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Aman was down with a very bad pain in his neck. He had been working real hard with his college classes, preparing notes for his students, scheduling various classes, checking the assignments, clearing doubts etc.
All this hectic schedule had been going on for about three weeks now and Aman, being a patient of spondylitis, could no longer sit up straight. Neither could he lie down peacefully.
For those who do not know what spondylitis is, it is an inflammatory arthritis affecting the spine and large joints. It can be damn painful and can cause severe pain in and behind the neck and the pain might as well go up to the places behind the two ears. In chronic stages, it even prevents turning of the neck from one side to the other.
Now, after the description, you know how bad the ailment can be. But thankfully, Aman’s pain hadn’t turned fatal. And there was a reason behind it. Cute or not, that is up to your judgement of the situation.
Aman had been working for his college tirelessly from day to night as Kartik kept on watching him. Aman had been so busy for the past two weeks that some days, he didn’t even have the time to look at Kartik’s face. From early morning till late night, Aman was drowned in his laptop and papers. Kartik had to prepare meals for themselves, or brought take out on his way back from office (cause, Kartik wasn’t good at cooking; not everyone excels in everything, but we can call Kartik a failure in this field!).
Aman left early in the morning for his college. He could only prepare breakfast for the two of them, that too only toasts and boiled eggs. He ate while at the kitchen only and kissed Kartik on his forehead before leaving. This kiss was Kartik’s morning alarm. No alarm clock, no phone, no chirp of birds. This small ‘smack’ sound that Aman’s lips made against his forehead was sweeter than any alarm tone, even sweeter than the chirp of birds. Kartik smiled when Aman kissed him gently, but his smile would eventually fade away these days as he realised that now this sound meant that Aman was going to leave for college.
“Mat jao na baby! Kyun itni subah mujhe aur bachchon tang karte ho?”
Kartik held Aman’s hand one morning, stopping him from leaving.
“Kartik, aise zid mat kar jo tu jaanta hain main maan nahin paaunga! Semester exams aane ko hain babu, abhi main kaise na jaaun? Abhi der ho rahi hain yaar! Jaane de!”
“Arrey aise kaise meri jaan?”
Kartik replied pulling Aman so hard that he fell down over Kartik on the bed.
“Poori raat toh tere bagal mein hi sota hoon! Phir bhi subah subah tujhe yeh sab karna hain?”
“Kya sab? Maine kuch kaha?”
“Kehne ki zaroorat nahin padti Kartik! Tera har irada main jaanta hoon!”
Aman said, drawing circles on Kartik’s chest with his fingers.
“Circles kyun draw kar raha hain? Draw a heart! That suits the place!”
Aman chuckled and obeyed Kartik. It indeed suited the place.
“Kaash yeh lamha yahi ruk jaye,
Na tum jaao, na hum jaaye.
Phir chahe kitne bhi kaam kyun na aaye,
Yeh waqt kabhi na guzar paaye....”
“Haaye....”
Aman replied to Kartik’s shayari with a rhyming word. Both laughed at the rhythm!
“Mere Mirza Ghalib ko jab subah subah shayariyan aa rahi hain, tab ek baat toh taey hain. Agar main thodi der aur ruka, toh pakka mera college cancel ho jayega! Chhod ab!”
Aman would leave after he wrote an impromptu shayari for him was the last thing that Kartik had expected. Therefore, he was quite surprised at Aman’s sudden act of leaving the bed. And knowing that Aman used it as an opportunity to get up. He knew if he couldn’t act fast, Kartik would hug him more tightly and then, it would be more difficult for him to leave. College was important, otherwise, honestly, who would leave after this morning dose of such a beautiful shayari?
“You cheated me! I’m not gonna forget it any sooner!”
Kartik complained grumpily as he left the bed and walked towards the living room following Aman.
“Take the revenge once I’m back!”
Aman chuckled and replied.
