Chapter 8

Chapter 8

karte toh hai saath safar

faasley hai fir bhi magar

mulaqaaton mein jaise ghul si gayi tanhayi

Akshara huffed frustratingly as she fiddled with the sequins of her bottle green dress. She didn't know how but Neil had actually managed to pull it off somehow.  The backroom of the hospital was decorated in an explosion of red and green, there was a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the room and all the patients and staff were having a blast eating, dancing and chatting. 

Everyone except her.

Doctor Mahima and Doctor Anand were sitting at the table laughing with Manjiri Aunty and Harsh Uncle, Rohan had mustered up the courage talk to the young girl he'd been crushing on ever since she had been admitted into Room 1256, Neil was twirling Jia on the dance floor and the rest of interns were intermingling and networking with the high end doctors and specialists invited from other hospitals. 

And she sat in her chair by the tree, trying to make herself invisible. She wasn't a huge fan of such parties. There was a social expectation of dancing and interacting. And even though she loved to dance, she didn't dance in front of people. Not anymore at least. 

Plus the fact that He hadn't looked at her even once the entire day didn't help her mood either. Consciously or subconsciously, she had spent just an hour more than required to get ready today. This dress had been ordered the day she got the official invite for the party and she'd dug through her mother's things to fish out the sparkling butterfly clip currently holding her hair up. She'd painstakingly applied a smoky eye and she was wearing 4 inch heels. She felt pretty and desirable after a long time. Her work almost never allowed her to pay attention to her appearance. All she usually has time for is a quick shower; she'd honestly forget to wash her hair at odd intervals if she hadn't set an alarm for it. Her fashion choices began and ended at her scrubs and the OT was no place for heels. She'd felt excited at the opportunity to doll up and yes, okay, a part of her had been anticipating His reaction to her dressed up appearance. 

But unfortunately he hadn't even spared her a glance. In fact, she doubted he even noticed her presence. He was in the back of the room, entertaining some top surgeons from France who'd flown in for a conference, looking absolutely gorgeous in a white tuxedo. It wasn't fair that he looked so effortlessly good in whatever he was wearing, be it his scrubs or his formals and she had to spend hours to put together a somewhat decent look. 

Stupid Abhimanyu, with his stupid face and his stupid hair and his stupid muscles and his stupid self control that never seems to slip.

Stupid, stupid, stupid

Stupid busy busy doctor who can't even acknowledge his a girl.

Abhimanyu was in literal hell.

"Ye ladki meri jaan leke maanegi" he growled to himself, as he sipped on his glass. He'd had to turn his back to where Akshu sat in a desperate attempt to curb his urges. 

"Excuse moi?" Doctor Bernard asked, confused.

Abhi shook his head. "Merci Monsieur. Continuez s'il vous plaît."

The man continued his train of thought on modern ventricular assist devices and Abhi should really have been paying attention but even his focus had its limits.

 He cursed whatever god up there had decided to punish him today.

She was tempting enough even when her eyes were tired, her shoes were scuffed and her scrubs were wrinkled from 4 hours in the OT. Even then he has to resist the urge to openly admire his girl and then she had to throw this at him. But of course, his Mahadev never left an opportunity to test him, did he? She just had to show up in that damned dress and those damned heels with her hair pulled up to reveal the swan like curve of her damned neck.

Damn it, damn it, damn it all to hell.

He wanted to sink his teeth at the exposed skin of her collarbones and he wanted to kiss those pouty lips that looked fuller and redder today but most of all he wanted to kiss that damned mole on her throat that he was utterly obsessed with.

Lord have mercy on him.

He'd been waiting for her to show up like an over eager teenager and the second she had he'd felt his mouth go dry as all of the blood in his veins ran south. He'd spent his entire life carefully avoiding any and all vices. Even when his friends at medical school had indulged in alcohol and other substances to cope with the stress, he'd stuck to his work outs and meditations. He prided himself on his control and his mastery over temptation and yet here he was, brought to his knees by a pretty face with fiery eyes.

The heart has a twisted way of keeping one humble.

He'd spent the rest of the evening studiously avoiding looking directly at her. She was like his own version of the solar eclipse. He wanted nothing more than to look, to stare, to admire but he couldn't. Because he knew very well that if he did, he'd snap and do something impulsive. Like throw her over his shoulder and carry her away from all the other admiring eyes. Or kiss her senseless in the middle of the room in plain view of everyone. Possibly both.

He tried to focus back on his conversation when he noticed the doors of the hall swing followed by a flash of green. He frowned. 

Where was she going?

Akshu tried her best not to look like she was fleeing. Doctor Akshay had walked up to her and asked her to dance. She had noticed his friends, 3 other interns that had joined with them, snickering behind his back and she'd felt the blood drain from her face. It was all too much. She couldn't figure Akshay out. They'd never been the best of friends, but she had stayed up all night to help him, messing up her sleep schedule and even earning a dressing down from her superior. And while she hadn't expected him to suddenly fall to her feet in gratitude, she'd hoped it would have at least improved her dynamics with the rest of her colleagues.

Somehow it had made things worse.

Earlier, the looks he and his friends had thrown at her had been scornful or contemptuous. Lately, those looks had turned downright nasty. She wasn't stupid, she knew the rest of the doctors here weren't her biggest fans, barring Jia and Rohan. This attempt to dance with her just screamed red flag to her. So she'd muttered a hasty excuse about needing the washroom and made a quick escape.

She could feel the telltale signs of a panic attack approaching, the blood roaring in her ears and her hands starting to shake so she power walked to Abhi's room, reminding herself to breathe normally. 

Abhi has your anxiety meds in his room Akshu. You just have to get to them. You'll be fine.

Jamming the key he'd given her into the lock she flung his door open and immediately opened the drawer at his desk, sighing at the familiar sight of her pills. Popping 2 of them in her mouth, she gulped the entire bottle of water sitting on his table. One, two, three, four, five, six. In and out. In and out. She heard his cool voice in her head, ordering her to breathe and she obeyed on reflex.

In and out. In and out. In and out.

Feeling her heart rate start to recede she made her way out of the cabin, contemplating leaving altogether when a voice from behind her chilled her to the bone.

"Alone at last."

Next chapter is going to be a little bit dark, so fair warning. 

Sorry this took longer than usual, but honestly speaking, the responses on the last chapter just wasn't as encouraging as the previous ones were. I got a little disheartened, I thought you guys weren't enjoying this story anymore. I have a few plot points in mind and I'll try my best to complete this story, but if the response continues to go down I might just give up on this altogether.

But anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this  <3

 Chapter 9 - Page 35