Alright guys, so here I am with a long overdue update. I don't know how many of you guys would actually even be interested in reading it anymore, but since I do have this little bank of ideas about AA1 in my head, I have to get all that out 😆 😆
Now, coming to the actual chapter...this chapter mainly deals with the elevator scene filmed on AA1 in the show. As we all know, when it was shown in the actual show, it was shown so randomly and treated so shoddily that it might as well never have occured
So this here is my humble little attempt at putting my own spin on what I thought the scene could have been like. Hope you guys like it 😳
CHAPTER 16: 'Elevated' Love
Atul and Anjali fell back against the wall of the elevator as it stopped with a sudden jerk. A little yelp escaped from Anjali as the entire area was plunged into darkness.
"What just happened?" she asked warily.
"Don't know…hang on, I'll try to call them for help" said Atul as he felt his eyes gradually adjusting to the darkness. He felt his way over to the front of the elevator where the phone was located. He lifted the receiver to his ear and was greeted with silence. Slowly, he replaced it and turned to her with a sigh.
"No dial tone." He said simply.
"What?!" she said in alarm. "What do you mean there's no dial tone??" She rushed forward and grabbed the phone, only to be greeted with the same silence as Atul. She dropped the receiver and turned to the doors and started banging on them loudly.
"Help! Help! Can anyone hear me?? Please get us out of here!!" she shouted.
Atul joined her and started banging on the doors and shouting for help as well. They continued to do so for about 15 min. and soon their voices turned hoarse with all the shouting, but no one answered their call for help.
"What the hell is going on??" said Angie as she pounded the door one final time in frustration. "Why isn't anyone fixing this damn lift?! They have to have heard us by now!! Is everyone in this hospital just sleeping??!!" she vented in anger.
"Anjali," he said warily, feeling as if he was talking to a ticking time bomb.
She glanced back at him. "Yes, Atul?"she said, the irritation and frustration obvious in her voice.
"Uhhh….I think the problem is that it's really late at night and maybe the maintenance staff went home as well…and you know that there's a staffing shortage in general anyways…maybe that's why no one can hear us," he said.
"Oh wow, Atul," she said sarcastically, "Thank you so very much for that super logical explanation. Now that you're done analyzing the reason for why no one's here helping us yet, would you like to exercise your mind just a little bit more and try to figure a way out of here??"
Atul just looked at her for a few moments and then said quietly, "I was just about to get to that, Anjali."
"Oh." She said, a little thrown off by his tone and unable to figure out why. Then she sighed to herself and said, "I'm sorry, Atul…I didn't mean to be rude. I'm just…"
"It's alright, Anjali," he interrupted her, "I can understand your frustration…I'm frustrated too…anyways, getting to the point." He pointed up towards the ceiling and the single exhaust fan in the middle of it. "I think if we should try and see if there's a way out of there…or if nothing else, maybe we can shout through there and someone can hear us better…what do you think?" He finished, looking back down towards her again…and saw that she was sitting on the floor now.
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"Anjali?" he rushed over to her side and sank down next to her. "Are you alright?? What happened?"
Anjali tried to speak but she could barely catch her breath. She just couldn't seem to be able to draw air into her lungs. Damn this claustrophobia! she cursed in her head, why did it have to surface just now?
Atul watched in alarm as Anjali started gasping even more. He held her by the shoulders and said, "Anjali, what is it?? You're not being able to breathe?"
Almost wheezing now, Anjali nodded at him.
"It's ok, Anjali," he said, trying to calm her down, "Everything's going to be ok…just take deep breaths, alright?…breathe in, breathe out." He said, demonstrating to her as he spoke."
Anjali tried to but she couldn't do it, and she started to almost see spots in front of her eyes.
"Come on, Anjali." said Atul, shaking her a little bit now. "You can do it! Do it along with me now…Breathe in," he said, taking a deep breath in.
Struggling, Anjali tried again and managed to draw air into her lungs a bit.
"And slowly breathe out." continued Atul, exhaling now. And Anjali exhaled along with him.
