PART 13
'Thanks armaan. For everything', Shilpa said as she stood at his doorstep.
Armaan smiled, 'C'mon shilpa, I thought we were friends'
Shilpa returned the smile and sighed, 'you're right. We're friends. I take my thankyou back. I don't believe in these obligations anyway', she said and winked.
The smile continued to linger on Armaan's face as she bid goodbye and left. It was 1:30 am and yet Armaan didn't feel sleepy at all. He had truly had a good time today, after what seemed like an eternity. A few weeks back, he would have never thought that it was possible for him to be happy again. But then Shilpa came, and things changed.
He shut the door and walked inside. Yes, the pain was still there, and perhaps it'd take time for it to fade away, but now Armaan had made peace with the sorrow in his life. He no longer felt pity for himself, and even though Ridhima's memories still haunted him at times, he knew he was no longer in love with her.
Shilpa was the friend he had been looking for all along. She could make him smile - that was more than enough for him. Afterall, not everyone is capable of making Armaan Mallik genuinely smile. The memory of the night he had broken down infront of Shilpa, came back to him. She could have walked away. His life and pain had nothing to do with her. But she stayed. Why? He didn't know, but something held her back.
He cleared the sitting room and walked into his bedroom. It had been a good day, for a change. One day at a time, Armaan, one day at a time, he thought to himself as he slipped into his bed.
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'Good morning, doctors', said Dr. Keerti, 'let's start assigning the duties, shall we?'
Everyone nodded in unison and Dr. Keerti began, 'Dr. Sidhant, you're in the general ward. Dr. Ridhima, handle Mrs. Joshi's case. It seems complicated. Dr. Armaan, cancer ward. Dr. Shilpa, you will continue to handle Mrs. Varshney's case, and Dr. JP, children's ward'
She finished assigning duties quickly and then said, 'Disperse', and walked away.
Ridhima looked at Sid. He was still ignoring her, after their altercation in her cabin. But his silence had given her time to think about what he had said. She tried to put herself in his shoes, and realized that Sid's concern was right in it's own place. Her ex walked and breathed infront of him day in and day out, and yet she had never bothered to talk to Sid about her relationship with him. He should know about it. He needed to know about it. Maybe it would help her get over the guilt too.
She took a deep breath and followed Sid to the locker room, 'Sid, wait'
Sid stopped walking and turned around. He crossed his arms across his chest, 'What?'
She lowered her gaze and fumbled with her words, 'I, uh, need to talk to you...for a moment'
He raised his eyebrows in surprise, 'About?'
'Um, can we talk in my cabin, please?', she said, finally looking up, 'please?'
He looked at her earnest expression and finally nodded, 'Fine. Let's go'
Ridhima nodded, turned around and started walking. Sid, wondering what this was all about, followed her silently.
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'Hey, shilpa, wait!', said Armaan as he caught up with her. Shilpa, who was practically running towards the elevator, looked at him but continued to march towards the lift, 'What is it, Armaan? I need to get to the path lab before they pack up for today'
He hurried along with her, whilst speaking, 'Look, I need to talk to you about a case. It's really important. When can we do that?'
Shilpa pressed the button and looked at her watch. 5 more minutes to go before the lab closed. Armaan's question suddenly registered in her mind and she looked at him, 'Um, after duties would be a good time'
The elevator doors opened with a 'ping' sound. Armaan suddenly remembered something and began to speak, 'Oh and Shilpa-'
But she had already started to walk inside, on an impulse, Armaan held her hand and pulled her back. He pulled her with so much force that she swung back and literally banged into him. His action took her by surprise and she staggered. Armaan's arms instantly went around her waist to steady her.
'What the hell Armaan!', she said in an annoyed and shocked voice.
Armaan smiled at her sheepishly and said, 'Sorry. I didn't mean to pull you back with-'
Suddenly, shilpa noticed a wardboy staring at them. She then realized their physical proximity and the feel of Armaan's arms around her waist. She became slightly embarrassed and spoke to Armaan with clenched teeth, 'Let go of me'
Armaan looked around and became red. He quickly let go of Shilpa and apologized in a low voice. She let out a deep breath and shook her head, muttering 'crazy dude' under her breath. She turned around to see that the elevator doors had closed and it was long gone. The lab would be closed now too.
She crossed her arms across her chest and turned around. Armaan sensed that he had annoyed her. Very much. He gave her the same sheepish smile and tried his hand at appeasing, 'Err, sorry again?'
There was silence for a while during which Shilpa tried to be pissed but Armaan's smile completely melted her anger. She smiled and said, 'You're such an ass'
Armaan smiled back, 'Am I not?'
'So, let's talk about your case, not that you've ruined my attempt to reach the path lab in time anyway'
'Okay, let's go to the cafetaria'
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Ridhima made Sid sit opposite her and held his hand, bracing herself for the conversation that was about to happen. She took a deep breath and started talking, 'You were right'
Sid realized what this was about, and he let her continue.
'You were right', she repeated, 'I should have talked about my relationship with Armaan. Because I didn't, it became a barrier between us' she looked up at him, 'And I didn't realize when, Sid, until you came and said it to me. Things have been messy, for both of us, but I became so engrossed in my own mess that I started taking you for granted'. She paused for a long moment, and then said, 'What I'm trying to say is....I'm ready to talk to you about Armaan, and our relationship'
Sid looked into her eyes as she confessed, and he saw genuine strength and trust. He squeezed her hand, and said, 'I'm always here, Ridhima'
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okayyy so long time? I'm sorry! really, I am. I needed to get creatively inspired and I haven't been writing anything for a while. But since TM's readers are so effing awesome, I just had to continue 😃 Plus, DMG CVs are currently raping the ArSh track over and over again, so that sort of inspired me to continue this fic.
Thanks for all the lovely wishes for my exams! 🤗 however, my exams sucked 😆 now that's a different rant altogether 😆 Anyway, thanks ALOT for the wishes! they helped my get through the ordeal called 'exams' 😃
last but not the least, vid dedicated to this part:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAXiP3GKIJU[/YOUTUBE]
Edited by CZ.. - 14 years ago
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