Hey guys! Surprise! This must be the quickest I've ever updated😆...but some random ideas had been floating around in my mind for a bit, and I couldn't help but pen them down as soon as I found time...The ending might feel a little abrupt, but please do bear with me😳
CHAPTER 6: Denial and Acceptance Next morning at Sanjeevani: Sapna stood in front of the IOTM board looking at the latest scores. Riddhima seemed to be leading currently, with Armaan not far behind. She skimmed down the list and finally saw her name towards the bottom of the list. She traced her finger across to the other side of the board to see that she was still stuck at 40 points.
Bottom of the pile as usual, she sighed to herself in disappointment.
"Good Morning, Sapnaben! What are you upto?"
Sapna jumped for a bit, and then turned around to see Atul standing behind her with the usual cheerful grin on his face.
"Attttul! Why did you creep up on me like that?" she said, hitting him on the arm playfully. "You scared me for a moment there!"
"Oww!" he said rubbing his arm and looking at her in mock reproach. "I'm sorry! Itni si baat pe maar kaat pe utar aayee tum, Sapnaben?"
She made a move as if to hit him again, but he dodged her playfully. "Ok Ok! I was just kidding!" he said with his trademark toothy grin.
"Yeah yeah…I'm sure you won't be grinning for long though! Come take a look at the latest IOTM scores," she said, gesturing towards the board. He walked over and skimmed over the scores on the board. "Arey waah! Main to abhi se Intern number 1 hoon!" he said, performing a little Mithun style move.
"What??!! From what angle are you Intern number 1?? Lagta hai chashme lagwaane ka time aa gaya hai, Dr. Attul! Look carefully!" she said, pointing to his name on the board. "You're at the very last spot! Right alongside me," she finished a little morosely.
"Arey Sapnaben!" he said, putting an arm around her shoulders, "It's all about perspective!" She looked at him in confusion. "Nahin samjhi? Arey yaar! I AM Intern number 1….neeche se!" he said with a mock smug on his face, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Sapna smiled at that, and shook her head hopelessly at him. "Tumhara kucch nahin ho sakta, Attul! We're both so far behind, and you're least bothered!"
"Arey yaar! Why are you taking tension! Don't worry; I'm sure we'll both catch up soon! There's still many more cases to handle!" he said reassuringly. "Meanwhile, come sing with me!" he said, doing a little tapori move. "Intern number 1, main hoon Intern number 1…."
Suddenly he stopped singing midway, and froze for a moment.
Why could he smell Lillies? Did that mean….? "What happened, Atul?" asked Sapna. "Why did you….Oh Hi!" she said to someone behind his shoulder.
Atul's eyes widened, and he turned around slowly, bracing himself mentally…only to see Riddhima walking towards them.
"Hey guys!" she said
"Ridz?" he said in dazed confusion. "But…lilies…?
"Lilies?" she asked in confusion. "Oh, do you mean my perfume? I couldn't find mine today, so I just borrowed Di's! Do you like it?"
"Oh. Uhh…yeah, it's uhh…nice," he said, wondering in his mind why he felt disappointed.
Sapna interrupted them and said, "Ridz, guess what?! You're leading in the IOTM! Look! You're right at the top!" "Really?" she asked, hurrying over to the board to see the scores for herself.
"I just knew that our Ridz would come out on top, kyun Sapnaben?" said Atul grinning at her. "Ofcourse, Atul! Our Ridz
is such a capable doctor after all!" said Sapna.
Riddhima turned to the two of them, embarrassed and elated at the same time and unable to keep a grin from spreading across her face.
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Anjali was just about to turn the corner to the nurse's station when she heard Atul's voice clearly ringing out…"our Ridz would come out on top!..". She stopped suddenly, and then slowly peeked around the corner just in time to watch Ridzie hugging Sapna and Atul with a big grin on her face.
"I can't believe it myself, guys! I just wasn't expecting this!" she gushed to them. "Come on now! You should have yaar! You totally deserve it!" beamed Atul at her, almost like a proud parent . Anjali's mouth tightened into a grim line. "So she's back to her usual antics again," she thought in disgust, turning away. "Sugar sweet little Ridzy! So so proud that she's leading the IOTM race. And just look at her basking in the attention as usual! Didn't she EVER tire from it??" thought Anjali bitterly. Suddenly, Armaan's voice interrupted her thoughts. She peeked around the corner again to see that he was standing with the group now looking at the IOTM board.
"Wah Wah, Basket!" he said sarcastically, "Early lead? I'm impressed!" he said clapping his hands in mock applause.
Riddhima gave him a withering look and replied back just as sarcastically, "Why thank you, Dr. Armaan!"
