Part 8
'What the hell?', exclaiming, Abhi scooped Nikki's small frame into his arms as she fainted in his arms and carried her inside hurriedly. Slowly bending down, he put her gently down on the sofa. Quickly he went in search of some water and within seconds, he was back and sprinkling water on her face.
After a few minutes Nikki regained her consciousness and slowly opened her eyes. Unable to believe what she was seeing, she blinked her eyes and kept on staring at him. Finally she whispered,
'Abhi? Abhi, are u really here? Or may I dreaming again?'
'Nikki !' Abhi exclaimed softly, with worry written all over his face, 'What happened? Are you alright? Why did you faint?'
Unable to believe that he was actually there, and not shouting at her, she said,
'I had a very bad migraine attack. I came back from duty in the morning and just went off to sleep, thinking it will become better after some rest. But looks like it is one of the worst ones I have had! I tried to eat something in the afternoon, but have been throwing up since then. Now it is so bad that I am unable to bear the pain anymore!' She said painfully, shutting her eyes close, as a lone tear slipped thru her pressed eyelids.
She was feeling miserable. The light was bothering her and she had no energy to speak. She just wanted to dig a hole and bury herself, away from everyone, away from all the light and sound.
Abhi just couldn't bear her plight! He felt so helpless not knowing how to take the pain away! He switched off all the lights and slowly sat down on the sofa, took her head on his lap. He slowly started pressing her forehead. He never knew that she suffered from migraine. She had never mentioned it. He was sure that all the stress he had given her and Ayesha's health condition would have triggered it. He felt so terrible .... once again he was the cause of her pain!
He did not realize when he dozed off too. But next time his eyes opened it was completely dark outside. His stomach was growling. He had to eat something. But decided against it, for if he moved, Nikki would get disturbed and wake up. Skipping a meal once, was not going to kill him! The moon had come up, and the room was filled with moonlight. He could see Nikki's face lit with moonlight. She was looking so beautiful! He kept on looking at her delicate features, long eyelashes, luscious lips and beautiful hair. He could not believe how anyone could be so beautiful! He kept on looking at her, unable to take his eyes away. He was lost in his thoughts. He remembered all the beautiful times he had shared with her. He started dreaming about how he had started to fall for her ........ and how she had made her way into his heart.
The whole night he kept on holding her. He kept on dozing on and off, and every time Nikki fretted, he pressed her forehead and soothed her down by stroking her head.
Finally when Nikki woke up, it was early in the morning and the sun was just rising. She opened her eyes with all the effort...and could not believe the sight she saw. She saw Abhi's face. His eyes were closed and she was lying on his lap. She thought she was once again dreaming about him.
'Abhi !' she said softly and lifted her hand to his face, looking at him lovingly.
Suddenly, he jerked and opened his eyes. And Nikki realized that she was not dreaming! She sat up immediately, feeling embarrassed.
'Dr. Modi, when did you come?' she asked looking embarrassed.
'Nikki .... are you better? Is your headache gone? Are u feeling dizzy or nauseous?' he asked anxiously.
Nikki kept on looking at him. Unable to believe what she was hearing. Instead of shouting at her, he was being nice to her, concerned for her health.
'I am fine, Dr. Modi'. She said avoiding his penetrating eyes.
He got up from the sofa and walked away from her, trying to put some distance between them. But didnot take his eyes off her.
'You must be hungry. You have not eaten anything since yesterday morning. You just go and freshen up and I will get you something to eat.' He said, still continuing looking deep into her eyes.
She gaped at him in surprise, not knowing how to react. She was wondering what was wrong with him. Why was he being so nice to her?
'No ... no... Dr. Modi. I will be fine. I have troubled you so much already! I will make something for myself once you leave. You need not bother. I am sure you have lots of things to do.' She said, trying to make him go. His presence was making her uncomfortable and scared, not knowing when he will burst with anger.
'Nikki, I had come here yesterday evening, to discuss with you something. And I am not leaving without doing that. So please go and freshen up while I make breakfast for us. If you don't mind, I am also hungry. I missed my dinner too!' He told her firmly, hiding the fact that the real reason for his coming was his concern and started walking towards the kitchen avoiding further discussion.
