Dedicated to kittenismycutiepie😘
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Ehan swiped the screen and pressed the mobile against his ear, "Hello?"
"Thank God you responded" a childishly feminine voice screamed from the other end. He pulled the phone away from his ear and checked the screen again, thinking who it could be.
"Ehan, you there?" She yelled again.
"Ira this side" she said, clearing his confusion.
"Oh! Hi, Ira" he spoke, bewildered. His voice was hoarse and rough from coughing vigorously.
How he wished it to be a call from his father. He had his Mom's number but not his Dad's one, as he never called him.
"Are you not well?" She questioned, making out from his voice.
"No, I'm perfectly fine" he lied with his sick voice, not wanting to share anything with anyone.
"You sound sick" she pointed.
"No, I'm alrig...." He coughed not being able to suppress it.
"Are you okay? Where are you?" She questioned. He could sense her concern through her voice.
"I'm out of town. Didn't Lily inform you about it?" he asked, sitting at the edge of the bed. He cleared his throat to sound better.
"Yes, she did. But why did you leave all of a sudden? As far as I remember, you said we are gonna study today".
"There was an emergency" he sniffed more than he spoke.
"How did you fall sick? Did you visit the doctor?"
"No. There's nothing serious. It's just flu. I'll be alright in a day or two" he convinced himself more than Ira.
"I wish you were here. I would have come to your place and dragged you to a doctor. You are careless" she said, pulling his imaginary hand and walking a few steps, like dragging him behind her.
He looked at his face in the mirror across him as she said that. His hair was messy, eyes and nose red and swollen, face full of rashes and lips chapped. He looked weird and somewhat scary.
No, Ira. You would scream and run away if you ever saw me like this. He thought.
"You seriously need to visit a doctor. You sound very sick" she said, pressing on the word "very", sounding concerned.
"I will" he whispered, not finding words or the energy to argue.
This is what he wanted to hear all his life; concern. Though it wasn't from the people he wished for, it touched him to know that someone cared for him, as a human at least, unlike his parents.
"That's like a good boy" she patted in space and smiled widely, asking, "When are you going to be back?"
He thought about what to reply. He doesn't know when he'll get better. Usually, his allergy heals in a couple of days but sometimes, it gets double after he eats something.
"I don't exactly know. It'll take me a couple of days or even more" he answered, observing the rashes on his hand, which according to him, may or may not fade away in a couple of days.
"That's too long. Can't you come earlier?" She whined, curling her lips.
"Why?" He asked, looking at the floor.
"I can't study. It feels really weird sitting in the study hall, doing nothing" she reasoned.
"Did you...." He sneezed before could ask anything.
"Bless you," she said from the other end.
"Did you memorize the chemical formulas I asked you to?" He asked, sniffing.
"Yes, I did. But only half of it" she replied proudly, as if she memorized a whole book in a night.
"Good. Memorize the other half of it by tomorrow. I'll take your test"
"Through phone?"
"Yes," he rubbed his temple to get rid of the pain which seemed to arise again.
"Ok, I'll do it. Now please visit a doctor. You need medicines right away" she commanded.
"Ok. Bye" he whispered hanging up.
He rests his back against the mattress, keeping his legs on the floor. Staring at the ceiling, he thought about Ira's concern. It may be just a formality or a friendly gesture for her, but for him, it was something he always craved to have.
The more he thought about his buried wishes and craving for love and concern, the more it began to hurt him. He sat up straight and pulled the drawer open. Taking out some pills, he gulped them down with water.
---
"Hydrochloric acid?"
"HCl"
"Ammonia?"
"NH3"
"Calcium carbonate?"
"CaCo3"
"Hydrobromic acid?"
"HBr"
"Nitrous acid?" Ehan coughed again as he asked the question.
"Didn't you visit the doctor?" She asked in a soft tone, worried for him.
"No. Now answer me. Nitrous acid?"
"HNO2. You should visit a doctor. You sound terribly sick" The concern in her voice did something to him. His eyes lowered on his own as he silently heard her breathing from the other end.
"Ehan, you heard me?" She yelled, breaking the trance.
"Yeah. No, I'm fine. Magnesium phosphate?"
"You are stubborn" she huffed.
"Magnesium phosphate?" He repeated his question.
"Mg3PO4"
"Aluminium bromide?"
She thought for a second and doubtfully replied, "Al... AlBr3?".
"Nickel acetate?"
"NI..... NI(C3, no. NI(C2O2... No, no, no..." She shook her head and her hands automatically went to open the file and have a glance.
"Don't look at the answer" Ehan's voice made her jump on her place. For a moment, she thought he could see her.
"Ok," she bit her tongue and sat straight.
"I hope you weren't cheating when you answered the earlier questions"
"I swear, I didn't. We can have a video call if you don't trust me. I'll answer all of those questions again" she said in her defence, shaking her hands while speaking.
He looked at the mirror across him, the redness and rashes still obvious on his face. No way he would be facing her with that face, she'll get scared for sure.
"No. It's ok. Let's continue. List down the names you are not sure about their formulas. I'll teach you an easy way to keep them in mind once I come back" they continued with their test. It was a nice distraction for Ehan, much better than the number of things he usually does to feel distracted or kill time.
"Not bad, Ira. You have done a good job" he praised her in a monotonous tone as she answered most of his questions.
"Thank you" she patted herself, grinning proudly.
"When will you be back?" She questioned, feeling bored without him.
"I don't know. I'm not sure about anything" he replied, checking his hands for the rashes.
"OK, you take a rest. I'll call you later. And pleasssseeee see a doctor" she said, elongating please.
"Bye," he hung up, dropping the mobile beside him on the bed. He bent himself, his elbows resting on his thighs and hands holding his head. He doesn't know what to do.
