Chapter 7
The next day, after salvaging whatever they could from the fire and getting everyone settled in the new orphanages, Armaan and Shilpa left for Mumbai with the remaining kids. Armaan managed to fit 5 of them in the car while Shilpa travelled with 2 in the bus. Shilpa gave Armaan her house keys and asked him to settle everyone in. Shilpa purchased a bunch of sleeping bags, clothes and food on her way back home.
When she finally got home, she found Armaan passed out on the sofa. She smiled and went over to him. She adjusted his head to rest it on a pillow, and covered him with a throw. Then she went about getting everything and everyone settled in and prepping for the next day.
Armaan woke up in the middle of the night at around 1:00 am. He heard some noise coming from the kitchen. He got up and went towards the noise. He found Shilpa with her back turned towards him, busy stirring herself a cup of coffee. He walked up behind her and wrapped his hands around her waist. “Hi” he whispered in her ears. She smiled in response. “Coffee?” She offered him her mug. “Nah, have to get back home. 8am shift tomorrow” he replied disappointed, his head now rested on her shoulder. “Yeah, I start at 9:00 tomorrow” she said and she turned around to face him. He looked up at her, his hands still holding her. She sipped her coffee. “Maybeee, just one sip” he said naughtily as he leaned in to kiss her. She moved back trying to control her laugh so as to not to spit out the coffee in her mouth. She gulped it down quickly and said “ewww Armaan!gross!” He laughed with her. “Fine fine. I’ll see you tomorrow” he said tucking away some hair behind her ear. He kissed her on her forehead and left. Shilpa stood there smiling. She was really looking forward to the next day.
The next morning Shilpa left for work after having a hearty and fun breakfast with everyone. She had bought them a bunch of games and books just so they wouldn’t get bored. The kids were quite independent to take care of themselves. Shilpa made sure that there was enough food for them.
There was an emergency at the hospital that morning. A bus crashed into a river, leaving at least 40 people injured. Everyone was really busy. The interns were asked to assist as soon as their shifts started. Armaan and Shilpa hardly got to see each other that day.
It was 5:00pm which meant Armaan had finished his shift. He was really exhausted and just wanted to get home and crash on his bed. He walked out of the hospital, his mind preoccupied by all the injuries and painful cries from the patients that day. Shilpa saw Armaan walking out and called out to him. He kept walking without paying any heed to her call. She was about to run over to him, when her pager rang and she had to leave talking to him until the next day.
She met with up with Sid just 15 minutes before she shift was to end. “Hey Sid, do you think you could give me double shifts for the next few days?” Sid was confused. No one ever wanted to stay back at the hospital more than they were needed to. However, the workload was quite a lot and Dr. JP was on annual leave for the next 2 weeks. So he agreed. He said she could start whenever she wanted to. She thanked him. She was going to start the same day. She needed the extra money to send back to the orphanage.
Shilpa’s shift ended at 2am and she made her way back home. She cooked for the kids and checked up on them. It was already 3:30am before she hit the bed. Her shift started at 9:00 the next day.
It was the same routine again. Breakfast with the kids, work, home, cook, shower and sleep for the next 10 days. On the 2nd day of her new routine, she tried to talk to Armaan, but he completely ignored her. And this happened on quite a few instances. It could have been work related because the hospital was unusually busy those days, but as she was thinking this, Riddhima passed by in front of her. And something in her clicked. “Oh” she said out loud. She sighed, she didn’t have time to deal with this. Clearly Armaan has made his decision. Maybe when he saw Riddhima again, everything went back to square one. He regretted everything. She was hurt. But she was stronger. She just shook her head, wiped the tears, put on a bright smile and went about her duties for the next 8 days straight.
On the 10th day, she was walking besides Sid, while he discussed a new case with her. Suddenly, she felt her hands and legs go cold and her vision turned black. She lost her balance and was about to fall when Sid caught her. “Shit! Shilpa!!” He screamed.
When she woke up, she was on the hospital bed, with an IV through her veins. Sid noticed her waking up and walked up to her. “You’re not going to show your face here for the next days. I’ve already put in sick leave for you. All your going to do is rest. Get it?” he lovingly scolded her. She just nodded. She knew she was over working her self. But she really needed every extra ruppee she could get. “ maybe I can just take the next day off and come back the day after? I’ll stop the double shifts till I’m better?” She timidly suggested. “No! Home. Rest. 3 days.” Did said assertively. He then sat next to her and said, “if you don’t take care of yourself, how are you going to take care of everyone else?”. Shilpa nodded and smiled up at him.
When Armaan came in the next day, he found Sid and rest of the doctors giving out the duties. When Sid said, “Dr.JP welcome back” and handed him a file saying, “ I had given this case to Dr. Shilpa, but she won’t be coming in for the next two days and I’ll need you to take a look at this.” Armaan’s expression turned into concern. “Why not?” He asked involuntary, concern clearly laced in this voice. This did not go unnoticed by Riddhima, she looked at him as asked, “why do you care?”. Armaan just ignored her. Sid said, “she fainted yesterday because of exhaustion with all those double shifts that she’d been working. So I told her to take some time off”. Armaan was about to ask him more, when their pagers buzzed and they had to get on with their duties.
Armaan finished his shift at 11:00pm that day and he headed straight to Shilpa’s house. He knew it was late and probably everyone would be fast asleep but he couldn’t help himself. It had been more than 10 days now since he had even gotten to see her and talk to her properly. Let alone holding her in his arms! He missed her and really needed to see her. He finally knocked on her front door.
