That morning, as I opened my eyes at around five, I felt pain in every inch of my body. It took a considerable effort to muster the courage to rise and drink some water.
"O God, I am going to die.
Please bhagwan utha le mujhe..
I am coming to you."
I began my usual chants, a ritual that seemed to emerge every time I fell ill.
The previous day's physics lecture had been good, but what made the day far more memorable was something else entirely—the slight swelling in my tonsils, accompanied by a noticeable discomfort. It was probably something I had caught from Vihaan, who had only just recovered himself.
When I reached home, I told Maa about my discomfort. At first, it was just an ache across my body, so I decided to nap. But when I woke, the ache had grown into a dull headache.
By late evening, my left cheek had visibly swollen. Papa carefully trimmed the hair on my face before sticking on the belladonna plaster.
"I should go to the academy today. Yes, I have to go. Naira will see this plaster on my cheek and will surely ask me what happened. I'll tell her about my condition, and she'll kindly remind me to take care. That would be so endearing and heartwarming."
Even in that state, just imagining it made my stomach flutter. I wondered what I'd do if my condition got worse—maybe I'd end up lying on the classroom bench. And then Naira, being the first to arrive after me, would find me there and ask about my health.
The door creaked open as Maa emerged from the bedroom. She approached my mattress, her eyebrows knitting together as she saw me awake.
"I'm really not doing well, yaar," I groaned.
She took my temperature and advised me to stay home from the Academy. But I resisted her suggestion immediately. Papa handed me some medicine, but I still struggled to get up. He warned me twice before leaving for work that I shouldn't attend classes today.
I waited precisely ten minutes after he left before I decided to get up and brush my teeth.
"Are you still going to class?" Mom asked when she saw me with a toothbrush in my mouth.
"Yes."
"Don't go today. Papa said you need to rest."
"I have two classes today. Missing them isn't an option. Tomorrow, there's only one class, so I'll skip that." I offered a sincere explanation.
"Make sure you're taking care of yourself. Your health isn't at its best." Maa said, concerned.
"Don't worry. I'll manage for one day."
Indian mothers often find themselves caught between their husbands' directives and their child's determination.
Carrying the weight of body pain and my swollen cheek, I entered the Academy, spotting only Karan and Piyush.
Oh no—how did I forget?
It was the newly joined faculty's lecture scheduled for the morning. Barely anyone attended his class, so coming that early suddenly felt pointless. Honestly, I felt like a fool for showing up so soon.
Dipali ma'am and two boys asked about my cheek, but I didn't really know what to tell them—I myself had no idea what had caused it.
Shaurya, ever the know-it-all, declared it was a muscle puncture and said using belladonna plasters was pointless. I ignored him, knowing he was way off. Later, when I went to collect my HSC board form, Raj sir teased me, hinting that a girl had punched me in the face.
Sitting on the second bench, I could feel the room's coldness creeping into my bones as Mohit sir droned on about electrostatics. I did my best to stay focused, even answered a few questions as sir worked through the calculations for electric field intensities. But every fifteen minutes or so, I had to step out, trying to motivate myself to stay strong until Naira arrived. I had decided that the moment she saw me, I'd leave, even if it was before the second lecture ended.
As luck would have it, just when twenty minutes were left of the torturous lecture, the power went out. I rushed out of the class in relief, silently praying that the electricity wouldn't come back soon. As I was about to step outside to sit under the sun, I noticed Lizz in the library. I went over to pay her a visit first.
"Kya hua tujhe?" Lizz always spoke softly, despite her slightly raspy voice.
"Are, woh, my cheek is swollen. I don't know what the problem is. I've got a high fever too... total mess." I explained it to her a little—since it was Lizz.
"Why did you come then?" she asked with concern.
I gave her the same reason of not wanting to miss any classes, which, surprisingly, was a bigger priority for me that day than even seeing Naira.
The power cut led to all the students gathering in the corridor. All the classrooms had emptied, and exhaustion was evident on everyone's faces. As people from both batches passed by, they kept asking me about my cheek, and I gave different answers to each one—telling some it was just swelling, while to others, I blamed some bacteria.
Eventually, I decided to sit on the floor outside the Academy, shivering and rubbing my palms against my arms for warmth. I was waiting for Naira to arrive and, at the same time, hoping Ramesh and Piyush would stop pestering me to go home and rest.
Unable to take their advice any longer, I finally stood up and decided to move to the staircase in front of the PNCF(Pre-Nurturing And Career Foundation) branch of our academy.
