Shikwe

Chapter 5

I walk over to her cubicle and knock on the glass. She looks up again. Her eyebrows shoot up when she sees me and then stands. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Yes, Ms. Seher. I want to know, do you really just give your number to anyone? What if they turn out to be a serial killer? Do you know anything about the guy who just took your number?"

She stares at me, confused, appalled and a little intrigued. She doesn't open her mouth, neither do I. The guy from earlier returns and my will to break his face returns with it. He sees me and nods but quickly turns to Seher. "Thank you for helping me with my application Seher. I just submitted it. I'll probably get in this time."

I turn to the boy with narrowed eyes. "What application?"

"Oh, nothing sir. It's a job application. I am moving to the US but I wasn't sure what to include in my application, so I asked Seher for help." I turn my eyes back, agonizingly slow to the woman infront of me. She hadn't taken her gaze away from my face for even a single second.

Her stare is amused, but her face as usual, blank. I feel the heat creep up my neck. And before my cheeks turn red, I feel the need to leave and run the fuck away from here. "I am leaving."

She brings her hand up and waves at me with a mocking smile. Her eyes glinting in the light. Her lips curved into an amused smile.

I might've made an absolute fool out of myself but being the reason of the smile on her face makes it all worth it. I will become the absolute joker if the only laugh I hear would be hers.

God, I am whipped.

🥀

I leave my office much after dinner time. My stomach grumbles for the nth time. God I am so hungry. But I always check every floor before I leave for home. The light on the finance floor catches my eye.

Nobody in my company likes work this much to stay back so late. I walk in and my eyebrows shoot up in astonishment. Seher? Why is she here so late. I round her cubicle to reach her but stop short. She has a blade in her hand. She is twirling it between her fingers.

Her eyes are hooded and that's when I notice the blood. So much blood. It's dripping down her palm. And she doesn't seem to care? "Seher, your han-"

"NO!" She jumps up from her seat and points her blade at me. "Stay away from me." I raise my palms up in surrender. "Seher, I am not going to hurt you."

"I don't care, stay away from me." Her eyes are bloodshot. Her face pale. Blood drips down her hand onto the floor. God!

"Look, Seher. All that blood, it will cause trouble for you. Just let me take you to the hospital. If you bleed anymore, you could faint. Or die."

Her eyes glitter and my heart sinks. "I could die? Really?"

"Ahh..." What the hell is happening?

"BOLO! Could I die?"

(Speak!)

"Yeah." I nod my head in panic. And she smiles. "Then I'll stay here."

"What? Why do you wanna die? Think of your family Seher." Think of me.

She shakes her head. "My life is worth nothing."

"It is worth something to me. Please Seher  please. Just drop the blade and let me help you." She doesn't listen to me but the blade drops. She holds a wall for balance and I use it as an opportunity to hold her.

She is on the verge of fainting when I pick her up and take her to my car. I wrap a handkerchief around her palm but I doubt it'll do much. I rush through the London roads, lucky enough to find no traffic.

By the time we reach the nearest hospital, she is already passed out.

The doctors treat her but ask for no input from me. Has she come here before? I sit on the chair, in my blood soaked shirt, when a nurse comes to take me to the doctor.

And even though I expected to meet a physician, I am not surprised when a psychiatrist greets me. The woman is in her late forties or something, she asks me to sit and I do. "Thank you, for bringing Seher here, Mr. Agnihotri."

"You seem to know her well doctor. Can I know what happened to her? Why is she.....suicidal?" The doctor sighs.

"I am not allowed to share a patient's information with someone who is not family. I am sorry."

"She has no family in this country. How can I help her when I don't know what is wrong?" She sighs again. She knows I am right. And so she caves.

"Seher is not suicidal, Mr. Agnihotri. She is Schizophrenic." My heart drops to the pit of my stomach. I might've never met someone with the condition but I know about it. My poor sweetheart. Life alone is hard as it is. But life with Schizophrenia is hell.

"She didn't try to hurt herself consciously. She has done this before. She is on heavy medication because of it but sometimes even they don't work against the things her mind puts her through." I have no words. No suggestions, no thoughts. I am blank.

"Does her family know?" The doctor shakes her head in a 'no' to me.

"So what you are telling me, doctor,  is that she lives alone. And she can hurt herself at any moment? She can die, if no one finds her on time."

"I've suggested her to stay in our ward but she refuses. She also has violent tendencies towards other people sometimes and she doesn't want to hurt anyone unconsciously. So she stays alone."

Fucking hell. I run a hand through my hair, my frustration grinding through my nerves. I can't let this happen. Not now, not ever.

I walk out of the doctor's office into the room Seher is in. She lays quietly, staring into nothingness. Her eyes a mirror to the soul she hides. Her gaze falls on me and then my bloodied shirt. "I troubled you alot, didn't I?"

"No." I didn't think my whisper reached her but it did. She closed her eyes and sighed. "You know." Not a question.

I walk over and hesitate for just a second before pushing the hair away from her face. "Why are you staying alone? It's not good for you, sweethe- ahem, Seher."

"It won't be good for whoever I stay with either. I don't want to burden people."

"You can't be a burden. If you want, and if you're comfortable with it, you can stay with me. I have an unnecessarily big house and no one in it. You'll have your own room, own space. But I'll be able to keep an eye on you. To know that you're safe. There is nothing more that I want than to know you'll be safe."

She shakes her head. I understand. I am nothing but a stranger to her. I gave her a lecture about how she shouldn't give her number to someone because they can turn out to be psychopaths and here I am. Asking her to move in with me.

"I can't get up and live with my boss."

"But can you consider me your friend?"

"Sure." She shrugs. She has no idea, how big of a deal it is to me.

I'll keep her safe and with me.

🥀

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See you soon.