Part 27
Ridhima's heart was thudding against her chest, as she tried taking a few deep breaths to calm it. However that just ended up drying her lips further, and made her heart skip a beat. Her tongue darted out to moist her lips as she heard the distant calls of Armaan, calling out to her for her to stop.
She sped up and prayed to god that he would stop and not chase her.
Her feet automatically started heading towards the fire escape, however she briefly halted in her steps.
Frowning she turned and headed towards a more private place – the terrace.
If Armaan was going to follow her, she would rather that they talked in a place where there were no walls against which he could push her.
She felt the heat rising to her cheeks at that thought and she mentally scolded herself for it. She had heard everything from the outside, and she couldn't stop her heart from speeding up and a blush rising up to her cheeks.
Ridhima walked towards Rajeev's room, and stopped outside the door when she heard Rajeev speaking from inside. She moved her hand towards the doorknob when she heard Armaan snap "Dr. Ridhima". Stopping, she frowned and leaned in closer.
"Alright, DR. Ridhima is not here today?" Rajeev said, emphasizing on the 'Dr.'
"Dekh Rajeev, you are a patient, and there are certain rules and regulations that everyone know about. Everyone knows that it is wrong to flirt with your doctors, let alone hold on to their hand and not let go"
Ridhima felt her face warming up when he put it in those words. Suddenly she wished that she hadn't told anyone of that incident, then maybe this conversation won't be taking place at all!
"Do you understand me?" Armaan asked, quietly, and Ridhima had to lean in closer to catch those words.
"What I don't understand is why she is getting you to do her dirty work. She could have told me herself" She heard Rajeev say,
Her mouth dropped open and her eyes narrowed. She had not asked Armaan to come and tell him off….Armaan had himself said he would have a talk with Rajeev. She was sorely tempted to open the door and go and tell Rajeev off for accusing her to be a helpless girl who has to hide behind a man and let him do all the fighting.
"look Rajeev, we all have been very patient with you, par agar tune usse phirse haath lagaya ya battameezi kari toh-"
"Toh kya?" Rajeev cut him off.
"Dekh Rajeev, I-"
"abbey toh tu kya karega?" Rajeev cut him off again
She heard the stool moving backwards in a hurry and she heard the shuffling of feet before she heard a gasp escape someone's mouth.
She knew that Armaan's control had snapped, but she was afraid of what he would have done inside. Had he punched him? Had he hit him? What had he done? He had promised he won't hurt him…he had promised…
"Toh phir mujhse bura koi nahin hoga. You. Will. Regret. Ever. Laying. A. Hand. On. Her" Armaan spoke out every word slowly, each word laced with fury and protectiveness.
To say that she had been completely unaffected by those words would be a downright lie. Her heart had indeed skipped a beat when she heard him say that, and after a second, her heart was thudding madly against her chest.
"Are you threatening me Mr. Malik?" Rajeev asked.
"It's a f****** promise, you b******" She heard Armaan say out through clenched teeth.
Her breath hitched, and she couldn't help but feel all safe and warm after hearing those words. What was happening to her? Why was she behaving like this?
She knew that she had to go in there and stop the impending fight. Opening the door, the sight halted her in her steps.
Rajeev was fearfully looking at Armaan, and Armaan's hands were clutched around Rajeev's collar. His biceps were flexed, and through the lab coat she could see the definition of muscles in his arms. His jaw was set angrily and he was glaring daggers at Rajeev.
She couldn't help be a bit flustered at the sight. She saw Armaan's eyes quickly dart towards her, and for the first time she saw that the mask that he usually held in his eyes had slipped away.
Anxiety, confusion and concern were all being displayed through his eyes. Ridhima didn't know what to say or what to do.
She looked at him as he immediately let go of Rajeev, and fully faced her.
Her eyes flickered towards Rajeev who was holding his neck, and grimacing in pain. Her lips thinned and she looked back at Armaan.
He had promised he won't hurt him.
"I am sorry Ridhima. I know I promised, but…."
Ridhima didn't want to hear the rest of it, she wasn't sure if she could. She had to get a hold on her feelings first and then talk to him.
Quickly spinning on her heel, she marched out not giving Armaan a chance to finish the apology.
********
Rushing down the halls, Armaan kept looking around, trying to find a glimpse of her.