“Pakka na? Aise hi lightly baatein bolne se pehle yaad rakhna ki I take everything seriously!”
Kartik warned.
“Haan baba! Jo mann karna! I need to leave, I’m running really late Kartik! Table pe breakfast rakha hain, juice fridge mein hain. Aur haan, almonds are kept in the kitchen soaked in water. Don’t forget to eat them! Good for your brain cells!”
Aman laughed but Kartik was serious.
“I joked Kartik and you know that! Now don’t be this grumpy while I leave. Mujhe teri cute si pout chahiye jaane se pehle, nahin toh mera poora din bekar jaata hain!”
Kartik’s heart melted at it! Aman was a man of wonders, a man who knew when to say what so that it would touch Kartik’s heart!
“If my half brain cells were enough to make you fall in love with me, trust me I don’t regret having only a half. These are enough for me. Bye baby! Come home soon!”
Kartik said pouting and smiling at the same time.
“Awww, my baby! Jaldi aaunga! Pakka!”
But both of them knew, it wouldn’t happen.
And it turned true.
For Aman came back home at nine o’clock! He had a real tiring day at the college, doing classes from morning eight till six in the evening, with maybe three hours of break in between. He completed by six and was about to leave when a bunch of students from the evening section asked him to clear their doubts! Aman remained stuck for another one hour and rest of the two hours, in the dangerous traffic of Delhi! Thus, it resulted in him reaching home at nine. He opened the door wishing to see Kartik asleep! Cause he knew he promised to return home early, but failed miserably in keeping his promise. And only a sleeping Kartik would help him to escape seeing his angry face.
Kartik wasn’t sleeping. He was sitting on the sofa surfing through channels on the television. He wasn’t watching anything. Aman knew he was angry.
“Aj itna traffic tha na raaste pe, lag raha tha....”
Aman started to explain his reason for being so late but Kartik interjected.
“....Ki poore Delhi ke log aj gaari leke raaste pe nikal gaye hain! Purani kahani hain, nayi waali suna!”
“Kahani nahin hain! Tu metro mein aata hain, tujhe thodi pata hoga!”
“Haan theek hain, late ho gaya maana! Par itna? Nau baje!!!!! Chhe nahin, saat nahin, nau baje!”
“Kya karun baby? Kaam tha! Students the bohot saare.”
“Main itni late aata, tab mujhe sunna padta ki ‘aj tu couch pe soyega!’ aur ab tu late aaya hain, toh tujhe kaam aa gayi?”
“Theek hain baba, toh main so jaunga aj couch pe!”
“Achha, ab soyega bhi couch pe? Waah! Bohot achhe! Tu ja! Tu apne students ke saathe hi reh le! Mujhse pyaar hi kyun kiya? Tere pyaare pyaare nanhe students hain, tera woh khatara subject Physics aur uske sums hain, meri zaroorat kyun thi tujhe?”
“Abhi toh tune kaha ki....”
Aman couldn’t complete. His head started to spin and he felt as if he couldn’t stand anymore. Kartik was quick to act! He jumped out of the sofa and held Aman just in time. Aman collapsed in his arms.
“Aman? Kya hua tujhe? Aman!!!!”
Aman held his head. It was still spinning and he felt dizzy.
“Nahin....woh sar chakra gaya achanak se! Pata nahin aajkal yeh sab kya hota rehta hain!”
“Itna kaam karega toh hoga hi na! Chal ab!”
Kartik carefully led Aman into the bedroom and made him lie on the bed.
“Lete raho! Main khaane ka dekhta hoon! Aj jo bhi bana sakunga, wahi khayega!”
Aman had to obey. Cause his body wasn’t permitting either. He couldn’t tell Kartik that he didn’t experience this dizziness for the first time in a while. It had been happening for a few days now. Not just that, he had an ache in the neck which grew worse with every passing day and caused a pull behind his ears. Kartik would only worry. He couldn’t do anything! And hence Aman chose to keep it a secret from Kartik.
