Chapter 5

Neha

@SurrealFantasy

Hey guys!

It's been a long time since my last update so I'm sorry for the delay.

Unfortunate turn of events in Ukraine/Russia have really disturbed me though - I'm sorry for anyone who has been affected by the ordeal. My heart goes out to them.

This update is shorter than my regular updates, but I hope you like it.

P.S. Not proofread.

C H A P T E R  5

Abhimanyu hummed a melody as he walked back to his cabin having finished his scheduled surgery of the day. It had been a complicated CABG and the patient had been an old patient of his, but the surgery had gone better than expected. He was lost in the thoughts of the procedure while he removed his shoe covers when he collided with a hard presence.

“Sorry. Didn’t see you there.” He apologised while looking at the new person. She seemed familiar but Abhi couldn’t place her. 

“No problem. Saw the surgery you did, I was mighty impressed, I must say.” The lady replied with a smile on her face. 

A little confused, Abhi introduced himself to the woman in question, “Dr. Abhimanyu Birla.”

“Dr. Kashish Bajaj.” On seeing his questioning look, she continued, “General Surgeon from Alliance Hospital in Bhopal. I am supposed to meet with Dr. Harshvardhan about an opening in the Surgery department.”

Abhimanyu smiled politely at her, recognising her from her on the resume he had seen a few days ago,  and made small talk with her while while directing her towards his father’s cabin. They had barely taken two steps forward when a voice interrupted their conversation. 

“Abhimanyu.”

Akshara woke up to her usual Good Morning text - it bothered her that there was no banter associated with it. It was similar to the texts he had been sending the past two days and a part of her wondered if he had realised his folly and would stop pestering her for a relationship. The thought was not as pleasant as she would have hoped. 

Making up her mind to talk to the aforementioned doctor about something that had bothering her since yesterday, she reached the hospital early and began to look for him. 

An involuntary smile made its presence known on her face as she saw him walking through the corridor lost in thought which turned into a frown as she saw him smile at the woman in front of him.

She was really pretty, Akshara thought to herself. Taller than her Munchkin like height, she suited Abhimanyu - both were tall, beautiful people. If her lab coat was an indication, she was a doctor too. They were both smiling at each other and Akshara could almost see herself turning into an ugly shade of green. Before she realised it, her feet had made their way to the couple in question and her mouth had shouted out his name.

Abhimanyu looked down to see Akshara almost skidding to a stop in front of him as she called out his name. Confused at her presence almost an hour before her scheduled session, he turned to her and asked, “Akshu? What are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you about something.” His Akshu replied, purposefully ignoring the woman in front of them. Abhimanyu nodded at her before looking at his earlier companion. “Dr. Bajaj, this is Akshara Goenka, she is the music therapist here.” When Akshara deliberately paid her little attention, Abhimanyu had to discretely place his hand behind her back and turn her towards the doctor. Surprised at her sudden lack of manners, Abhimanyu continued, “And this is Dr. Kashish Bajaj. She is here to interview for a position in our department.” 

Dr Bajaj gave her a confused smile and Akshara willed herself to act like a polite woman instead of an abomination and gave her a reluctant smile.

“It was a pleasure to meet you. Good luck with the interview.” 

Dr. Bajaj’s smile grew more confident at her words and she bid them both adieu stating that her interview was about to begin. 

Neither Akshara, nor Abhimanyu were paying much attention to her words by then, both suddenly and acutely aware of Abhi’s warm hand on Akshara’s back; a back left almost bare by her jumpsuit. Akshara could hear her heart beating out of its cage as she felt the warm pressure of his fingers on her skin. He was a cardiac surgeon, right? He could put it back in if the damage was serious, she thought to herself.

Abhimanyu looked at Akshu as she gulped and her cheeks turned an adorable shade of red. He wanted to remove his hand but her skin and the blush were addictive, he realised. Instead of listening to his brain, his fingers trailed upwards hidden behind her long hair, burning a path on her back in their wake. Her breath hitched and she looked up at him with guileless eyes, eyes that wandered to his lips, and Abhimanyu’s resolve to not kiss her in the middle of the corridor broke. The hand made its way to her neck, holding her in place and his head lowered onto hers.

“Doctor Saahab, I have to mop this area now. Thoda side dijiye.” 

Both of them jumped as the voice of the janitor broke them out of their bubble of lust and longing. 

Abhimanyu nodded guiltily at him and begrudgingly left Akshara’s back; instead holding her hand and pulling her towards his cabin. Hospital, Abhi. What the hell are you doing almost kissing her in the middle of the corridor? Naksh would string you up by your balls if he found out that you were going around kissing his innocent niece in busy corridors. The thought was petrifying.

He closed the door behind them, locking it and pulling the drapes across the glass on it, before turning to her.

Akshara let him lead her, still a little lost in the feeling that had overtaken her when his fingers had touched her. When she had looked up and seen the naked want in his eyes. Like he wanted to gobble her up whole.

“What did you want to talk about?” His words jolted her out of her sinful thoughts and she looked confusedly at him before understanding his question.

Abhi hid a smile as he saw her sit precariously on the couch, as far away from him as possible and waited for her answer. 

“How did you know about my parents?” 

“Naksh Sir told me.”

She looked resigned as she stared at the coffee table in front of them. Abhi waited for her to come back from her reverie and when she looked up at him, he was surprised to see a sheen of tears in her eyes.

Hurriedly moving towards her, Abhi pulled her into a hug. He let out a relieved sigh when he felt her hugging him back, her hands clutching his scrubs. 

