||Just One Breath Away-AN FF~VM pg 122|| - Page 67

Wear earplugs and listen to AT singing Tanhaa, dear...it'll deafen you forever and then you're ears will never be in danger again :P

Achha chalo yaar...you spam the AN FC for now, leave this thread alone plz 😳 and I'll be back in half an hour to spam once more! Tata Rhea...and Sheenu...the update's coming today, you don't worry jana!

"You WHAT?" Vishal stared at him wide-eyed, while Shehnaz choked on a glass of water.

"You confessed?" Shehnaz gasped, wiping the water from her eyes, her face slightly red from all the coughing.

"Yeah", Abhi looked at them warily. "Why're you looking so surprised?"

"Just a few days ago you were stuttering and spluttering at the very thought, and you actually did it?" Vishal gaped.

"Oh, no wait…remember how he was moping around for her", Shehnaz winked at Vishal, making Abhi turn a light shade of pink.

"Yeah…", Vishal's eyes lit up, and he nodded at Shehnaz, as if in a silent understanding.

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder", they chorused teasingly.

Abhi could feel his cheeks burning, and he knew he must be blushing beetroot red. It was confirmed by Vishal, "Ooh, just look at him blush!"

And they fell into peals of laughter.

He gave them as hard a stare he could manage before walking off, while they still laughed at him.

Once their laughter died down, a serious Vishal lightly put his hand on her arm.

"You still love him, na?" he asked quietly.

Her shuttered expression said it all.

"Then why'd you help him?"

"He loves her…I want to see him happy."

"Didn't it hurt you?" he asked.

It was the question she had tried to avoid with all hr might, by shutting out her feelings and simply trying to forget the past .

She nodded silently, and he squeezed her hand gently.

"It hurts, Vishal…" she sighed. "It hurts a lot to see him with someone else, knowing what I could have had, but having to let it go…knowing it could have been me in place of Nikki."

He had a feeling she wasn't finished yet, so he kept quiet and waited for her to speak.

"I was always so insecure, so suspicious. Despite knowing that he would never even think of being with anyone else but me at that time, I was scared of losing him. He used to get angry. Suspicion was one thing, but I crossed his patience limit with my insecurity. And I think that was when he realised that he didn't love me", her eyes welled with tears.

"He might not love you, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care", Vishal said softly. "You do realise how hurt he'll be if he ever finds out you still haven't gotten oever him?"

"I know", she nodded. "So please don't tell him I still have feelings for him. I guess we were just not meant to be. But…" she bit her lip slightly. "It might hurt to admit it, he and Nikki make a cute pair", she smiled.

"Yeah, they most certainly do", Vishal agreed, grinning.

"They love each other so much", she said quietly.

"And they fight like Tom and Jerry", Vishal concluded the discussion and they started laughing.

"Yes…" she chortled. "They're always together, whether they're fighting or romancing!"

*****

The next day, since Dr. Keerti was absent, Abhimanyu was to give the interns their duties. Needless to say, they were grumbling about it but made sure they reached the nurse station on time…that is, all except Atul.

He couldn't find the records of a particular patient he had placed in his locker, and it took some tim to find it.

Once he got his hands on it, he dashed to the nure station, and to his dismay saw Dr. Modi already standing there with the duty chart in his hand. The other interns made eyes at him as he tentatively walked towards them.

"Goodmorning Dr. Joshi. Where were you?" Abhi asked without lifting his eyes from the duty chart.

"Err, sorry sir, I was looking for a file and I became late", Atul fumbled.

"Hmm…" Abhi pondered, looking at him at last.

Atul gulped nervously, mentally preparing himself for either the night duties or rectal exams he was about to be assigned.

Unknown to him, Nikki was biting her cheeks beside him to control her bubbling laughter at the faces he was making.

"Well", Abhi took a deep breath. "I guess it's okay. Such things happen, but make sure you're not late again", he said sternly, his eyes twinkling.

