Destiny's Play!!

Chapter - 58

KARAN HAD A COLD. And he hated it. Period. He sneezed for the fifth time in a row and he was just short of blowing his fuse. He never did well in sick situations and cold well, it could be safely said he would rather have the most atrocious of diseases but not that. He was sitting on his couch with his legs up and laptop working only it was so difficult to concentrate with a blocked nose and aching forehead. He couldn't travel to Delhi because of the damned thing and it was irritating him to no end. His mother had practically been fussing over him since yesterday. And he didn't like it. He was a grown man not a little boy who needed to be tucked in or given soup to combat the stuffy nose. How the hell had he caught the chill anyway? He would have laughed at the hilarity of the situation only he was at the receiving end of the joke. And so he didn't dare. Last Friday, it was Avni who had been ill and it seemed she had recovered from most of its effects. Her color was back to normal and the shadows were all but gone and here he was sick on Wednesday. Actually since Tuesday evening. He groaned as he geared for another of his sneezes. Once he was finished he heard the doorbell ring. He hoped it wasn't his mother checking in on him again. She had come in fifty times since she had heard he wasn't doing well. He rose from his position and stomped to the door. As he opened it with a scowl on his face ready to send his mother back with a curt word he was surprised to see Avni standing there with a small bag in her hand. She smiled at him. And he glared at her.

"Go away," he said grouchily, "and tell mom I don't need any more soup," he said and almost closed the door on her face when her voice stopped him.

"Hi," she said a little cheerfully.

Damn, when she smiled like that he didn't have the heart to turn her away. She seemed to be in a good mood and it had lightened the atmosphere suddenly. He couldn't be rude to her. She rarely displayed cheerfulness if he sent her away he just might mark a dent in her happiness. He sighed and opened the door wider then turned and walked back to the couch he had been sitting on earlier. It was her wish if she wanted to come in or go back. He heard the door close behind him so she had come in. He hoped she wasn't here to give him a lecture on what to do in a cold or what medicine to take. He would definitely show her the way out then.

Avni had been in a good mood since Sunday. She felt lighter, happier and more confident something she hadn't done in a long long time. Riddhima had come over for Sunday lunch and she could see the disappointment on her face when she realized Uday wasn't there. They had spoken at length. Actually she and Manya had spoken while Avni had mostly listened. But at the end of it Riddhima seemed to know what she wanted and she and Manya were busy devising plans as how to go about getting Uday back into the game. Yesterday at dinner table she had found out that Karan had a severe cold and was going to work from home this entire week. And she had been concerned. Later Nilakshi had told her how grouchy he got every time he was sick. And how difficult a patient he was. Avni had smiled. It was to be expected from him. As it is men made difficult patients and here it was the one man who couldn't bring himself to accept weakness at all. Why was it so difficult to accept that the strongest could fall ill too? Hah, but that is how men were. Her own father had never done well in such situations. She had walked in from school deciding she was going to see him and cheer him a bit if he was up to taking visitors when a dour looking Nilakshi had told her he had refused to even open the door to her. Avni had smiled and assured Nilakshi she knew a trick to cure colds without much fuss and Nilakshi had been delighted. Avni had then gone into the kitchen and made the age old remedy her mother swore by. She had gone to the market earlier and got him something else too. She put the things in a small bag and had walked to his house then taking in a deep breath rang the bell. It was only when he had opened the door had she realized how bad his cold really was. His right eye was slightly swollen maybe because of all the water that must have accumulated as his cold had gotten worse. His nose was red and puffy with the constant use of a tissue and his face looked feverish what with a couple of days' stubble he looked positively adorably roguish. While he had scowled she had smiled and then he had told her to go away in his hoarse voice. She would have found it rude any other day but she knew he wasn't well. So she had given him her best smile and said 'hi'. To which he had just left the door open and walked back inside. She had followed. She didn't need to muster courage around him anymore. She understood why he was gruff. He liked to keep his real sweet self under wraps. She had walked in and had been greeted enthusiastically by the dogs. She had petted them and they had slobbered her with their kisses. Then she had walked to where Karan sat tapping furiously on his laptop and the dogs had followed her to the sitting area settling themselves on the plush rug.