Part 19
Sid's eyes haunted her. She winced in pain as the stark emptiness in his eyes dug a dagger into her heart. The paranoia that hit her during Lonavla trip came back with double the force. Sleep eluded her and she was back in the hospital much before her shift time. She had to meet Sid before Dr Kirti set to her task of keeping her busy with work.
Luckily Sid was in too. The sight wrenched her heart further. Oblivious of his surrounding he went on with his routine. Mercilessly crushing the aspirin and scooping it into the glass of water and downing it in one go. He had drunk a bit more than normal and his head still felt a little grogy and his body dehydrated. He drank a few more glasses of water and settled down to work.
Not wanting to stress him further Riddhima slowly withdrew from there. The entire day she practically spent trying to engage herself in work but at breaks she came back to check on Sid.
Sid tried to find peace Riddhima that Riddhima had not approached him again but somewhere deep down he was a little angered that his belief was very true. She never did care for him.
To add to his agony Sonia persisted with what seemed to be her new found hobby - breaking down his defenses. To scare her he was at his rudest best.
She was back to working on the project in his cabin. Lunch time was fast approaching 'I guess you don't eat lunch.'
'No'
'So it's not even a snacky kind of stuff will do.' presenting him some homemade dokla.
'No I don't eat such food.'
'Oh yes I forgot you are born and brought up in US so Indian food would be not your taste.'
'I hate Indian food.' he lied through his teeth whereas his favorite still was a sumptuous meal of simple Rajma Chawal.
'Oh so then, how about a burger? There is an amazing joint just close by.'
'Don't you get it? I am not interested.'
'I can understand you are angry with this world but why make your stomach suffer for it.'
'It's my life, my body. I can choose to do anything I want.'
'Like eating aspirins every morning and then going hungry.'
'Yes and are your files ready that you are taking the luxury of yapping away to glory.'
'Yes they very much are.' smiling triumphantly.
'Fine then you may leave.'
'Cool but I will still say don't punish your stomach.' saying that she left.
Sid was infuriated by Sonia's persistent behavior and it angered him more that she had intentionally left the box of dokla to tease his hunger.
Sid had to prove that he was the epitome of self control and so the box got returned to Sonia in the evening untouched. 'Thanks but no thanks.'
Sonia did feel much offended but contained her angry understanding that it was a unsolicited gesture and Sid indeed had a right to refuse.
Riddhima who was observing this felt a little offended seeing Sid refusing any kind gesture coming his way. She was also hurt seeing how he had closed himself off yet a small part of her was happy seeing Sonia is being refused.
She had used her resources and pulled up Sid's details and right after the shift she parked herself in the lobby of his hotel. Tonight there would be no escape but Sid determined to avoid her exited the hotel and settled himself in a nearby lounge bar to chill out till the ground cleared.
Chilling out was not his destiny as some of the male interns were there for a quiet evening and so JP and Jiggy walk in towards the end of the evening.
Sid had downed a couple of drinks. when he got up wobbly, making way to the rest room when he bumped into JP.
'Sid bhaiya!!!'
'Huh...' Sid steadied himself to see who called him. Seeing JP he smirked and walked away lightly pushing aside JP.
JP was stunned to see Sid in this state. He too felt guilty of abandoning him when the whole divorce fiasco happened.
The rest of the gang left soon but JP and Jiggy waited around. It was nearing 10 in the night and no sign of Sid got Riddhima worried. On enquiring at the reception she was told that normally he returns by 8 but he was not seen that evening. He was not in the hospital also so started her incessant calls to Sid.
Each missed call from Riddhima hammered his senses and he drink peg after peg to the extent that he started feeling sick.
JP and Jiggy both tried to tear him away but Sid dismissed them 'Leave me alone. I am fine.'
Fearing a scene being created the attendants asked JP and Jiggy to leave but seeing his once friends being asked to leave he walked away himself.
Seeing Riddhima still there being stubborn not to leave he entered the hotel through a restaurant entrance and made way to his room.
But worry did not leave him in peace even in his drunk state. He called up the reception to ask them to make Riddhima leave. He was strictly instructed them to escort her gracefully and hail a decent cab if she did not have her own car.
Next day when Sid got and recollected the evening anger surged through his veins. The concern from those whom he had left far behind got to him. They pitied his state he felt and he hated that. Even for matter Sonia's advances irked him. He wanted to be left to himself and all were encroaching on his space. What repelled him most was his concern for the lady who never really cared for him.
He had a good mind to return back to Houston taking the next flight out but he was never the person who would run away from facing the situation. He would do what it takes to tell all those who were sympathizing with him that he did not need any.
He decided to go to work but before that he needed to shift out or else Riddhima being her stubborn self would be back in the evening.
He checked into a new hotel and went to Sanjeevani.
The grapevine works fast and almost all knew about the evening at the lounge.
The staff was however careful not to discuss anything near Riddhima. Even JP and Jiggy avoided her like a plague fearing being questioned for not informing her. They were by now quite suspicious of something having gone haywire since Riddhima behaving like a lost lamb ever since Sid left and now with armaan missing from Sanjeevani.
Sonia was also aware but not surprised. Her friends in City Hospital had already gathered quite a lot of information for her. She now quite understood why her parents had dropped sending a proposal to Sid's family seeing her interest in settling there when she was back in US completing her internship.
Sonia unaware of the situation under which Sid took to drinking confronted Sid. 'So its a liquid diet!!!'
That did it for Sid and this time he was not going to take it laying down.
He took off his spectacles and gave her a long hard stare 'Is it a part of the project you are working on for Sanjeevani.'
