NewAbhi-Nikki&AR FF~Caught by Surprise~Part 3 pg11 - Page 9

The next day all the interns gather at the reception for the allotment of their duties. Armaan stands close to Riddhima and says, "Riddhima'.I missed you yesterday'..you have to meet me at the fire escape'..after we get our duties" he says softly for her ears.

Riddhima shifts a little, not wanting to give anyone a chance to talk, "Armaan 'I will try Ok'..Dr. Modi might want me to follow him"

"That idiot'..just follow him but fall a few steps behind and then come to meet me" Armaan presents a solution, trying to hug her from a side. Riddhima pushes him away and Anjie sees their interaction.

"Armaan'.you are standing with the wrong girl'..Nikki is your girlfriend'..not my sister" she says in a cutting tone looking suspiciously at the two. Both Riddhima and Nikki roll their eyes together.

"Are you sure Anjie" Rahul lights the fire and throws an evil smirk at Armaan. Armaan deliberately bangs into Rahul, who anticipating his action takes a step back and Armaan slips and falls on Nikki. Nikki slips at his sudden weight but Armaan catches her in his arms. Everybody starts to giggle around them and nudge each other, which makes Riddhima angry but she can't do anything other than purse her lips and stare daggers at the duo.

"Not bad at all Dr. Malik'..good save'..if you and Dr. Nikita are done can we get back to work" comes Abhimanyu's sarcastic voice and both straighten immediately. Abhimanyu's sharp gaze zeroes in on Nikki and a small secret smile graces his face. Looking at that smile, Nikki blushes furiously, shaking her head.

"So Dr. Nikita and Dr. Malik'..same as yesterday" he starts distributing the duties and gives the other pairs a chance to work together and asks Riddhima to meet him in the conference room soon after. As he is about to leave from the reception, both Armaan and Nikita rush to his side and say together, "Dr. Modi'..do you have a second". Abhimanyu stops and looks form the one to the other. Both the interns look at each other too and Abhimanyu raises his eyebrows questioningly.

"Yes Doctors?" he asks turning to face them both. Nikki motions Armaan to go first and he sends a grateful smile her way.

"Dr. Modi'..I was saying'..you know Dr. Riddhima is a good doctor and'.ahem'.well'.you know'I" he starts and Abhimanyu looks keenly at him.

Armaan takes a deep breath and looks into his seniors eyes and delivers, "Riddhima and I were working on a few cases together Dr. Modi''..is it not possible to work with her now'.I mean I wouldn't want to neglect those cases." He finishes in a rush. Abhimanyu looks at Nikki and sees her lower her eyes and he is unable to catch the expression in them.

"I see Dr. Malik'..but you have Dr. Nikita as a partner now''..so both of you can figure out those cases'..'and Dr. Nikita'.'.I am sure you have a similar request or excuse''.which will not fly with me. Also'..I hear this rumor that you both are best friends''.seems like a lie'..the way you both want to run away from each other. "He smirks and turns to walk away.

Both Nikki and Armaan stand there seething at his words. "This man is the most irritating person I have ever met'..what does he think of himself yaar'..Atul gets a duty with Anjie'that Dr. Raool gets a duty with Muskaan''..and he walks off with my Riddhima" Armaan bursts forth lamenting.

Nikki listens to his laments and makes a face. "Let's go work" she tells him and starts walking towards her patients.

Armaan rushes behind her and stops her, "Nikki listen''.you need to help me yaar" he catches her arm and turns her around to face him. An irritated Nikki tries to snatch it out but he refuses to let go. "Armaan'..let's just work Ok'.you can meet Riddhima in the break" she tells him.

"Nikki'..listen'..I am serious'..I '.you already know how much I love her" Armaan starts and Nikki snaps.

"Love''I know you love her...'..then face her dad na'..you guys are using me to hide your relationship and that Modi and rest of the staff thinks us as a couple''it's not fun anymore Armaan''..I don't like this" she gives him a piece of her mind and starts to walk away when Armaan asks her softly, "You love me na Nikki?" and she freezes in mid-stride.

He walks to face her and she hurriedly lowers her eyes to hide her pain. "Nikki you know that Riddhima and I need some time''..please if you love me ,help me" he says sweetly and Nikki takes a deep breath and hides her face in her hand. Composing herself she looks into her best friend's eyes and smiles.

