Brute

42. Max

"I can't believe she's going to be late to lunch." Max scoffed, "she didn't even party last night."

He and Bradley had been waiting in the lobby for quite a while now, he even sent her texts but she hadn't responded to any of them. She wasn't answering his calls either. It wasn't fair she got to ignore them he thought, he was just as tired and would rather sleep in but lunch with the team was important.

Max's phone rang, it was a call from Neel, a pleasant surprise to him.

"Hey! How are you doing Neel?" Max answered.

"I'm good! Congratulations on the second title! How are you feeling?"

"Elated. Relieved. Everything good honestly." Max laughed. "We've got to meet over the winter break, lots to catch up on."

"I agree! But, can you help me out with something right now?"

"Sure what's the matter?"

"Is Kalki with you right now?"

"No. Actually Bradley and I are waiting for her."

"Can you please check on her? It's been hours. She's not answering my calls, she hasn't replied to her friends texts and she hasn't picked up our parents' calls either." He explained worriedly.

"I'll see what I can do. I'll call you as soon as I get to her. Don't stress! It was nice talking to you." Max ended the call.

"Something's wrong. Something is really wrong." He said to Brad.

"Why? What happened?" He asked.

"Where's the manager we need the key to Kalki's room."

"Isn't that break-in-"

"She hasn't answered anyone's calls or texts in hours. Forget about me, her family! Burman puts her family above everything!" He marched towards the front desk.

The receptionist looked at him in confusion, he explained the situation to him. He called for the manager, who led Max straight to Kalki's room with the master key. "Normally there's a long procedure-"

"I'll walk on my hands later if I have to right now can we just get to making sure she's okay?" Max shot back.

The manager pushed the door open, she stepped in followed by Max, who felt awkward even if he was fully aware how gladly he crashed in her hotel rooms when he was drunk. Not far from where he was, he could see Kalki had collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

"Please call for medical help!" He exclaimed.

Max dashed straight towards her, getting her off the floor and on her back on the bed. He checked her pulse, it was still there, she was still breathing. He scanned her arms, she didn't seem to have any injuries. A wave of relief passed over him.

He reached for the bottle of water by her bed side, hoping that she'd wake up soon enough. She was pale, there was no colour to her face, her lips were parched. He noticed her eyelashes fluttering a little, she should regain her consciousness any time now.

"Ouch!" She softly cried clutching her head.

"Drink some of this." He said holding the bottle of water.

"What happened?" She asked, tugging her blanket on, feeling self conscious.

"I should be the one asking you that." He said, holding the bottle to her lips, helping her take some sips.

"We've got a doctor here!" The manager announced leading her in.

"I'm fine!" Kalki said.

"The doctor will decide that not you." Max said.

"Using my words against me?" She tried to laugh, but it almost came out as a croak.

"I'm glad she's conscious now, nothing too serious, I'll just check your vitals and ask you some questions." The doctor explained.

She took Kalki's vitals and started asking her questions, about what her last meal was, what were her working hours and habits. The more Kalki revealed, the more concerned the doctor's expression grew.

"I hope you realise you've fainted from overworking. Stress! At such a young age!" She exclaimed.

All Kalki could do was smile sheepishly, the doctor recommended rest and some electrolytes so that she could recover and regain energy. Max thanked her and saw her out, he even thanked the manager and said he would take care of the procedures she was talking about as soon as he could.

He'd never seen Kalki so weak, almost helpless. She always seemed more than capable to look after herself, but right now was different, she looked fragile, her eyes looked tired and her dark hair a mess. The first time he'd seen any strand of her hair out their place.

"Stay put I'll get you more blankets." He said tucking her in.

"What about team lunch-"

"I'll tell Bradley we won't be able to make it, maybe we can delay it for a bit." He said.

"We?" She looked at him.

"Duh." He rolled his eyes, "I'm not leaving you alone right now."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry." She sighed.

"Why are you sorry?" Max asked sitting by the bed.

"Worrying everyone like this. I swear this isn't that stressful I've worked in worse conditions and I don't mean to make you look like a bad employer-"

"That doesn't matter right now. What exactly happened do you remember?"

"I left the track, and I spoke to my sister till it was like 3:30 AM. And then I went to sleep. I could hear my phone ring so many times but for some reason no muscle in my body would move. And then when I finally felt like I could move, I remember standing up, walking towards the window and then everything went black." She explained.

"Why do you work so much? Why can't you just slow down? Do you have any idea how scared I- Neel got?"

"Neel!" She exclaimed, "Can you keep it a secret? I don't want my family to worry about this, I'll just say I was tired and slept in. They don't need to know."

"You collapsed from overworking Kalki, I think they need to know."

"You didn't call me Burman, that's a first!" She smiled weakly. A strand of hair had escaped from her hair tie, Max felt like he was fighting everything inside him to tuck it behind her ear.

Even though she looked sick and dehydrated, she still looked charming to him. Her dark eyes didn't look intimidating when they were this tired, it was quite the opposite.

"I have a request." She spoke again, "I know it's stupid but please don't be weirded out."

"What is it?"

"My hair is a mess, my arms feel so tired can you just tie me a ponytail so that it's out of my face?"

"Sure." He nodded. He gathered her hair at the back of her head, her hair was soft, really silky he thought to himself.

"What are you doing?"

"You need to wash your hair." He blurted, "So greasy."

"Oh." She sounded embarrassed.