||Just One Breath Away-AN FF~VM pg 122|| - Page 45

Shehnaz observed the dashing doctor from where she sat on Vishal's bed. Abhi was checking Vishal's progress reports, biting his lower lip slightly.

He hadn't come to Sanjeevani the previous day, and she was sure that he had been moping around for Nikki.

She darted a glance at Vishal, who gave her a cocky lopsided smile. She grinned in return. She had missed him since college.

"So…Abhi", Vishal cleared his throat, and Abhi looked at him.

"Looks like you didn't sleep at all last night!" he winked, and Shehnaz giggled.

Abhi shot him a death glare. "You need to sleep, Vishal…you know that. You don't have to worry about me", he replied sardonically.

"Looks like someone's missing his lady love!" he chuckled, and hi-fived Shehnaz.

"Do you mind?" Abhi asked with his hands on his hips, his cheeks turning faintly pink.

"Of course we don't mind!" he laughed. "You're free to miss anyone you like!"

They fell into peals of laughter again as Abhi steadily turned a deeper shade of pink.

"Oh shut up, you two!" he said exasperatedly and plonked himself down on the nearest chair.

Once the laughter died away, Shehnaz shifted from the bed to the chair beside Abhi. Gently touching his hand, she smiled, "We're just joking Abhi…we understand that you miss her."

Staring at her hand on his, Abhi slowly moved his hand away, ignoring the hurt look on her face. Vishal watched them both silently, shaking his head at his friend.

He refused to see what's right in front of him, and when he accepted it, he was too shy to say it to her.

"You do realise that you're confusing her more day by day, don't you?" he commented.

"I don't know…" Abhi sighed. "I want to tell her but…."

"If you want to tell her then what's stopping you?" Shehnaz asked him softly.

He looked at her, amazed at the tenderness in her eyes. It was something he wasn't used to seeing after their break up in college. But there was pain…she wasn't as good at hiding her feelings as she thought she was.

Or maybe he knew her too well.

"You're both just going around in circles, mate", Vishal said sternly. "You need to pull your socks up…it's just a mere proposal…what's the big deal? You both love each other…what's the problem in confessing it?"

"That's not it…" Abhi argued, pursing his lips. "It's just that we used to hate each other and…"

"And now you love each other", Shehnaz completed the sentence for him. "Just say it Abhi!"

"I love her but…"

"She loves you too", they chorused.

Looking at each other, Vishal and Shehnaz both burst out laughing.

"See!" Shehnaz told him grinning. "We're both so sick and tired of them running from each other that now we can read each other's minds!"

"Yeah…Abhi, look at what you did to us!" Vishal chortled. "We've both lost it trying to get you to open up."

"Come on guys, it's not funny", he pouted.

They laughed even more at the faces he made.

*****

"Nikki!" Akash shook her awake.

"Mhhmmm…" she groaned, and got up.

Rubbing her eyes, she realised that she had fallen asleep. It was evening, and dark outside. A lone bulb hung from a wire in the tent.

Akash was standing in front of her with a platter of fruits.

"You missed lunch", he quipped, and handed her the plate.

"I'm not hungry", she said, and shifted slightly so that Akash could sit down.

"Just eat something Nikki", he implored. "You look very tired."

"I am tired", she said grumpily, but all the same grabbed an apple from the plate and bit into it.

"Where's Riddhima?" she asked between chews.

"Don't talk while eating", he made a face, and she just widened her eyes and shrugged.

"She's treating a patient…the woman fell down and hurt herself quite badly", he explained, and Nikki nodded absentmindedly, her gaze on an insect that had settled on the light.

"You fell asleep here in the tent itself so we decided not to wake you", he continued, oblivious to the fact that Nikki's mind was far away. "It's so hot in here…you should have gone to the room allotted to you if you wanted rest."

"Hmm…" she commented absentmindedly, picking up a guava and munching on it.

"See, you're hungry", he pointed out, and she shrugged.

Her obvious lack of participation in the conversation not deterring him, Akash went on about how the kids in the village had annoyed him through the past 2 days that they were here, and how he hated the fact that there was water shortage…

"Don't you think we should go inside?" she asked him, deliberately softening her tone so that it didn't sound rude.

