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Chapter 4
5.00 pm, Hospital Canteen:
"Armaan." I inhaled, knowing that it was not going to end pretty.
"Hello, Dr. Rahul." He then looked over at Rahul, who by then had stood protectively beside me. When he realized that Rahul was not going to reply, he looked at me to carry forward this not-so-pleasant conversation.
"So, how is everything going?" He said, crunching his apple and taking me by complete surprise. What was this guy upto?
"What do you want?" Enough to playing games, I decided.
"Nothing." He pretended to not understand. Rahul sensed every inch of my skin tensing up and wrapped his arms around me, trying to calm me down.
"Mr. Malik, it will be better if you leave. Now." He told Armaan seriously.
"Yeah why not? Get Armaan Malik arrested and then rejoice over it. Seems like a nice plan though." He looked at me while he said this, I simply looked away.
For a moment, everything was silent. The air felt thick with all the tension, when Armaan decided to break it.
He laughed mirthlessly, surprising me again.
"Just kidding, guys! Relax." Said Armaan, laughing again.
"Okay, so I will leave you two love birds alone, I guess." I smirked at me and Rahul, who didn't leave me until Armaan was out of sight.
"Riddhima, are you alright?" Rahul asked me, concerned, after making me sit down and handing me a glass over water.
"He's a powerful man, Rahul. I'm scared." I sipped the glass of water, trying to calm my nerves down.
"Don't be. 'Cause I'm always there with you, not matter what." He told me, with his heart-warming smile.
"And ME too!" Atul came up from behind and wrapped his arms around me.
"ME three!" Muskaan came with the sandwiches and declared.
"Aw, you guys. Thank you." I smiled at them, grateful. So what If I didn't have a family to support me? I knew where my real family was. It was here.
2 days later.
Of course it was impossible for me to treat a patient, who was going to get arrested because to me. So I thought of keeping my distance, and my friends helped me with that. Rahul, nearly everyday for the past five days, exchanged his duties with me. But when he was unavailable, either Atul or Muskaan helped me in avoiding Armaan Malik. Dr. Kirti, our senior doctor who I was reporting to, didn't seem to mind it at all as she was well aware of the case.
The police couldn' t arrest Armaan Malik because of two reasons: Firstly, 'cause he hadn't recovered fully yet. Secondly, they couldn't take him into custody without taking Mr & Mrs Kumar's statement. So like it or not, I nearly walked into him everyday. But surprisingly, he kept it cool and so it became very... civilized.
10.00 am:
'Mhm Dadi.. paranthas? Wow!' I clapped my hands gleefully, as Dadi handed me a plate of hot and delicious look gobi ke paranthas.
'Yellow!' Finally, when I felt ecstatic, the happiness was going to be taken away from me. It was Rahul on the other line.
'RIDDHIMA' he said, which was followed by silent.
'Whats wrong?' I frowned. Somewhere, my mind told me that it was going to be some drama related to Armaan Malik.
'Mr Kumar has regained consciousness.'
'WOW.' I told him, dropping my paranthas and walking to the balcony, where Dadi couldn't hear our conversation.
'So, did police take their statement?'
'Yes.' I gulped.
'I think you should come down to the hospital. NOW.'
'Ok.' Saying so, I disconnected the call and ran to the washroom.
10.30 am, Room No. 712 (Mrs. Kumar's room):
I walked to Mrs. Kumar's room to find her sleeping. Obviously, no one had bothered to tell her that Mr. Kumar was finally better. After that day, when I had promised her that I will take her to her husband, Mrs. Kumar never even once demanded to be taken to her husband. It was as if she was sure that her husband was fine. It was as if she knew they were going to be fine.
'Um, Mrs. Kumar?' I walked over to her bed, to wake her up.
'Hm?' She opened her eyes, weakly and looked at me, smiling.
'How're you feeling now?'
'I'm fine, beta.' She smiled.
'Mrs. Kumar, do you want to meet your husband, now?' I asked her, looking into her eyes. Her dimly glittering eyeballs were suddenly in fire. She looked at me, hopeful, 'really?', she asked.
I nodded, happy that finally I was able to keep my promise.
10.35 am:
'Alok?' Mr. Kumar looked up at the faint call of his wife.
'Sheela?' His eyes were now misty, his voice choking slightly.
I slowly took her to the bed, where her husband sat. As soon as she was in proximity, he took her in his arms, as she cried bitterly.
'Alok.' She repeated, crying heavily, as he stroked her head gently. It was such a beautiful scene to witness, if you ask me: true lovers, finally united.