"Fine'.I do love you '..What do you want me to do?" she asks and gets enveloped in a warm hug.

"I knew you loved me Nikki" he says hugging her when they hear someone clearing their throat behind them. They see Riddhima standing behind them and jump apart. Riddhima smiles at Nikki and looks daggers at Armaan.

"R'Riddhima'.I 'we'" both stammer together and Riddhima motions both of them with her finger to follow her. Looking at each other questioningly, Armaan and Nikki follow Riddhima to the fire escape.

"Riddhima'.it was nothing''you are misunderstanding us" Armaan says pleadingly as soon as they reach the fire escape and Riddhima bursts out laughing at the expression of dread on their faces.

"Yeah baba''I know'..I heard you and Nikki arguing" she clears the suspense and the best friends heave a sigh of relief.

"I am sorry Nikki'..I know it's hard for you" Riddhima gently touches her hand and Nikki smiles in return and then looking at Armaan she continues, "It will be hard for anyone who has to work with him" with a twinkle in her eyes and Nikki lets out a small laugh while Armaan makes a face.

"Look Riddhima''..I want to work with you'..I don't want you working with that idiot" Armaan takes Riddhima's hand and Nikki steps back smiling at the couple.

"Dr. Modi is fine to work with Armaan" Riddhima starts when Armaan interrupts her.

"Why don't you and Nikki exchange duties?" Armaan throws at them and Nikki looks at him in horror.

"Armaan''..why do you hate me so much? Now you want me to work with that Sadu?" she says loudly "No Way" and stomps out of the fire escape leaving Armaan bickering with Riddhima.

She starts walking aimlessly, disturbed by Armaan's idea, talking to herself, "I shouldn't have joined here'..Armaan and his stupid ideas'..I should have stayed at the third grade place''..work with Modi" she shudders as soon as that thought crosses her mind "who can work with that Modi'.who for some reason has decided to be a preacher'..if he so likes preaching why doesn't he become one''.spouting wisdom'..work with him'..how does Armaan come up with such pathetic ideas" she keeps walking and suddenly bangs into a strong muscled chest and a musky fragrance invades her senses.

She takes a deep breath, her senses filling with the perfume and looks up into Abhimanyu's dark amused eyes. The apology at the tip of her tongue dies and she pushes him away. "Blind as a bat''you know Dr. Modi we do have an Optometrist in Sanjeevani''will help you with your vision problems." She says in a honeyed tone.

"Thank you for the diagnosis Dr. Nikita''my diagnosis says a blind person can't be helped much, so if you want to use the cane, as your boss'.I'll be happy to provide one '.free of cost" he throws back as sweetly at her.

Fuming at the insult, she fists her hand and looks up, "Why me" and starts to leave bodily shoving him aside and the end of her lab coat gets stuck in his watch band and she stops abruptly when it pulls on the band.

Walking a few steps back, she tries to pull her lab coat forcefully when she hears a very soft gasp of pain and looks to see that the metal of the watch band dig and cut into Abhimanyu's wrist. Instinctively, her hands lift his wrist and rub them to lessen the hurt. She looks up into stunned eyes and realizes what she just did. Flushing with color, she stops rubbing and tries to get her lab coat disengaged from his watch band.

Abhimanyu pulls his hand back to try to tear away the thread and bites back a curse at the pain which hits him, as his bruise gets mauled again by his ungraceful act.

"It will hurt.....be careful" slips out of Nikki's mouth and Abhimanyu looks at her unbelieving.

She looks into his shocked stare and purses her lips, "I am not like you.....out to hurt everyone and be mean......now if you can stop staring...... get this untangled" she conveys to him and he snaps out of his shock and proceeds to untangle the thread of her coat from his watch band.

He could smell her perfume as she was at close quarters and her closeness gave rise to funny feelings, those feelings which were absolutely alien to him and he really needed to step away from her to get his control back. He shook his head to sort himself out and Nikki looking at him shaking his head and trying to untangle the thread gets impatient.

"He smells good "kept playing in her head like a stuck tape. Irritated by the constant voice in her head she snatches the coat from him and tries to break the thread which refuses to break. Abhimanyu tries to help her but to no avail.

"Stupid thread......Dr. Modi take off your watch" she orders, refusing to stand another minute near the great smelling but awful man. He does as she orders and she takes his watch and starts marching away.

