|AN Writing Challenge~Closed*UPDATE pg 150* - Page 10

PART 2

I am resigning……that line kept playing like a stuck record in his mind.

She was running away again. After telling him how much she missed him when she was under the influence of drugs…….. this girl had gotten up and done an about face.

Leaving…..not only Sanjeevani…..she was leaving INDIA…….her home, her friends….everything. Maybe it really didn't matter to her.

For the first time ever in his life Dr. Abhimanyu Modi was having a tough time understanding someone's decision or for that matter the person herself.

Fickle minded girl……she should get up and fight but no….she decides to leave. Head thrown back and massaging his head was how Riddhimma found Dr. Modi.

Shashank Gupta had called a meeting of all the interns and told them that Nikita Malhotra had decided to move. Everyone's mouth had fallen open in shock. Muski had been the first to recover and in her frank style had demanded to be told where she was moving as they were not only colleagues but also friends.

"That Dr. Chadha is Dr. Nikita's decision…..she asked me to keep quiet about it and I will" he said a little firmly and no one dared question him back.

"Dr. Modi" Riddhimma's voice forced him to open his eyes and look at her.

"What are you doing here Dr. Gupta?" he asked curtly, in no mood to talk to anyone, least of all the people who reminded him of her.

"Nikita" he saw pain cloud her eyes at the mention of the name that made the same pain pierce his heart.

"What about Dr. Nikita?" Abhimanyu got up from his chair and asked the question, pretending that she didn't matter to him.

"She is leaving…..you are the only one who can stop her" Ridhimma took a step closer to him. She couldn't understand why he was being so stubborn about the fact that he loved her. At her statement she saw his eyes turn glacial and a look of pure hatred cross his handsome face….but it passed in an instant and the same cold mask of indifference settle on his face.

"You are asking the wrong person Dr. Gupta……you and Armaan would be more successful in stopping her…..also …for the record…..it doesn't matter which intern leaves and which intern stays….all I care is that Sanjeevani does well" he told her and turned away, closing his eyes after speaking the biggest lie of his life.

"But Dr. Modi…..you and her" a confused and shocked Riddhima touched his shoulder gently and felt him stiffen under her hand, which she removed instantly.

"She and I what Dr. Gupta?" Abhimanyu turned around, his eyes glittering with anger and Riddhima looked at him surprised.

"L…Love…each other" she finally put into words the emotions these two extremely stupid and hopelessly in love people were refusing to own up to.

Ridhimma's words exploded the dam of patience abhimanyu was trying to hold on to.

"Love" he bit out the word and it sounded tasteless in his mouth. "Her? The woman who hates me from the bottom of her heart……all she thinks is about running away? You need to mind your own business and she needs to leave….the face of this earth" he told Ridhimma venomously and Ridzi took a step back in shock, covering her mouth with her hand.

She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Tears welled up in her eyes for her sweet friend and the man who was fighting his feelings for her. She turned around with another word and left without another word.

Nikita had decided to talk to Abhimanyu one last time after Ridzi had drilled into her mind that before leaving she should at least speak to him. She had limped against the better instructions of the head nurse, determined to sort out the matter once and for all and had just opened his office door to hear him shouting about her to Ridhimma and stopped in her tracks. Ridhimma's gaze met Nikki's shocked one but she saw it shift to the man standing behind her.

Ridhimma kept walking, deciding to leave them to sort it out. How it would be sorted she had no idea.

"Nikki….talk to him" she whispered as she left, praying that these two souls saw what everyone else could see…..they needed each other.

Abhimanyu looked up to see Nikki standing with her mouth open, one hand on the crutch and the other on the handle of the door.

"What?" he asked her looking at her like he wished she would disappear.

"Did….did you mean what you said?" she asked, her voice cracking up but she kept her composure.

"Yes" he replied……trying to hurt her as much as she was hurting him.