Nikki was staring at him with her mouth open and eyes wide. She could not imagine him in her kitchen making breakfast for her. At times he could be sweet too! But then she hit the back of her head, telling herself to zap out of her dreams! He was also being atrociously impossible! He was unbelievably bossy ordering her around, in her own house. But she was scared to argue with him now. And any way he was right, she was feeling weak and needed to eat something. So let him prepare something if he wanted to, why should she stop him?
After a short while, when she walked into the kitchen she could smell fresh coffee and omelettes. Her stomach started to growl! But Abhi's heart stopped beating for a few seconds as he soon as he saw her stroll into the kitchen. She looked like an angel. Her clean face, bare of any make up, looked so beautiful. Her eyes looked even larger than normal, since she had swept her hair back in a neat pony tail. She looked more like a 15 yr old in her pink pajamas rather than a 24 yr. He snapped himself out of his thoughts and indicated her to take a seat at the small table in the kitchen. He had laid 2 plates there. He served omelettes and coffee for both of them and said,
'Excuse me, I will freshen up and comeback. You sit down and have your breakfast.'
When he came back after a few minutes, he found Nikki had not touched anything and was sitting at the table deep in her thoughts.
'Eat Nikki!!! You need to get some energy.' He said sitting down opposite her.
Nikki tentatively took a bite of her omelette, avoiding his sharp eyes. All the time she was so conscious since he was observing her very closely. Surprisingly she loved the omelettes and did not feel the nausea coming up. She had not realized how famished she was and finished everything on her plate within a few minutes.
'That was fabulous!' she said finishing off every single bit on her plate. 'I did not know you could cook so well, Dr. Modi', she said with a weak smile. 'Thank you so much for everything, I had not realized how hungry I was' she said as she sipped her coffee. She kept on stealing glances at him, as he eat his food slowly and drank his coffee. She saw that he was in no hurry to eat or leave.
When they were both done, she asked gingerly,
'Dr. Modi, why did you come to see me yesterday?'
'Nikki, I wanted to discuss with you about Siddhant! When I checked at the reception yesterday evening and they informed me that u were unwell and would not be coming to the hospital', he said without revealing how worried he was when he came to know that she was unwell. But before he could continue, she jumped say,
'Oh, so you were worried that I was making an excuse to miss work once again? So you came yourself to check on me to make sure I was not goofing around, is it?' she said sarcastically, knowing completely well that he did not trust her one bit and that is what he would have thought.
Abhi got a bit agitated. He knew she was right. Under normal circumstances, that is what he would have thought. But yesterday that was not the case. Though it was no use to explain to her, since whatever he would say, she would not be convinced.
' Nikki !!!' he exclaimed, but checked his anger. He did not want to get angry at her, even though she was goading him into it. 'Can we discuss this without getting into an argument? Now tell me, since when have you been having these migraine episodes? Have they been frequent? Have you seen any doctor? Have you told anyone about them?' Nikki was surprised when he bombarded her with so many questions. Reluctantly she replied,
'They started when I was 15. Initially they were mild, and I used to sleep thru them. But lately they have become very severe. I need to go and see a doctor and get some medication, because now they have become unbearable and am not able to manage without medicines'.
'Nikki, do you know what causes migraines?'
She nodded, 'Yes, Dr. Modi. I am a doctor too, though according to you I may not be a good one!' she added in a hurt tone taunting him again, 'I am aware that one of main reasons for triggering of migraines is stress. And you know very well, I cannot avoid it. Some people self invite trouble, and I know I have been doing that too often lately. But now I am trying my best to avoid that stress, so things should improve.' She continued, knowing completely well that he understood whom she meant by stress.
Abhi could not help it, as a small smile escaped his lips and there was a twinkle in his eyes. How he loved this girl's spirit and spunk? Inspite of being so unwell, inspite of him being so angry at her, she still had the guts to call him 'stress'!!!
'Good! I am glad to hear that! Remember that in future and keep away from this 'stress', do you understand?' he said, looking straight into her eyes. Both of them staring at each other without flinching, challenging each other, neither ready to step back.
'And keep away from Siddhant too!', he added threateningly.
'Why? Why should I? Who are you to tell me that? What I do with Sid has nothing to do with you or my duty! Just because you threw me out of the project, does not mean that I cannot talk to him at a personal level?' she threw back at him angrily.