"That's it, that's it," he said, encouraging her. "Now breathe in again…and slowly breathe out," he repeated again.
They continued the breathing exercises for a bit until Anjali was finally able to breathe easily again.
"Better now?" asked Atul, placing his hand on her cheek.
Anjali nodded, still taking deep breaths and trying to regulate her heartbeat as well.
"God, you'd scared me there for a bit, Anjali!" said Atul, placing his other hand on her cheek as well now, framing her face between his hands and leaning in to look into her eyes directly. "Thank God you're ok!" he said in relief.
Anjali sighed, closing her eyes, unconsciously leaned forward to rest her forehead against his. "I don't know what happened, Atul. It was so sudden…one moment I was talking to you, and the next I just couldn't seem to be able to breathe at all! I haven't had this kind of an attack of claustrophobia in years!"
"Shhh…it's all ok now, thank god!" he said, stroking her hair as she gradually leaned further to rest her head on his shoulder. And they sat in peaceful serence silence like that for the next few minutes, both of them literally catching their breaths after that scare.
After a few minutes, it suddenly seemed to dawn on Anjali, the exact position that she was sitting in…practically in Atul's arms! She froze in shock as the realization hit home. Atul felt her tensing up, and suddenly realized the very same thing as well. He let his arms drop back to his sides to allow her to move away. Anjali's head instantly shot up from its previous perch on his shoulder and she stared at him, confusion and shock written clearly on her face. Atul stared back at her, wondering if she would be able to read him as clearly as he was being able to read her in that moment. The shock on her face almost made him want to smile a bit, but the turmoil of confusion in her eyes stopped that urge instantly. He sighed to himself and wondered why everything had to be so complicated. The sigh seemed to break Anjali out of her trance. She blinked for a bit and then looked down. Clearing her throat, she moved away from him and tried to surreptitiously scoot over to the side a little.
Atul couldn't quite cover up the smile that broke out on his face in that moment. To think Anjali could actually ever be nervous as well! That too around him! Who would've thought?!
Atul scooted back to the opposite end of the elevator and after a few minutes, attempting to dispel the awkwardness in the air, he said, "Anjali?"
There was a short pause and then she replied, "Yes?"
"Umm…if you're feeling better now, do you want to try and see if we can get out through the exhaust fan area??"
Anjali released the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. Thank God he's not going to discuss what just happened! she thought to herself. But then, nothing really happened! You need to stop making a big deal out of it, Angie! she told herself more firmly. It was just a random moment that has passed now. Time to focus on more important matters
"Anjali?" Atul called to her again.
"Haan?" she said distractedly, still mulling over the thoughts in her head. Then, suddenly seeming to register what he'd just said, she replied, "Ok yes…let's try it and see."
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They both got up slowly, the awkwardness still very much present between them.
Atul went up on the tips of his toes and tried to reach for the ceiling. Not really gathering much success with that attempt, he then tried to jump and touch the fan vent. Angie meanwhile watched all this with growing bemusement, until one his attempts to jump almost caused him to trip and fall. That's when she just burst out laughing. Atul turned to her and grinned in a slightly embarrassed way.
"Do you want me to try now, Atul?" she asked after she finally managed to control her laughter. Clearing her throat, she added, "I am taller after all."
Atul chuckled at that, "True," he admitted, glad that his little attempt had helped in breaking through the awkwardness that had cropped up just a few moments ago. "Alright then, go ahead."
She stepped forward and tried to reach up for the ceiling as well, but met with no success just like Atul. Feeling embarrassed, she tried to jump just a bit and reach up but that didn't work either.
"Need a leg up?" said Atul in bemusement.
"Uhh…yeah, I guess I could use some help," she said sheepishly, feeling foolish now.
"Hmmm, well since we don't really have a footstool or anything at our disposal here, I can bend over and become a temporary one for now," he said.
Before she could even respond, he went down on all fours under the vent.
