It felt like he had been asleep for five minutes when Keighlah's phone started ringing.

She stirred in his arms, he in turn letting out a groan of sleep. Andrew's head hurt, pretty bad. Just like Keighlah, he had not gotten any sleep in the last few days. He was bone tired. Andrew could only imagine the tiredness that Keighlah felt.

Keighlah untangled herself from Andrew in a snail slow pace, as if in a daze. By the time she had reached out to the bedside table and blindly felt for the phone, it had stopped ringing. She drew her arm back instantly, her body going limp. Andrew wrapped his arm around her waist once more and they settled back, almost asleep again.

The phone started ringing the second time.

"Oh God," Andrew exhaled and removed his hand from Keighlah's waist, lying on his back. This time, Keighlah had reached the phone and responded to it, without looking at the caller name.

"Hello?" Her voice was groggy and confused. Andrew rubbed his eyes sleepily as he listened to Keighlah.

"Yes, this is her," said Keighlah into the phone, her voice a little awake now, although her eyes were not fully opened. Andrew couldn't help but find it cute.

Whatever Keighlah heard on the other side of her phone made her eyes fly open. She had visibly paled, her back straight, a choking sound escaping from her throat. Andrew sat up too, on alert.

All disasters came at night, he thought.

After a long silence, she spoke in a hard, cool voice, "I understand." Then she cut the call.

Five minutes passed and Keighlah was yet to speak. Her breathing had fastened. Andrew knew it was bad news.

He reached out and softly touched her shoulder. "Keighlah?"

Keighlah looked at him, her eyes flat. "I feel sick, Andrew." The words seemed to burst out of her.

Andrew darted his eyes to the bathroom. He had assumed she wanted to vomit. Keighlah shook her head, as if saying no.

"I feel sick," she repeated. "I was expecting this call."

Andrew stared at her in shocked confusion. "Is . . . is he . . . has he passed away?"

"No. Not yet. But he will, soon. That's why the hospital called. Last visit," her voice was strained, like she could barely get the words out of her throat.

Andrew sank against the headboard of the bed. Of course, Keighlah was expecting it. She had completely given up hope. He rubbed his face. "What—what is the time?" He asked.

"Five in the morning," her voice was so small, his heart almost cracked open with emotion.

"Five in the morning," Andrew echoed, sighing deeply. "So . . . do we go now? How much time?"

"A day, max."

"Okay," he said, looking at the ceiling. "Okay. Okay."

Keighlah had crawled into a fetus position beside him. She would seem normal to anybody else, but to Andrew, he could see the coiled tension in her body, the stiff posture of her neck, and how she stared straight with dead eyes. Andrew brushed a hand down her back. "Keighlah," he called gently.

She lunged at him.

Andrew did not have any time to react. Between a moment and another, Keighlah was sitting on his lap and her lips were fast against his. Andrew made a surprised noise and gripped her waist, steadying her, and in turn, himself.

There was something more in the kiss than the kiss itself. There was a wild desperation. Keighlah's desperation, pouring into the kiss. Andrew grasped her forearms and gently wrenched her away.

"What are you doing?" He asked, a little breathless. Keighlah seemed to ignore his question and reattached her lips to his. Andrew began to grab her again but Keighlah gripped his hands, pushing them away from her. Andrew made a sound and pulled back forcefully, removing his lips from her.

"Keighlah–?"

"Is this not what you wanted?" Her voice held something hysterical in it. "Is it not? Why are you shying away now? You're not the one who shies away, that's me."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "What? Keighlah, not now–your father–"

She reached down and removed her top, and she wasn't wearing a bra. Andrew's eyes went wide. His hands came down on her chest to cover her.

"Keighlah!" He almost squeaked.

"Please," she said, and leaned forward again. "I need this."

Andrew dodged her kiss. "No, you don't! You think you need this, but you don't! Not right now, not while your father is–"

She gave out a cry and fell on top of Andrew's chest. Andrew stared in horror as her shoulders started shaking with dry sobs. Slowly, he let his arms come around Keighlah and hugged her to him, stroking her hair and her bare back gently with his fingers.

He was still confused as to what had come over her a few minutes ago. But he forced those thoughts aside and put Keighlah's top back on her. Let her drop gently down on the bed and glided his hands through her hair, trying to be comforting. Her shaking had stopped, Andrew noticed, and now she just lay there, her eyes tightly shut.

Not knowing what to do, Andrew settled for awkwardly sitting beside her and just tried to think about anything else but the sight of her breasts that had made his head swirl. He cleared his throat and called out her name once again.

Her eyes flew open and she sat up.

"I'll inform my mother," she said in a robotic voice without looking at him and trudged out of the room.

* * *

We were all gathered in the hospital. The sun was now high up in the sky, the pleasant warmth welcoming on my skin. Now I had gone three days without proper sleep.

I felt like throwing a lamp.

Almost all my relatives had come to give my Dad a final visit; my aunts, uncles, cousins. The oldest of my cousins was ten years younger than me. Not knowing what to say to any of the children, I lingered around the outside of my father's room.

I could feel the stares and hear the whispers of my family members as they walked past me and Andrew; it would've been crazy if they didn't know that we were in a band and in fact, celebrities. They smiled at me and talked to me politely, but I could feel the status gap, and it really wasn't helping my mood.

Andrew, on the other hand, was trying really hard to catch my eye, and I was deliberately trying not to. How could I look at him after the stunt that I pulled up just this morning? The devil knew what had come over me.

Everyone was staring but his stare felt like an iron load on my chest, heavy and questioning.

After what felt like a hundred years, my relatives had finished their visit and I could go in to the room. I took a deep breath and was about to move when I felt a hand brush my shoulder.

It was Andrew. He whispered best of luck into my ear and walked away. After a moment, I stepped into the room.

• • •

Next chapter - next Wednesday at 10pm IST.