Quickly running towards the fire-escape, Armaan saw a glimpse of her blue suit, turning around and walking in another direction.
He frowned, wondering where she was off to, and hurried to catch up with her.
"Ridhima!" He called out, but she didn't turn back.
Suddenly a hand grabbed his arm, and spun him around.
He saw Nikki standing there, a worried look on her face as she was fiddling with her fingers.
He knew something was wrong. Something was bothering her terribly, but he realized that at that moment nothing irritated him more than the sight of Nikki.
Why was she stopping him when he was so close to catching up with Ridhima?
He looked behind him to see if he could still spot her, but he found that she had gone.
He turned back to Nikki, frustrated and snapped, "what Nikki?"
Nikki looked up, shocked and confused.
"sorry, is this a bad time?" She asked.
Another surge of frustration went through him. He just wanted to clear the misunderstanding between him and Ridhima.
"Nikki, I am really busy right now, I have to go." Armaan said, not giving her the specifics.
"Oh…but Armaan!" Nikki said, as she caught hold onto his arm once more. He let out a sigh of frustration and faced her once more.
"This won't take long. Armaan my life is pretty much screwed!" She started, but Armaan wasn't paying attention, he was trying to think of the places that this hall would lead up to.
It could lead up to OPD, PATH Lab, Children's ward, another fire-escape, no actually several fire-escapes, lift, terrace, AIDS ward, cancer patients – terrace!
His eyes widened as he thought about that. Could she have gone there?
"Armaan, are you even listening to me?" Nikki snapped as she realized that he wasn't paying attention.
"wha-no. I am not. I have to go and find Ridhima" Armaan blurted out, and immediately bit his tongue as those words left his mouth.
"Find Ridhima?" Nikki asked, slowly, her eyebrows rising.
"er…yeah. Look I'll talk to you later, alright?" Armaan said, as he tried getting his arm out of her grip.
He looked around once more, hoping to see her, but realized that she was nowhere around.
"Oh. Ok then. I guess I'll have to talk to you later" Nikki said quietly, as she let go of his arm, and turned around before he could say anything else.
He frowned in confusion and shrugged his shoulders. What was up with her now?
He quickly ran towards the terrace, praying that she was there.
********
Ridhima was pacing around on the terrace. She knew that Armaan had followed her, but what was she going to say when he confronted her.
Oh, you see I heard everything from outside and got a bit flustered when I saw you defending me. Then I realized that you had broken your promise, so I left from there, half because I needed to control myself, and half because I was angry at you.
Perfect. Absolutely perfect. He would probably be in splits by the end of that speech, thinking how stupid I am to like him, and have a tiny bit of hope he would like me back.
That got a bit of the anger emotion within her to come out. And she decided to concentrate on that. It would be easier to stay angry at him, than stay friends with him and pretend not to like him.
If she stayed angry at him, it would be easier to hide her feelings, won't it?
Not that she was admitting to liking him though.
Of course she wasn't. Was she?
Ridhima almost groaned out in frustration as those conflicting thoughts went on in her head. Why was this supposed to be so tough?
Why couldn't the feelings of love ever be clear? Her eyes widened as she realized what she had thought of.
Love?
There was no way that she was in love with Armaan. Ridhima made a face, as she thought of all the faults in him.
He is very arrogant about his looks
He thinks he is very cool
He has tattoos. Not that I am against them, but I would prefer someone without them
Dad hates him
He rides a bike…most of the time, and I am deathly afraid of bikes.
He…
He has pretty eyes though
He has a nice smile too…those dimples…
Ridhima groaned again and buried her face in her hands, sliding down the wall she realized how tired all this was making her.
"Ridhima?"
Speak of the devil…and here he is.
Ridhima took a deep breath, and lifted her head from hands. She looked at Armaan warily; half scared at herself for losing control again.
She stayed seated on the floor and waited for him to start the conversation.
********
Armaan Malik was nervous. Never in his life had he been nervous of talking or apologizing to a girl. Never.
Yet, here he was standing in front of Ridhima Gupta, who was looking at him with a weird expression on her face, and he was tongue-tied.
He didn't know where to begin, or what to say.
Just say sorry!
Armaan opened his mouth, but the words seemed to get stuck in his throat. Why was saying sorry to someone you cared for, so difficult? Maybe because you felt terribly guilt about hurting them in the first place.
