Part 20:
Hand in hand, they walked to Armaan's suave Mercedes Benz. He opened the door for her and she sat in his car, admiring the interiors.
They drove off to the highway... The soft music played in the car. Preoccupied in each other thoughts, Armaan broke the silence.
"Tuhme kaha jaana hai?"
"Hmmm... Juhu beach!! Pani puri aur gole khane ke liye!" Riddhima sqealed with joy. He laughed at her childishness.
"Can't we go somewhere more romantic?"
"Ufff, Armaan! Aisi jagaon mein to sab couples jaate hai, hum kuch alag karte hai, ok? Aur jaha hum, waha romance!"
"Acha, babaa!"
The sun drowned into the deep blue ocean. The birds flew in flocks to their nests as darkness approached. The turtles crawled back into their shells. The trees bowed to the owner of the heavens. The waves gently washed over the pearly sand. The insects hummed their songs, which was annoyingly irritating to the ears.
They walked towards the crashing waves. Riddhima got a handful of water and splashed it on Armaan's face. A shocked Armaan, splashed water all over her.
"Aaaa, Armaan! Maine sirf tuhmare moo pe paani pheka, aur tum toh.. aaaaaa!!" She squealed as another wave hit her. He wrapped his arms around her. Both were soaking yet, their clothes stuck to each other.
"Hmmmm... I'm loving it..." Armaan said slowly.
"Maine kaha tha na!" Riddhima giggled. Armaan turned her around and took her face in his hands.
"I love you." He kissed her cheeks, slowly, swallowing the sweet taste.
"Armaan..."
"Shhh.. yaha koi nahi hai..." It was dark now, they were standing in the water which reached their knees. He kissed every inch of her face, not leaving a skin spot of skin. She melted into his arms... "Vaada karo ke tum kabhi muhjse door nahi jaugi..."
"Promise.."
"Sirf promise se kaam nahi chalega! Do puppi!"
"Ufff, tum bhi na!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Another one.." She gave him another on on the other cheek. "Another one..." He pointed to his lips.
"Armaan!! Shaadi ke baad okay?"
"Okay, toh karle shaadi kaal?"
"Filhal, paani puri khawe?" She pointed to the vender.
At the hospital:
(The trauma case is from White Coat, I did not write it, but I thought of cloning it for my characters)
Both Malaika and Safwan walked out of the prayer room, as tranquility filled their hearts. They smiled at each other.
"Traumatic Arrest in Trauma Bay 2! Dr. Malaika and Dr. Safwan, please report to TB2!" The intercom disrupted them. Suddenly, they found themselves racing towards the ED (Emergency Department). As they entered, the entire staff were in their blue scrubs.
"Doctors, put the scrubs on! There is a traumatic arrect case. Lagta hai humme chest kholke repair karna parega... to get his heart working, you know." Dr. Ziad Shareef said. Dr. Ziad was the senior cardiac surgeon at Sanjivini.
Safwan checked the ventilator and prepared the defibrillator with the resident cardiac. Soon enough, the ED doors opened, two emergency medical technicians, pushed in a gurney, bearing an obese man. The mountain of his stomach hid his head from view.
"Ashish Khanna, age 35, he's in asystole. Pandra minutes se behosh hai," said the EMT. "Asystole" means that there is no cardiac electrical activity.
"Any identification?" the cardiac resident who Safwan had been working with asked. The EMT shook his head.
They transfered the gurney into the bay, as the staff swarmed around him. They transfered him onto the hospital's ECG machine, everyone's heads turned toward the monitor.
In a flash, his clothes were gone too. Dr. Ziad ordered Safwan to pull off the man's shoes. In a jiffy, another someone rushed into the room and carried the clothes away. The staff tried retrieving his failed heart.
"Give him high-dose epinephrine," Safwan suggested.
"Right, Doctor. Malaika, give him three mg of atropine," said the cardiac resident.
