The thermometer read a humongous 102 degrees.

Sakina lay on the bed with red eyes and an eighty kilo blanket on. Shaahid sat on the chair staring at the temperature scale.

" See.... This is exactly why Salman doesn't like rains... " , Sakina sneezed loud.

" Where do the paracetamols stay? " , Shaahid got up.

" Down the lane in an old house. " , Sakina replied angrily.
" Who asks this way, as if paracetamols are humans? "

" Just keep aside your lame sense of humor and tell me where the meds are. " , Shaahid said.

Sakina pointed at the drawer in the table. Shaahid took out a tablet. Helped Sakina get up, have water as she gulped down the medicine.

" Medicines won't help much. You need water compress on the forehead. I'll be back. " , Shaahid disappeared.

Sakina stared at the door for sometime, then at the clock.
It read 2:30, not a single soul named servant was alive and awake.
But this man who was no one to them, moved around the house only to make her feel better.

She closed her eyes and covered her head with the blanket.

He pulled down the blanket and sat beside her, pressing a wet kerchief on her forehead time and again.

" You don't need to do this Shaahid. "
Sakina said weakly.

" Of course I need to. I wasn't responsible enough unlike your boyfriend to keep you away from the rains. I should make up for that. " , Shaahid grinned.

Sakina remained silent. She felt good as the cold kerchief touched her fiery forehead.

" Were you sleeping when I called you? " , she asked after sometime.

" No. I was counting the exact number of cobwebs in the ceiling of my room. Today I'll clean them. " , Shaahid said.

" I know. No one does their jobs properly in this house. Actually no one on earth takes responsibilities they are supposed to. The best thing is to run away. Like Salman did. Has always done. " , she said.

" Don't talk so much. And don't bring Salman into everything. " , Shaahid said.

" I didn't. You did. By saying he took responsibility by keeping me away from rains. " , Sakina frowned.

Now Shaahid fell silent. He did not want to talk about Salman for the time being, as a part of the approach he had planned.
She had to get rid of him slowly. And then completely and abruptly.

" My fault. Now shut up. " , he said.

" I won't.
Bhai did this for me the last time I fell sick. Salman did not come because his uncle was also sick. His uncle was more important to him. " , Sakina said.
" If bhai would be home, you did not have to do it. But would you let bhai do, or do it yourself? "

Shaahid stared weirdly at her. She was looking at him strangely as well. As if with a lot of expectation.

" Of course I would let Saajid bhai do the needful. I would support him and stand beside though. " , he said.

Her eyes dulled down immediately. And she looked away.
" But you yourself said, you are making up for the harm you did to me. "

" Ophho, that's why I would stay with your bhai and not sleep in my room.
But how can I snatch from him the right of a brother?
A thin line of balance keeps this universe stable. " , Shaahid concentrated on the compress.

Sakina looked at him for sometime. He was not an idiot. Rather a very sorted human being. She suddenly disliked the fact that she was almost admiring the person who ended up sending Salman away.

She shot up on the bed.

" What happened? " , Shaahid was startled.

" Go away with your balance intact. I don't need you. " , Sakina said, frowning.

Shaahid made a face and pulled her back to lay down.
" Do you get fits sometime? "

" I am serious. " , she said weakly. Her head was spinning.

" I too am serious. You are crazy af. " , he nodded sideways.

Sakina stared deeply at him.

" Do you really think I'm mad? Salman too said that sometime. "

" No. Mad and crazy are two different things. Craziness is healthy madness. The crazier you are, the more adorable you get. " , Shaahid chuckled.

A smile crept on her lips.
" You think I'm adorable? "

Shaahid twisted his lips.
" Only as a friend. Okay? "

Sakina playslapped him and cringed her face. He grinned.

" Feeling better? " , he said, putting the kerchief into the water bowl.

" A lot. You have no idea how much. "

" I'll check the temperature once. Then try getting some sleep. I will just be a call away. " , he got up.

Shaahid left the room after tucking blankets around her.

She stared at the door again.

Thank god, the rain happened.
Thank god, she caught a fever.
Thank god, she got the care she craved for, making her feel, she was important to a man... who was not her brother.

Salman was this way for the last eight months. But he changed, again.
He left again, making her feel the most unimportant on earth.

____

The sunlight hit her eyelids, making her face cringe for a moment. She slowly opened her eyes.

Only to find Shaahid sitting at the table, watching something on the phone.

She made a sound to draw his attention.

" Hey sleepy head. You woke up. " , he said.

" I did not. " , she tried pulling back the blanket on her face. In vain. Shaahid threw away the blanket.

" Get up. The 'cooker' prepared you delicious breakfast. We'll have them in the garden. "

Sakina sat up cringing her face. Strangely she didn't feel a bit sick.

" Are you mad? I'm sick. "

" So what? Who's asking you to somersault in the garden?
This room is now filled with sickness germs. Get out of here. Greet the sun. "

Sakina stared at him like a baby.
" But Salman says we should always stay indoors while sick. That way we won't get more infections. "

" Listen. Salman and Shaahid are two different individuals. With different perspectives. Now you have to choose, if you will go with either's, or come up with your own. "

Sakina stared thoughtfully.

____

Going by her own unique perspective, Sakina now sat on the roof with the breakfast and Shaahid in front.

" See, I chose my own way out. " , she said.

" Thanks to Allah, that you at least shifted from blindly following Salman. " , Shaahid nodded.

Sakina frowned a bit. But said nothing.

" Did you know Salman's uncle? "
Shaahid suddenly asked.

" What's 'did'?
I do know Mansoor uncle. Salman took me to meet him once. "

" Oh really?
And his cousin? "

" Never seen him. Because he stays in another house far away. He's the principal of your school. " , Sakina said.

Shaahid nodded.
She remembered everything except for Salman's death.

From whatever he gathered, Salman's love for her was not completely what she wished to have. Hence, his death provided her a detour to a world where he loved her as much as she wished him to.

Now again, with Shaahid's entry as almost a third angle, his only duty was to make her revive old memories of Salman not fulfilling her wishes as beautifully as she would have liked him to.
And finally, leading to his exit.

Shaahid lay back on the bamboo chair, staring at her.

She was still a child somewhere, easily mouldable.

And he was a pro.

By the way, he needed to call Alvira. It had been three months since he heard her voice.

Sakina knew he was watching. She deliberately looked elsewhere.
But strangely, when technically his stare should have irritated her, did it actually feel good now? After last night? 

She began shaking her legs vigorously. To ease the discomfort building within.

I love you Salman. Only you.
I promise.