𝐇𝐢𝐣𝐚𝐛𝐢 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐤

41. You coughed blood

*Unedited*

Next Day

I was feeling better today, sleeping early did me good.

I'm going to talk to Nandini, the thought of my cancer being back woke me up. Life is too short, I want what I desire, I will have it, I will have her

I arrived at school saw Nandini sitting in the canteen, alone. Why was she alone and why did she seem down for some reason?

"Hey" I started slowly when I arrived at her table.

"Can I.."I asked pointing to the empty seat across her.

NANDINI: "Sure" she responded

"Soo?"

NANDINI: "So what?"

"So, tell me what's bothering you"

NANDINI: "Nothing"

I wasn't believing her, she was hiding something

"I saw you with a guy yesterday, where is he now?" I asked

If he did something to her, he...

NANDINI: "He left?" she said

"Did he do something?" I asked whilst balding my fists under the table

NANDINI: "No" she responded but I knew she was lying

She does this thing when she's lying, she starts playing around with her own fingers

"You're lying," I said

She sighed and I saw a tear rolling over her cheek.

I wiped the tear away with my thumb.

NANDINI: "Don't Manik, people are looking at us."

"I don't care, tell me what happened," I said

She took a break for a few seconds and started telling me what was bothering her.

NANDINI: "I said something to Navya I regret, I snapped at you the other day, and" she paused

"And" I repeated

NANDINI: "And Sid tried to kiss me, like, what are people seeing in me?" she finished

I can't believe that scumbag just tried to make a move on her

"About Navya, just go talk to her and apologize, about me, I figured out later that you were probably on your monthly appointment with mother nature" she laughed at what I said,"And if you want me to pin Sid down.."

NANDINI: "No, he's already back home. But I will go talk to Navya...thankyou Manik" she smiled

"Anytime Nandini" I responded

"Anyway, let's get to class shall we?"

NANDINI: "Go ahead, I'm going to find Navya...I'll see you in class" she smiled

I nodded and left for the first period

NANDINI POV

I found Navya in the hallway talking to her friends, before I even said something I hugged her tightly and apologized for everything. She accepted my apologies and we sat down and talked for a few minutes.

It was time to get to class after a good 5 minutes, I can't be late. I skipped yesterday for the first time this year and I don't want to get behind on everything

"I love you, I'll maybe see you after school, "I said to Navya

NAVYA: "In Sha Allah babe" she responded and I left for the first period and she did the same.

I told her everything about me being on the period that day, that I also lost it on Manik, and about Sid being in town.

She listened like she always did and gave me some advice about moving forward and not thinking about it too much. I would've never forgiven myself if I lost her because of my stubbornness.

I sat down in class next to Manik as he saved me a seat.

MANIK: "Talked things out between you and Navya?" he asked

I loved that he was so caring and understanding, if it wasn't for him I would've never made the first move

"Yeah we did, thank you, "I said and smiled at him

He smiled back and turned to face the teacher

....

Manik had this terrible cough as we only had a few minutes until class was over. He was coughing non-stop the last half-hour and you could see that some students were annoyed by it. It's not like he could do something about it...

"Here you go Manik" I gave him a tissue so he could cover his mouth with it while he was coughing.

I actually was really worried, his coughs were deep

"Are you okay?" I asked

He coughed again, holding the tissue I gave him against his mouth.

He turned around and nodded, but I wasn't looking at him, I was looking at his tissue that had a red mark on it. It wasn't big but he still coughed up blood and I'm not that stupid to think that's normal

MANIK: "What?" he asked when he noticed that I was looking at tissue

"You coughed up blood!" I whispered, I didn't want everybody to look at him

He looked at the tissue and folded it up when he also noticed the blood

"Manik!" I said when he wasn't answering my statement

PROFESSOR: "Miss Siddique, Manik can take my place if you can't keep your eyes on me," he said annoyed

Everybody looked at us and were laughing at what the teacher said

"Sorry Miss" I responded and he continued with what he was saying

I looked at Manik one more time who also looked confused

I faced the teacher again and payed attention to what she was saying, at least I tried