I am going tell you a story about.

She always laughed, cracked jokes, told him the funniest story ever.

Narrate her whole day to him with such zeal that anybody looking at her wouldn't even get a hint of the turmoil going inside her.

He was her world without problem, a world where the taints seized to exist.

The minutes she spent with him roaming around the streets she had no idea about, just with the trust she had on him, were bliss.

He used to listen to her every word, no matter how silly, how useless they were, with such concentration as if she is reciting a sermon of utmost importance.

She basked in that concentration of his, someone giving her so much importance.

She never received that kind of attention, or maybe she didn't try to receive it.

She was a listener, always.

She listened to what anybody has to say, their happiness, their sadness, supporting them, advising them, though she had no idea how that advice worked, but they did.

Though listening to everybody, she never felt the urge to say her heart out, and when she forcefully tried few times, others weren't interested in listening.

Everybody wants to talk, nobody to listen.

He was a friend to her.

But she was more to him.

One day, maybe the exhaustion took over, and there a few tears in the girl's eyes.

He asked the reason, but just then her bus came, and she fled.

He pestered her for days to know the reason, but she was adamant.

One day, he took her beside a lake, he knew she loved quite places.

They sat down for a while, playing their usual roles.

He stopped her midway of a talk and asked her again.

This time she was thinking, unlike former times when she used to outright deny him.

Maybe the environment did that to her.

She took a deep breath and said, "Do you know how one feels when something pinches you, while you are asleep?"

A hundred bad thoughts passed through the boy's mind.

"You don't know how it feels, in fact you could never even fathom the feeling."

He was frowning and maybe thinking of words to console her.

When he didn't say anything for a few minutes, she continued, "I cant sleep at night. The episode that day was due to exhaustion. Every day, I try to sleep, using every tactic, but they are stubborn and always find a way."

"Who are they?", he asked, unable to control his feelings.

"Bed bugs", She replied.

"You should report......", he stopped.

"What........!!! What did you say? Who doesn't let you sleep at night?", he asked to see if he heard correct.

"Bed bugs."

"Bed bugs as in the insects that thrives on wood and blood sometimes"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Are you insane or have you lost your mind? Well, they both are the same thing, but still, how difficult is it to understand that I have bed bugs in my house who bite me at night and thus I can't sleep." She answered, frustrated.

"Am I insane? You scared the hell out of me. Who takes one month to say that they are being bitten by a bed bug? Do you have the least bit idea what bad scenarios went through my mind since the day I saw you in tears till the time you said that something doesn't let you sleep?" he retorted.

"I always had a feeling that you have a dirty mind. Not my fault." She tried to sound disgusted and annoyed.

He was fuming now.

Then she did the most unexpected thing.

She started singing in a low voice, so that only he could hear.

"Khatiye pe main padi thi (I was lying on a cot)

Aur gehri neend badi thi (and was in a deep sleep).

Aage me kya kahun sakhi re... (the events that followed are unexplainable).

Ek khatmal tha sayana (There was a clever bed bug),

Mujhpe tha uska nishaana (and I was it target),

Choli me ghus gaya dheere dheere (slowly he entered inside my clothes,

Kuch nahi socha wo buddhu (that fool didnt think anything),

Kuch nahi samjha (neither did he understood)

Reng ke jaane kaha pohcha... (Crawling dont know where he went)

He covered her mouth with his hand to stop her from continuing, but his hands were shaking.

She didn't knew whether it was anger or laugh.

She prayed the latter.

Then suddenly, he burst out laughing holding his stomach.

"You are ma...dder than I thou...ght you to... be." He said between laughs.

She only smiled.

A/N: I don't know what came over me..

But I just wanted to share.

Thank you so much Shreya_VA

The_Dweeb Check it out you may like it.

teamhathaway Pipigrin please give your reviews.

There's a Bollywood song from the movie Slumdog Millionaire in bold.

I have tried to translate it to my best knowledge.

Rest... you the jury.