I slowly descended the stairs, aiming to sit where a narrow strip of sunlight barely touched the lower steps. Just as I reached my spot, Sushant saw me and sneered,
"You're walking like someone just fucked you."
I shot him a look but didn't bother replying. Ramesh taunted me again, this time with Lizz standing beside him.
I ignored both of them, sinking into the warmth of the sun for a moment of relief. But soon enough, I stood up again, anxiety creeping in. It had been around ten minutes since I stepped out of the academy.
What if Naira had already arrived in the classroom?
I couldn't risk missing her entrance. That would be the best chance of her seeing me in such a condition. As I walked back toward the gate of the academy, I caught sight of a girl with thick, jet-black hair walking down the perpendicular corridor.
It had to be Sanjana.
Right then, my phone buzzed. I stopped to see it was a message from Papa, scolding me for attending classes despite my poor health. I quickly texted back, convincing him that attending that day's lectures was important and promising I'd take a day off the next day.
I could barely walk by the time I reached the door of classroom number eight. The door opened and Sanjana was on her way out. As we crossed paths, she squinted slightly, giving my face a puzzled look.
"What happened?" she asked, her expression filled with concern.
"Are woh…" I muttered, shaking my head.
How many more people do I need to explain this to?
I thought. My mind was too focused on seeing if Naira was already inside. But, remembering my manners and Sanjana's kindness, I quickly turned around and answered her.
"My cheek is swollen because of a bacterial infection," I explained briefly.
"Okayyy…" she replied, sounding somewhat unconvinced.
I nodded and turned back toward the classroom, only to hear her voice again after a pause.
"Take care," she added.
I immediately turned around and, in the loudest voice I could manage that day, I shouted,
"Thank youu!"
But by then, she had already disappeared into the crowd, walking toward the main door, oblivious to my gratitude.
I entered the classroom. Naira wasn't there yet, but she could arrive any moment. I sat down at my usual spot despite enduring yet another argument with Ramesh and Piyush, who were still trying to convince me to go home and rest. Five minutes later, nearly everyone who had been loitering outside came back in.
Sanjana returned too, clutching her HSC board exam form. She seemed unusually cheerful, excitedly mentioning that the form fee was only nine hundred rupees instead of the eighteen hundred she had expected. I couldn't help but chuckle when she mischievously revealed that she had a 2,000-rupee note and planned to keep the extra money without telling her mom.
Her light-hearted attitude continued as she complained about the form being boring to fill out. Lizz joined in, teasing her and asking if she would prefer more personal questions—like how many exes she had or something equally scandalous.
The classroom was still mostly empty, and I could hear girls behind me chatting away, with Sanjana doing most of the talking.
Soon, the biggest friend group of Batch 1, which sat behind me, had everyone—Arjun, Lizz, Shaurya, Sanjana, and Rushika—but Naira still hadn't arrived. That was weird. She rarely missed a class when Sanjana was around.
Keeping my eyes closed, I was hoping my efforts wouldn't go unnoticed when the door finally opened, and there she was, in a single ponytail and a smile on her face.
Lizz and Arjun were sitting right behind me, where Naira and Sanjana usually sat, so Naira had to sit behind them.
The worst part? She couldn't even see me from there.
To my surprise, she put down her bag but stayed standing, talking to everyone around her. My eyes were secretly watching her, waiting for her to look back at me.
"Haa...the one in RRR…with Ram Charan…I can't remember his name," Naira said. Their conversation was loud enough for me to hear.
"He's got Jr. in his name…I don't remember the full name either," I added, seeing my chance.
"Haa, haawahi." Naira looked at me, nodded quickly, and then turned back to Sanjana, blinking her eyes.
What the heck? Naira looked at me but didn't notice the plaster.
I decided to stay quiet and sit back in my usual spot, waiting. Five minutes passed, and Naira was still standing, talking to people, but not noticing me.
I eventually looked away.
"Uh, Tuh-nish?"
"YES, finally!" I thought.
"Kya hua tujhe?" she asked, her eyebrows raised slightly, her big eyes showing that playful glint she was known for, with a faint smile like she assumed I wasn't that bad off. Maybe I seemed fine to her.
"Are…there's a bacteria that causes swelling." I tried to keep it simple.
She nodded and turned back to Sanjana before I even finished.
WHAT?? Was that all??
She could've at least told me to take care, like the girl next to her did. The smile I had when I saw her soon faded. Even my health, which had improved a little, felt like it had gotten worse again. Not sure if it was because of Naira or because both the ACs were on and sitting on the second bench, I was shivering.