But not for long. Cause that night, Aman started to have tremendous pain in his neck and scruff, so much so, that he started screaming in his sleep, waking Kartik up from is deep slumber.
“Aman! Kya hua? Bura sapna?”
Kartik asked with his sleep laden eyes, worry prominent in his voice.
“Kartik! Main, main sar hila nahin pa raha hoon! Bohot dard ho raha hain! Madad kar meri!”
Kartik’s sleep disappeared in a second.
“Kya? Sar nahin hila pa raha ka kya matlab hain? Koshish kar!”
“Nahin ho rahi Kartik, bohot dard ho raha hain!”
Aman screamed with tears of pain rolling down his eyes.
“Ro mat Aman! Hey bhagwan! Main kya karun ab! Subah ke chaar baje kahan se doctor laaun?”
Aman knew Kartik would panic now but he couldn’t act anymore. His pain had grown unbearable.
“Ek idea hain!”
Kartik stacked up a few pillows and helped Aman to sit up by using them as a support. He was now leaning on a pile of pillows that supported his entire back. It kinda worked. Aman’s pain reduced a bit as the soft pillows touched his scruff and provided it support.
“Haan ab thoda theek hain!”
Aman smiled and replied.
“Hain na? Aise hi raho phir subah tak! Subah doctor ke pas chalenge. Abhi aise hi sone ki koshish kar! Main tere liye ek gaana gaata hoon.”
Kartik sang a sweet song while gently brushing Aman’s hair. The comfort that Kartik’s melodious voice and the gentle brush of his hair gave to Aman was enough for his tired body to fall asleep.
In the morning, Aman woke up first. He saw Kartik sleeping on his lap, his hand holding Aman’s left palm. Aman smiled at the scene and bent down to kiss him (on the cheek) when his neck remembered to cause him trouble yet again! Aman shouted a short ‘aah’ and immediately Kartik sprang up!
“Dard ho raha hain phirse? Shit! Main so kaise gaya? Ruk abhi dekhta hoon!”
Kartik massaged Aman’s scruff to give him a temporary relief. When Aman smiled and told that he was okay, Kartik left the bed and called up the doctor for an appointment for Aman.
It was then that the doctor diagnosed Aman with spondylitis. He had done all tests and massaged Aman with medicines to relieve him of his pain before coming into a conclusion and was therefore sure about it. The doctor told, that if Aman had collapsed completely the previous night, had he not been given the massage in the morning and had he not been brought to him, most probably he’d suffer from a stiff shoulder for an indefinite period of time. Kartik glared at Aman when the doctor told that it was due to heavy working and taking of more load than the body could bear. Aman looked down towards the ground realising Kartik’s anger. It was true. Aman could delegate some work to the other two professors too. But he chose not to. And the result was this spondylitis!
Now when Aman was down, Kartik did everything. The doctor had prescribed complete rest for a month to Aman along with daily massages and medicines. Hearing this, Kartik didn’t let Aman do a single thing in the household. He cleaned up the small apartment, washed and dried clothes, cooked, did the dishes and everything else. Not that he could do nothing at all, but yeah, definitely the house wasn’t as clean as it was when Aman took care of it.
“Kartik! Ekbar idhar aa na jaldi!”
It was one evening when Aman called out from the bedroom to Kartik who was deeply concentrated on cooking a meal.
“Kya hua? Tu theek hain?”
Kartik ran to the bedroom to check if Aman was okay.
Aman was struggling to do something with his eyes.
“Kuch nahin, zara dekh na! Aankhon mein bohot dard ho rahi hain!”
“Main dekhta hoon! Tu ruk! Bina dekhe check karte karte pata chale aankhon ko bhi damage kar diya!”
Kartik said as he carefully checked Aman’s eye, sitting close to him on the bed.
“Oh! It’s and eyelash!”
Kartik gently dabbed his finger in Aman’s eye to bring out the eyelash, which was partly inside the eye and partly outside.
