Of Sneezing and Handkerchiefs

                                    

                                          
Edited By @KateHP
                          
LILA'S POV.
                          
Aaachoooo! Here go lakhs of other bacteria.
                          
"I should not eat ice cream and sleep with wet hair. I should not eat ice cream and sleep with wet hair."
                          
I repeated this mantra again and again till I had to blow my nose again. An ice cream slumber party with my cousin, Deepti, who was also my best friend proved to be disastrous for me. By some wonder, Deepti was alright and went to college.
                          
Cruel world!
                          
My head felt like something was constantly hitting on it and my nose was red due to blowing repeatedly.
                          
And there I was, sprawled on my bed eating Nutella (which I couldn't taste), but still kept on eating it hoping it would make me feel better.
                          
A head peeked into my room.
                          
"Lila, how are you feeling?"
                          
It was my aunt. Deepti's mom, Seema.
                          
"Not good, Kaki," I replied, with my mouth full of Nutella.
                          
"Oh, my poor girl. Deepti called; she told me to give you these medicines," she said, handing a strip of tablets to me. Oh, did I mention that Deepti was a medical student? Bloody intelligent girl.
                          
"Lila, will you please, please, please accompany me to the market today?" Seema kaki asked. My ears perked up.
                          
"But Ajji ..?" I asked back.
                          
"Didn't you know? She went to Delhi to meet Madhu and Mita," she said in a cheerful voice.
                          
Madhu is my dad's sister and Mita is her daughter. They are the people who I hate the most in my family and I know that this feeling is mutual. Whenever they used to visit here, they used to talk crossly with me or sometimes didn't even acknowledge me. I would find the latter better.
                          
"Okay, give me some time to get ready," I said, jumping out of my bed.
                          
Now that Ajji is not here, not even this stupid cold can stop me from getting out of this house.
                          
**************
                          
This shop is the epitome of crazy shopping. Women of all shape and sizes were going batshit crazy on things like curtains and mattresses. And what's up with the temperature;, it's bloody freezing over here! I wanted to do nothing but sleep, but I never knew when I would get a chance like this to go out and actually interact with fellow humans.
                          
"Lila, hurry up; let's find a place," Seema kaki said, tugging me.
                          
We walked through the bustling pavement of busy women, crying children and bored husbands and found a free sales person and sat on the couch in front of him.
                          
Kaki fired away to the person about the type of curtain she wanted and it took me less than 10 seconds to be bored about the whole thing.
                          
I told Kaki that I was going to drink water but all I wanted was to roam around.
                          
I felt an urge to sneeze. Shit, I forgot my napkin on the couch.
                          
I couldn't control it and went all nuclear about the sneeze.
                          
I sneezed thrice when I felt someone behind me trying to give me a napkin.
                          
I quickly took it, covered and rubbed my nose and turned around to say thank you when my eyes went diamonds looking at the person who gave me his handkerchief.
                          
The first thing that I noticed was his beard. Shit, from now on I think I have a thing for men with beards. He was tall. I had to look up to get a full view of his face. He was wearing a suit which was a perfect fit for his body. The material of his suit itself must be more expensive than my whole wardrobe. It was rare to see a man with a suit in my town. Maybe he was feeling cold or maybe he was a MIB agent looking for aliens in my city. Oh shit, why do aliens like to be in small towns? I am going to die.
                          
"Ahem." He made a sound and brought me back from my 'La la Dreamland.
                          
He was handsome but his eyes were icy. His face was scrunched as if I was smelling like something rotten. But I took a bath today.
                          
I quickly recovered myself and said thank you in a small, quivering voice. I raise my hand up to give him his handkerchief. He moved back and said, "Keep it..."
                          
His voice is...
                          
"... and stay away from me, you might make me or other people around sick."
                          
Dorky. Yes, not sexy or heavy. His voice is dorky.
                          
What did he think of himself? My one sneeze wasn't going to make him sick, and I was careful enough to hide my face during sneezing.
                          
I quickly turned and threw his handkerchief in a dustbin and took a look at him. His face was hard like I would throw a stone at him and the stone would break.
                          
Yes, serves him right. I don't need a handkerchief; I have my napkin back on the couch.
                          
Shit, kaki. Without sparing him another glance, I stormed out of there to Kaki. She was where I left her but now she was surrounded by heaps of curtains.
                          
"Lila, where were you?"
                          
"I was-"
                          
"Chuck it, I just got a call from Harish; we have to get home early. There are some issues at home. Let's quickly wind this up. Which one do you like better?" Kaki said, holding two curtains in front of her. One was horrible pink and another was even more horrible brown.
                          
But I wasn't thinking about the curtains. What must have happened at home that Kaka Harish called so abruptly? Hope it has nothing to do with me.