Expectedly Unexpected: A SamAina FF

Part 23: The Turn of the Tide

The glare of the summer sunlight streaked in through the windows illuminating the room and the bed on which he lay supine. He forced his eyes to open yet again, but it was as if his body had failed to respond to his commands. His head was gripped in a splitting pain- something like he'd never experienced before. His limbs felt feeble, disjointed and ached if he tried to move. The warmth of the sunlight filtering into the room was nothing compared to the heat which seemed to have engulfed his body.

With one final heave, Sameer let out a hoarse cry as he hoisted himself off the bed. The moment he did so, the world around him began to spin. His eyes squinted against the light, and he pressed his palms against the sides of his head to steady the giddiness arising from the pit of his stomach and shooting to the nerve endings in his brain. He held the side of the bed for support as he pulled himself up with a great effort and tried desperately to walk towards the bathroom to freshen up. He must have stood upright for a moment or two, when pitch black darkness swept across his eyes- the world shut off and he crashed to the floor in a heap.

"Sameer...Sameer...utho beta...," he heard a familiar voice urging him to wake up. He felt splashes of cold water being sprinkled onto his face. Reluctantly, against his body's urges, Sameer opened his eyes and found his mother huddled over him, panic writ across her face. His step father and his step-siblings were also there, looking concerned and he thought he noticed a few servants hovering hither and thither, carrying glasses in their hands, before his eyes fell shut again. Twenty minutes later, when he reopened his eyes, he was somehow back onto his bed and a doctor was examining him.

"Baaki sab to normal hai...just Viral lag rha hai....par bukhaar kaafi tez hai...inhe rest karne do...lagta hai yeh kaafi stressed hain...inki body recoup nahi kar paa rahi...inhe jitna aaram dein utna acha hai...," the doctor was explaining to Sameer's so-called family.

"Mujhe office jaana hai...der ho rahi hai...," he whimpered.

"Nahi Sameer...aaram karo aaj...main phone kar keh keh deti hun Rita ko...," his mother's faint voice seeped into his brain.

"Nahi...mujhe jaana...hai...," Sameer groaned, but at that moment, he felt a syringe pierce his arm and soon he was sedated- off to a blissful sleep.

So it happened that that Saturday, Sameer was forced to remain in bed by his mother due to his high fever. Never in the past five years, had Sameer taken a sick leave unless he'd been absolutely critical. And that had happened once when he'd been in office with 104 fever. It was that evening on consultation with a doctor that he realized he'd contracted Dengue- a new dangerous kind of fever that had started to plague Delhi. And it spread with the bite of a special kind of mosquito- Aedes. That actually fuelled Sameer's obsession for killing flies, insects and mosquitoes whenever he spotted them, or his need for hospital-like cleaned office and home. No, not because his platelet count had diminished to a life-threatening twenty-five thousand and he'd had his second ICU experience in less than three years; but because it had cost him a full week off from work. Though his employees had prayed for his speedy recovery, it would be a lie to say they had not revelled in the perks that the absence of their strict, domineering and workaholic boss provided. So naturally, Rita was surprised when Mrs. Somani informed her around 10 that Saturday morning that Sameer was down with Viral fever and would not be able to come to work today. The news was passed on and in less than ten minutes, everyone hooted and made plans for an early wrap-up in the evening.

At a quarter past four, as Rita was packing her purse and locking the drawers, the landline rang shrilly. The moment she heard Sameer's voice at the other end, she felt her plans for shopping at Sarojini Nagar with her friends go down the drain. She was sure he would pile her with loads of work to compensate for his absence, when Sameer spoke again, interrupting her melancholic reverie. She didn't understand if the fever had got into his head, but he actually sounded polite. Very polite! He requested her, actually 'requested' her, to tell him the location of the visitor logs and their details. He explained that if he felt better tomorrow, he'd would come in and contact a few clients. And he didn't want to call her up and bother her on a Sunday. Really? Since when did Sameer acquire tact to leave his employees alone on holidays? Sameer nodded as Rita told him the location of the folders and gave him a brief summary of the day's work and the meetings postponed. Rita replaced the receiver back onto the cradle, lifted her purse and made her way out, preoccupied with thoughts of her boss having had his brains addled because of illness; unable to admit that Sameer Maheshwari had a soft side to him.