Suvan FF: Advices and Apologies *Chpt 11 (Pg.18)|Updt 20/07 *COMPLETED - Page 12

Chapter 9

"Who was that!?" Khuranna Sir asked to the gathered audience after the trilling voice had escaped from one of the ground floor classrooms.

But Suman. She recognised it. She knew the familiarity in voice far too well to have missed it even in her sleep. She dashed towards the source without a second and without bothering to the trailing voice of Khuranna Sir asking her to not go inside the room.

A dozen thoughts flashed before her. 

Why would he scream? She had never seen him doing that. Even when he was being scolded by Devraj Uncle, he kept his head and voice both bowed down. The choicest of worries troubled her and one of them turned out to be true once she entered the room. Kancha was right after, followed by the presence of Khuranna Sir who seemed as worried as her.

Shravan lay flat on one of the cots besides a man well in his forties who seemed undisturbed with the sudden commotion and attention in the room. 

One arm outstretched and the other firmly grasping over it, Shravan wriggled in pain. The cot only did so much to fit his long legs with one dangling from an end into the air. But that eluded Suman. The sparkling red that covered the median region of his shirt's arm hindered her from taking notice of the room and it's surrounding.

"WHAT HAPPENED!", she screamed out of her skin, the hoodie cap coming loose off her head. 

Shravan and Bhopali kept mum and when the nurses failed to answer as well, the forty plus guy sitting beside Shravan's cot elected to be the interviewee.

"Poor boy lost consciousness at the sight of needle".

Suman stared with eyes wide open at Shravan and he responded with a lowered gaze. He could've hidden his face with the length of his hand, but the clenching of one arm over the other prevented him from doing so.

Suman bolted towards him, trying to touch the bright red spot on his arm. He neither flinched nor looked her way.

She softly caressed the spot from where blood had oozed out. "What... happened" she whispered through stifled soft tears.

Khuranna Sir still appalled and dissatisfied by the answer, commanded Bhopali to speak. He hesitated, bothered by Shravan's changing facial curves.

"He....uh...needle....blood....."

"BHOPALI! Will someone tell us what went on here? And what is Mr. Malhotra doing on the bed in this room in the first place?"

The nurse interrupted.

"Well, he fainted right after I went to find his radial for blood collection"

"Collection?" Khuranna Sir's eyebrows had crossed the distance between the temple and his cap! "What are you even saying? He can't donate blood due to his medical condition. He said so himself".

"Sir there might be a mistake. Shravan has been talking about the blood donation camp since forever", Kancha replied with the same astonishment and puzzled expressions.

"THAT WAS A LIE OKAY!", Shravan declared through shut eyes yet feeling Suman's questioning, piercing glare at him. 

"Everything was a lie!" He jolted his hand out of Sumo's grasp. 

"This dried blood isn't mine either!"

"Actually some of the blood spilled on his shirt as he dropped down to the floor", the nurse clarified.

Suman retreated, then excused herself to be at the window, still in enough distance to hear the continued conversation.

"Khuranna Sir, Shravan had been intending to tell it you but."

"But what!"

"He's drop dead scared of needles, Sir. I was the one who thought it to be great for him to volunteer. But had I only known sir...."

"He could've told me the reason! That was no room to lie!"

Bhopali nodded while Shravan only stared at Suman's figure standing, facing where the window opened.

The nurses excused themselves to clear the mess and took to tend to the other patients.

"Here....", Khuranna Sir said after a good while, handing over his water bottle and a Snickers bar.

"Eat... you'll feel better".

Shravan mindfully took the items as well as his Sir's instructions and mumbled a quiet sorry. Khuranna only gestured a yes head movement and left on patting his back.

"Take care".

When Khuranna Sir, the nurses and the guy next bed had emptied the room, Suman decided to leave as well. 

"Shravan, how do you feel now?" Kanchan asked after the chaos had mellowed down. She neared the bed.

Shravan's arm looked completely fine now , the spilled blood going beet red. She noticed a few drops on his hem as well.

"Let's go, Kancha", Suman said stopping in her tracks to the door.

"Sumo....please", Shravan pleaded with as much might as he could, to the point of even overexerting himself a bit in the process.

"Will you quit it now? This pretence? The facade!" Suman said ferociously crossing the distance between her and Shravan.

"Sumo, I..."

"Why Shravan? Why!" Her eyes had gone moist and she quickly whisked out a handkerchief from her pockets. Shravan had never seen his Sumo lose cool or stance in an argument. She had never been the one to display emotions easily. 

When she was done wiping, she pulled over the hoodie cap again. Bhopali who was about to chime in was stopped by Kanchan. "Let her vent it all out".

"How do you always manage to get yourself and in turn those who care for you in trouble? Just when I had thought you had the past self out, you surprise me with this. Just when I had thought you're changing into a responsible mind you go and do something out of sensible mind. Just when I thought Anish's party was behind us, we are left open to this!"

"No about Anish....", his voice wavered.

"Please Shravan. Do you fathom how much it must hurt by someone you trust?"

Shravan blinked back.

"You don't Shravan", her voice faltered. "Or else you've wouldn't have gone the old road again. And now this! You still don't get the seriousness of the situation, don't you? Anything could've happened. You only think after the situation is way past", her voice cracked towards the end.

Bhopali resisted being deaf and mute, and voiced over. "Suman beti, Shravan would've lied but on entering the room he insisted to donate blood himself. He had no reason to, I swear. He could've easily done with a pretence and avoided the situation but he didn't".

Suman stopped, to carefully study Bhopali and then Shravan's demeanor. No lies reeked out of them this time. An open needle did actually lie besides Shravan's cot, on the side table.

"He said he honestly wanted to contribute.... cause you couldn't. Yes that's a different thing that he couldn't in the end but what I feel matters is he intended to, despite being hell scared."

Kancha asked Suman to let bygones be bygones and to mend it up. "Suman my sister, do you not get it. He willed to overcome his greatest phobia only for you". Her smile didn't seem to stop for the next few moments at least. Suman instead opted to only fold her hands to the sentence.

"I would do it yet again if I had to....", Shravan mumbled under his breath.

"Shravan", Suman said gesturing to the Snickers bar still neatly unopened in his hand. "I think that's enough for the day already." "Kancha and I should leave now".

Before they could leave she turned around to utter a stiff, "There's no need to do anything for me hereon. Putting yourself in danger, the last of things".

The sentence ringed deep inside Shravan but Suman didn't look back to witness it herself. Dadu had arrived outside at the school gate, from the Principal's short visit. And when she urged to be taken home from school, he amicably agreed.

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A/N : Sorry I had initially intended to sort their stuff out in this chapter but then decided against it. I wanted to keep it more natural and wanted Suman to vent out her anger first. Slow and steady is my way really😆

Shravan donating blood in this scenario would've been a good plot twist here but wouldn't have felt organic for a person who's so scared of injections. 

I hope you liked it. Sorry for the delay again. Have something good planned for the next chapter which is coming up pretty soon. Let's see how it works out.

Ciao.