'Nikki, I am trying to explain this to you calmly. But you are not making this easy for me!' he said irritately. ' Siddhant is taking this whole thing too personally! He is getting too involved personally. He is unable to separate his personal and professional life!'
'So who is able to do it? Are you able to do it? Aren't we all letting our personal and professional life interfere with each other?' she retorted defying him.
'Nikki! Will stop arguing and see some sense in what I am telling you? I am trying to tell you what is good for you!' he said trying to control his anger.
'And what about the project, Abhi? What about the financing? Are you ready to loose all the hard work we have put into it? Abhi, you know very well that we need Siddhant on our side. You also know that what he is saying is true. He needs me to help him so that we can get this report out to his father as soon as possible. Why can't you see that? Why can't you for once leave our personal differences out, be professional and let me work with him?'
Hearing her accusation, Abhi lost his temper. He walked around the table, held her by her arms, lifted her out of the chair and shook her,
'Nikki, do you think I donot care about the project? Do you think I donot realize how important it is for us to get the finance as soon as possible? But do you realize what it does to me when you are so close ......' he stopped, and kept on starring at her, and then suddenly released her. He was going to say that he could not bear the thought that she was close to anyone!
But she misunderstood! She thought he was going to say that he could not bear to be close to her. Her heart was broken by this thought .... everytime he pushed her away from him, it hurt so much ... but she was way beyond caring ... right now all she cared about was the project. She wanted to make sure that he agreed to what Sid wanted. Because she knew fully well, how important this project was to him and what will happen to him if they lost this project. It would break him completely ... and she cannot take that. She had already hurt him so deeply once, and if this happened now, that too because of her again, she will never be able to forgive herself ever!
'Abhi, please try to understand,' she pleaded. 'You want me to keep away from you. I promise, I will! I will not bother you, or come anywhere close to you! It is just a question of couple of weeks! Can't you put up with me for a short time, just for the project? Can't you do that much for me, for old times sake, please?' she asked earnestly, her eyes glistening with trace of tears.
Abhi kept on looking at her, unbelievably! He had been so harsh to her these last few days. He had taken out all the anger and frustrations on her, but here she was fighting with him for his cause, for his project !
'Fine ... Nikki!' he could never deny her anything when she asked him in this way, 'But ...' before he could continue Nikki face broke into a smile thru the tear and she said, 'Thank you, thank you so much, Abhi! I promise I will keep away from you and not bother you'.
Abhi gave her a weak smile and said, 'Will you atleast listen to me?'
'No, Dr. Modi. Just give me a minute, let me tell the good news to Sid. He will be so happy', she continued excitedly.
'Nahi, Nikki, listen, I have to leave now! You talk to him later, ok? Is there anything else?' he asked, a bit sadly, not wanting to be there when she talked to Siddhant.
'Oh yes, about Ayesha', she suddenly remembered and her eyes were clouded with sadness once again. 'Did u see her? She had been asking for you. She missed you so much.'
Abhi nodded his head. 'I spent sometime with her yesterday', he knew what was coming next.
Nikki could not control her tears anymore and started to cry,' Abhi, what will we do? I cannot bear it if anything happens ...' she could not continue anymore.
Abhi took quick steps towards her, and standing close to her, cupped her face in both his hands. He lifted her face and said, 'Nikki, look at me', and when Nikki lifted her eyes to look at him, he slowly wiped her tears with his thumb. 'Oye, Jhansi ki Rani, Nikki pehlwan! Tum itni jaldi haar maan gaayi. Kya baat hai? I thought you were a fighter. I have never known you to give up. What happened, are you scared?' he tried to encourage her and not let her loose hope.
She kept on looking at him, deep into his eyes, deriving her strength from him. She saw that there was confidence in him. Seeing this she felt that there was hope and Abhi will not let anything happen to her Ayesha.
'Abhi, promise me you will do everything you can! You will not let anything happen to Ayesha!' she said holding both his wrists tightly.
'Nikki, I promise to do my very best, okay? Now be strong.' Saying that he moved his hands away from her face. Nikki was embraced by their closeness. Stepping back she said,
'Friday is Ayesha's b'day. We are planning a surprise party of her. You will come na?'
