At this moment, Advik was feeling an unbearable pain in his back. It felt as if someone had shot an arrow straight through it. He still couldn't understand what had suddenly happened to him.

Because of the pain, his eyes slowly began to close. Seeing Advik gradually losing consciousness, Ayaan started feeling that he had made a terrible mistake.

Watching Advik collapse unconscious into his arms, Ayaan's face turned pale.

Advik had completely fainted in Ayaan's embrace.

Ayaan couldn't understand what had happened within just a few seconds. Panic slowly started taking over his face.

He looked around, but all he could see were trees and the dense forest. Since it was around five in the morning, only faint rays of light had begun spreading across the area. Looking at Advik's pale face, Ayaan Singhania felt helpless for the first time in his life.

Patting Advik's face, Ayaan said anxiously,

"Advik... wake up. Stop joking like this. I know nothing has happened to you..."

As he spoke, Ayaan slipped his hand behind Advik's back and tried to pull out the crab.

As his fingers slowly moved across Advik's back, he felt something unusual.

But at that moment, he couldn't think of anything else. The only thing on his mind was somehow getting Advik to wake up.

Just then, Ayaan felt the crab crawling across Advik's back.

Without wasting another second, he grabbed the crab and threw it away.

After throwing it aside, a thought crossed his mind.

Should he remove Advik's T-shirt and check the place where the crab had bitten him?

Thinking that, Ayaan immediately reached toward the buttons of Advik's T-shirt, intending to remove it.

But for some reason, no matter how much he wanted to, his hands simply couldn't do it.

Confused, he could only stare at Advik's face.

While he was still lost in his thoughts, Advik, whose eyes were half-open despite being unconscious, suddenly caught Ayaan's hand with his lifeless fingers.

In a weak voice, he stopped Ayaan and said,

"You idiot... take me to the hospital."

The moment he finished speaking, Advik's eyes closed once again.

Hearing those words, Ayaan finally realized how foolish he had been all this time.

Instead of wasting time there, he should immediately take Advik back to the college faculty.

Without another thought, Ayaan lifted Advik into his arms and hurried toward the college campus.

As he walked, he couldn't help but notice how light Advik was.

For a brief moment, it felt as though he wasn't carrying a boy at all... but a girl.

Quickly, Ayaan carried Advik toward the college grounds.

He noticed that the P.T. sir was still on the field.

Seeing two boys rushing toward him in such a condition, he immediately became worried.

He hurried over to them.

Before he could even ask anything after seeing the unconscious Advik lying in Ayaan's arms, Ayaan spoke anxiously,

"Sir... Advik has been bitten by some insect. He needs medical treatment immediately."

A short while later, Advik was admitted to a hospital in Delhi.

At that moment, Ayaan was restlessly waiting outside for the doctor to come out.

The tension on his face was impossible to hide.

Today, he was also deeply ashamed of what he had done.

As he sat there, he kept replaying that moment in his mind, wondering what had possessed him to play such a prank on Advik.

His hands unconsciously tugged at his own hair.

For the first time in his life, he doubted his own IQ.

How had he made such a huge mistake over a simple joke?

Just then, the doctor who had been examining Advik stepped out of the ward.

The moment they saw the doctor, both the P.T. sir and Ayaan rushed toward him.

The P.T. sir immediately asked nervously,

"Doctor, what happened to Advik? Is he alright?"

The doctor first looked at the P.T. sir and Ayaan before asking about their relationship with the patient.

He was confused because he couldn't understand why they were referring to a girl by a boy's name.

The doctor asked the P.T. sir,

"May I know your relationship with the patient? Are you a member of the patient's family?"

The P.T. sir immediately replied,

"No, we're not her family. But Advik is a student at our college, and I'm the P.T. instructor of the hostel."

Hearing that, the doctor became even more confused.

He simply couldn't understand why the two people who had just admitted the patient kept talking about a boy.

Seeing the doctor standing there silently, Ayaan's patience finally gave up.

Raising his voice, he shouted,

"Can't you hear us? Why aren't you telling us whether my roommate is alright or not?"

Since the doctor didn't know who Ayaan Singhania was, he failed to recognize him.

Hearing Ayaan's raised voice, the doctor snapped back angrily,

"Mister, how can you ask me about the patient when you don't even know whether the patient is a boy or..."

The doctor was just about to say something angrily when Mansi came running from behind. Interrupting him midway, she shouted loudly,

"Doctor, I'm the patient's family member. Please come with me and tell me about her."

