Story 16: The first fight

Part 2

In his room, Abir had stepped into the washroom to clean up after bringing Hariya, their injured gardener, back home from the hospital when Mishti barged in, panting for breath. A quick glance around the room brought her attention to the pile of medicines lying on Abir's bed. Mishti's eyes widened as she took in the nearly 15 sheets of tablets, 2 or three tubes of antiseptic lying there. What kind of injury needed these many medications?? Exactly how badly was Abir hurt? No, more importantly, WHERE was he? Why wasn't he in bed resting??

She turned back as quickly as she came, to call out to Jugnu and the door rattled as she made her way out hurriedly, alerting Abir, who was washing his face inside the washroom, to the presence of someone in his room. Scrubbing at his face with the towel, he quickly turned around to step out and hit his ankle violently against the marble step leading to the shower portion.

With a pained "Owwww", he dropped the towel and limped out of the washroom to see who had come in just as Mishti heard him open the door and she raced back in.

Her eyes settled on him right as he walked out of the washroom and she took in his exhausted, drawn appearance, courtesy of not getting a wink of sleep last night. On Abir's part, he simply gaped at Mishti, unable to believe that she was actually standing in his room. After last night, he had thought that she would not even be willing to talk to him. But here she was. Fairly sure that he was hallucinating because he was beat, he took a limping step towards her to check if she was real.

The moment he moved, heavily leaning on the uninjured foot, an alarmed look came into Mishti's wide opened eyes and she rushed over to his side, her arm winding around his waist- all in a fraction of a second, well before his sleep deprived brain could register what was happening.

Mishti's anxious gaze was fixed upon Abir's foot, as she tried to spot the injury that she believed needed stitches and the boat load of medicines on the bed. Firmly clutching Abir around the waist, she practically hustled him towards his bed all the while scolding him thoroughly.

"What are you doing walking about?? Why aren't you in bed?" she demanded of him as she literally commandeered him over to his bed and firmly pushed him down on it so he was sitting with his back to the headboard. Her presence was so totally unexpected that a shocked Abir simply let her lead him wherever she wanted to, his eyes just fixed upon her.

It was only when she sat down by him, bent down and lifted his 'injured' foot into her lap carefully, slowly, that he jerked back into the present and tried to pull his foot away instantly with a protesting "Mishti..". She simply glared at him and held on to his foot with a steel grip, preventing him from moving it an inch.

"Stop doing that! And Where is everyone?? Why are you alone?? Didn't anyone come with you to the hospital?? Why didn't you call me?" she continued her barrage of questions, completely ignoring his spluttered protests as she carefully pushed the cuff of his jeans up before examining his ankle with narrowed eyes. The fresh bruise stood out starkly against his fair skin and he yelped in pain as her fingers brushed against it. She looked up at that, her eyes both furious and worried at the same time.

"It hurts, doesn't it?? Then why were you walking about? Can't you just stay put and rest?" she scolded him roundly before shifting her gaze back to his foot. She couldn't see any injury that had been stitched up recently.

"Mishti, it's nothi..." he tried to tell her as she bent down to grab his other foot.

"NOTHING??? Shut up, Not ONE WORD out of you, Abir. Chup. Bilkul chup" she snapped, incensed and he subsided at her tone, quickly lifting his other foot to the bed before she could go for it.