“Yeh dekh....”
But no one was actually in the state to see a mere eyelash. Cause the proximity that had been created between the two after long, gave rise to electric currents which ran through the bodies of both of them.
“Tujhe yahan dard hain na?”
Kartik asked Aman, sliding his fingers behind Aman’s ears. Aman nodded. He indeed had pain behind his ears but then, he felt a stronger current pass through the area as Kartik gently slid his fingers behind his ears. Kartik started to gently press the area, in order to give him a massage.
And as if following the movement of Aman’s eyes, Kartik too looked all over Aman’s face before his sight came to a halt at Aman’s small lips.
Aman, being the logical one here, pulled Kartik into the kiss. He understood that Kartik was dying for this moment, but was also fearing the fact that he could hurt Aman, triggering the pain in his scruff. He therefore made the task easier for Kartik.
It was after long that they two came so close to each other. Both knew it was growing intolerable day by day without the other’s touch, but Aman’s work left him with no other option. Kartik continued moving his hand upwards from behind his ears as Aman rubbed his palms at various places over Kartik’s shoulder. A moment of passion that they had been waiting for so long! So long, that they had grown tired now and wanted something to happen desperately, at this very moment. Cause Kartik believed in the phrase, ‘abhi nahin, toh kabhi nahin!”
They would have probably forgotten the fact, that to live, breathing is as much important as much is feeling the touch of your loved one, had Aman’s neck not ached again. Aman had just turned his head from left to right when a feeble cracking sound came from his neck. Aman half moaned and half screamed in Kartik’s mouth.
“Ah! Sorry! I knew aisa kuch ho sakta hain! Isi liye main soch raha tha..... Leave that! Wait! Let me give you the massage doc told would provide an instant relief.”
Kartik felt he had hurt Aman. He therefore became very worried about Aman’s condition and massaged his neck and shoulders very gently and lovingly. How could he see Aman, his small baby in pain? He’d do anything to bring relief to Aman.
“Achha lag raha hain?”
Kartik asked after a half an hour long massage.
“Much better than before!”
Aman smiled and replied.
“Okay, phir tu rest le! Main khaana banakar lata hoon!”
Kartik replied stacking the pillows in order to provide support to Aman’s neck and helped Aman to lean back.
Kartik came back after an hour with half burned rotis and a bowl of dal that looked almost like turmeric mixed water. It didn’t even seem like dal. But even this food was dear to Aman. Cause he knew however bad the cooking might be, it was seasoned with love! The seasoning was pure enough to nullify the taste of the food.
“Bohot bura laga khana nahin?”
Kartik asked after he completed washing the plates, at night.
“Nahin! Mujhe toh achha hi laga!”
“Main jaanta hoon bhadda tha Aman! I won’t mind if you’d tell me the truth!”
“The truth is that, I love seeing my baby switch so many roles just to take care of me!”
“You know na Aman? I can switch roles and positions in the bed too?”
Kartik smirked as he joked.
“Hey! Shut up! Mera woh matlab nahin tha! And if you’re thinking of that now, then I’d ask you to abandon that idea, cause it’s impossible now. Meri halat dekh raha hain? Iske aage pata chale kandha hi toot gaya, phir kabhi kuch nahin ho payega, khada tak nahin ho sakunga main!”
“Did I tell anything that you’re giving so much explanation?”
Kartik calmly asked Aman.
“Ummm.... Not you, but your smirk did!”
“Haan sab pata hain mere jyotishi (astrologer) ko! Sab cheezo ka gyaan aapko toh pehle se hi rehta hain! I didn’t ask for anything. It was you. And even if it was my smirk, may I ask, why do we have to postpone it now? Who’s fault is it?”
Kartik asked cocking up one of his eyebrows.