As soon as she finished speaking, she grabbed the doctor's hand and, without giving him a chance to think or react, pulled him straight into his cabin.

Ayaan and the P.T. sir could only stare at Mansi's actions with wide eyes. At the same time, they both wondered what relationship this girl had with Advik.

The doctor, too, looked at Mansi in confusion. He couldn't understand what kind of patient this was, or what kind of family she had.

The doctor immediately pulled his hand away from Mansi's grip in annoyance.

Mansi instantly let go and apologized.

She quickly explained Advik's condition to the doctor.

The doctor finally understood the situation.

Just then, Ayaan entered the cabin. The anxiety on his face was impossible to hide.

In a tense voice, he asked,

"Doctor, will you please tell me how Advik is? How is his condition?"

This time, the doctor didn't ask Ayaan any more questions and directly began explaining Advik's condition.

"Look, Mister. The insect that bit Advik was a poisonous crab. Normally, crabs aren't poisonous, but the one that bit the patient contained poison. That means the crab must have eaten another poisonous insect."

Hearing such a long explanation from the doctor, Ayaan grew irritated.

Staring at him with his red eyes, he said,

"First tell me how Advik is. Is he alright or not?"

The doctor was frightened by Ayaan's commanding voice.

He immediately replied like a memorized parrot,

"We've already given Advik an injection and started an anti-poison drip. We can only comment on the patient's condition after the drip is finished. Only then will we know whether all the poison has left the body."

Without wasting a second, Ayaan asked another question.

"How long will the drip take to finish?"

The doctor quickly answered,

"About an hour. After that, we'll know how much poison remains in the body."

Then, in a softer voice, he asked Ayaan,

"By the way... I don't understand how the crab managed to bite the patient on the back."

The doctor's question made Ayaan lower his eyes in guilt.

He knew he would never be able to forget that Advik's condition today was because of him.

Two hours passed like this.

Neither the P.T. sir, Mansi, nor Ayaan had left.

All three were simply waiting to hear that Advik was fine.

Finally, the doctor returned.

Looking at the three of them, he smiled.

"Thank God. The poison has completely left the patient's body. She should regain consciousness very soon."

Hearing this, all three finally sighed in relief.

Ayaan then looked at the P.T. sir and said in a firm tone,

"Sir, you can return to the hostel. I'll bring Advik back with me."

At first, the P.T. sir glared at Ayaan because of his tone.

But then he remembered who the person standing before him was.

Still, there was one question he wanted answered.

Looking directly into Ayaan's face, he asked,

"Can you tell me something? Since both of you were together, how did that crab bite Advik?"

Ayaan was already drowning in guilt, and the P.T. sir's question only made him feel worse.

He raised his voice slightly and replied,

"How would I know? Is he my wife that I'd keep an eye on him every second?"

Seeing Ayaan's anger, the P.T. sir said nothing.

He simply nodded his head and walked away.

Nearby, Mansi was practically swooning over Ayaan's attitude.

She stared at him without blinking and thought to herself,

Hi... he's so handsome. And that anger... ah! I could die happily just looking at him.

When Ayaan felt someone's eyes fixed on him, he turned toward Mansi.

She immediately panicked and started looking here and there to avoid his intimidating gaze.

Ayaan didn't care about her embarrassment.

He simply asked the question that had been on his mind.

"Miss, can you tell me what your relationship is with my roommate?"

Hearing Ayaan speak to her directly, Mansi was startled.

But she quickly composed herself.

"L... I'm Advik's friend."

Hearing that, Ayaan frowned, as if asking,

Friend... or girlfriend?

Seeing his expression, Mansi let out an awkward smile.

"Of course, just a friend. We're still too young for those kinds of things."

After hearing her answer, Ayaan simply nodded.

Then another question came to his mind.

"So how did you convince the doctor that you were his family?"

Sweat instantly appeared on Mansi's forehead.

She had no idea how to answer that.

Just then, a ringtone echoed through the room.

It was Advik's phone.

The caller was Gautam Kapoor, whose name appeared on the screen as Papa.

Ayaan looked at the phone.

Already feeling guilty, he hesitated before answering it.

Meanwhile, Mansi wanted to take the phone from him, but she was too scared of Ayaan to move forward.

The phone kept ringing.

Finally, Ayaan answered the call.

