Little Girl’s Wild Side - Chapter 58

But before Gautham could ask or do anything, Aruna barged into the room.

“Sindhu… come on now. Drink this… you will feel better.” Aruna said approaching Sindhu but Sindhu did not stir. Aruna had some green looking liquidy substance in her hands. Gautham instantly recognized what it was. It was his mother’s specialty medicine whenever he had fever.

“She has fever??” Gautham asked approaching Sindhu from behind Aruna. But Aruna clearly blocked the way not letting his son through. When he tried to go around her, Aruna glared at him vehemently. Her eyes were clearly accusing him.

“You did not even know she has fever??? Where do you even keep your eyes???” Aruna scolded him with fiery arrows shooting out of her eyes.

But you can’t really blame him. When he came home yesterday, it was pretty late and Sindhu was already asleep when he came to bed. So he quietly slept beside her afraid of waking her up.

“Ma…” Gautham whined helplessly.

Right then even Govind joined them in their room. Of course even he had something on his hands.

“Hey… here’s the breakfast. I brought some warm water too. Just in case she had dry throat.” He said and walked past his son without even bothering to give him a second glance. He was clearly being treated as thin air right about then.

All this while, Sindhu was actually not really awake. Her eyes and whole body felt heavy. She did not really have enough energy to open her eyes. And it was not the first time either. Her body was always weak to climate change. She will definitely end up with cold and fever at the start of winter every year like clockwork. And each time, she will be bed ridden for at least two days. Renuka had long before called and informed Aruna of this. Renuka was afraid they wouldn’t be prepared and get scared. Because for two days straight, Sindhu will end up sleeping like a dead log. If someone who did not know sees it they will think she was faint of something.

Gautham saw that both his parents were being childishly stubborn. So he simply went to the other side of the bed and scooted over beside her.

When he touched her forehead, they were burning hot. Sindhu let out a shiver as she felt his cold hands against her forehead. Gautham just had a shower, so his hands still had some residual water in them.

When he saw her shiver he quickly retrieved his hands but then Sindhu seemed to have unconsciously recognized his touch because as soon as his hands left her skin, she groaned in protest.

“You guys go. I will feed her once she wakes up.”Gautham said looking at his parents.

Of course Aruna wanted to protest, but Govind could see his son’s concern. He deduced Gautham would want to take care of her personally. So he quietly gestured Aruna to not make this worse. After all Sindhu was very sick. And they did not want to create a scene now and make her suffer more.

Aruna puffed her cheeks and stomped out. But even then she looked back at Sindhu one last time anxiously before exiting.

“You better take good care of her. Or else forget about ever seeing her until she gets better.” She said sternly and closed the doors behind her.

Sindhu shifted uncomfortably. She was very cold in spite of being covered in such a thick blanket. She mumbled something restlessly. Even though Gautham was fully focused on Sindhu, he still could not comprehend what she was saying.

“hey… baby… Are you awake??? Where is it uncomfortable???” He asked softly when he thought she heard her say something.

“Cold,” Sidhu mumbled softly and shifted towards him.

Gautham quickly went under the blanker and laid beside her. Sindhu clung to his warmth. She completely wrapped herself against him. She slept more comfortably at last.

Gautham wrapped his arms around and rested her head against his chest comfortably.

“Sorry baby…” he murmured kissing her on her temple. He felt extremely guilty for not realzing how sick she was earlier. Even when he woke up and went for the jog, he did not realize it. He just thought she was catching up on some sleep.

It was not just Aruna, even he himself was angry at himself. That is why he did not really argue with his mum when she glared at him. A large part of him already thought he deserved that accusatory stare from his mum. That is why he wanted to make up for it and at least do his part now.

“Gautham…” Sindhu called out in her sleep tightening her hands around him. It was as if she was trying to seek comfort from him in her sick state.

“I’m right here baby. I am going to here when you wake up. it’s okay… Sleep…” He said softly comforting her.

At last after about half an hour, Sindhu blinked her eyes open. The first thing they met were Gautham’s extremely anxious and concerned face.

“hey… baby…” he called softly and helped her sit up. He then reached to the thermos coffee mug. He opened the lid and fed her some warm water- courtesy of his dad of course.

Sindhu’s throat was completely dry, so she took a greedy sip in but then groaned when she felt that the water was actually hot.

“It’s okay. Just bear with it for a few days until you get better,” Gautham said gently and softly held her head in place and fed her another sip.

Sindhu puffed her cheeks but still obediently drank it. Gautham then went down to warm her breakfast. Sindhu sat there for a while but then got up from the bed and slowly strolled to the bathroom to freshen up a little bit. But then she gave the tap a nastly look.

That was exactly how Gautham found her.

“Why are you out of bed??? What are you looking at???” He asked.

“I want to wash my face but I afraid to touch the cold water.” She said in a pitiful voice still looking at the tap as if it was bullying her.

Gautham let out a chuckle at her childish expression.

“Come on out now. Have your breakfast. I will wipe your face with some warm water later.” He pacified and hurriedly hushed her back to bed. She might be awake but she still had high fever and was still cold. He could already see the goosebumps rising on her hands. And thankfully Sindhu was really obedient so far when she was sick.

Note: Chennai is extremely himid and hot for most part of the year. we barely have a month or two of winter in a year. so not every house hold has heaters and warm water in taps.