Chapter 9

The next morning when I woke up, my stomach was hurting. The overeating that happened last night was showing its results now. It was 6 in the morning and I was twisting and turning in the bed, his bed to be precise. He asked me to sleep in the room while he was sleeping on the couch in the hall. I was uncomfortable sleeping here and it took me two hours to fall asleep. When I finally did, I was awake with stomach pain. I didn't tell him about it nor I wanted to tell. It's embarrassing to say such a thing. The cause is obviously him, so telling him wouldn't be an option.

I decided to get up early and head to college. Leaving the house before he's awake would be better. Unlocking the door of the room, I quietly made it to the hall. He was sleeping on the couch with a blanket half on him and half hanging down. Without making any noise, I left a note in the diary. Saying-'I am going back to college'. I then kept the pen on the paper of the diary and closed it. The bump of the pen will make it visible to him.

With the same manner, quiet and calm, I came to the main door and twisted its doorknob. It opened up with a clicking sound, to which I skunk my eyes for the sound. Turning around, I glanced at him, he was in deep sleep.

'Good.' I said internally and opened the door ajar. Thankfully there was no creaking sound in the door. After opening the door, I realized I had no sandals on. And I don't know where he keeps the footwear. Mirroring my previous action, I closed the door back and searched for the shoe rack. Generally, shoe racks are near the main door, but I couldn't find any storage here. I looked for it one more time and got the same result. After searching for 15 minutes I found nothing but the sitting table.

Annoyed, I kept my hands on my waist on either side.

"How can there be just a long sitting table..." My murmur stopped as I gazed at the table. I walked towards the table and held its seat. I then tried to lift it open and it did the magic. It was a table with storage. All of the footwear was inside it.

Taking my sandals out, I closed the seat of the table and sat on them to wear. When I was done, my process to escape resumed. Looking one last time at his sleepy form, I made my way to the door, this time I did this a little quicker. I couldn't waste any more time. As I stepped out of the door, I felt refreshed. The fresh air in the early morning was bliss. The next moment, my stomach hurts.

"I just forgot the pain for a moment, and now it's back again."

Holding my stomach with one hand, I closed the door with the other. I locked it from outside. He surely has a key, he can open it when he wakes up. Turning around, I took a deep breath. The morning air felt so good. Letting go of my stomach, I began to walk. Even while walking, my stomach was hurting. If I see any pharmacy on the way, I would buy medicine for my stomach ache. I looked around at the peaceful environment, one of the reasons I liked early morning. There are not many people around. As I continued to walk, I felt a little relief in my stomach.

Half of the distance was covered by the walk and then I saw a small pharmacy near the tree. It was built attached to the tree. Looks beautiful, whoever builds it, let the tree survive. I went to the pharmacy, there was an old lady sitting behind the counter.

"Excuse me." I called her.

She looked up at me from the newspaper she was reading.

"What do you want girl?" she said in an elderly voice.

"Do you have any medicine for stomach aches?" I asked.

After listening to my request, she didn't give any answer. Instead, she stood from whatever she was sitting on and went to a cabinet. Searching for some time, she came with the medicine.

"Here." she passed it. It was a pack of four tablets. I took it and turned to the back to read the chemical composition. I know some of the basic chemicals used to treat minor illnesses. For stomach aches, there should be 'hyoscine butylbromide' as the main chemical. The was 10 mg of it present in it. But along with it, there was 10 mg of paracetamol too. I don't know if it will be safe to take these two together. Won't it be too heavy on the body, I didn't have breakfast too.

After a thought, I bought 2 of the tablets from four but didn't eat any. I decided to go to college and have a light meal first. When I turned around to leave, the old lady called me. I looked back at her through my shoulder.

"Take this along." She said.

Turning to face her, I looked at what she was indicating. It was a pamphlet for the advertisement of doctors. I took the pamphlet and gave it a thorough glance. The ad was about multi-specialty doctors giving a free checkups and counseling on Monday, from morning 9 to night 9. Taking the pamphlet, I thanked her.

Within some time, I was in front of the college gate. It was 8:15 am. The classes will start soon. Without wasting any time, I went directly to my dorm. Taking long and fast steps raised my heartbeat. I kept the pamphlet on the table and went straight to the bathroom. 'I need a shower.'

I have a habit of taking a shower daily every morning, I haven't even changed my dress since yesterday. There was no time to warm up the water, and I am convenient with cold water as well. We don't usually get warm water in the orphanage. After a quick shower and brushing my teeth, I came out. I only had one dress left to wear. When I get free time, I should go and check, Whether my uniform was ready or not.

The dress that I wore now was a navy blue long dress, covering my ankles. It has no sleeves, so I wore a white full sleeves shirt inside it. The frills of the white shirt gave a good complement to the navy blue. I slipped on my white socks and my default black shoes. I dried my hair with a towel and put on the buttons of the cufflinks. Hurriedly, I didn't bother to dry my hair any further. I tied my hair in a rough bum and secured them with a clutch.

l My stomach was still in a bit of pain. There was no time to have food. I quickly made my way to the canteen and took a pack of milk. At least, the milk will keep me up to take the medicine. I took the tablet with the milk. The taste of the milk was pretty weird. I didn't look at the flavor while choosing. I randomly choose one. However, I finished the milk. I don't want to faint again in college. I have to keep up a better reputation. Throwing the empty pack in the dustbin, I made my way to the class. Before entering the class, I drank a sip of water from the water filter. There are water filters beside every class.

I swiftly stepped into the class and sat on an empty bench. I was in no mood to talk to anyone and was hoping no one should sit beside me. All I wanted was to spend some time alone in my only company. The bell didn't ring yet, and less than half of the students were at their seats, most of them were standing in groups and having a random talk. As I closed my eyes to relax, I heard a familiar voice.

On hearing the voice, I straighten my form and tilted my head in the direction of the sound. Looking at me, he sat on the bench beside me. By brows automatically knitted.

"I heard that you fainted in the canteen." The swimming champion guy from the other school asked. "How are you now?" He showed his concern.

'How did he knows about it?' I thought.