“Okay, I admit it was my fault! Mujhe kaam baant lena chahiye tha sabke beech! Anyways, leave that! Coming back to you, I love how you switch from one role to another, sirf meri dekh bhal karne ke liye! You’re a cook, phir tu ghar ke kaam kar raha hain, mera dhyan rakhne ke liye doctor bhi ban raha hain, and then switching to a masseur too mujhe massage dene ke liye, and above all this, tu mera pyaar toh hain hi!”
Aman replied holding Kartik’s chin and shaking it a bit.
“Heavens, sent you to me!”
Kartik started to sing as he came closer to Aman.
“I’m just hopin' I don’t repeat history!”
He then moved back again, remembering the kiss in the evening and the painful turn it took.
“Boy I’m trying to meet your mama,
On a Sunday!
Then make a lotta love,
On a Monday!
Never need no, no one else, babe!
Cause I’ll be....”
Aman hated how Kartik moved away from him. He therefore pulled Kartik closer to him with the help of his t-shirt collar.
Kartik chuckled at the jerk which was caused due to the pull.
“Switchin’ the positions for you!
Cookin' in the kitchen and I’m in the bedroom!
I’m in the Olympics way I’m jumpin’ through hoops.
Know my love infinite nothin' I wouldn’t do, that I won’t do,
Switchin’ for you!”
Kartik paused at the change of the stanza. It was then that he realised that Aman was no longer sitting beside him, but on his lap, on the bed. Aman’s hands were wrapped around his neck and he had comfortably perched himself in Kartik’s lap. Kartik smiled and rubbed their noses together and continued singing.
“Perfect! Perfect!
You’re too good to be true!
But I get tired or runnin’, fuck it!
No I’m runnin’ with you!
Said, boy I’m trying to meet your mama,
On a Sunday!
Then make a lotta love,
On a Monday.
Never need no, no one else, babe!
Cause I’ll be...”
Yes! Indeed! Indeed Aman was too good to be true. And this moment of Aman sitting on his lap, was just perfect! And whenever such a moment arose, it all seemed very surreal to Kartik. He had such a beautiful being as Aman in his lap, and this moment of love, it was all like a beautiful dream that he never wanted to break. They just needed to make love now, but both feared for Aman’s condition.
“Switchin’ the positions for you,
Cookin’ in the kitchen and I’m in the bedroom!
I’m in the Olympics way I’m jumpin’ through hoops,
Know my love infinite nothin’ I wouldn’t do, that I won’t do,
Switchin’ for you!”
Aman laid down his head on Kartik’s chest. He too needed ‘human touch’ and after so long, none of them felt that a kiss could satisfy it! Thus, before Kartik could continue, Aman sang the remaining part.
“There’s some shit that I,
Usually don’t do.
But for you I kinda, kinda want to!
Cause you’re down for me,
And I’m down too, yeah, I’m down too....”
Kartik was surprised at this. He hadn’t actually planned to sing this stanza and hearing it from Aman, made him feel his heart thump more across his chest.
“May we?”
Aman asked.
“I’m always ready, but your state is what is bothering me! Main nahin jaanta hum log kitne carefully kar payenge! It might be risky for you!”
Kartik warned.
“Dard hua, toh tu massage kar dena phir se! I already have a personal masseur at home!”
Aman sounded impatient.
And he was indeed! Cause as soon as he completed saying, he planted a kiss over Kartik’s lips. A shot of dopamine ran across Kartik’s body, as he felt Aman’s soft lips on his. He took a moment to register what just happened before he kissed him back and thrusted his hand up Aman’s shirt. Aman too was grabbing on to Kartik’s hair as the kiss hastened. It was all a matter of time, before the electricity went off all of a sudden.
They both stopped, breathed for a while as they touched their noses and foreheads. They smiled and Kartik chuckled a bit, before they got back to work, steady but careful work this time. They both felt lucky that none had to leave the bed, in order to switch the lights off! And if we talk of the pain in Aman’s neck, then definitely, Kartik’s massage would do wonders in removing it!