He was surprised by her sudden change of topic, but replied, 'Sure! What time will it be?'
'It should be at 6 in the evening. If there is any change I will let you know.'
'Okay, I have to go now! You ........ take care of yourself! ' he replied.
Both kept looking at each other, neither ready to move. They were communicating with their eyes. Completely in sync with each other. Both not wanting to part from the other, but not saying anything......
'Bye' Nikki said softly unable to look away from him.
Abhi slowly turned and walked towards the door to leave. He kept on turning back and looking at Nikki a couple of times before finally leaving as Nikki stood just rooted to the place she was standing unable to understand what was going on between them.
Abhi, after leaving Nikki's home went to his car. He unlocked the car and got into it. But sat there, without starting it for quite sometime. He was lost in his thoughts ... he didnot know what was happening to him. He was feeling so low suddenly .... he just didnot feel like leaving her alone. He kept on seeing her sad eyes .... he wanted to take her in his arms and just hold her, till all her grief vanished ....
Uff .... his heart was confusing him once again. He didnot understand his own thoughts and actions. He had to hold himself away from her ... give both of them space ... take time to sort out his feelings for her. He had to be sure that he could trust her. He cannot take of risk of getting hurt once again.
But at this rate .... it was going to be so difficult for him to control himself, keep himself away from her. Suddenly, he remembered her promise .... she had promised him that she will keep away from him .... he was glad, atleast she will keep away ... then suddenly he felt sad .... that there will have to be a distance between them .....
'Uff, Abhimanyu Modi, you are going mad! You are so confused! You donot know what you want! One minute you are glad that she will keep away from you, the next minute you are sad for the very same reason! You are crazy, why don't you make up your mind about what you want!' he reprimanded himself ... hitting his hand on the stearing wheel getting angry at himself.
Coming back to the present, and realizing that he had been sitting there outside Nikki's home in the car like a fool for so long, he started the car and headed home, still undecided on what he wanted.
Nikki decided to take things slowly for the day even though she was feeling much better now. She was in a daze and couldnot help dreaming about Abhi. He was such a complicated man. He surprised her all the time by sudden changes in his attitude. She could not understand him at all. But she could not believe how caring he had been towards her today. He just never stopped surprising her, confusing her and overwhelming her. He did the things she least expected. But a glimpse of hope sprang into her ...... and happiness filled her as a big smile erupted on her face.
Later in the day she called Sid.
'Nikki, where have you been? I have been so worried. I tried to call you so many times. But your phone was switched off. If you had not called, I was planning to come over to your place to make sure that u were ok', he sounded so worried.
'Sid, Sid, Sid ! Wait, hold on ...' she said, ' I am fine. I was resting. You already know I had migraine and I needed to take rest.'
'Anyway, listen. I have some good news for you,' she continued with a smile,' Guess what? Dr Modi agreed .... he said I can continue on the project'.
'Accha !' Sid said a bit sarcastically. ' why doesn't that surprise me? I think he had no choice, but to agree to us. He was wrong in removing you in the first place. Anyway, when did you get time to speak to him? Are you in hospital already?' he asked her suspiciously.
'Sid, woh sab chodo! I am just glad now we can work on that report and send it out by this weekend! I will see you in the evening before my duty, ok?'
'Ok! Nikki, why don't you come by 5? Then we can get the work done, have dinner before your duty starts', he said surprising Nikki.
'Dinner?' Nikki retorted.
'Hain kyun, you will need to eat something before your duty, right? So why not have dinner with me? We will grab something fast, anything you like, and will bring you back before your duty starts.'
'Nahi .... Sid', she tried to get out of it.
'Nikki, I am not going to listen to you .... u have been going out of your way, to help me, the least I can do is get you a dinner ... so quit arguing! Ok, bye ..... got to go, will catch you later!' saying that he disconnected before she could argue any more with him to get out of the dinner.
Sid thought he needed to make sure that she ate well and rested well. He knew for sure she was not doing that lately and that is why she was suffering from migraine. She was such a sweatheart, helping everyone, taking care of everyone all the time, without worrying about herself .... she needed someone to take care of her once in a while ... and he made up his mind and decided that till he was here he was going to do that!
*********
Edited by ANfan_1810 - 15 years ago
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