"Fine" she said and turned away missing the fact that his eyes had welled up with tears…..those tears which he swallowed and blindly turned looking for the keys to his car and without telling anyone left for the day.

Nikki packed her bags while the rest of the gang tried to make her understand reason which she wasn't listening to. His voice was ringing in her ears and she was getting angrier by the minute.

"Nikki….this is crazy……you will have to restart everything there" Armaan told her.

"No……I have given the step 1 and 2 of the USMLE and all I need is the last one" she replied matter of factly.

"But Nikki…..why…..look it's just a plain stupid idea" Anjie joined in.

"Maybe to you all….but it's high time I connected with my family and this is a necessary step for me" she replied back and Anjie shook her head.

"With a dad who doesn't care?" Armaan asked still shocked that she was going to Chicago.

"I care….that is enough" she limped painfully and kept on packing.

"But yaar Nikki……tub hi na….why so far away?" Muski asked her sadly.

"It's not far Muskaan…….and I will come and visit" she hugged her sweet friend.

"Yeah right" they all chorused and she smiled sadly.

"Ok guys….lets go to the airport" she turned away blinking her tears and stood in front of them with her luggage.

Nikita had simply requested a discharge the same day and decided to leave sooner than planned and immediately booked extremely expensive tickets and had started to pack. In two days she had gotten everything done and was now ready to leave. For these past two days she hadn't heard anything about Abhi from anyone.

They all drove to the airport and said their final goodbyes to her but her eyes kept going to the entrance, hoping that maybe….maybe that familiar face would make an appearance. Finally her flight is announced and she hugs all her friends, sweeps her yes at the entrance once again and leaves……leaving her heart behind with the stubborn man who loved her like mad but refused to acknowledge that.

"Come and find me Abhi…..my Prince Charming" she whispers as the flight takes off to new shores leaving everything familiar behind.

@Honey- (part 2) aww really emotionl part dear!😭

YOU'RE STILL THE ONE

Innocent? Was Nikki innocent? He had make a mistake of thinking that she was innocent once, and look what it had landed him into. Suddenly he was jolted to reality and thrown back to the earth !!! His kiss flashed in front of him, reminding him of her betrayal, how he had kissed her to punish her and then pushed her away, hurling all the insults at her. His heart just squeezed at these thoughts. He hated himself for what he had become. He hated himself, for letting her have this effect on him, where he lost all the control over his own actions. She could goad him to do things which had made up his mind not to ever do. Where was his will power? How did he become so weak? How can she do this to him? He hated any kind of weakness. According to him anyone with weaknesses was a looser! And he was not one!

The past came up and showed its ugly face once again. He remembered how all his troubles had started when he had fallen for Nikki, how Armaan had interfered and tried to keep her away from him, how he had been insulted by her friends and how she had not said a single word in his defence and how she had let him down. He just could not get it out of his head. And once again all his hatred came to the fore .... blaming her for his weakness .... for all the pain he was going thru .... and thinking about all this, he jerked his head up and pushed her away from him and got up from his chair, towering over her .....

'Abhi ......' Nikki whispered, shocked by his action.

'It is Dr. ... Abhimanyu ... Modi ...', he told her slowly stressing on each word.

'Dr. Nikita, I am disgusted ..... inspite of my telling you time and again .... I am thru with you, you just do not get it, do you? I have no place for you in my life! What will it take for you to understand this? You keep on throwing yourself at me ... trying to prove what? That you are irresistible .... that you can break me down? Well you are in for a surprise ... I am not affected by your charms anymore ... I know you inside out ... and no way are you going to get any closer to me, do you understand?' he continued angrily.

Nikki stood there, rooted to the ground, shocked. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she refused to let them flow. She had turned into a statue ' unable to move or breadth.

'I had called you for work here. But obviously you are not interested in any of that, as I should have very well known. I do not want you on this project any more. You are out of this from this moment on, do understand? Either I will find your replacement or do things on my own, but I do not want you anywhere near me or working with me. Do you understand that, Dr. Nikita? Am I clear? Now just get out of here, and do not show me your face!' Abhi continued his assault.