Atul gaped at him, his response unexpected. He opened his mouth to say something but was stopped from doing so by a sound kick from Armaan who was standing behind him. He bit his lip to hold back the yelp that almost escaped him.

Abhi shook his head exhasperatedly at the unruly interns, for the first time choosing not to comment, to the growing amazement of the interns.

He distributed the duties, shot a fond smile somewhere over Muskaan's shoulder and walked away.

As soon as he was gone, they all scrambled to see who was behind Muskaan but found no one. Nikki had slipped away from her position just as Abhi had left and had moved to stand beside Riddhima.

Not finding anyone significant excpet Sister Lovely who had a smitten expression on their face, they gathered into a huddle.

"Don't you think the sadu seemed a bit too happy today?" Armaan asked.

"I wonder what he's up to…" Muskaan flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"Making a new vicious plan to overwork us into insanity, I'm sure", Anjali supplied nonchalantly.

"Wah Anjali! You're such a genius!" Atul exclaimed, highly impressed. "You realised his plan even before he put it into action! I must say Anjali, you're the ethereal beauty with the brains of Einstein!"

"Shut up Atul!" Anjali reprimanded him, rolling her eyes.

"No, but what is he planning?" Muskaan brought them back to the topic.

"Guys, if he's happy does he have to be planning something?" Nikki asked exhasperatedly and Riddhima nodded, stifling a smile.

"Well, she does have a point…" Anjali bit her lip, nodding at the others.

"But he's the sadu. He's always angry and that means something is terribly wrong", Armaan said.

"Thankyou for your wonderful analysis, Dr. Malik", Abhimanyu's crisp voice interrupted their hushed conversation and they all froze in their places.

"Now if your discussion is over, please resume your duties, interns", he ordered, his voice rising with every syllable.

They flew away without further ado. As Armaan rushed past him, Abhi was definitely sure he heard him comment snidely, "And here's the temper we'd all been missing. I wonder why I was complaining about his good mood anyway."

He spun around with the intention of grabbing Armaan by the collar and showing him exactly what his temper was like, but he had disappeared by then.

Muttering darkly under his breath, he turned back to the nurse station to see Nikki standing alone there, smirking at him. Before he could say anything she flicked her hair over her shoulder and walked past him to the OPD.

Fuming, he fell into step beside her, going in the exact opposite direction he was supposed to.

"You do know your friends are disturbingly nosy, na?" Abhi glared at Nikki, and she flashed a grin at him which irritated him to no end.

"Who told you to look so happy?" she commented wryly.

"Great!" he said sarcastically. "Now I don't even possess the right to be happy and look the same."

"You're the boss, and more importantly, you're the sadu", she explained tongue-in-cheek and he looked at her incredulously.

"So if suddenly one day you look so happy, it's bound to confuse people", she finished.

"Ah", he sighed. "Remind why why I haven't kicked Armaan out of this place yet."

She elbowed him in the ribs and he grimaced, rubbing the place she had poked him, while the passerbys stared at them both.

"Why're you so agitated now?" he asked, pouting.

"Abhi…everyone will find out about us. Try to be a bit less obvious", she stopped and looked at him. He could clearly see the softness in her eyes, and knew she was serious.

"What do you mean, 'be a bit less obvious'?" he asked. "They're going to find out someday. And it's best if that day is soon."

"Abhi, you don't understand", she sighed. "I need to break the news to Armaan bit by bit. He still has no idea about us, and…"

"So this is about Armaan again?" he interrupted, annoyed.

"Abhi you promised you won't fight", she warned him, and he moodily looked to one side, arms crossed over his chest.

"Abhi…" she called him again.

"And I was crazy when I promised you", he answered.

"Abhi please, I don't want to argue again", she touched his arm, and withdrew it the moment a nurse appeared around the corner.

"See my point", he looked at her and walked away.

Dr. Moody. She shook her head at him and went into the OPD for duty.

*****

"Where's Nikki?" Armaan asked no one in particular, munching on his sandwich.