'Um, guys? I think we should give them a moment.' My fellow doctors nodded in agreement and left the room with me.
10.45 am:
I could seem them through the class, so beautiful. She hadn't stopped crying since the last 10 minutes, and he hadn't let go of her either. He softly planted a kiss on her forehead and smiled at her and told her something. Then he pressed his thumb on her cheeks and rubbed the tears away. This time she stopped crying, That suddenly made me realize what a beautiful thing love was. Those people were lucky, who found their true soul mates. I wondered if I will ever get one, when I saw Armaan's reflection through the glass. I tensed again.
The officer was standing right behind him. Obviously, it was time for Mr. & Mrs Kumars statement.
'Um, Mr Kumar?' Mr Kumar looked up, still not letting go of his wife.
'The police is here, to take your official statement. Are you ready?'
'Uh, yes. We're ready.' He gently squeezed Mrs Kumar's hand, while she nodded at him.
12.00 pm:
The officer required to take the Kumar's statement alone, hence, we're supposed to leave the room immediately. And since this is a hospital and we're doctors, we all were supposed to go back to your duties immediately.
'How are you feeling, Mr. Sen?' I asked my patient, checking his chart, which said that he was doing much better now.
'Not good.' He replied, '..I'm no more allowed to have sweets.' He told me sadly. I smiled at him.
'Mr. Sen, when you have diabetes, even a small bite of a sweet can kill.' I told him, with a smile on my face.
'Yes, I understand.' He didn't seem very happy about it.
'I'm sorry, Mr. Sen.' I really was.
'I have to go now. I will come back later.' I told him and left, when my cell rang.
'Yeah?'
'Riddhima.' Rahul spoke and he did not seem very happy about it.
'Whats wrong?' I asked him, tensing slightly.
'Come to Mr Kumar's room immediately.'
12.10 pm:
As it turns out, Armaan Malik was not fault in this case. As per Mr Kumar's statement, some rider in black jacket, jeans and helmet crossed them so quickly, that they did not have the time to act, leading them to go astray. That is when their bike crashed to Armaan Malik's car, who was kind enough to call the hospital. Sure, he was drunk while driving, but that was the minimal amount. Turns out I had an error of judgement. But charges of drinking and driving were still applicable and Armaan Malik was still required to pay the fine for the same.
'Dr. Gupta, now that I've told you everything, can you please sign here?' The officer pointed on the rightmost side of the documents, with Armaan Maliks lawyer sitting beside him.
'And here.' He flipped over the page, and I followed his instructions.
'Thank you, Dr. Gupta.'
'Sir, Mr. Malik is free to go now. I apologize for any problems caused.' The officer apologized for the inconvenience caused and left. I, too, needed to apologize, I realized.
'Sir, where can I meet Mr. Malik?' I asked the lawyer. Without any word, the lawyer hinted outside and I simply walked out of the room, looking around.
In my mind, I was processing so as to what I would say to apologize to him.
'Seems that I had mistaken, I'm sorry Mr. Malik.' I rehearsed.
'I'm extremely sorry, Mr. Malik.' I kept rehearsing, walking in the empty corridor, looking around for Armaan Malik.
Immediately, I had been pulled into a dark room, and I didn't realize it until I had been thrown against the wall, with a pair of masculine arms locking me in them. Everything suddenly felt quiet and calm.
'Riddhima.' I realized that I recognized this fragrance and his breathing, when he softly called out my name.
'ARMAAN?' I opened my eyes and it made no difference, since it was pitch dark in the room.
'Think before you file a case against someone next time. 'Cause not everyone is kind enough. Not everyone is Armaan Malik.' He told me silently, with a strange amount of intensity in his voice. I shuddered.
'I-I am.. I am sorry.' And almost immediately, I could see some amount of light streaming in, with which I saw him walking out of the room.
2.00 pm:
'Mr. Malik, I apologize for the inconvenience caused.' Dr. Shashank Gupta, himself apologized Armaan, making my guilt quotient reach its height.
'It's alright, Dr. Gupta.' He smiled at Dr. Shashank.
'Since you're free of charges, you're to go.' He told Armaan, who nodded.
'Armaan seems like a nice guy yaar.' Atul whispered, standing beside me.
'I know, right? He could have done anything to take revenge.. absolutely anything. But he didn't do anything. It is strange.' Atul and I agreed to Rahul's statement.
'He's so sweet.' Muskaan was totally drooling over him right now.
'I hope I never meet him again.' I told myself silently, and that moment, Armaan turned around to look at me. Our eyes locked momentarily and I knew at the very moment, that my wish was never coming true, I just hadn't accepted it yet.
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