A few minutes later, Akshara began to pull away and Abhimanyu’s grasp on her loosened; however he kept her in his embrace. He looked down at her face, but she refused to meet his eyes, instead focussing on the little pocket on his front. 

Her shaky resolve to not give into his charms crumbled a bit more under his warm embrace and affectionate gaze, and for the first time a long while, Akshu gave up resistance. Her head found its place on his chest and she breathed in his scent. 

“I don’t know why it happened. I loved my father and Sirat Ma. But then….then someone from the family would comment on how much my parents loved each other, how their love story was supposed to be this eternal thing, and it would hurt me so much, Abhi. How? How could their love be eternal when he couldn’t even resist falling in love again after a few months of her death? I…I don’t understand this love, Abhi. And I hate myself for hating him. What kind of a daughter am I that I can’t forgive him for moving on? I…I feel awful.”

Abhi didn’t deign her questions with a reply. What could he even say to that? He didn’t know her parents and he couldn’t really fault her for resenting them; especially not when she was in his arms crying. He simply held for several long minutes, running his hands gently on her head as she wept. When she wouldn’t stop crying, Abhi picked up her hand with a tenderness that would have made any spectator weep, and placed on his chest, right over his heart. 

And as stupid, as cliched, as seventh-grade-romance-novel as it sounded, the steady rhythm of his heart under her fingers calmed her down and slowly brought her crying to a halt. Her heart gained strength from his, she realised. As long as he was steady, as long as he was just there, she would be fine.

Akshara was aware of their position; she was aware of the shirt that was wet with her tears, the fingers that were entangled with hers, the hand that was running soothing patterns on her hair, the warm thigh that was pressed against hers.

She felt everything inside her turn to mush, and for the first time in her life, Akshara Singhania Goenka thought to herself, “Screw everything.”

She pulled her head back to look at him, and Abhi reluctantly loosened his hold on her but rather than pulling away completely, she remained glued to him. Her head looked up to see him watching her intently and Akshu, as though she had all the time in the world, slowly pressed her lips to Abhi’s throat, to the bronze skin peeking out from the V-neck of his scrubs, watching in pleasure as his breath caught and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Good Morning, Abhi.”

The morning was good indeed, he surmised in his head.

As they both sat on the couch, staring into each other’s eyes, afraid to blink, a tentative knock on the door broke their little contest. Breaking apart with a start, they looked around awkwardly, and Abhi cleared his throat before getting up and opening the door, making sure that Akshara’s disarrayed form was out of vision of the door.

Placing the cup of coffee he had ordered as he had left the OT on the coffee table, he looked expectantly at Akshu who was busy wiping away the tear tracks on her face and making herself presentable.

Abhi understood what she was trying to do - she’d lost control of her insurmountable will for a minute and she was trying to bring a semblance of normalcy to her attitude.

Even though every pore of his body was jumping with joy, even though an indefinable part of him wanted to burst into a song however gravel-stuck-in-a-mixer he sounded, even though the skin on his throat was aflame where her lips - her lips - had kissed him, Abhi forced himself to act nonchalant.

“Coffee?” He asked her and she gave a surprised shake of her head. He nodded towards her and his feet half-heartedly walked towards his chair, putting a few much needed feet between them.

The silence and discomfort lingered in the room, neither of them willing to cut through the tension that enveloped them.

Akshu waited for Abhi to say something - anything - to relieve her of the discombobulating thoughts in her mind but the devil in scrubs sat in his Lucifer’s throne simply drinking his coffee as though he didn’t have a captive audience in front of him; as though she hadn’t just kissed him. I kissed him, she thought to herself, feeling slightly dizzy at the thought. She had to restrain herself from bringing her fingers to her lips and feeling his warmth on it. Or licking them to savour his taste. Akshara mentally kicked herself again.

“Why do you not talk on the texts anymore?” She suddenly asked him, forcing Abhi to retire from his charade of indifference and look into his personal haven’s eyes.

“I send Good Mornings everyday.”

“What about the kiss?” She wanted to ask him but resigned herself to asking, “But you don’t say anything else anymore.”

Abhi almost laughed at her expression of indignation coupled with a pout on her lips - her lips that had touched him not a few moments ago - but stopped himself. “I had a long night shift and just finished a surgery before I met you.”

“But you had time to talk to Kashish?” 

Kashish? Who the hell was….oh the doctor, he thought belatedly. He was confused though; what did that doctor have to do with them anyway? Wait..was she jealous? Before he could ponder on that idea, Akshu continued, “Leave her. I just…I found the texts weird and wanted to make sure you were alright. I’ll leave now.” 

Abhi was quick on his feet - just as she stood up from her position and began to leave, he caught her arm in a gentle hold, forcing her to stand in front of him. As he perched on the table, he brought her form between his legs, and waited for her to look at him.

At her questioning look, he said, “Go out with me, Akshu, and you won’t have to worry about not receiving flirty texts every morning.”

In response his Akshu simply gave him a hesitant and shy smile before lightly slapping his head, “Tum sach much paagal ho.”

He grinned at her happy demeanour, glad to see that the remnants of unhappiness that were present as she talked about her parents was gone. Before his brain could comprehend his actions, he found his lips moving forward and placing a chaste kiss on her throat at the exact place she had kissed him a few minutes ago. Pleased to see a blush slowly heating up her whole face, he placed another kiss on her cheek, “Just thought I would return the favour. Good Morning, Akshu.” 

This time he didn’t stop her from releasing herself from his hold and running out of his cabin. 

The smile Abhi carried through the day surprised even his mother.

********

I'm embarrassed about the short length but there was jealousy, kisses and a little honesty. 

Please like the chapter and comment.

Bisous,

NeNe