"It's not a gift Dr. Nikita......I would need it back" he throws back at her fully recovering from the weird effect of her closeness.

Nikki stiffens with anger but walks away mumbling to herself how she would like to stomp his watch to pieces. She gets a scissor and cuts the thread and pockets the watch intending to return it later. "Let him wait......who cares" she mumbles and returns to her duties.

All through her duty, Armaan pesters her to exchange duties with Riddhima. Finally her dam of patience bursts and she turns to her best friend and explodes.

"Stop it Armaan.......'I am not going to work with that Modi.......you get it......I don't care about working with you or anyone else but I am not going to work with that Modi......now stop pestering me" and she shoves him hard.

"Nikki listen.....I know what you feel......but Riddhima says he is a great guy to work with''..so I am sure you will be fine too." He refuses to give up.

"No" she states walking away from him.

"Please Nikki" he follows her.

"You heard me" she throws over her shoulder and walks faster.

"Yaar Nikki.....please" Armaan begs and Nikki turns with fight in her eyes.

"Listen Armaan......I can't stand that man......he thinks he is too good for us......that Sadu starts preaching at the drop of a hat......I would rather leave Sanjeevani than work with that arrogant, stubborn" she riles and does not notice Armaan making eyes at her to stop. He waves his hands to catch her attention to make her stop but Nikki is on a roll, "pig-headed, egotistic, Mr. know-it all" she runs out of steam.

"Nikki.....don't" Armaan croaks trying to make her stop. She goes closer to him and stares up at him.

"Why not? I am telling you he is this and much more.......he thinks he knows how to handle everything and has a right to jump into everyone's life" Armaan grabs and presses her hand real hard to stop her and she snatches her hand away. "Ouch.....what are you trying to do......now if I say something about Modi it bothers you too.......have you suddenly turned that Sadu's best friend?" she questions him rubbing her hand.

"He is not my best friend Dr. Nikita but yours" she hears Abhimanyu's cold voice answer her question and her mouth falls open in surprise. She turns around very slowly to see Abhimanyu standing right behind them and her mind races back to the words she had just thrown out. Her hands go to her burning face and she kicks herself in her mind. "Oh God'.how much did he hear?" the question repeats in her mind.

"My Watch" he asks her stepping closer and mutely she hands it back to him and he takes it off her hands, making sure not to touch her and starts walking away, his expression shuttered. Guilt swamps her and a feeble voiced, "Dr. Modi" escapes her.

He hears her soft voice and stops and turns arctic eyes at her. "Did you remember something more?" he taunts her and she looks away blushing.

"I just .....umm" she starts but his cold voice cuts in.

"I heard my qualities Doctor......now if you are here to apologize......don't bother......at the cost of preaching again.......stop wasting my time and get back to your work" he tells her and walks away.

She slumps against the wall feeling like a heel and closes her eyes. "Whatever can go wrong is going wrong" she mutters.

"Nikki ......I tried to warn you" Armaan places a comforting hand on her shoulder which she tiredly pushes away.

"Yeah......thanks.....lets work" she says trying to get her mind off the events and pain. The day passes quickly as Nikki busies herself in work and refuses to talk to Armaan.

The next day, Dr. Keerti distributes the duties and tells Riddhima that today she and Dr. Armaan would be working together and the couple is elated. Armaan lets out a whoop of joy and the five interns stare at him suspiciously. Dr. Keerti gives him a glare and he shuts up immediately.

"Dr. Nikita....you have to meet Dr. Abhimanyu in his cabin" she tells Nikki and walks away.

Stunned at the change of events, Nikki is rooted to the spot. Armaan goes close to her and hugs her in joy. "I am so glad that Modi understood......aren't you happy Nikki" Armaan asks her beaming.

Nikki smiles in reply and pats his arm walking in a daze to Abhimanyu's cabin. She knocks and enters and immediately launches at him.

"Dr. Modi.......I thought you didn't care about lovey-dovey stuff......now you have changed my duties again? Now I have to work with you? What are you doing?" she asks her eyes spitting fire and her face a mask of unhappiness.

Abhimanyu looks up from his work and sits back in his chair, calmly listening to the angry girl in front of him, who quite frankly, he thought was pretty becoming when angry. He took in notice how her color heightened when she was angry, her big eyes became almost black in anger and her beautiful mouth pouted. She waved her hands around and a smile curved his lips. He would love to see the same face blush in shyness, the eyes smile and lips.....