Two medical students were giving him CPR. Suddenly everybody stopped. The CPR stopped, ventilation stopped. Everyone stepped back.
"Pulse?" Someone asked.
Safwan checked and replied negatively.
"Resume CPR!" ordered someone else. The furry of activity resumed.
"Sir, he's in V-fib! I think we should shock him!" Malaika suggested. His heart had revived somewhat, but it beat erratically in a rhythm that would cause death if not reversed. The defibrillator paddles came out. The electric shock was the only chance of restoring the normal rhythm. Countless efforts failed to retrieve the normal rhythm. Once again, Dr. Ziad shocked him. And failed.
The mans feet went dead. His body seemed to shrivel. Malaika saw death take over the body. She felt as if she could see his soul leaving his body. Despite the CPR, the atropine, the epinephrine, the de-fibrillation, the man still didn't have a pulse.
"Okay... let's call it" the resident cardiac said. "What's the time?"
"Nine thirty-six." said Safwan, covering the man with a white cloth.
They all exited the room, ripping off their gloves and gowns, almost as if nothing had happened...
It wasn't the first time Malaika had seen death, but it still aroused the same feeling as the first time. Safwan walked her out of the room, consoling her.
"Let's have some coffee." They walked toward the canteen. Safwan ordered two cups of coffee and sat down with her.
"Death is so unexpected, isn't it, Safwan? It comes when you least expect it," Malaika said.
"Umm, haan..." Safwan replied, unsure of what to say. Her coffee remained untouched. "Malaika, coffee to peelo."
She took one sip and got up. "I'll see you later."
After finishing his coffee, Safwan decided to lounge in the doctor's lounge, worn out from the recent case. As he entered, he say Malaika sleeping on the soft couch, with her cell ringing in her hand. The funny tune cracked Safwan up. He grabbed the phone from her hand quietly.
"Hello," he said.
"Slalaikum, beta!!" (You know desi aunties say salam 😉 😆😆) "Kaise ho tum?" A bubbly woman's voice said.
"Uhh, teek hoon. Aap kaisi hai, aunty?" Safwan replied, confused.
"Ikdum fit! First class!"
"Uhh hahahaa! Waise aap kaun hai?" Safwan asked.
"Main Malaika ki Ammi hoon! Aur tum?"
"Hai babreee, dangerr!" The phone almost fell out of his grip. He nudged Malaika.
"Sonee do na muhjeee, kyun tang kar rai ho?"
"OYE! Tuhmari Ammi ka phone hai!"
"AMMIII!!!!!!" She jerked up and grabbed the phone from Safwan. "Kaisi ho aapp? Itne dino se call nahi kiya aapne, katti hoon main aapse." She crossed her arms like a little child. Then, all of a sudden, her face brightened up. "Sachiii!?! Kab? Haila, I can't wait! Okay, Allah-hafiz!" She gave her mother an air kiss.
"Yiippeeeee! Ammi Abba kaal arai hai! Isn't that so cool, Safwan! Aur meri cousin ki shaadi hai, ek haafte main!" She started hopping about like a kangroo.
"Ek haafte main? You mean, Irfaan ki shaadi? Likin..."
"Ifraan Pathan, hai na? Hummus ki shaadi Irfu jiju se horai hai," she giggled.
"Eww, iska matlab hum rishtedaar ban jayge?"
"KYA?"
"Haan, na, aur kya... main Irfu ka cousin hoon..." he said and left, leaving her in shock!
Outside Riddhima's house:
"Thanks Armaan!" she wrapped her arms around his neck, as he wrapped his around her waist, unaware of the fact that the atmosphere contained a witness. "I love you." She gave him a swift kiss on the nose, pulled his cheeks till they became red and tore herself from his grasp. "BYYEE!!"
"I LOVE YOU!" Armaan yelled.
"SHUT UP!" She giggled back.
As soon as Riddhima opened the door, she was greeted with an extrememly large smile given by her mother. "Kaha thi tum, beta?"
