The attention of the Civic Education teacher and almost all the students was on the monitor who was distributing the test papers from the previous week. This gave two girls sitting in the middle row an opportunity to finalize their plan from earlier that morning.

One of them suddenly clutched her stomach and screamed at the top of her lungs before collapsing to the ground. Before the teacher and others could react, the other girl knelt beside her, shaking her gently and crying, "Rumana, what's wrong? Please get up, oh no..."

Rumana almost smiled, but then she felt a sharp pinch from her friend Yusra. "I swear, if you expose us, I'll say I had nothing to do with it."

Yusra's fear made her curse. By then, the teacher had arrived, and the rest of the class had gathered around them, asking what happened. Yusra, amidst tears, said that Rumana had just collapsed without any warning.

The health prefect was called from their class, and with the help of Yusra and another teacher, they took Rumana to the school's infirmary. Then, they contacted her closest relative, which turned out to be her uncle.

After she was given an injection and an IV drip, everyone left except the doctor and Yusra. When it was quiet, Rumana opened her eyes and got down from the bed, kneeling before the doctor. "Doctor, please help me. When my uncle comes, tell him my ulcer is about to eat through my stomach."

Even though he found her statement amusing, he couldn't help but laugh. Then he quickly composed himself. "Do I look like your playmate or what?"

Yusra also knelt down. "If you don't help her, she'll die of hunger at home. Her ulcer is real and serious."

As he turned to leave, Rumana, realizing their plan might fail, yanked the IV needle from her arm and ran to block the door. "If you don't help me, I'll cause a scene here. Tell him I have a severe illness and need to go home or I might die here."

He stood there, staring at her in shock. He didn’t realize when she ran to the bed, overturned it, and even knocked over the small table beside it, screaming and crying. Even Yusra, who was in on the fake illness, was frightened by Rumana’s convincing act.

While the doctor was trying to restrain her, she heard her uncle’s voice from the small reception area, asking where she was. With tears in her eyes, she looked at the doctor, pleading for his help.

He felt pity for her, and Yusra started crying too.

When Awaisu entered the room, he saw her looking disheveled as if she had been in a fight. Her face was streaked with tears. He hurried to her side and held her. "Rumana, what's wrong? Stop crying and tell me what you need."

She couldn’t speak and continued crying. She didn’t want to resort to this, but she knew she couldn’t continue living at his house without being with her parents.