Interrupted, Akash gaped at her for a while.

Then, "Uh…yeah sure why not", he said, and got up.

Nikki followed him, having finished the guava. As he made to go outside the tent, his foot hit the wire that connected the light.

The plug loosened, and the light went off. It was suddenly pitch dark.

Nikki's heartbeat sped up as the darkness overtook her senses. Her innate fear of it made her head reel as she heard different insects making noises outside.

It scared her out of her wits. Jumping to the first silhouette her eyes could make out in the dark, Nikki clung to him.

Stumbling back slightly when she grabbed his shirt and hid her face in his chest, he steadied himself in time before he fell backwards. Confused at her reaction, Akash tried to move, but she held on to him as if her life depended on it.

Unsure of what to do, he acted upon instinct, encircling her trembling form and trying to calm the obviously frightened girl.

An owl hooted from somewhere, and she held on even tighter, quivering ever so slightly.

Embarrassed as he was, he couldn't deny he liked to hold her…he tightened his grip around her, enjoying the feel of holding her. It confirmed that he wasn't dreaming.

He had fallen head over heels in love with this sweet girl, and he couldn't believe that she was actually hugging him.

His breathing slowed, and he held her, softening his grip in fear of crushing her. After a long while, he realised what he was doing.

He let his arms loosen, and his face quickly began to heat up.

"Umm…Nikki?" he called out, his voice husky with embarrassment. He was glad it was dark. She couldn't see his bright red blush.

Not replying, she slowly raised her head. Their eyes had adjusted to the dark by now, and she observed him with big frightened eyes.

As if suffering an electric shock, she suddenly jumped away from him. And in a moment she was standing two feet away from him, her eyes wide with shock and thorough embarrassment.

Not uttering a word, she stumbled past him in the dark, heading towards the girls' room, which was brightly lit.

He called out to her, but she didn't respond. She didn't even look back at him once.

***

"Well, I think that's enough for today", Abhi said, and leant back on his chair, heaving a sigh.

Shehnaz massaged her shoulder, glaring at the laptop. It was 9 pm and they had managed to make some headway in the presentation.

"Aaargh", she groaned. "I'm gonna need a shoulder transplant…ouch!"

Abhi laughed at her. "Take a painkiller", he advised.

"Thank you Dr. Modi, as if I didn't know that", she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Oh no, you have the answer to every problem, Dr. Naz!"

"Did you call Nikki?" she asked after a while.

"Huh? No…I thought she must be busy…" his voice trailed away at the firm glare from Shehnaz.

"You mean you didn't call her because you're too scared", she said, raising a thin eyebrow at him.

He fidgeted uncomfortably. "Erm…"

"I'll take that as a yes, then", she said with disapproval. "Call her now…she must be missing you!"

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

"Okay", he fished for his phone in his pocket. Taking it out, he noticed with a grim face that it had been switched off due to lack of battery power.

After explaining that to Shehnaz, he asked for her phone, but she refused to give it to him, telling him to call her from his land phone.

"But…" he tried to reason.

"She knows we were a couple in college Abhi", she explained. "It won't be nice if you call from my phone. She won't like it."

Rolling his eyes upwards in thinking, which Shehnaz thought was absolutely adorable, he bit his cheek and nodded.

"Yeah…I guess you're right", he admitted.

"I know I'm right", she grinned.

"Okay, then I'll call her from home", he said, his eyes twinkling with happiness.

She smiled at his excitement, glad that she was on good terms with Abhi again. As good as it felt to be his girlfriend; she had to admit that it was almost as good being his friend.

"You want me to drop you home?" he asked her cheerfully.

"Uh, no thanks. I need to talk to Dr. Keerti", she smiled.

"Okay, see you tomorrow then", he said, and walked over to her side of the desk. "And thanks."

"For what?" she asked.

"For telling me to call her…actually I was called in for a surgery early in the morning, and I had lots of meetings after that, so I kind of forgot", he said sheepishly, smiling embarrassedly.

"Just call her", she widened her eyes at him meaningfully and left.