"Hospital main.. woh Dr. Armaan ke saath case discuss kar rai thi... umm..." Riddhima said, hesitantly.
"Acha? Maine hospital fone kiya tha, likin nurse ne kaha ke tum to jaa chuki, Armaan ke saath... Hmmm." Her eyebrows danced.
"Uhh.. woh hum coffee ke liye bahar gaye the..."
"Pyaar bhari coffee..."
"Huh?"
"Kuch nahi... tum muhjse kuch chupa rai ho na?"
"Nahi Ma, Nahi! Of course not, main kyun chupaungi aapse koi baat? Main.. mainn... kyun..."
"Ufff, nahi batana hai to nahi batau, likin muhje sab pata hai. Aarzoo aunty ne muhje bata diya!" She clapped her hands and laughed. "Ab tuhme muhje batana hai ke nahi?"
"Aarzoo aunty ne kya kaha?" Riddhima asked, wide eyed.
"Tuhmare aur Armaan ke baare mein... aisa kuch tha.. yaad nahi hai muhje."
"Mammmaaa!! Bolo na!"
"Tum bolo na!"
Suddenly Shashank appeared out of no where.
"Yeh kya bolo na bolo na hora hai yaha pe? Muhje bhi bolo na!" He said.
"Kya bole? Bolo Riddhima, tum kuch keh rai thi, Armaaaaaan ke baare mein..." Padma added special emphasis to Armaan's name.
"Huh? Main... Oh haan! Main Armaan ko assist kar rai hoon, woh multiple sclerosis ka case hai na, I'm so excited!"
"That's great, Dr. Riddhima!"
She glared at him... "I mean, beta, Riddhima... uhh, khana tayaar hai, Padma?"
In Safwan's house:
"Agaya, na layak... Pata nai ha tuhje, ek haafte mein Ifraan ki shaadi hai, tayaaria shuru karni hai! Chalo, aapne kapre chun lo, aur jaaldi se ghusal karlo... ek haafte mein shaadi hai! Aur yeh baal ki kya halat bana rakhi hai tumne? Bandar banne ka iraada hai kya?"
"MAA!! Shaadi EK haafte mein hai, abhi se ghusal karne ki kya zaroorat hai?"
"Uffff, tum shower mein do din laga doge... chal ghus andar..." She pushed him into the bathroom and locked the door.
"Maine chaabe khali!" She bellowed at him.
"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Muhje shower nahi lenaa!!" Safwan hated showers.
Armaan's house:
Atul was moving his food here and there on the plate. Aseem was observing everything. Armaan maamu seemed quite happy... perhaps dreamy, his mother kept stealing glances at his father, and vice versa. Naani ma was thinking. "Hmm..." He said to himself. His fork fell to the ground. He bent down to pick it up. To his horror, he saw his parents playing footsies. He quitely slid under the table and poked his father's feet with his fork and ran quickly back to his chair, his head popping over the table with a naughty grin.
"AAAAAA! YEH KYA KAR RAI HO, ALVEERA?!?!" His father yelled.
"Uhh.. maine kya kiya? Tumne tamasha shuru kiya!"
"CHUP!" Their mother shouted. The table went dead in silence. Aseem regreted having caused the commotion. Armaan gave him a death stare saying I-know-you-did-that-and-I'll-fix-you-later. Aseem gulped.
"Armaan! You're grounded! Ghar se hospital aur hospital se ghaar! Kahi ghumne ko nahi milega! Sahmje??" Aarzoo was pretty mad.
"Likin Ma.. maine kya kiya?"
"Chori chori Riddhima ke saath pyaar karte ho, aur apni Ma ko nahi bataya?"
"Maa.. aapko.. kisne bataya?" Armaan thought it was Atul.
"Nahi bataungi. Aur haan, no phone, no Internet... no..." Her list went on and on.
Armaan slumped back in his chair.
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