He saw Ridhima heave a tired sigh, and his eyes softened. He was truly at a loss of what to do. Moving a hand through his hair, he put his hands in his jeans pockets and looked at Ridhima.
He suddenly felt like a little boy, someone who had eaten all the ice-cream from the fridge and was afraid of what his mother would say to him.
He looked into her eyes, and said, "Ridhima…look, I, uh, I…Ridhima, uh, Rajeev was, uh, Ridhima, I erm, I am s-sorry" He looked down as he finished. Why had he stammered? The only time he had stammered in front of a girl was when he was in 4th grade, and that too cause the girl was two sizes bigger than him and he would have been knocked out cold if he hadn't agreed to giver her chocolate!
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ridhima get up, and move closer to him.
The wind caught hold of her hair, and made it go in all directions. He once again caught the whiff of her scent, and he had to refrain himself from closing his eyes and inhaling deeply.
What was that scent. He hadn't smelt it on anyone before…something vanilla-ish? No roses?
He could see that Ridhima was standing beside him, and he finally looked up to her.
His eyes met hers, and he could see that Ridhima was fighting a battle within herself. They looked at each other, waiting for someone to break the moment, yet neither had enough courage – or willingness, to actually break the moment that was taking place.
Armaan swallowed, and turned so his body was facing her too.
"Ridhima?" Armaan whispered hoarsely.
Ridhima didn't say anything for sometime, she continued to look at him.
Armaan would have felt uncomfortable if it was anyone else in her position. Even if it was Nikki who was staring at him as intently as Ridhima was, it would have made him highly uncomfortable.
But he let her stare at him, he let her eyes search his face, before they settled on his eyes again. And then she spoke.
"Armaan, don't apologise"
Armaan was confused. Don't apologise? But he had broken her promise hadn't he?
"What?" Armaan asked.
"I – I heard everything" Ridhima said, and Armaan felt relief seep into his body, and he could feel his shoulders relaxing, he hadn't even been aware that they were tense.
"Everything?" Armaan asked, wondering if he had heard it right.
Ridhima nodded, and then did something unexpected. She hugged him.
Armaan stood motionless for a second or two. And then slowly let his arms slide around her waist and held her to him.
It's just a friendly hug
He tried convincing himself, but soon he was lost in the hug, and he closed his eyes, enjoying the moment.
His arms tightened around her, and she tightened her arms around him too.
"Thank you" She whispered, and Armaan had never felt this proud of himself as he did now. She was thanking him for defending her, and he suddenly felt closer to Ridhima than he had ever felt.
Holding her close, he felt her breathing change. It was getting slightly heavy, and Armaan could feel changes in him too.
Christ, a hug was affecting him so much.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he broke away from the hug, and looked at Ridhima who had a hint of redness in her cheeks, and was avoiding his gaze, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Right..well, er glad that's cleared up, eh basket?" Armaan said, trying to make light of the situation.
She just nodded and smiled up at him, yet he couldn't help but notice the smile didn't reach her eyes.
"I'll see you later, Armaan" Ridhima said, and walked away from there, back down to the hospital.
Armaan let out a deep breath, and raked his hand through his hair.
What the hell was the meaning of all this?
He realized that his break was close to finishing, and he still had 2 hours of duty left.
Running from there, Armaan decided to grab a bite before he went for duty.
*********
Armaan groaned and flopped his head on the desk of Sister Lovely.
"Sister, Dr. Nikita kahaan hain?" Armaan asked tiredly.
"Who toh chali gayi, ji" She said
"Chali gayi?!" Armaan exclaimed, as his head snapped up.
Chali gayi?
"Kahaan?" Armaan asked.
"Ji ghar. Unhone aapke liye ek message choda hain, ji" Sister Lovely said, as she went through her post-it notes to find the message, finding it, she read it aloud to Armaan.
"Unhone kaha, 'Armaan I am leaving, Deepak aur uska bhai Raj are coming today, by tonight, and my life is pretty much screwed. Please help"
Deepak? Kaun Deepak….Raj aur Deepak….Raj aur Deepak…SHIT! RAJ AUR DEEPAK! Nikki's rishta! Shit, shit, shit, shit.
Quickly grabbing his stuff, he ran from the hospital, hoping that Nikki would be able to handle the situation without him there.
Here is the part!😃 PMs will be sent later! please comment! 😃😳
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
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