Each and every word of his pierced Nikki heart and broke her into pieces. She just did not know what to do. Things had got out of hand so fast. One moment she was angry with him, towering over him, then they were kissing passionately, and now suddenly he was mad, raving mad at her! She was trying so hard not to let the tears flow. She had promised herself that she will not cry in front of him.

'Abhi, please listen ...' she tried to speak to him.

'Enough, Dr. Nikita' he said, raising his hand telling her to stop speaking. 'Please leave'.

'I am not leaving this time ... whatever you do ... without making u listen to me ... I am not going from here,' she continued. 'What are you going to do .... throw me out physically?' she challenged him, I took a lot of courage for her, but she continued so that she could get thru to him. She was finding it impossible to speak with breaking down into tears, her heart was choked, and words were barely coming out of her mouth.

'Yes, if I need to do that!', he said walked upto her with an angry look.

Nikki's heart skipped a few beats as he came closer to her, but she kept on looking into his eyes fearlessly. She was not backing down now, no way!

Suddenly, she found herself being lifted physically and hauled her over his shoulder. She was shocked and before she realized he was walking towards the door carrying her out of his cabin ...

Nikki started hitting him with her fists on his back, and kicking her legs as he carried her.

'You brute, leave me, let me go !!!' she screamed, pelting blows on his back, which apparently had no effect on him. He continued out of his office, opening the door with one hand, while holding her the other, effortlessly.

'Chup Dr. Nikita, I warned you! I wanted you to leave me alone. But you would not listen, now shut up and bear the consequences!' he said in a cold voice.

'Abhi, please. What will others think? I am not a kid. Please, Abhi ... you are embarrassing me. Please let me go, I will do whatever you tell me to, promise', she pleaded.

Abhi looked sideways right into her eyes, gave her an angry stare, and slowly let her slide down his length. Her arms went around his neck, to balance herself as she came down. Both of them staring into each other's eyes, unable to look away as tension due to their physical closeness cracked between them.

Abhi was the first one to snap out.

'Now away from here, Dr. Nikita and if you value your life, do not come close to me', Abhi said, turning on his heal and walking away, before Nikki could say or do anything. Nikki was left staring at his retreating back.

Ridhimma found Nikki sitting on the bench in the locker room, looking lost, staring into the space. She called her a couple of times, but Nikki was like on a different planet. There was no response from her. So worried, Riddhima walked close to her, and shook her gently.

'Nikki, what is it? What are you doing here so early in the morning? Kya baat hai?'

'Oh, Riddhzi ....' she said and tears started pouring out of her eyes. She got up and hugged Riddhima tightly. She kept on crying .... shaking uncontrollably. Riddhima kept on trying to sooth her down, patting her head ... back ..... but there was no effect.

'Nikki, it is ok! Everything will be fine! Please mujhe batao kya hua? We will fix it. Please stop crying.' Riddhima continued pacifying her. But Nikki just wouldn't stop crying.

'Aab kuch nahi ho sakta. He will never forgive me. He will never believe in me, whatever I do! My one mistake has ruined my life. I will never be able to get back love into my life. Riddhima, I have lost him forever !!!!'

Saying this she started crying once again. Riddhima decided that it is better not to continue this conversation now. Nikki was too upset to talk about it and also someone might walk in anytime, because soon all the interns will be reporting for their morning duty.

'Accha, Nikki. Aab chup ho jao. I promise everything will be okay. We will work out everything. Tell me did you eat your breakfast?' She asked. Nikki nodded her head and indicating a no.

'Okay, chalo, lets go and grab something to eat first. Then we will have to report for our duties.' Riddhima diverted Nikki attention.

