Sid and Sana got down from the auto. He looks at the house infront. It was an old house.

Sana: Come! Lets go inside.

She leaves her sandals outside and he does the same. She unlocks the door and goes inside. He follows her.

"Akka, ninna?" {Is it you, Sister?}, a female voice from inside the kitchen.

Sana: Howdu kane. Naane. {Yes. It's me}

Sid realised that he hardly knew anything about her family or her lifestyle. They never spoke about each other's family. He wondered whose voice was it.

"Maley yali nenkondu bandya?" {Did you get drenched in rain?}

Sana: Illa, kodey itu. {No, I had an umbrella} Hmm.. come, I'll show you your room.

Sid: Hmmm..

"Yaar hatra matadutidiya? Nanige kelista illa." {Who are you speaking to? I can't hear you.}

Sana: Yaaru illa, baai muchkondu ninn kelsa maadu. {No one, shut up and do your work.}

She goes into a room and he follows her. She quickly picks up some things lying in the room and stuffs it inside the wardrobe. He looks around the room. It was half the size of his luxurious room with a bed, wardrobe, a table and a little attic. There were 2 windows - One opening towards the road infront and the other towards the side which showed the blue wall belonging to the neighbour at a little distance.

Sana: I will empty the wardrobe soon for you.

Sid: Don't bother, it's just one bag. I can place it on the table there.

Sana: You are family member now so don't even hesitate a bit to walk around in the house.

Sid: Sana, who is the girl with whom you were speaking in your mother tongue?

Sana: Oh.. that's.. that's my paying guest.

Sid: And your family?

Sana: You are there right?

Sid: (Gushing) Yes, I am. What about others?

Sana: There is no one else. Take rest, I'll see you again.

She walks towards the door and turns around.

Sana: Sorry, the bathroom is over there on the left corner. It's attached.(points outside the room)

Sid: Okay sweetheart.

Sana smiled with a little blush on being called sweetheart. After she was gone, he lied on his back on the bed and kept thinking about her.

I am getting bored already without her. I am here as her boyfriend so she ought to be with me. I can't be so shy now as I need to fulfill her wish of having a boyfriend and do what every boyfriend would do.

He goes out of the room searching for Sana. He finds her in the kitchen washing utensils. He goes near her and hugs her by her waist from her back. She gets scared and turns around. He looks at her. It wasn't Sana.

"Ammaaaa... Aiyyo paapi, Yaro neenu? Nama maneyali yeno madutaidiya? Hatra barbeda illa andre, tarkari katariso haage piece piece maadbidtini ninna." {You sinster, who are you? What are you doing in our house? Don't try to approach close to me, else I will chop you into pieces like vegetable.}

She picks up a kitchen knife from the nearby stand and points at him. Sid couldn't understand a word but he looked at the knife and understood that the lady was scared of him and mistook him to be somebody else. He stood far with his hands up.

Sid: Hey hey hey.. it was a misund...

"Akkaaa... Akkaaa.. bega police ge call maadu.. yaavano loafer manege nugg bitidaane" {Akkaaa.. Akkaaa.. quickly call the police.. a loafer has intruded into our house.

Sid:  Police? Call? Loafer? No.. no.. no.. I am not what you think..

Sana comes running to the kitchen. Sid hides behind her.

Sana: Nandini Nandini.. iru iru.. {wait.. wait..}

Nandini: Aiyyo!!! Namma akkana bido.. Nin yaake illi barokke hode, police ge call madu antha helidu kelislilva? {Ohh no!! Leave my sister.. Didn't you hear that I asked you to call the police, why did you come here?

Sana: Baayi muchkondu nanna maatu kelisko swalpa. {Shut your mouth and listen to me} Sid, be in your room and I'll be there in sometime. Okay?

Sidharth: But.. her.. the knife?

Nandini lowers the knife and keeps it back to where it belonged. Sana signals Sid to go to the room and he nods and leaves.

Nandini: Avanu ninage gotta? Yaaru avanu? {Do you know him? Who is he?}

**Their conversation is in Kannada but I will write it in English for ease and avoid confusions**

Sana: Yes, I know him. I got him home and he will be staying with us here.

Nandini: But who is he?

Sana: He is.. my patient.

Nandini: Okay, this is the first time you are getting your patient home.

Sana: Yes, it's a special case.

Nandini: Akka, I think you are hiding something. Why would your patient come and hug me?

Sana: What? Did he hug you?

Nandini: Yes, he hugged me from behind at once. Then, I looked at him and picked up the knife.

Sana: Ohh!! He might have mistook you to be me.. (she blushed)

Nandini: Huh? Hmm.. but still why would your patient hug you? Tell me the truth Akka.

Sana: Hmm.. okay.. You remember that on Friday night I went to my best friend, Manasa's birthday party...

Flashback:

Sana, Priyanka, Manasa, Bharat, Arjun and Kumar finish their dinner. The 6 friends decide to play truth or dare. They spin the bottle and whoever it pointed at had to choose between truth or dare.

After 3 spins, the bottle points at Sana and she chooses dare.

Priyanka: Dance dance..

Sana: Okay, Music..

Arjun: Hush! It's my turn to give her a dare..