Before he could say anything, Gautam Kapoor's excited voice came through.

"Noor, dear! Today's your first day, isn't it? Are you ready?"

Hearing that, Ayaan thought to himself,

Even Advik's father is as strange as him. Who calls such a grown-up son 'Noor'?

An irritated expression appeared on his otherwise emotionless face.

Meanwhile, Gautam Kapoor realized that he had been talking continuously while his beloved daughter hadn't said a single word.

He spoke again.

"Noor... what happened? Why aren't you saying anything? Are you still upset with your Papa?"

It had been a month since Gautam Kapoor had last spoken to Advika.

Because of her safety, he was only allowed to talk to her once in a while over the phone.

Before he could say anything else, Ayaan interrupted.

"Uncle, I think you've accidentally called your daughter instead of your son. As for your son, he's already gone to college. He accidentally left his phone with me."

Ayaan quickly made up an excuse because he couldn't reveal Advik's condition under any circumstances.

The moment Gautam Kapoor heard a young man's voice from his daughter's phone, he was shocked.

But then he remembered the circumstances under which his daughter was living in Delhi.

Thinking about her condition, he felt even more helpless.

Once again, he felt like a defeated father.

Without saying another word, he quietly ended the call.

Ayaan looked at the disconnected call in surprise.

No one had ever dared to cut his calls like that before.

He was still staring at the phone when he suddenly heard Mansi's cheerful voice coming from inside the ward.

Hearing her, Ayaan immediately walked into Advik's room.

Inside, he saw Mansi hugging Advik while scolding her.

From where Ayaan was standing, it looked as if the two were kissing.

But in reality, Mansi was simply fixing Advik's wig while whispering into her ear and scolding her for her mistake.

Seeing the two standing so close together made Ayaan feel strangely uncomfortable.

He deliberately cleared his throat to announce his presence.

The moment Mansi noticed him, she immediately stepped away from Advik.

Meanwhile, Ayaan carefully observed both of them.

In his mind, he thought,

I thought Mr. Gandhi was an innocent guy... but he's actually one step ahead of me.

Within seconds, Ayaan had already imagined an entire love story between Advik and Mansi.

Just then, Advik looked at him.

He wanted to ask something.

He still remembered that before losing consciousness, Ayaan had been trying to remove his clothes.

His biggest fear now was whether Ayaan had discovered that he wasn't a boy... but a girl.

Hiding his real intention, Advik asked casually,

"What happened, Ayaan Singhania? Why did you come to meet an arrogant roommate like me? It would've been better for you if something had happened to me. The whole room would've become yours."

Advik asked this because if Ayaan had discovered the truth, he would've surely said that the room belonged to him now.

But hearing those words, all the courage Ayaan had gathered to admit his mistake disappeared.

He thought,

If I tell him the truth, he might think I deliberately tried to kill him just to get the room.

I'm not afraid of that... but under no circumstances do I want Mr. Singhania to find out about this while I'm still in college.

Thinking that, Ayaan decided he wouldn't tell Advik anything.

Returning to his usual arrogant self, he looked at Advik and said,

"I had no interest in staying here. P.T. sir had some work, so he left me behind."

Then he glanced at Mansi and added,

"Besides, your girlfriend wasn't capable of doing anything."

Hearing that, Mansi immediately said,

"I'm not Advik's girlfriend, Ayaan Singhania! Why can't you understand that?"

In her irritation, she didn't even realize that her voice had become louder than usual.

But the moment she found Ayaan staring at her with those dangerous eyes, her heartbeat almost stopped.

Without thinking twice, she quickly picked up her purse, looked at Advik, and said,

"Look, your partner is here now. I have to get to college too, so I'm leaving."

With that, she hurriedly ran out of the ward.

Watching her leave in such a rush, Ayaan thought to himself,

Oh God... this guy's entire family is weird.

Just then, Advik spoke.

"Look, I'm fine now. Go call the doctor. I want to be discharged from the hospital."

Ayaan glared at him.

From his eyes alone, Advik could clearly tell what he meant.

I'm not your servant.

But Advik completely ignored the look and, in a threatening tone, said,

"P.T. sir left you here, didn't he?"

Just from those few words, Ayaan understood exactly what Advik meant.

Wanting to lessen the guilt inside him, he decided to do as Advik said and walked toward the door.

Just then, the ward door opened once again.

A girl walked inside carrying a huge bouquet of flowers toward Advik.