His eyes opened before she even made a sound, something inside him seemingly screaming at him that he had to wake up now. Had to pay attention.
"Someone important is here!"
He thought it was his Dadi.
It was not his Dadi.
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?"
The young boy puffed out his chest before he replied. It was a move he had seen his Uncle pull every time he introduced himself, and if there was one person he wanted to be like, it was his Uncle. "I'm Shivaay Singh Oberoi, obviously."
The even younger girl stared at him blankly. Blinked. "Who?"
He spluttered, outraged. What did she mean 'who'? Everyone in this hospital knew him! The doctors, the nurses, even the porters treated him like royalty because well... he kind of was. Shivaay thought of the veritable palace he lived in, the stupid amount of jewellery his mum and his aunt and hell, even his Dadi wore, the ridiculous number of servants they had. How dare this girl not know?
And who was she anyway?
What on earth was she doing in his private space? He was sure his parents were paying their weight in gold so that he could have an entire Bay of the ward to himself. So who let her in and who did he speak to about getting them fired?
She picked up one of the soft toys at the foot of his bed, a stuffed tiger, and started to make it crawl over the bed. "Why are you all alone in here?"
"Because I don't want to share."
"That's ridiculous. Everyone has to share!"
"I don't." He folded his arms and sat up straighter in the bed, scowling at this girl who clearly not only didn't know her place, but didn't know anyone else's either.
To the 10 year old Shivaay Singh Oberoi, this was completely unacceptable.
He tried reaching forward to snatch back his toy, but she pulled it out of his reach. He swiped outwards again, but she just pulled it away, making it clamber over the table piled with all kinds of snacks and juices and books and magazines, left there by his family. Then suddenly, she grinned and lunged it forwards towards him.
"Roar!"
She laughed with her entire body when he jumped, her eyes gleaming as his own flashed angrily in her direction. "Stop it!"
She stopped laughing and tilted her head to the side, looking at him with a look which was both curious and pitying. "Is it very lonely in here?"
"No," he frowned, "my family visits me every day and the doctors and nurses are always coming in and out. Speaking of which, you'd better leave before I call one of them in here and have you banned from the hospital."
Her eyes widened and she shook her head rapidly in a panic. "Oh no, please don't. I have to come here, I-" she started shaking and this alarmed Shivaay who tried to move towards her, but the sudden clutch of pain in his chest forced him back down.
"Okay." He said, trying to calm both herself and the pain down. "I won't have you banned from the hospital. Just this ward."
She grinned again and then plopped herself down on the bed beside his feet, still clutching the stuffed tiger.
"What do you think you're doing?"
She looked down at her lap and stroked the head of the toy nervously, not saying anything.
"Hey, I asked you a question."
"Sitting."
Shivaay almost tutted in frustration. "Why are you sitting in my room? ON MY BED?!"
She looked up then and this time he was startled by the sight of tears in her eyes. In the space of about a minute this girl had been happy, scared and now she was sad.
Was this a girl thing? Was this something girls did? Shivaay's own mood didn't change this quickly, and neither did his little brother Om's. He had always gone to All Boys' Schools and he didn't think any of his own friends did this kind of thing.
It had to be a girl thing.
But Shivaay, having no idea how to interact with girls and believing them to simply be prettier versions of boys just said what he would have to a fellow male. "Oy! Stop crying!"
Unsurprisingly to anyone who is not a 10 year old boy faced with an 8 year old girl, she did the exact opposite.
"'St- stop it. Stop it. Oh for the love of- STOP."
When his demands also failed to stop her wails, he changed tack. "If you stop crying, you can keep the tiger."
The tears didn't stop falling, but the loud and annoying sobbing came to a sniffling close as she looked up at him, lip quivering.
Shivaay folded his arms and felt incredibly clever, though it was probably closer to smug. Bribes always worked. Whenever he wanted Om to do something, he promised to buy him new paints, or to help him with his homework. He was glad to learn this method worked on girls too.
He'd have to remember that.
"Are you on this Ward too? In one of the other Bays?" he asked, finally giving up on getting her to leave when she started pouring herself a cup of juice. She shook her head and, to his surprise, held the cup out towards him. "Er... didn't you pour that for yourself?"
She shook her head, then bit her lip and nodded shyly. "Ammi says I shouldn't lie. Yes, I did, but then I thought that it's yours so I should offer you some first."
Shivaay raised an eyebrow, a look that always made his Jhanvi Chachi giggle. 'You look like a pompous little Rajkumaar when you do that, Shivaay beta.'
"You know the polite thing to do would have been to ask before you helped yourself in the first place."
She stuck out her tongue, causing his mouth to drop open, but before he could voice his affront she cut him off. "I'm just teaching you how to share, Mr Weird-Eyes."
"What did you just call me?"
"Mr Weird-Eyes. Why do they look like that? Is that why you're in hospital? Are you here to get your eyes replaced? Oh wait! Have you already had them replaced? Were you blind before? Could they not find you an Indian donor? Did you have to have a gora's eyes instead?" She gasped and then grinned, as though she'd solved a complicated puzzle. "I know! Did you pay to have gora eyes? Are they more expensive or fancy or something?" She squinted at him. "You know, they're not even just one colour. Did you have the new ones glued on over your old ones? Is that what it is, Mr Weird-Eyes?"
Shivaay was speechless.
Completely speechless.
Was she insane? He heard there was a special ward in the hospital for crazy people- is that where she had escaped from?
She wasn't wearing a hospital gown and she didn't appear to have a patient wristband, but what other explanation could there possibly be? Because surely normal human children did not behave like this, did not think like this, did not speak like this.
Before he could decide how to respond, she waved her hand in front of his face. "Hello? Mr Weird-Eyes are you okay?"
"Don't call me th-"
The pain was back. He clutched at his chest, rubbed, waited for it to pass.
It didn't. In fact, it was getting worse.
The ECG monitor connected to all the wires on his chest started beeping and a red light started flashing.
His vision felt hazy and the girl went in and out of focus. He couldn't breathe and he felt light- headed. The last thing he remembered before passing out was a doctor bursting into the room... just as the girl threw a cup of ice cold water at his face.
Bigg Boss 19
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