"Uhh…ok, I guess," she said. She stepped onto his back gingerly, holding out her arms on both sides and trying to maintain her balance.
"Are you ok?" asked Atul.
"Shhh!" she said, concentrating on maintaing her balance and trying to reach the vent. "I'm fine! Don't move around so much!"
"Oh. Sorry," he said, instantly contrite.
Anjali reached up carefully again, but was still unable to reach the vent. Try as she might, her fingers seemed to fall just a millimeter short and she just couldn't reach beyond that.
"Damn it!" she said in frustration again, jumping off his back. "Still can't reach it!"
Atul got up and looked up at the vent again. "Why did they have to make the ceilings of this elevator so high?" he wondered. "It just doesn't make any sense."
"What are we going to do now, Atul?" asked Anjali in a worried tone.
"Don't worry, Anjali," he said reassuringly, "I'm sure it will come to someone's notice sooner or later and they'll get us out of here. Meanwhile, we just have to wait I guess," he finished with a sigh.
"Wait here??" she said. "But for how long??" she said in a worried tone. "How are we…wait!"she said suddenly, "Do you hear that? I think I hear voices!"
She hurried over to the doors again and started banging on them loudly. "Hello!! Is someone there?? We're stuck in here! Please help us! Please get us out of here!"
"Anjali," said Atul, "Don't exert yourself so much. You've just had that attack. Please sit down, I'll call out for help, ok?"
"I'm fine, Atul!" she said, continuing to bang on the doors and calling out for help.
Soon they heard the sound of rushing footsteps and then someone spoke from the other side, sounding as if the voice was coming from far away, "Hello? Is anyone here?"
"Help! Help!" called back Anjali! "This is Dr. Anjali and Dr. Atul! We're both stuck inside the elevator!"
"Dr. Anjali?" said the voice, "Don't worry, we'll get you out of there as soon as possible!"
"Please hurry!" she called back.
Atul put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Please calm down, Anjali. I'm sure they'll get us out of here soon enough, ok?"
Anjali sagged against the door for a bit and then softly said, "Alright."
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Within a few minutes, the maintenance crew arrived and managed to get both of them out of the elevator. They both finally heaved a sigh of relief and after collecting their belongings from the locker room finally headed out towards the parking lot to head home.
"That was some night, huh?" said Atul.
Anjali widened her eyes and sighing, said, "Oh yeah, not going to forget that anytime soon" she laughed.
Me too, thought Atul, Although for different reasons probably he smiled to himself, feeling euphoric.
They both reached her car and Atul turned to her and held out a hand.
"G'nite Anjali. Drive safe, alright?" he said.
Anjali smiled and placing her hand in his said, "I will. G'nite." And as she looked at him in that moment, she suddenly seemed to get a vivid flash of the moment in the elevator when he had calmed her down. And she felt confused all over again. What the hell had happened there? she thought to herself. It all seemed surreal now, cuz logically it made no sense. It probably happened cuz she had just felt so exhausted after her attack she thought, reasoning it out in her mind.
"Anjali?" said Atul in a slightly bemused voice, "Aren't you going to let go of my hand?"
"Huh? What?" said Anjali, snapping out of her thoughts? Suddenly realizing that she'd still been shaking his hand, she dropped it like it had burnt her. "Sorry," she said in embarrassement.
"That's alright," he smiled back.
She stared at him for another moment. Yeah, it had to be the exhaustion. Nothing else makes sense. She finally dropped her gaze, turned around and got into her car. As she drove away, Atul softly sang to himself as he walked over to his bicycle…
Jaana suno hum tumpe marte hain
Tumse mohabbat karte hain….
Chaahat mere haseen, koi gunaah nahin.
Yeh jo mohabbat hai, yehi to ibadat hai…
To phir aao, pyar mein jalaayen dil, jal ke bujh na paayen dil
Pyar mein jalaayen dil
Hai apni manzil yaheen pe, aa ab kahin na ja
Tum kaheen bhi jaao, yehin pe hai aana…
Ke dil ka dil hai thikana…
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