Sana: Okay!! Tell me what do you want me to do?

Arjun: You have to call a random number and flirt with that person. Doesn't matter boy or girl.

Sana: What? Have you lost your mind?

Manasa: Sounds a cool dare to me. Hey don't be a spoilsport. It's just over a call. How will it affect you?

Sana: But, he/she will have my number with him/her. What if that person calls me later?

Kumar: Have you heard about blocking option? Just block it.

Sana: Okay.

Sana takes out her mobile and dials a random number. The phone starts ringing but she cuts the call getting scared.

Sana: No machas!! {Buddies} I can't..

Bharat: Leave it machas. Let's not make her so uncomfortable.

Priyanka: Bharat, The dare is dare and everyone has to complete it. Remember last time to asked me to snatch someone's mobile and run. This isn't that worst.

Arjun: Right, and if you remember you made me upload my dance video in my undies as my WhatsApp status last year. Can it be worst than that? Even till date my relatives, friends and acquaintances remind me and laugh at it.

Everyone laughs.

Sana: Okay.. okay.. I will call..

Arjun: Same number!!

Sana: Alright!

She re-dials the number.

"Helloo" (a man in angry tone)

Sana disconnects..

Arjun: What the hell?? This isn't fair.

Sana: Okay, I agree that I am a loser. I can't. Y'all carry on. I need to go home.

Bharat: Wait, I'll drop you home.

Sana: No need Bharat. Continue the play please. Bye.

She goes out and her phone starts ringing again. She looks at the screen, it was the same number. She becomes nervous and just puts it on silence. It rings until it gets disconnected.

Sana: Auto..

The auto doesn't stop. Her phone starts ringing again. She was in dilemma whether to receive it or not finally after 3 rings, receives the call to say sorry.

"Hello, if you didn't wanted to speak, why the hell did you call up in the first place and by chance if you called as well why can't you speak damnit? Stop playing idiotic pranks on people. Let me die in peace atleast. If you hadn't called, by this time I would have been having dinner with Mr. Yamraj, you idiot.", He said furiously.

She couldn't hold her laughter at the 'dinner with Mr. Yamraj' sentence. She laughs. He stops speaking and she finally holds back her laughter. He starts to speak again.

"Hello, who is it? May I resume my suicide if you aren't speaking"

There was a complete silence as she found his words no more funny.

She thinks- Why would he say so? Is he serious about suicide?

"Hello... Hello...", He spoke calmly..

She thinks- I need to check if he really meant to commit suicide.

"Hello.. I..", She said..

<Beep beep beep beep>

She looks at the phone and it was disconnected.

Oh God! He was serious I guess. My laughter spoilt everything. He disconnected my call.

She redials the number..

The number you are trying to call is either switched off or not reachable at the moment. Please call after sometime.

She redials and redials multiple times but everytime she gets the same message. She takes an auto and goes home but she kept trying his number every now and then.

She was restless as she dialled the number everytime. Those 30 minutes were like 30 decades for her.

She dialled again and this time it said.

The number you are trying to reach is on another call. Please dial after sometime.

She redials and again the same message plays.

Oh!! (Sighs) He is talking to someone else. Or wait is he the really talking to someone else or is it someone else using his number? I need to call him again to check if he is alright.

She dials the number again and this time he receives the call.

"Hello! Thank God you are alive. I thought, you were really enjoying dinner with Mr. Yamraj.", She giggles.

There was no reply..

"Hello.. Are you there? Helloooo", she says sweetly.

"Huh? Hmmm.. Yes, I am.. still alive", he speaks.

"Good! I thought, I was probably speaking to your ghost. By the way, were you actually trying to commit suicide or just said it in irritation?", She inquired.

"I genuinely tried to commit suicide.", He said.

She thinks - Oh No!! I need to stop him from doing so. What do I do? Wait, looks like he need someone to speak else he wouldn't have been speaking to me now. He genuinely wants to talk to me. I need to borrow sometime to make him realise that he should give up the idea of suicide. I need to engage him in my talks. After all, I am a psychiatrist, it's my duty to bring out people from mental trauma and to listen to them, help them recover and rediscover life.

She continues talking to him and asks him to be her boyfriend for 15 days citing the reason that she is having serious illness. She subtly instilled the thought that a person should strive to live before thinking of dying.

Flashback ends

Nandini: Andre aa vyakti ninna boyfriend haage behave madutidane? {So he is behaving like a boyfriend with you?}

Sana: Hmm.. Nodu, yavade karanuku avarige ninu naanu ondu psychiatrist antha helbeda. Inu 11 dina swalpa sumane iru. Gotaita? {See, for any reason don't tell him that I am a psychiatrist. Just shut your mouth for the next 11 days. Understood?

Nandini: Okay Akka.

Sana: Mathondu Vishya, ninu nanna tangi alla. Ninu nanna paying guest antha helu. {One more thing, you aren't my younger sister. You are supposed to tell him that you are my paying guest.}

Nandini nods to say okay.

_____________________________

To be continued.. ❤️❤️

Hope your doubts about Sana's character is cleared in this chapter. How did you think the story is progressing?

Like it?