Sunny sir hadn't come in yet. Naira and Sanjana suddenly moved to the third-last bench.
I wondered why, but the only benefit seemed to be that it looked warmer there.
Ignoring any judgment from others, I grabbed my bag and sat behind them. I had just closed my eyes when Sunny Sir walked in. He was the second one to joke about the plaster, asking if it was really a bacterial infection or if someone had hit me, and I was hiding the injury. I quickly denied it, saying I'm all about non-violence.
Then the conversation shifted to Paresh missing his NDA exam by six marks, and he started teasing Shaurya, who was in NCC. Meanwhile, Prashant kept interrupting, saying he'd take the NDA exam too, but only for fun, until I cut him off, telling him to focus on the exam instead of bragging, which made everyone laugh—even Naira, who looked back at me.
We were supposed to continue with differential equations, but I'd already decided I wasn't going to study. I sat back, planning to nap while Sir was at the front, only opening my notebook when he came to check on us. Naira and Sanjana's gossip was the major background noise that too caught my real attention only when I heard Naira mention my name.
Upon asking, both acted like it was nothing—Naira said it wasn't important, and Sanjana just shook her head. I let it go, assuming Naira was telling Sanjana about the rumours that I had a crush on Naira.
What snapped me out of my nap next were Paresh's squinted eyes.
They were looking at someone, maybe Sanjana.
I slowly adjusted, rubbing my eyes, trying to see what was going on. Sanjana, who was known for not giving him any attention, wasn't even looking at him, even then—she was either gossiping with Naira or focused on the board.
Paresh, on the other hand, was glancing between her and the board, writing with his left hand. Then suddenly, he looked away, maybe realising I'd caught him.
"Yes, it was a diff...," Naira whispered to the girl beside her.
"Wait, are you talking about differentiation?" I asked.
"Huh?" Naira turned to me.
"What are you two talking about?", I asked, though not that curious.
"I was telling her a story." Naira replied.
"Okay…well, be a little louder then, I want to hear it too. Only if its nothing personal"
I shifted to the centre of the bench to hear them better, but quickly gave up on that and went back to resting against the wall.
As time passed, the pain somehow began to ease a little. As I got comfortable, I completely forgot about the plaster and accidentally rested my cheek on my palm—only to shout in pain, loud enough for Sunny sir to stop writing and turn back.
While everyone returned to their books, I sat there quietly, muttering in pain, with only the two girls in front of me noticing.
"Tu theek hai?" Sanjana asked.
"Huh?" I hadn't heard her properly.
"Are you alright?" Sanjana repeated, keeping her voice low but loud enough for me to hear it.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just pressed on my cheek and forgot about the plaster."
She nodded, patiently listening, one of her best traits.
The lecture finally ended, and I rushed to fill out the HSC form everyone had already submitted. I opened the image that sir had forwarded and started entering my details.
Everything was going smoothly until I reached the section that asked about the individual, group, or institute categories.
I turned to Sanjana for help, who was surrounded by her group.
"You're an individual, right?" she pointed at the option.
I nodded and ticked it.
"Okay, now put a cross there. You're not a divyang candidate, right?" she asked, and I agreed.
I did as she said, not even knowing what divyang meant. She continued explaining the remaining options, guiding me through details like the religious minority and caste sections. I already knew a few parts—like the one on disabilities—but she still took the time to brief me properly.
At last, Sanjana dictated the subject codes with her usual precision, and I filled them in, steady and focused, while she alternated her gaze between my form and Naira's group.
"Thanks a lot," I said, picking up the form.
"You're welcome."
I got up, grabbed my bag, and was about to leave when Sanjana called after me.
"Dhyaan rakh."
"Huh?" I didn't get her. The class was getting filled by incoming students for their lecture.
"Take care," Sanjana repeated.
Grateful, I thanked her.
I kept wishing Naira would ask me to take care, just once—but she never did. Infact, ironically, it was her best friend who said it twice.
I finally headed out after submitting the form in the office, where I had to explain why I didn't write my father's name between mine and my surname,
The four girls were sitting on the lobby sofa, and I still had to collect the receipt for the previously submitted cheque, which took another ten minutes of mine, after which I finally reached the bus stop.
Luckily, the bus arrived on time—but it was already packed. I could barely stand, swaying with every turn. When I got off at my stop, I stumbled my way home, almost losing balance with every step, until I finally made it home and threw myself onto the bed.
Looking back, it felt like care didn't come from where I was expecting, but came from where I wasn't expecting it that day—the same people who, without me realising it then, were about to become far more important in my story.