Kartik, Dadi said she'd bring the soup. Can you please stay here with me?" He smiles at this.
"Of course I can." He goes to go use the washroom. I want him to stay here so I can finally ask him about what's going on with him and Papa. Why has he been so cool towards him, and why did Papa say he lost 2 sons? Kartik comes out of the bathroom and then helps me walk towards it. I brush my teeth and come out feeling a little better. Kartik is laying on the bed using his cellphone. He has cleaned up a lot of the decorations that were up. I look around the room as I walk over to him. I lay down beside him.
"Naira, why didn't you call me? I would've helped you."
"It's fine Kartik I'm feeling a little better." I snuggle into him knowing it will make him forget about this subject. While hugging him, I decide to bring it up. "Kartik, what's going on between you and Papa? When I left, you both were super close. However, now whenever I see you both interact, there's a very clear distance between the two of you. On top of that, Papa said he lost 2 sons. What did he mean by that?" Kartik looks guilty.
"I don't want to talk about it Naira." He says in a very stern tone.
"Look Kartik, if it was something small I would understand giving you your space, but I'm your wife and this is not a small thing. Why don't you want to tell me?"
"Because I'm ashamed of myself Naira!"
"Okay well it's me Kartik. You can share everything with me and you know I won't judge you. Please tell me what's wrong. We promised we would tell each other everything, right?" Kartik looks down at me upset. I quickly give him a small kiss on his chest in the hopes of comforting him.
"Naira, like I've told you before, after you left, a lot changed. Ma was spiraling down. She didn't just take out her anger on you, but nearly on everyone. Papa was tolerant at first but then they started to develop issues. Ma constantly lashed out and Papa began to lose patience. One night when I came home, they were having a huge fight. Chachu and Surekha chachi didn't entirely know what was going on. They were fed up themselves and told me to take care of it. When I walked inside, I saw Papa yelling loudly at Ma. It made me so angry. Especially when I found out that they were fighting over you. Ma had brought you up and was insulting you. Papa got mad at her for doing this and started yelling at her calling her crazy. So I stepped in..."