Disclaimer : All the characters written below are imaginary and a work of pure fiction. There is no resemblance to any incident or situation and is written as work of fiction.
"karan...." she patted his cheeks softly. Panick slowly creeped into her system.
"hmm...." she heard him say but her didn't open his eyes. He was subconscious.
"shit...." she gulped and shook him softly. "karan...."
"mm...." came his almost inaudible mumbling.
Teja quickly wrapped her arms around his shoulder and held his hand to make him stand and immediately realised that it would be impossible for her to make him stand let alone take him to the room.
"doctor...." she muttered and rushed out of the door and rang their neighbour's bell frantically.
After a couple minutes a man in his early sixties opened the door.
"teju?beta?" his sleepy eyes were replaced with the happiness of seeing her after years.
"uncle....uncle i'll explain everything later....where is aunty?can you please call her....i wouldn't have disturbed you this late but karan has really high fever and is almost subconscious....and i am not even being able to take him inside....uncle...." she fumbled through her words.
"teju relax....i will call your aunty and we both will come right away....you go and be with sunny...."
Teja nodded and ran back into their apartment.
"karan...." she sat beside him and held his hand and rubbed his palm. She didn't even know when tears had started to drip along her cheeks.
Within a few minuted their neighbour couple came inside. The lady was a doctor and both of them were very dear to karan and teja. The man held karan and took him inside the room and made him lay down on the bed beside aru. Aru had woken up in the commotion.
"papa...." she frowned seeing him.
Teja looked at the couple to find them staring at aru with love and affection.
"uncle aunty i'll explain everything...." teja said slowly.
The lady sat beside karan to check on him.
"teju this is his stomach flue....he had it last year also twice so i know his medical history and symptoms of this fever and how he reacts to it....and fever comes when the stomach pain becomes worse....we need to start the medication immediately...."
"aunty we had pizza and butter chicken today....he had pizza yesterday also...." she said in exasperation.
"fever doesn't come in one day teja....he had stomach pain for a couple of days atleast and over that he had junk...."
Teja looked at the ceiling in fear as more tears came down her cheeks.
"beta relax...." uncle patted her head.
"i'll bring the medicines...." she somehow managed to say in her choked voice.
"you stay here....i will bring it...." uncle said strictly and went out.
"teju after the medicine put a wet cloth on his forehead....it will reduce the temperature...." aunty said and caressed his hair.
"aunty he is not fully conscious...." teja said slowly.
"once the fever is down he will be...." she said softly. "don't worry beta...."
Uncle came back with the medicines and teja immediately made him have those carefully putting his head a little up.
"uncle aunty thank you so much for coming....you guys take rest....if needed i will call you...." she hugged both of them.
"bring the little princess to our home soon okay?we are so happy we got a little play buddy...." aunty caressed her hair without asking her any questions and making her uncomfortable. Both of them left. Aru had also fallen asleep. She was too small to understand that papa was not well. She thought that he was sleeping.
Teja sat beside him near his head with a bowl of water and a cloth and kept putting the wet cloth on his forehead.
It was probably a little for than fifteen minutes that she was sitting there. Silence engulfing the room. The only sound that came was from the ticking of the clock. He was moving his head very slightly shaking it from time to time in his subconscious state.
She caressed his hair to sooth his discomfort and kept putting the cloth on his forehead.
"laddoo...." he muttered startling teja out of her wits. She sat alarmed and bend down.
"haan karan?" she said immediately not focusing on the fact that he was calling her laddoo. She realised that he was speaking in his subconscious state.
"laddoo....laddooo...." she saw him gulped and shake his head sideways.
She didn't know what to do and how to react.
"laddoo please....ple....please don't go....it's....it's too painful...." he muttered as his breathing turned shallow. Teja shivered listening to him. She held his hand tightly and looked at him in shock as her entire body shivered.
"i got....i got your fav....fav....favorite pastries....laddoo....please once baby....listen to....listen to me once....why....why did you leave laddoo just listen to me once....ask me....fight with me....i love you....i....i love you....one chance baby to speak....this house....empty....empty....haunts....i have all the answers....to all your questions....laddoo ask me....ask me before you leave....please come back....mumma....mumma it's too painful....it's....pain....laddoo....where did you go....you didn't even meet me....once....once please....once....it's too....too painful....i can't deal with this....can't....painful...." he kept muttering making teja go numb.
