Part-3
It was lunch break and the interns were chatting in the canteen. Rishab, the official funny man of the batch was cracking jokes. Nidhi wasn't interested in them but Priyanka and Jyothika egged him on. Rishab opined that Dr.Ashutosh should change his ring tone, the tring tring beep beep sound was sooo boring...and you know what his ringtone should be ??? Remember a song from the movie Josh- Mere khayalon ki MALLIKA???
Everyone burst out laughing and Nidhi left in a huff...
Rishab wondered what happened to her..Priyanka ran after Nidhi and confronted her...she knew that Nidhi knew Ashu and Mallika socially...something had offended her deeply.
Nidhi dodged her questions and tried to appear busy.Priyanka deduced that it has something to do with matters of the heart, she gave a worried look to Nidhi and tried to counsel her.
"Nidhi, I regard you as my friend and hence I am taking the liberty of intruding in your personal matters. I think that you are upset because of the joke on Dr.Ashu and Mallika"
Nidhi didn't reply and Priyanka continued "You have to get used to such jokes Nidhi, there is a substratum of truth in Rishab's seemingly nonsense joke. I have seen Ashu and Mallika enjoy each others company at various places...If you don't believe me then go to corporate garden after eight, they go for a walk there every night..."
Nidhi didn't react to Priyanka's words but she found herself stalking Mallika after her shift got over. Her doubts were confirmed...she watched Ashu and Mallika talk and whisper sweet nothings into each others ears. Nidhi's heart sank and she sat glued to the ground...what she saw snapped the tenuous thread of hope she was clinging to all this while. She lost track of time and moved only after the love-struck couple drove away.
DB and CV were worried about Nidhi, she was never this late before...her phone was off...DB imagined the worst and urged CV to call police. No sooner had he lifted his phone than the doorbell rang. DB was taken aback by the condition Nidhi was in..her tear stained face looked as if she had just attended a loved one's funeral and her dress was dirty. She didn't talk to anyone and walked straight to her room and locked it...no amount of pleading worked...
CV wondered if anything went wrong at the hospital, he called Ashu to find out the truth. He didn't receive the call( He had kept it in silent mode before going to sleep).
Nidhi refused to go to hospital the next morning. She cried all the time and refused to answer anyone's questions.
They received a parcel in the evening. CV opened it and collapsed on looking at the contents. Dr.Mathur called CV and had a sad little conversation, he too had received a similar parcel.
Dr.Mathur called Ashu and commanded him to handover his duties to some other doctor and return home. Ashu's queries were met with only one reply- come home first. Ashu wondered why Baba sounded so tense.
The hospital staff gave Ashu strange looks as he left. Two ward boys mumbled- "oh so this is why Dr.Nidhi didn't come to work today"
Edited by Vidishaa - 12 years ago