Shilpa was busy researching something on her laptop, when she heard a knock on the door. She took a sip of her coffee, kept the mug on the coffee table. She tied her hair up in a loose bun, held together with her pencil and put the laptop aside on the sofa and went to check the door. She hadn’t realised how late it was and opened the door without thinking twice.
When the door opened, and he finally saw her, his breath hitched. He hadn’t seen her in such a long time. And here she was, wearing a cute set of short deep red hooded co-ords, with her hair in a loose bun. A few strands framing her face and a smile on her.. wait up!! His expression turned from dreamy to scared. She looked mad! What had he done now?! She squinted her eyes at him and pointed her finger to his chest. “Go away!” She said. “Shilpa! Shilpa, dekho I’m sorry.. I don’t even know..” he fumbled for words as he tried to calm her down and walked up to her. “Huh” Shilpa gasped. “Don’t you dare Armaan! You are not invited inside!” “Okay okay! I won’t come in. But atleast let me explain” he had no idea what he had to explain. But he was going to give it all he had. Shilpa put her hand on her hips, raising her crop hoodie just a little, exposing her skin and at the same time raising Armaan’s heart rate. He gulped and turned his eyes away from her hips to her face, which showed nothing the anger. He found it cute. And his lips twitched in a smile. Looking at him smile, she lost it. She pointed her finger at his chest again and kept walking forward saying, “you.. you.. how dare you! Samah kya raha hai. Main koyi coffee shop hoon? Jab jee chaha aa gaye pyas bujane!” She kept walking forward while Armaan kept walking backwards until his back hit the car door and he couldn’t walk away anymore. He looked scared like a lost puppy when Shilpa yelled at him. He tried to cut her in between “par Shilpa.. maine.. meri baat toh...” but Shilpa kept on talking. He finally kept his hand on her mouth, shushing her.
She gasped at this contact and kept quite, still frowning though.
“Dekho meri jaan,” he started explaining to her and tucked away from loose strands from her face. His other hand still covering her face. “You know it’s been crazy hectic at the hospital. I tried calling you every night, but your phone was always switched off. I came here every night but you were never home. I didn’t know about the double shifts until Sid mentioned it today” He said. Shilpa moved his hand from her mouth and placed her hands on her hips. He tried to wrap his hands around her waist but she slapped them them away. “Toh phir hospital mein ignore kyun kaya?” “Canteen main, reception par, locker room mein? Riddhima ki wajah se?” “What?!”Armaan looked confused. “Dekho Armaan, if this is something that’s just physical, than I need to know. I need to know what I’m getting into. There’s no need for you to pretend to like me just to sleep with me.” Armaan looked hurt and this stopped Shilpa’s rant midway. She looked away from him.. she hated seeing him like this, but she was still angry. “Shilpa, why would you think that?” He asked her heartbroken. Shilpa looked at him, he had unshed tears in this eyes. This confused her even more. A tear dropped from her eye too. Which Armaan caught in his hand. She just shook her head and smiled at the ridiculousness and went and sat on the steps at the entrance of her house. Armaan walked slowly behind her and sat next to her.
“You ignored me Armaan. At the hospital. You said all those amazing things to me and then you just ignored me. Just like that, like it meant nothing.” She said looking at him, sadness clear in her eyes. “Shilpa..” Armaan started to say something, but she cut him off. She looked straight ahead into the night and said “ I didn’t know why, I didn’t understand but then I saw Riddhima and it clicked. You love her, not me. I was just a stop on the way to your destination. You couldn’t hurt her by being with me in front of her.” She looked back at him, “I get it Armaan, but just don’t play with my feelings this way.” Tears rolled down her face. “Shilpa..” he said and turned around to her and held her face in his hands, his thumbs wiping away her tears. “I thought that’s what you’d want” he said clearly misunderstanding her. “Why would I want you to ignore me Armaan?” She asked him confused. “Cause, that’s what Riddhima wanted” he confessed in a soft voice, unable to look her in the eyes. “What?” She asked still a little confused. Armaan folded his hands on his knees and turned around to look in the front and said, “when Riddhima and I were a couple, she didn’t want anyone to find out and told me not to tell anyone about us. I thought you’d want the same thing. This had nothing to do with hurting Riddhima. I just didn’t want to loose you and wanted to do everything right. The correct way. Make no mistakes. I can’t imagine loosing you. You mean more than my life to me”
Shilpa was taken aback. This was the last thing she had expected. She loved him and if she could she would tell the whole wide world that, she would. She realised how she had misunderstood his behaviour and felt bad. She took his hand, and adjusted herself so that she was sitting in front of him, between his legs. “Armaan” she said entwining her fingers with his, “You don’t have to change to be with me. I love you, every side of you. Your angry side, your annoying side, your mischievous side, your flirty side. All of you Armaan, unconditionally and I don’t care who knows.” She said. Armaan sighed with relief and rested his head on her head, giving her a kiss . “Good!” He said, “all this hiding was driving me crazy! I swear, I couldn’t keep my hands away from you!” Shilpa smiled and looked up at him, he kissed her lovingly. Something he had waited to do for a long time now. As they broke away from the kiss, Armaan gave her a bunch of little kisses, making Shilpa smile through them all. “Kal shift nahi hai?” “Nope” he said, as he rested his head on hers again. “Coffee milegi kya? My personal favourite coffee shop” Armaan asked her. Shilpa elbowed him jokingly and told him that they should go inside.
To be continued...
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Rash111 @Rash111
3 years ago
This is whaat I imagined and wanted exactly; Not the toxic love of Ridhima which compels arman to change but selfless love of shilpa who loves him for himself.loved the update . plz PM me for the next