DevAkshi- The First Sign of Love is Care (UPDATE on page 3)

Sona paced around the kitchen as her mom made vegetable soup. Mrs. Bose kept asking Sona why she wanted her to make vegetable soup at 1 AM but Sona refused to tell her. Then again, why would Sona tell her mom that she wanted her mom to make soup for Dev who had been sick for the past couple of days? Her mom would ask her questions about why and what Dev meant to her and she didn't want to have to explain her feelings for Dev to her mom. She would be furious if she knew the pain her daughter had been in for the past month.

Sona only had a week left with the Dixit family and she had already begun distancing herself from them to make it easier to forget Dev. And so that she wouldn't miss the family too much once she moves on to another job.

Distancing herself from Dev hadn't been too difficult because he was always at the office working on the Gujral project. She would routinely go to Dixit house and do her job and leave as soon as she was done to avoid getting more involved with Dev. She wanted to move on. She was determined to fall in love with someone else.

And then it happened. Due to exhaustion and overworking, Dev had fallen extremely ill. He had had a fever for the past few days which had caused him to become very weak. Today, he was in such bad condition that Tina forced him to go home after only an hour of working in the morning. Tina thought that his family (and frankly, Ms. Bose) could take care of him at home.

When he got home that morning, Sona was setting down Mrs. Dixit's food on the dining table and caught a glimpse of Dev as he was being helped up the stairs by Kichu bhaiya. She felt a sudden tinge of pain in her heart at the sight but she couldn't do anything. After all, she is only his mom's doctor to him. As soon as Kichu bhaiya came back to the kitchen, Sona got busy telling him what to make. But this time, it was for Dev, not for Ishwari auntie. She felt bad for making Kichu bhaiya work so much so she helped him cut vegetables too and helped prepare multiple dishes for Dev so he could get better. Just as they were finishing up, Mrs. Dixit came into the kitchen and thanked Sona for taking care of his son so much. Sona told her it wasn't any trouble and asked her to make sure that Dev eats all the food and drinks plenty of fluids before heading out.

On her way out, she was talking to Nikki about her studies when Mrs. Dixit came out hurriedly and asked Sona if she could give the food to Dev. Mrs. Dixit told her that Radha Rani was having a pooja at her house and insisted that everyone come immediately so she had to leave with her daughters.

It was about 3 PM now and Sona told her that she will take care of it before leaving.

With a heavy heart, Sona loaded a tray with all the food and started heading upstairs to Dev's room. She kept thinking about how he was all the way to his room but sighed in relief when she saw that he was sleeping, tucked in 3 blankets. She set the tray down on his night stand and leaned over his bed to lay the back of her hand on his forehand and winced in shock at how high his fever was. She rushed down the stairs to grab a bowl of water and several pieces of cloth and ran up the stairs back to Dev's room. She quickly wet the cloth and brushed aside Dev's hair from his forehead, laying the cool cloth on his head. At the cool sensation, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Sona sat there, massaging Dev's head and changing the cloth to bring down his fever. Within an hour, his fever was considerably down compared to earlier. She changed the cloth one last time and as she was getting ready to leave the bed, she felt Dev weakly grab her wrist. She turned around and saw Dev struggling to open his eyes.

"Mr. Dixit, its me, Sona... I mean, Dr. Bose. Don't push yourself too much, you need the rest. Kichu bhaiya prepared food for you so make sure you eat it." She still felt his hand around her wrist and lost her self in his warm touch.

"Ms. Bose, thank you for always taking care of me. Are you leaving?" Dev turned in his bed, now facing Sona, still holding her wrist. Sona nodded and a part of Dev wanted to beg her to stay but he didn't find the courage to ask her.

Sona was fidgeting now, and Dev let go of her wrist because he didn't want to make Ms. Bose uncomfortable. With a last request to ask him to eat all the food, Sona got up and left his room, slowly making her way down to the kitchen.

She still felt the sensation of his warm hand on her wrist.

She told Kichu bhaiya to check up on Dev every 20 minutes and to make sure he eats before leaving his house.

She finally got home at 6:00 PM, had dinner, and was resting in her room. Since she had to start her new job soon, she got out a couple of new books to update her knowledge about nutrition according to new scientific evidence. She was reading them in bed and fell asleep.

She suddenly woke up when her phone started ringing at 12:30 AM. Sona moved the book away from her, put it on her night stand, and picked up her phone.

"Mr. Dixit calling? Right now?" She thought to herself as she hurriedly picked up the phone to make sure he was okay.

"Hello Ms. Bose? Sorry for calling you so late but Maa hasn't come back yet and no one is at the house so I thought I would call you for help."

"Of course Mr. Dixit. Is everything okay?"Sona sat up on the edge of her bed and started nervously fidgeting her legs.

"Yes, Ms. Bose. The thing is, I finished all the food but I am still hungry. Is there any more food in the fridge? If not, I can go downstairs and make something right now." Before he could even continue, he heard a loud protest of "Nos" on the phone.

"No no Mr. Dixit. There is no more food there. But don't go around acting brave and try to cook. I can bring you more food. Just try resting for a bit okay? I will be there in less than an hour." Sona hurriedly got out of bed and went to wake up her mom.

Dev smiled at his phone and looked at his hand that had grabbed Sona's wrist earlier. He could still feel the sensation of her soft skin against his rough hands.

~

Hope you like it!

I was planning on writing like a part 2 of it so if you would like me to do so please let me know!

Thanks :)