"Dr. Modi........are you even listening? Or have you turned deaf now?" Nikki's anger laced voice cut into his very wayward thoughts.

"What was that Abhimanyu?" he gives himself a mental shake, amazed at the track his thoughts were taking. He sits up straight and his gaze bores into the angry intern in front of him, who without thinking as always had launched into a tirade.

"Your shrill voice is very hard to block out Dr. Nikita.......not that I haven't tried" he responds to her as smug as ever and sees her color deepen.

He gets up and circles the desk to get on the other side, rests against it and folds his arms against his chest, ready to fight again with Dr. Nikita. If not anything, she sure had spunk and that made her interesting.

"What is the problem now doctor.......first you are trying your level best to run from Dr. Malik.......now you have a problem when you get that too?" he raises his eyebrows and looks at her with a question in his eyes.

"How does it solve the problem? Now you have changed my project entirely? I have to work in the New Sanjeevani project?" she asks him trying to figure the logic in his decision.

"If you ever listen or question without jumping to conclusions Dr. Nikita, I would have told you that your project isn't changed. Every intern is a part of this New Sanjeevani project." He tells her the details calmly and Nikita looks at him in confusion.

"Every Intern? Oh really......I don't see them here" she asks in an irritated voice.

"Oh lord......are you dumb Dr. Nikita" Nikki opens her mouth to launch at him again as soon as he utters the words but he raises his hands in a placating gesture, "Ok Look......I need all of you to help me......you have amazing presentation skills as Dr. Keerti tells me......so I am going to brief you on it and you can make the presentations for our project.......that is why you are here" he tells her and that placates Nikki and also makes her happy.

"Dr. Keerti said so?" she asks, her voice taking on a happy tone and Abhimanyu smiles at her.

"Yeah.......so now you can work along with Dr. Malik because he is going to give that presentation" he delivers his ace and her brow furrows in thought.

"Oh" she says and he sees a little pain flood her eyes.

Sighing and knowing that he would regret what he was going to do, he calmly asks her to take a seat and sits next to her.

"Look Dr. Nikita.....I know it's none of my business but why does it bother you so much to work with Dr. Malik......and even if it does......mixing personal and professional is not going to help" he advises her and Nikki looks at him confused.

"You .....you are actually being nice to me?" her eyes widen in incredulity.

"No......just trying to make you concentrate on your work.....it will help you more than this wasteful emotion of pining for Dr. Malik" he replies in his ever practical way and Nikki bristles in anger.

"It's always about you and work na......what kind of a person are you.......I hope you fall in love and have to go through such feelings too" she throws at him and stands up, not being able to bear to be near him.

"Dr. Nikita......work is the best antidote....but again......why do I expect you to understand.......as for me falling in love" he laughs in mirth, "I will make sure that the girl falls in love with me too" he challenges her, standing to face her and towers over her.

"Oh really.....over confidence Dr. Modi" Nikita asks amused.

"Just confidence Dr. Nikita" he replies back with a smile.

"I see.......let's see you do it" she challenges him and he bursts into laughter.

"Really Dr. Nikita?" he asks her amused.

"What is so funny......show me how you can make a girl fall in love" she says serious.

"And then?" he asks his smile disappearing.

"What do you mean?" she asks not understanding what he meant.

"I mean Dr. Nikita" he says tucking her hair back behind her ear and at his touch, Nikki jumps almost a feet away but is unable to say a word. He raises his eyebrow and continues, "If I do that then will you do what I ask?" he throws a challenge back at her.

Without a second thought to his challenge and in too much of a hurry to take him up on it and see him loose, Nikita replies, "Done" and sticks her hand out for a shake.

"Good" he smiles and shakes her hand. Both feel current shoot through their arm at the others touch and snatch it away.

"Now back to work Dr. Nikita" he goes back to his professional self and Nikita, pacified at having put him in a position he would regret, happily starts working with him.

Unknowing to her, Abhimanyu observes her keenly, a half smile playing on his lips and his mind fully on the bet he had made with her and had every intention of winning.

"You '.you are actually being nice to me?" her eyes widen in incredulity.

"No'.just trying to make you concentrate on your work''

I hope you fall in love and have to go through such feelings too"

Dr. Nikita'..work is the best antidote