He parked in his driveway and walked over to the main door, humming as he went. Unlocking the door and turning on the lights, he almost flew over to where the land phone lay.

Picking up the phone happily, he dialled her number and waited for it to ring. The phone rang and rang, but she never picked it up.

***

Nikki banged the door closed behind her and rushed to her bed.

She lay down on the bed, curling like a cat, and took Riddhima's pillow to hug to herself. Just her eyes were visible over the pillow, and the rest of her face was hidden behind it.

She breathed heavily, trying to steady her drumming heart. She had not meant to hug him, no. It was all a mistake.

She was just scared…she had a phobia of the dark.

Hugging Abhi was one thing…but hugging Akash like this, even if it was entirely on instinct…it was dangerous.

She was sure he had a soft spot for her, and she mostly used it to her advantage. But this was far too much.

The way he had been holding her, tightly against his chest, wanting to protect her, it made her feel queasy. She hated it.

She gasped slightly when the lights went off in the room, closing her eyes tightly to avoid being engulfed by it again. Somewhere she heard someone complaining about a power cut.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes. She couldn't see anything. Her steady heartbeat paced up again.

Akash…why did he have to hold her like that? It almost felt…safe. She hated feeling like that in his embrace. She had just been frightened by the blackness that enveloped her. But then…

Only Abhi had the right to hold her like that…oh where was he now? She needed him to hold her and tell her that it was alright…that she had been afraid and it was just natural for her to cling to any random person.

But Akash wasn't a random person. He happened to like her and Abhi hated him. What if he got any wrong notion from this act of hers?

She hadn't even said anything, just stormed past him, tears in her eyes. Tears of guilt for what she had done…for making Akash feel something, and perhaps even making him believe it was true.

But it was not. She didn't even know why she was making such a big issue over it…no, it was important. It was important to make it known to Akash that she wasn't interested in him.

Because, unlike Abhi, he was not shy about his feelings, he was not confused…he knew what he felt and what he thought most of the time.

Hot tears rolled spilled from her eyes, and she buried her face in the pillow, wetting it with her tears. Why was she crying? She didn't know.

All the confusion had culminated to this. And she still didn't know exactly what she felt for Abhi. She sniffled slightly.

She didn't see him tiptoe his way inside the room. She didn't even hear his footsteps over the thoughts in her head.

Akash walked into the room with a small lantern, and sat on her bed after setting it on the table nearby.

The depressing of the mattress told her that someone was here. It must be Riddhima.

She removed the pillow covering her face and looked up. It was Akash. Her teary eyes widened.

"What're you doing here?" she questioned rudely.

"I came with the lantern…there's a power cut", he explained, the tears in her eyes paining him. "You're…" he hesitated. "You're scared of the dark", he finished softly.

"It's none of your business", she replied angrily, the hurt look in his eyes infuriating her even more.

Before she could say anything else, Riddhima entered with a candle. Looking at Akash sitting on her bed and her swollen red eyes, Riddhima shot a suspicious glance at him.

"Dr. Mathur", she called her senior, who turned to look at her. "It's pretty late. I think you should go and sleep now", she said firmly.

He nodded morosely, and walked outside not before stopping at the doorway to murmur a soft "Goodnight Nikki", to which Nikki sent no reply.

Riddhima sat on the bed, and rested a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"What happened Nikki? Did he say something?" she asked.

She simply shook her head. After some coaxing from Riddhima, she narrated the whole incident to her.

Riddhima listened quietly.

"I think you should call Dr. Modi tomorrow", she said. "Because you're just too disturbed now, and if he hears you in this state, he'll be too worried for you. Call him tomorrow, and don't think about this too much."

Nodding, Nikki gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Riddhima."

"It's nothing, Nikki. Now go to sleep now."

Unknown to both, Nikki's phone rang incessantly in the tent where she had left it, unheard by anyone.

***

Highly miffed, Abhi tried calling her again. But there was no response. He kept on calling for a good ten times, but his every call was met with the same fate. Getting irritated furthermore, his good mood ruined completely, he slammed the phone down and went to the washroom for a shower.