'No' said Sonia shifting a little in her chair yet trying to keep her voice steady.
Sid remained silent yet holding eye contact intentionally for another minute to unnerve her.
It did the work and Sonia was justifying her question 'Well .. you see .. Its not the best for a person to ..'
Sid narrowed his eyes to stare at her more viciously.
Sonia gulped back and cleared her throat to continue 'to do alcohol abuse.'
The silence which followed gave Sonia the chills.
'Have you finished with your sermon then please do continue with the project or else I will find someone else.'
'Why are you hell bent of messing with your life.'
'Cause it's my life haven't I made myself clear by now on this and I can choose to do whatever I want with it.'
'And what about the people who care for you?'
'There are none.' He swiftly picked up the phone and rang Dr Kirti.
'Is there anyone else who can do this project?' he almost barked at Dr Kirti.
Stunned by the sudden change 'What happened, Siddhant?' she stepped out of professional boundaries as she felt for Sid and asked with a voice laden with concern.
'Dr Siddhant .. Its Dr Siddhant Modi.' yelled Sid back into the phone.
Taken aback completely with Sid's behavior and slightly offended Kirti retorted back 'I am sorry ..Dr Siddhant is there a problem?'
The change in tone got Sid back immediately to back to being calm and feeling guilty. He drew in a sharp breath and replied this time more calm 'Yes ..It would be great if I could have someone else working on this.'
'Is she not doing her job well Dr Siddhant?' asked Kirti putting much emphasizing on addressing Sid appropriately.
Sid made a note of this and calmly replied 'No she is doing a fine job but ..'
'But what ..?'
'I think I can handle this on my own. I don't need anyone assisting me.'
Kirti gauged something must have happened if not Sid would have never reacted like this. Setting her pride aside for a moment she replied 'I can understand but taking the work upon yourself is not a good idea. Let me see what I can do. Till then we can stall work on it.'
'Hmm' Sid affirmed her suggestion solemnly.
'You may continue with your regular duties Dr Sonia.
This had Sonia fuming mad 'If some shows genuine concern you shove the person away. I have never met a more stupid and uncouth person like you.'
Unaffected with Sonia's scornful words he returned to his work.
This was not for long. The realization of having wronged weighed heavy. He hated giving in to his emotions. This was exactly the reason Riddhima and armaan could manipulate him. But Kirti and Sonia were not at fault though they too were tried to break his defenses but their concern did not seem so fake. Finally his guilt and primal nature caught up and he was standing in front of Kirti. 'Dr Kirti I am sorry. My behavior towards you was completely unacceptable. I did not mean to enforce my position on you.'
Kirti was moved yet again by his genuineness and gave her hope that the old Siddhant or more appropriately Sid was not lost. He was just hiding somewhere scared to come out from the fear of being hurt.
She was aware of what had transpired between Sonia and him as she had touch based with her immediately.
As unfortunate was the incident yet something always came out of it and here too she felt the same. She saw a glimpse of the old Sid and understood the reasons behind him hiding.
Hope surged and she looked keenly at him. 'And..'
'Or on Dr Sonia. She can resume work tomorrow'
Kirti smiled and nodded.
Riddhima was extremely worried. He did not return to the hotel till late in the night. During the day he was visibly angry and was behaving increasingly uptight. Was it her presence that was bothering him so much that he refused to mellow down even on others? This possibility seemed unlikely cause Sid never was the kind who would direct his anger on anyone else other than the person concerned. At most occasions, he would end up venting all on himself. Her anxiety rose every passing moment as fear built in her for Sid doing something untoward to harm himself. For this she needed to meet Sid. She called the hotel to inform her when Sid arrives but she was told that he had checked out of the hotel in the morning and refused to divulge any further information.
Calling Sid had already proven a waste and so she was left with the only option which she avoided for so long, meeting Sid in the hospital itself.
Elated Kirti reached the locker room to inform Sonia that she would be continuing to assist Sid. Sonia who was still nursing her hurt pride sat there shedding silent tears. She felt for Sid and hence wanted to help him and understand him better.
Kirti thought that the good news would act a healing portion but before breaking the news she wanted to check if that was indeed the reason for her tears. 'Dr Sonia are you still upset?'
'How dare that man can behave like?'
'And what if I say that Dr Siddhant himself wants you to work with him?'
'But I do not wish to work with an arrogant stupid drunkard.'
'Those are rather harsh words for Dr Siddhant.'
'You are saying this. Don't you remember how he spoke to you?'
'Well I remember what he did after that. He apologized to me.'
'Oh .. did he? But seriously what is his problem. He was downright rude. He has a drinking problem and I was just concerned for him.'
'Do you really know what his problem is?'
'I feel he is just too scared.'
'Exactly and do you know why?'
'All that I have come to know of him is that he has had this drinking problem for many months now.'
'But you don't know the reason?'
'What is the reason?'
Kirti that evening told Sonia about Sid being divorced recently. It was personal information but she felt Sonia needed to know. She could also see that Sonia had broken Sid's defenses and was getting to him. In order to make him snap out he needed a jolt and Sonia seemed to be providing them. But again Sonia also needed to know what she was dealing with. A man broken in love and by the people he loved. She was careful not to divulge names but and also did not tell her all the details.
Sonia was flabbergasted hearing it all. Her heart went out for Sid yet she could not get herself to agree to what Sid was making out of his life. Kirti advised her to take it a little easy on Sid. When one is dealing with tangled threads one needs to do with patience and here too patience was the key. What remained to be seen was how much patience did Sonia have in her?
Link to the next part
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/46501110
Edited by DJ.. - 14 years ago
Marathi TV
