a twist in the tale; swabhiman (chapter 13)

at night, naina gave karan the medicines he had to take.

naina: karan, you have to have a spoon of this syrup and take these pills.

karan: naina, they all taste so bad.

naina: karan, it’s just a matter of three months. after that, all of this is over.

after karan took his medicines, they had to decide who was going to sleep where.

naina: karan, i’ll sleep on the sofa and you sleep on the bed.

karan: no naina, you sleep on the bed, i’ll sleep on the sofa.

naina: but karan,

nirmala heard them and came in.

nirmala: naina, karan, is everything okay between the two of you?

naina: yes ma, why?

nirmala: then, why are the both of you sleeping separately?

naina: oh ma, vishal bhai said that it’s better if for the next three months we slept separately in case karan gets touched or he touches me.

nirmala: so naina, why don’t you sleep in another room instead of sleeping on the sofa?

naina: ma, the medicines might affect karan at night and if it does, someone should be with him to help put the cream on so it doesn’t hurt as much.

khyati passed their room and entered when she heard what naina said. khyati decided that she would do whatever she could to separate naina from karan and this was her only chance.

khyati: bhabhi, i’ll sleep on the sofa and help karan bhai. you should sleep in the other room, if not you’ll get disturbed in the middle of the night.

naina: no khyati, it’s okay.

nirmala: naina, if khyati’s insisting so much then it’s okay. you sleep in the other room, khyati will help karan.

nirmala left and naina explained khyati everything about karan’s medicine.

naina: khyati, if the medicines are affecting him, it’ll hurt a lot and i think he’ll get some rashes so use this cream on the rashes and karan will be fine shortly after.

khyati: naina bhabhi, i know how to take care of my brother. don’t worry.

khyati didn’t pay attention to what naina said. naina left the room and in the other room, couldn’t get sleep. naina was up walking around her room worried for karan. it was 4am when karan started getting pain.

karan: ah, naina!

khyati woke up.

khyati: bhai, are you okay?

karan: khyati, cream.

khyati: oh my god, the medicines are affecting you. wait, i’ll put the cream.

khyati tried to find the cream but she didn’t know which one it was.

khyati: oh god, which cream should i use?

karan: khyati, hurry!

khyati: bhai, i’m going to call naina bhabhi. one minute.

khyati ran to naina’s room and saw her pacing around the room.

khyati: bhabhi, karan’s in pain. i don’t know what cream to use.

naina ran to karan’s room and saw his condition. naina found the cream and went to karan.

karan: my back hurts.

naina: take off your clothes.

karan: what?

naina: karan, i can’t put the cream on with your clothes on and if you don’t take it off, i will.

karan agreed and took his shirt off. naina put the cream on the rashes and was slowly blowing on his back as it hurt when she touched him. after sometime, karan felt better.

khyati: naina bhabhi, i’m so sorry. i’ve blamed you for a lot of things but i know now that none of it was true and i guess it was just my misunderstanding. i know you care for bhai a lot and so i think it’s better you sleep here and take care of bhai.

naina: khyati, it was all just a misunderstanding. don’t worry about it.

khyati left the room and karan looked at naina.

karan: naina, i’m sorry for waking you up.

naina: karan, i wasn’t sleeping.

karan: naina, it’s 4am. why weren’t you sleeping?

naina: i couldn’t.

karan: why not?

naina: because i was worried for you. i didn’t know if you were fine or not, i thought maybe you’d need my help.

karan smiled.

karan: well, now that you’re here, you can sleep. i’ll be okay and i’ll call you if i need anything.

naina: okay.

naina sat on the floor next to the bed waiting for karan to feel better while talking to him, eventually karan felt much better and fell asleep. naina, without realising how or when, fell asleep there too.

thank you for reading! i’ve been wanting to write this since forever now and i don’t know if it came out like it thought i would. basically, naina was really worried for karan on one side and on the other, khyati didn’t know what was going on. because khyati didn’t pay attention, karan got to know that naina really cared for him because i mean, she stayed up till 4am for him and was probably going to stay up all night if khyati didn’t call her. the next chapter will be a continuation of this, the next morning’s events and what happens that night. after the next chapter i’m a little short of ideas so please comment any ideas or anything you want to see and i might put it in the ff!