Should I just go see a doctor and find out what's wrong with me? He thought.
What if it turns out to be something fatal? I couldn't be living counting the days and scared of my death nearing with every passing second. He shook his head as no, scared.
I should just ignore it like always. Even if I die all of a sudden, I don't think it would bother Mom and Dad. Besides, I'll be free from living this meaningless life.
He nodded to himself as these kinds of thoughts wandered his mind.
***
As Ira grabbed her bag and made her way out of study hall, she collided with Honey.
"Sorry," she smiled. Honey looked behind her, for Ehan.
"Such a nice day" he commented, looking back at Ira.
"You like windy days?" she asked, looking outside.
"I'm talking about that Ehan. It's nice not to find him anywhere near you. I've been feeling good since a couple of days" he pocketed his hand, sounding sweet yet bitter. For a couple of days, Honey was trying his level best to make use of the time Ehan wasn't around Ira, though she seemed busy most of the time, either with her job or in study hall.
"What do you mean?" She huffed, rolling her eyes.
"He is not a nice guy. Keep this in your mind, Ira" he warned and Ira gave him a bored expression.
She may not know everything about Ehan but she knows he is nothing like the way Honey was trying to portray him.
"OK. I'll keep this in mind. Happy?" She asked, forcing a smile.
Honey let out a sigh, not because he was satisfied that Ira agreed to him but because he knew, she wasn't taking him seriously.
She waved bye to him and left, leaving him to think of a better way to keep her away from Ehan.
***
"You had dinner?" Ira asked Ehan over the phone, munching on her scrambled egg toast.
"Not yet. I was going to" he stood up from his chair and made his way downstairs, to make dinner for himself. His voice was still hoarse and rough.
"What are you eating by the way?" He asked looking around the kitchen to think of a dish to make.
"Scrambled egg toast" she answered with her mouthful.
"Great" he commented, opening the fridge to take out the requirements. He took out an egg and some bread slices.
"What are you doing?" She wondered since she could hear the sound he was making.
"Cooking" he answered, breaking the eggs in a bowl.
"Wow! You can cook?"
"Yes, I can. Can you?" He asked, keeping the conversation on. As he doesn't usually talk about things other than study unless it's necessary, Ira was surprised that he was talking about usual things.
"Not really. I used to help the cooks back in the orphanage but never really cooked anything on my own. I'm a disaster" she laughed, taking a bite. She kept on talking about how she used to make silly mistakes in the kitchen back in the orphanage and she would be scolded by Mary and punished by the head lady. She skipped the part of her being asked to sleep empty stomach.
Ehan was silently listening to everything, humming when it was necessary. He never thought that simply listening to someone's bickering could be so peaceful. For the first time in all those years, he didn't feel lonely or think of his family during dinner in his dark and silent home.
She finished her dinner and walked home, talking to him all the way.
He heard a slight tinkling sound as she took out the keys from her pants pocket to enter her apartment.
"Did you reach home?" He asked, his tone changed to a panicked one all of a sudden.
"Yes. I'm unlocking the door" she replied, shoving the key in its hole.
"Ok. Bye," he said in a hurry and hung up. She looked at the phone, confused. He was all good a couple minutes ago, she didn't know what went wrong.
She entered the apartment shrugging. Plugging the mobile into the socket, she brightly smiled at Hunny Bunny.
"I'm very happy today" she squealed, hugging the toy.
"You know, Ehan patiently listened when I was being me and talking nonstop" She gave a cheeky smile to Hunny Bunny.
"I know it's not a big thing but I don't know why I'm feeling good. Maybe because he never listens when I speak unnecessarily. But today, it looked like he wanted to keep on talking to me" she giggled, hugging the toy again.
"He is strange, don't you think? I know, not more than me. But he is... Strange" She said to Hunny Bunny, frowning at Ehan's behaviour at the end.
"He hung up all of a sudden!"
"Why do you think he would have done that?"
***
The next morning...
Locking the door of her apartment, Ira dialled Ehan's number, who was sitting by the window, gazing at his green garden.
Rashes on his skin fading and the itching was already gone. He would have attended the school if he hadn't had to meet Ira. Usually, he doesn't speak to anyone or let anyone sit close to him. But with Ira, he had to do both things. And thinking about the countless questions she would bombard him with, he decided to be at home for another day.
"Hi," he said, sounding very much better.
"Hey. How are you now? You sound so much better" She said, walking to the lift. She was all ready to go to school, wearing the uniform and properly pulling her hair into a ponytail.
"I'm good. Did you study for Mr. James's test?" He asked, getting up to pace around his room.
"Oops! I forgot" She bit her tongue, tapping her feet impatiently waiting for the lift to open.
"I told you to wake up early and give it a read. The topic he has given is an easy one"
"I told you I couldn't wake up early. Wait! Didn't you say you would call?" She asked, pointing her index finger at nothing.
"Yeah! I was about to. But... I didn't feel like disturbing your Honey Bunny" he hesitantly said.
"Why would he be disturbed?" She frowned, shaking her hand in question.
"Why wouldn't he? It was early in the morning. You both must be asleep then" Ehan replied uncomfortably.
"Yes, we were. But... Hunny bunny... Why are you being so strange?" she commented as if she wasn't weird at all. His frown deepened.
The lift door opened and she got in, "I'll call you later. Bye" she said, hanging up.
Ehan raised his eyebrows at that. He couldn't understand what seemed strange to her. Her being just 14 years old and sharing her apartment with a guy or he being uncomfortable talking about that?
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Assalamualaikum guys,
I'm extremely sorry for the delay. It wasn't intentional.
Now coming to this chapter, how was it?
Is something blooming in Ira's heart?
Would she find out about Ehan's disease?
What do you guys think about Honey?
Kindly vote and comment with your views :)