"Oh come now, Basket! No need to thank me!" he said, totally enjoying himself. "Just a little piece of advice though! Don't count your chickens before they hatch! This is just a temporary lead. And it's best if you realize right now only that I'M the one who's going to win the IOTM award!" he said smugly.
"Really?" she asked, arching an eyebrow in skepticism.
"Of course! Dr. Armaan Mallik ALWAYS wins! No matter what the game!" he said with a wink. Riddhima's mouth dropped open in shock at that, and she started to say something, but Atul and Sapna restrained her shaking their heads and silently telling her that it was pointless.
Anjali was grinning at the scene playing out, when suddenly Armaan turned and spotted her. "Hey gorgeous! Please please come here and rescue me from your horror of a sister! The way she's glaring daggers at me, I am liable to drop dead any minute now!" he said mockingly drawing a line across his throat.
Angie laughed at that as she walked over. "Ok Ok, I'm here to "save" you now!" she said with a wink at him, slipping her arm through his. "Thank you soooooo much, sweetheart!" said Armaan winking back at her and patting her hand on his arm.
"Di!!! How can you take his side??" asked Ridz in somewhat of a shrill tone.
Angie turned to face Ridzie slowly, composing her face into an almost expressionless mask by the time she faced her. No one else observed this except Atul who had been watching her carefully since she walked over.
"Chill, Ridzie," she said in a cool tone. "Why are you getting so worked up? It's all just harmless fun. Lighten up!" she finished in a bit of a condescending tone.
"But…but…" sputtered Ridz.
"Shhhhh!" said Sapna. "Hitler aa gayee!"
They all instantly ordered themselves into a circle around the nurse's station just in time before Dr. Keerti walked over. She then proceeded to assign each of them to their various duties of the day.
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"She was such an enigma!" thought Atul to himself as he walked over to the Path lab where he had been assigned to for the day. She had been so
cold and
condescending towards Ridz today! Her very own sister! He contrasted this with flashes in his head of her radiant laughter last night, that wistful smile that he had seen on her face the other day.
What was all that then? Which was the real Anjali? He suddenly paused and said to himself, "But why am I thinking so much about her? Ice Queen jo marzi kare! Why should I get a headache over it?" He shook himself mentally and then walked over the waiting elevator and got in.
"Chalo, ek confusion to solve ho gayee," he thought. "Last night had most definitely been just a reaction to the perfume! Ridz had been wearing the same perfume this morning, and that's all he'd reacted to!" he consoled himself, feeling satisfied with the explanation, forgetting temporarily, the disappointment that he'd felt when he'd turned around and seen Ridz instead. "Just a natural reaction, Atul!" he muttered to himself again while looking at the floor. "No way in hell could you ever be attracted to the Ice Queen! No way!" he repeated, not realizing how desperately he was trying to convince himself.
The elevator's ding made him look up in time to watch the doors slide open, and Angie walked in. And all of a sudden he felt short of breath. He looked around and saw that there were a few other people in the elevator, and no one else seemed to be suffering from this reaction. Angie was busy skimming through the file in her hand, and didn't notice him at all, as she walked over to stand next to him. Atul gulped, and wondered why his heart was racing all of a sudden. The elevator stopped again and a few people got off, but a whole sea of them seemed to rush in, suddenly pushing Angie up against him.
"Heyyyy! Watch it will you?!" she said to the people in front of her in irritation.
Some Sorries were muttered randomly, but there seemed to be no let up in their squishing her from all sides. She then realized that SHE in turn seemed to be squishing someone behind her. "I'm sorry!" she said to the person behind her, unable to turn around to see who it was.
The person behind her was currently having great difficulty breathing, and it had nothing to do with claustrophobic environment in the elevator currently. Instead, it seemed to have everything to do with the woman standing in front of him, braced against his chest, and closer than she'd ever been to him. Her hair was almost in his face, long, silky and lustrous. Before he could think twice, he leaned forward a bit and inhaled deeply. "Something flowery again," he thought, although he couldn't pinpoint what kind it was exactly. Nevertheless, it seemed to take over his senses just as completely as the Lilies had done last night.
He was getting ready to sniff at it again, when the elevator stopped suddenly. The sea of people seemed to rush out just as quickly as they'd rushed in, and Angie followed them out as well, busy looking at the file.
Atul expelled the breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and leaned against the wall of the elevator a little weakly. "Atul beta, you're a goner. You're sniffing her
hair now??" he muttered to himself. "Did you say something, Dr. Atul?" asked the nurse standing next to him. "Uhh…Nothing! Nothing," he said. He'd finally reached his floor, and he walked out.
Time to come clean to yourself now, Dr. Atul, he thought to himself as he walked to the lab.
It wasn't the perfume after all. It was her!!. "It's
her," he repeated to himself softly in a bit of a daze.
Edited by nureat01 - 17 years ago
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