"sunny...." she whispered putting her face into his neck near his ear. "i am here....relax....baby relax...." she cupped his cheek with one hand and caressed his hair with another. Her voice and touch did it. He relaxed and his breathing was soon back to normal.
She licked her dry lips. She didn't know how to react. What to process. Her brain was not working. Her brain which would have told her to stay away from him after all the hurt that he had caused her was not working. She bend down and kissed his forehead and wiped her tears frantically. Seeing him like this broke her already broken heart , if that was at all possible. She sobbed and kissed his cheeks and nose and then on his chest over his T-shirt. She took his palm in her hand and kept it along her mouth and sobbed holding it and kept her other hand on his face. He liked it that way. He always used to say that it gave him peace. She could feel his temperature was lowering because of the medicine so she had stopped with the wet cloth and stayed like that holding his palm in one hand and with her other palm on his face.
Karan woke up in the morning and shifted a bit to realise that teja's hand was on his face.
"what the...." he took her hand and kept it away slowly , not disturbing her sleep. She was sitting beside him and was sleeping with her back against the headboard. His fever had reduced but the stomach ache was still there. He frowned and sat up. Teja was in a very light sleep. She was awake throughout the night and had dozed off only
in the morning sometimes back. Realising some movement she quickly sat straight.
"karan...." she said involuntarily. "you okay?" she quickly touched his forehead and sighed in relief.
"yeah....i'm good...." he said rubbing his temple.
"yeah right....good....my left foot...." she stood up angrily. "you knew you were having stomach ache and still you had pizza back to back for two days and then butter chicken ice cream and what not....what the hell were you thinking?where have you left your brain?"
Aru sat up hearing her voice and looked at both of them with confused eyes. Karan looked at aru and quickly kissed her hair.
"breath...." he told teja.
Teja stopped and breathed in heavily. Karan chuckled softly seeing her. What a girl she was.
"i am fine don't worry...." he muttered and stood up and wore his slippers.
"if next time....you eat anything stupid after having stomach ache....i will make poha for breakfast for a year straight...." she said seriously.
Karan started to cough and looked at aru.
"no point looking at her....she is my kid....she loves my poha....you think about yourself...." and with that she went out of the room.
After sometime she came back to see karan sitting on the bed after freshening up.
She kept a bowl of stew in front of him and sat beside aru to make her drink the milk.
None of them said anything and started to have what they were given quietly. They knew it was better for them that way.
"get ready we have our first day call time in a couple of hours and we will drop choco pie to school on the way...." karan said looking at her.
"i have cancelled our shoot today....it will start from tomorrow....everyone was more than willing to adjust hearing you are sick.... and i will drop aru to school...."
"what?why would you cancel the shoot?it was the first day....i don't want anyone to suffer because of me...." he said immediately.
She wanted to say 'yeah right' when he said that he didn't want anyone to suffer because of him. But she didn't. Because of what had happened last night. There were too many questions she needed answers for.
"karan it is okay....if you go today and fall more sick we will need more leaves....it is better to just take one leave...." she said looking at him and he knew she made sense.
"is it okay if choco pie stays at home today?i mean i know she has her school but...." before he could complete she said
"yes she can...."
Karan smiled widely and looked at aru who was already clapping. He picked her up and made her sit on his lap and cuddled her tightly.
"papa and choco pie would paint today...." he said rubbing his nose with her nose.
"yesss papa...." she smiled widely.
"and studies?a b c d?" teja asked softly.
"i know that mumma.... a b c d...." she said all the alphabets smoothly.
"good girl...." teja said pulling her cheeks. "but then we will practice handwriting along with painting okay?"
"okay mumma...." she said happily and kissed her cheeks as karan looked at them dreamily. His life. His world.
The day passed with them painting and doing studies and teja taking care of karan's food and medicine.
Later at night they put aru to sleep and karan went and sat in the balcony on the swing to get some fresh air. Teja came and stood at the door.
"karan i need to talk...." she said after a couple of minutes. She didn't know whether she should be saying all these or not.
"hmm?" he looked back at her.
"i have some questions...." she said slowly.
"yeah?" he gestured her to go ahead.
"about that evening...." she said and karan's face went stiff.
"why now teja?when four years back you left without asking the same questions i am assuming you will be asking now...." he said with a straight face.
*****
Note: Based on personal experience of stomach flue i have written about the fever. I do not know any further details of symptoms or recovery procedure.