Both started towards the cafeteria. While Nikki sat at the table, Riddhima got both of them something to eat. She kept on steeling glances at Nikki to find out if she was fine. She found Nikki was completely broken. As if her whole world had collapsed. It was as if she had given up all hopes of living. Riddhima was so worried.....

She collected the food and went to the table where Nikki was sitting and putting in front of her told her,

'Chalo, Nikki kha loh! You have the whole day ahead of you. I am sure you have lots of work to do with both the New Sanjeevani project at a critical stage of getting financed and doing your regular duties.'

But as soon as she said that, tears started coming from Nikki's eyes.

'Riddhima, I am not working on the New Sanjeevani Project any more. Abhi says he doesnot want to see my face or work with me any more!' Nikki replied, in between her sobs.

Riddhima was shocked. With a stunned look on her face,' Oh my god, that cannot be true! I thought things were improving between the two of you. What happened?'

Nikki explained everything to Riddhima. By the end of it though Nikki was so upset atleast had managed to stopped crying.

'Nikki, I know what Dr. Modi did today or the other day at his home was completely uncalled for. I think this is no longer just to do with you alone. I am sure there are things in his past which have resurface once again, and they are disturbing him so much. Because I know Dr. Modi, is not a sort of a person to take things so far or to hurt someone he loves so much, so badly.' She said very maturely.

'Nikki, please give him time. Please be patient. Do not resort to your pranks and do not make him angry any more. I am sure given a little space he will work out his feeling, sort out his past from the present, and come back to you. Do not rush him, or, loose hope, ok?'

Nikki took Ridhzi's hand in hers and looked at her with sad soulful eyes, 'Riddhima, promise me things will work out! I do not want to loose him. I donot think I will ever be happy without him. I had never imagined that I will have to pay such a big prize for one mistake of mine.' She said pleadingly.

Riddhima took Nikki's hand and promised her that better days will come when they both will be together. As usual she always felt better after talking to her best friend. She always made her look at the positive side of every situation. She always made her feel that come what may, however bad the situation looked, there was hope, there was hope for things to work out. After talked to Ridhzi, Nikki always felt more sorted out about her own feelings, about Abhi's feelings and about their relationship.

Nikki felt so much better and she said with a sad smile, 'Riddhima, I donot know what I would do without you. I would be lost without you. Thank you so much for being my friend, for understanding me so well, and always helping me..... I love u so much!'

Riddhima smiled at the innocent girl and told her squeezing her hand, 'Nikki, I also love you very much. You are very special to me and Armaan both and all your friends care about you too and we all need your smiling bubbly self back again. So come on now, wipe your tears, and get ready to face the world. You see, you will win over your sadu, Dr. Modi, with your smile once again. He just cannot resist you or keep away from you for long, dekhna!' saying this both got up and walked out of the cafeteria.

At the nurse station, all the interns were waiting for their duties to be assigned by Dr. Modi. But they were surprised when the nurse came and informed them that their duties will have been put up on the notice board and will be so from now on till Dr. Modi says so otherwise. They all rejoiced .... except Nikki and Riddhima. Nikki's eyes clouded and she looked at Riddhzi ...

'Chalo accha hua, we no longer have to see woh macchar in the mornings,' says Muskaan with a big smile.

Armaan exchanged a high five with Atul, saying, ' yay ... freedom at last!'

Atul turned and looked at Anjali and said, ' Chalo Anjali, looks like Dr. Modi had decided to spare all of us, so maybe he has also put us on duty together.'

Anjali gave one of her classic looks to Atul, and turning to Riddhima and Nikki said 'Guys, I think there is something very wrong. He will not let us go so easily. I wonder what is going on in his head, maybe he is making some other plans to punish us.' She said suspiciously.

Riddhima trying to divert them says, 'Chalo di, chodo na, how does it matter to us, as long as we know our duties and we do them properly, he cannot say or do anything! Chalo everyone, let us find out our duties!' as they all started walking towards the notice board.