"Yeah, where is she?" Anjali echoed Armaan.

"Err…she's still in duty", Riddhima lied. She knew for a fact that Nikki had gone to the basketball court to make up with Abhi.

"But her duty was supposed to be over at 1:00pm, na?" Muskaan looked up from her chana batura. The others stared at her for a moment, astonished that she had actually been paying attention to their conversation instead of concentrating on her food as usual.

"Yeah..er, no!" Riddhima was getting more and more confused about what to say. "Umm, her duty got extended and she…she'll be busy for the whole afternoon."

"Oh", they all said together and went back to eating lunch and chatting, while Riddhima heaved a sigh of relief. Covering up for Nikki was going to be a hard task if their friends were always this well informed.

***

Nikki entered the Basketball Court to see Abhi brooding moodily on the steps, playing idly with the ball in his hands.

She walked up and sat beside him, and watched as he set the ball down right between them, blocking her way so she could not go any closer to him while sitting. She sighed and tried to pick the ball up but he placed his hand on it firmly over hers.

As the spark coursed through them at the touch, their eyes met in an involuntary eyelock…his annoyed and moody, hers apologising and fond. His eyes slowly softened, and she could feel herself breaking into his defence.

Not breaking the gaze, she said, "I've been miserable ever since we started fighting today…I could do with a hug."

He picked up the ball and held it on his lap with one hand, while the other went around her shoulders and pulled her close into a one-armed hug.

She laid her head on his shoulder and cuddled into him. "I'm sorry for what I said this morning."

He didn't respond still, but his grip got tighter and she snaked an arm around his waist. She was highly amused to see the basketball still firmly in his grasp, sitting on his lap, a place she knew from experience was very warm and comfortable.

"Are you so mad that you're going to dump me for that basketball?" she asked him innocently, biting back a laugh.

Abhi stiffened, and turned towards her, his eyes staring in utter confusion as he tried to decipher what she had just said.

She couldn't help but laugh openly at his blank look and he blinked at her, still puzzled. "Huh?"

"Well, I'm jealous", she told him.

"Of whom?"

"That basketball."

"Nikki what are you saying? I can't understand a word…are you okay?" he seemed genuinely concerned and he even placed his hand on her forehead to see if she was running temperature.

"That ball has taken my place on your lap", she told him cheekily, and realisation dawned on his face when he saw the ball in his lap.

"You really know how to confuse me", he laughed.

She gasped when he pulled her onto his lap with one hand, and held her closely around the waist. She bunched his shirt in her hands, enjoying the attention he was so liberally showering on her.

"Are you still jealous?" he whispered seductively into her ear, tickling her neck. She bit her lower lip slightly and smiled at him.

"Don't do that", he said sharply.

"What?" she asked, confused, biting her lip more.

"This", he pointed out, tracing her lips with his thumb and then planting a soft kiss on them. She giggled.

"So that ends our first fight as a couple…"

"Yeah, sealed with a kiss, if I may say so", he winked cheekily and claimed her lips before she could utter another word.

this is such a measly update arrgggggggggh and what happeed to coffee ad dinner and coochie cooing the other night ...??

I protest !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Khushboo ..are they gonna keep fighig ..what abt romatic rendevous ...which we got a glimps of when they came back from rajasthan (ad made up ).....???

@Mitzi...nice to see your comment again! 😛 😃 Oh the coffee episode ends in the last update itself...I leave it to your imaginations 😉 Dream whatever you like 😳 Don't protest, Mitzi dear...they're gonna get romantic scenes, but they're also going to fight. Can't help it, sorry. The FF is nearing it's end and there's some major fighting lined up. Alongside the romance, so no need to worry 😉 And measely update is coz I have to write chup chup ke...I'm supposed to be studying, but I didn't want to make you all wait any longer so I posted this much, and I'll post the rest later this week. 😃

Pls u cant ed this ff .. AN story also ended like this n now ur saying ff wil also ..... :(