Tere Bina (extended version)

1

The doorbell ringing woke Ishan from his sleep. He grabbed his phone and checked the time, squinting at the bright light of the screen. 2:15 AM. He wondered why anyone would be ringing the bell at THIS hour when it rang another time, shaking him out of his thoughts.

He sighed as he got out of his bed and made his way to the door and opened it to find Shubhi's tall frame standing there looking dead on his feet, grinning a tired smile when he met his eyes.

Ishan stood on his tippy toes to give his friend, roommate, partner a welcoming hug, frowning when he found his body hot to touch.

"Everything alright?" Ishan asked once he let go of the hug.

"Yeah, dude.. just tired from all the traveling .."

"Come inside. You go freshen up, I'll bring the luggage inside."

They entered the room and Ishan first brought his roommate's bags inside and closed the door. By the time he had arranged everything and was ready for bed, he found Shubhi fast asleep on the other bed, with all his clothes on. He frowned. Shubhi was always very particular about his clothes, and they had actually gotten into a few fights with each other in their early days at the NCA over this huge contrast over their habits before they found a compromise. But for him to just fall asleep like that in the clothes he came in was extremely odd, and even concerning when he remembered the heat from when they hugged earlier.

"You won't change? You'll go to sleep in your outside clothes like this?" Ishan asked as he shook him up from sleep.

Shubhi yawned as he sat up. "Yeah, I really should change.." he mumbled. He quickly grabbed a set of clothes from his backpack, and headed to the washroom. Ishan got into his own bed, and was about to fall asleep when he noticed Shubhi back and rummaging through his luggage looking for something.

"What're you looking for?"

"Dude, Mumma had forced me to take this medicine bag with me, but I can't find it now.."

"Leave it for the time being, we'll find it in the morning. What'd you want anyway?"

"Paracetamol, I think I feel a fever coming..."

"Alright, sit down and relax, I'll get it. You take the 500, right?"

Shubhi nodded and leaned back against the pillows. They were soft and felt so nice against his aching back. He tried to remember where he could have put his medicine bag, but his head started to ache as he strained to remember, so he gave up the fight, and closed his eyes.

A hand on his shoulder woke him up, and he looked up to find Ishan looking at him with worried eyes.

"First have these biscuits, then I'm giving you the medicine" Ishan said as he handed his friend two plain biscuits, who complied immediately. Satisfied, Ishan handed him one tablet, which Shubhi chased down with some water.

Having taken his medicine, Shubhi set an alarm for the next day, and they went back to sleep.

*

The incessant beeping of Shubhi's alarm woke Ishan up, and he tried to lightly slap him up like always. His palm almost got burned once it made contact with Shubhi's face, and he was up in an instant. Taking out the thermometer from his own medicine bag, he put it in Shubhi's mouth, who barely reacted at the sudden contact.

Two minutes later, Ishan took the thermometer out and checked the reading. 102.8 degrees. He winced. That was so not good, and he realized he might even need to tell the other members. He was thinking about how to break the news to the others when the alarm rang again, and he reached over to turn it off this time. Poor guy needed the rest, he imagined. He got up and got dressed for practice, mentally preparing himself for breaking the news to the team. Shubhi seemed to be shivering, so Ishan covered him with his blanket and closed the curtains before heading out.