Nikki was not surprised to find that she was on night duty for the whole of the week. She had not been assigned any duties during the day. No one suspected anything wrong since they thought that she was working on New Sanjeevani Project, some of her daytime will be spent on that while she attended the patients during the night duty. But no one knew the truth, except her and Riddhima. This was Abhi's way of keeping her away from him. So that he did not have to see her!

Once again Nikki was broken. She felt so sad since was going to miss her friends and ..... miss him even more! She will not be able to see any of them for the whole week, because by the time she came for the night duty all them including Abhi would have left for the day. And in the morning when it was time for her to leave no one would have arrived. But as she had promised Riddhzi she will be patient. She will not loose her heart or give up hope. She will keep on smiling thru all this and win him over!

As her friends, went on with their duties, bidding her bye, she proceeded towards the Children's Ward to see Ayesha. She thought she will spend some time with Ayesha before leaving and tell her that she will see her only at night.

When she entered the ward, as usual she was greeted happily by the enthusiastic kids. This brought a big smile on her face. But when she turned towards Ayesha, she was surprised to see that she was looking tired and pale. She was barely able to keep her eyes open. But as soon as she saw Nikki, she gave a feeble smile. Nikki rushed towards her, and patting her head lovingly said,

'Hi, Princesses. How are you, sweetheart?', she asked her hiding her worry. She started reading the daily chart to see her health details. Ayesha had developed a light fever and her haemoglobin levels were down again. These were not good signs at all. She had undergone blood transfusion recently .... so she should have been doing much better now. Nikki was getting more and more worried now. These were not good signs at all. She will have to talk to Ayesha's doctors.

'Nikki di, I am okay! Only a bit tired. But I know you slept with me the whole night. And I also had the best dream instead of the scary dreams everyday. I dreamed that I was fine, going back to school with all my friends and playing with them. Then I celebrated my b'day with everyone, and you know what you got me for my b'day gift? Guess guess .....' she said playfully.

'Chocolates?' Ayesha nodded a no.

'Barbie?' Ayesha nodded a no again, her smile becoming bigger.

'Cycle? Dress?' Ayesha started laughing and said, 'No, no, no!!! It was a puppy. It was a real live puppy. He was the cutest! You are the best, Nikki di!' saying that she hugged her as if Nikki had given her a puppy for her b'day for real.

'Oh Ayesha! You are crazy! It was only a dream! I did not give you one for real', she said smilingly.

'That doesnot matter. I was so happy in the dream. I was laughing and playing and running around with the puppy. I know I will be doing that soon. You said I will be getting better soon and going back to school.' She said enthusiastically.

'Yes sweetheart, u will be fine. Now listen I want you to rest. Did you have your breakfast?' Ayesha noded a no. 'I was not hungry and was feeling like throwing up, so nurse said I can have it a little later', Ayesha replied.

'Fine, so let me feed you now. That will make you feel stronger, okay?', saying that Nikki got up, went to the nurse and asked her to get Ayesha breakfast.

As she was walking back her phone rang. She saw it was Siddhant. She picked it up and said,

' Hi Sid! Good morning! How come you are calling this early in the morning?'

'Hi Nikki! Don't u know there is a meeting at 11 with board members regarding the New Sanjeevani project? Didn't Dr. Modi tell you about it? I had some questions, so thought will get them clarified with you before the meeting. So can you meet up with me half an hour before the meeting and then we can go together for the meeting?' Sid said a bit nervously.

Nikki could make out that he was a bit nervous. This was the first time he was meeting board members. She was sure he wanted to make a good impression on them. He also would want to make sure that he understood the business of running a hospital and also started doing his own independent analysis on New Sanjeevani project.

'Please Nikki, you know I need your help! What are you thinking about? Are you busy? Are you with Dr. Modi?', he continued.

'No Sid! I am not busy! I am not with Dr. Modi, either! Infact, I am not on duty now, but with a friend! I will be free in half an hour and then can join you by 10. Okay?' She replied with a smile.

'You're with a friend? Where?' he asked her curiously with a frown on his face.

'I am in the Children's Ward. I have a special friend here ... with whom I am having breakfast. Do u want to join us?' she said walking towards Ayesha, Sid's curiosity bringing a smile on her face.

'Sure, I have half an hour and would love to meet your special friend, so I'll be there in 5 minutes." He said with a smile.

Ayesha was also making signs to find out who Nikki was talking on the phone. After disconnecting the phone, Nikki told her,

'Ayesha, I want you to meet someone really nice. His name is Sid. He is going to be here for some time. He is working with Dr. Modi, on a project, and I am helping him with that. He is lots of fun. You will love him a lot.' Nikki told Ayesha with a smile.

As Ayesha's breakfast arrived, so did Sid. Nikki introduced Sid to Ayesha, as they both sat down on opposite side of the bed on a stool. Nikki started feeding Ayesha, as Sid started showing some tricks to Ayesha, making her laugh. He painted his thumb and finger tips with different faces, to represent them as cartoons, representing them as characters, he started building up on a funny story, creating a puppet show for her. For one of the lady characters, he took Nikki's duppata, and wrapped a corner of it around his finger, making it look like a saree. Nikki noticed that Sid was very creative and at the same time great with kids. Within no time Ayesha, finished her breakfast, and was looking so much better. Nikki was so happy too, since Sid had made Ayesha laugh and forget her illness.

All the three of them were so engrossed in each other, that they did not notice Abhi. He had come to the Children's Ward thinking he will spend a few minutes with Ayesha, find out how she was doing, tell her about Nikki's night duty, because he knew that Ayesha would be waiting for her. But then he stopped short on see the 3 of them laughing and playing with each other, completely unaware of anything else. Suddenly a jolt of jealously pierced him. He hated seeing Nikki happily cracking jokes with Sid, and Sid looking adoringly at her. He also notice Nikki's duppata in Sid's hand. He didnot like the closeness that was developing between them at all. They were having so much fun and were so happy with each other. He could not understand his feelings. He was angry with Nikki, did not want her anywhere near him, but at the same time when he saw her with anyone else he could not bear it. Once again, this girl confused him. He could not understand himself anymore. He could not control his feelings anymore. He could not control his anger anymore. He just walked away angrily from there, without meeting Ayesha, leaving the 3 of them to enjoy their own company.

As soon as Ayesha was done eating, Nikki told Ayesha that she had to leave, and will see her in the evening. Both Nikki and Sid went to his cabin, to finish off their work. They were done, by quarter to 11 and as they were just winding up, Abhi walked into Sid's cabin, saying,

'Siddhant, shall we go .....', once again he was shocked to find Nikki with Sid together. What was is with them? Couldn't they stay away from each other? He thought angrily.

'Good morning, Dr. Modi. Yes, we are done. Shall we go, Nikki?' Sid said turning to Nikki.

Abhi gave a sarcastic smile to Nikki, and kept on looking at her with cold eyes, waiting for her to reply to Sid's query. Nikki looked at him with hurt eyes, but before she could say any thing, Abhi continued,

'Siddhant, didn't Dr. Nikita tell you what happened in the morning?' Abhi said provocatively, smirking at Nikki.

'Sid, you go ahead. I will not be joining you for the meeting. I am no longer working on this project.' She replied sadly, avoiding Abhi's eyes, looking at Sid.

Sid was shocked. He didn't know what was happening. Before he could question any further, Abhi continued,

'Siddhant, we are getting late. Shall we proceed? Board members will be coming anytime now and I do not like to be late.' Abhi said sternly walking out of the cabin.

Siddhant looked at Nikki's sad face, but unable to do or say anything now, due to lack of time, followed Dr. Modi for the meeting. He decided to talk to Dr. Modi about it after the meeting.

@Annie-(prt 5) Amazing dear👏👏 ur FF iz getting bettr n bettr day by day!😃