"Please I hope aaj is khadoos ke saath duty na mile!" Naina said as once again Dr. Keerti gave them their duties. In the past two months she had been posted mostly with him than any other intern.
"Dr. Naina and Dr. Sameer, Children's Ward!" Dr. Keerti said as Naina opened her eyes and gave a full smile before following Sam to the Children's Ward.
"Damn not again!" Naina said as her pager beeped in the middle of their break. They had just crashed on their regular table in the cafeteria after the first half of their duty. "Guys baad me milti hu, Nightmare ne nurse station pe report karne ko bola hai." Naina said as she picked up her doctor's coat from where it was hanging on the back of her chair.
"Ab kya museebat aa gayi is maharani ko?!" Sam exclaimed rolling his eyes as Naina smiled at him since the game they had been playing on his phone had to be stopped in the middle.
"Sam tumhe yaad hai is game me humne tumhe ek baar haraya tha?" Gayatri said as she took the seat Naina had just vacated from where she was sitting adjacent to Sid leaning on Sam's shoulder to get a better look on the screen.
"Ch..." Sam was about to say when Gayatri shot him a glare. "Gaya sabke saamne bolna zaroori tha kya!" Sam groaned. Sid who naturally would've started teasing Sam had his eyes glued to Gayatri's elbow which was comfortably placed on Sam's shoulder with their faces so close that there was less than two inches distance between them. Gayatri who was so apprehensive whenever Sid came near her was always so eased out even when Sam held her really close and this irritated him beyond the limit.
"Farhan, Yeh Yuvi kahan gayab ho gaya?" Drish asked as she sipped her coffee. Farhan and Yuvi were placed together. Sam's head shot up at her mention of Yuvi. He was, to honestly admit, jealous of Yuvi and Drishti's friendship.
"Vo zara locker room gaye the. Abhi tak toh aa jaana chahiye tha unhe vaise!" Farhan said as Drish nodded.
"Doctors abhi ek emergency case aaya hai. And both of you will be assisting Dr. Divya in five minutes!" Dr. Keerti said to Yuvi and Naina who'd rushed there on the notice. While Yuvi looked very confident, Naina's face lost its color with worry.
"Bhagwaan meri pehli surgery hai, meri laaj rakh lena!" Naina said as she joined her hands and closed her eyes.
"Kya hua? Tumhe toh kisi cheez se darr nahi lagta!" Yuvi teased her while she gave no answer looking really worried.
"Dr. Naina pass me the scalpel!" Dr. Divya said. Naina picked the scalpel with shaky hands and it fell from her hand. Yuvi picked it up and gave a fresh one to the doctor. He looked at Naina and asked her if she was alright while she tried to tell him she was fine but couldn't due to nervousness.
"Dr. Naina jaldi se inject the glucose with the sedative." Dr. Divya told her.
"Yaar ise mai hi mil rahi hu baar baar order karne ke liye." Naina mumbled as she picked up the bottle with shaky hands. Yuvi saw this and got beside her before she dropped that too. Luckily she took the liquid in the injection without dropping the ampule but was acting really slow.
"Dr. Naina jaldi kijiye pulse drop ho rahi hai!" Dr. Divya shouted as she started pressing the victim's chest. Naina got scared and was about to commit a grave mistake when Yuvi took her hand and helped her inject the drug into the glucose bag.
"Thanks." Naina said to Yuvi as they got out of the OT. He looked at her with an amused expression.
"It's okay. Kabhi toh tumne help karne ke liye thanks bola." Yuvi said with a smile since he was really happy as his first surgery went on fine.
"I'm sorry." Naina said looking in his eyes.
"Ab yeh sorry kis baat ke liye?" Yuvi said coming near her helping her to take off her surgery coat. She could feel his fingers on her nape as he untied it which sent a shiver down her body and she closed her eyes. "Bolo."
"Voh mai tumhare saath itne time se aise behave kar rahi thi..." She tried to say as she took off her coat.
"It's okay Naina. Let's not have hard feeling towards each other!" Yuvi said with a smile as Naina untied the knot of his coat and he took it off.
He was walking in the almost dark corridor with just a few low strength bulbs so that the patients were not disturbed. The night duty was wearing him off and it was just his third day. He was supposed to administer some medicines to a child in the children's ward when he saw her working in the general ward. Naina was his partner for night duty for the week but they'd hardly crossed paths in the last two days. The days had been so hectic that he'd hardly seen her after their surgery with Dr. Divya, talking to her was another story altogether. He stopped to look at her. She was reading the progress report of the patient as she yawned.
"You should take a break." He said to her in almost a murmur while she was highly surprised when she realized he was looking at her.
"Can you please let me do my work!" She said irritated as she rolled her eyes.
"Hey faaltu me kyun chilla rahi ho!" He said frowning as he left from there.
He started with his rounds when he realized that children's ward was running out of the medicine he needed. After giving his patient the medicine he went to the store room to get the medicine so that his next dose would not be late. As he entered the store room he saw her trying to bring down a box from the top-most shelf. He reached up brushing her hand as she looked back to see his face. He brought the box down and looked at her. She was staring at him with their faces just inches away from each other. She could feel his warm breath on her face as he came closer. She looked into his eyes and found herself getting lost in them. He was mesmerized with the look she gave him and reached forward to touch her with his free hand when suddenly the lights went out. He could feel Naina clutching hard on his shirt but he couldn't see her.
She felt his hand removing her grip from his shirt, it was then that she realized that she'd seized his shirt in fear. She felt him moving away from her.
"Yuvi! YUVI!" She started shouting as she frantically moved to find him tears welling up in her eyes but tripped over a box. "Aaahh!" she screamed as she fell down. Her ankle hurt, well it would since it had twisted very badly in the fall. She then felt his touch on her ankle as she looked up at his face glowing in the light of his cellphone that he'd taken out. "Yuvi..." She tried to say but the pain in her ankle was overpowering her.
"Shhh'" He said as he lightly touched her ankle and she let out a short gasp. "Bahut dard ho raha hai?"
"Nahi... mujhe chillane me maza aa raha hai! Of course you idiot, it's hurting." She said as he smiled at her normal behavior. He tried to move to get some ointment and bandage when he felt her grasp on his arm. He looked back at her with a questioning look but she didn't let go off it. He bent down to come near her.
"Kya hua?" He said putting a hand on her cheek.
"Please mat jao..."
"Naina mai yahi hu. I'm just going to look for a bandage for your foot or it'll get worse." Yuvi said giving her reassuring smile. He got up and searched for something while keeping the flashlight of his cellphone on and keeping a check on Naina by looking at her every other minute.
He looked at her and found her staring at him. He couldn't tear away his gaze from her. Suddenly he clicked a button on his phone by mistake and the torch went off. He could hear her trying to get up while he tried to put the flashlight on. When the torch switched on he found her about to fall as her twisted ankle wasn't able to support her. He ran to catch her. He caught her by her waist and managed to get her seated on the floor where their was some empty place.
"Bola tha na abhi aa raha hu!" Yuvi said as he began to strap her swollen ankle. She looked at him bandaging her foot.
"Yuvi..."
"Hmm..." He said not looking up to meet her gaze or else he'd have been lost already.
"Please don't go anywhere this time." She said slowly. He looked up see her looking at him with her eyes brimming.
"Naina..." He began to say but couldn't form anything.
"Please Yuvi... mujhe akela chodke mat jaana... please!" Naina said as a tear slid down her cheek. He moved forward and caught it smiling at her.
"I promise, kaheen nahi jaunga." He said as she tried to moved to get up. "Don't try, uth nahi paugi, muscle sprain hai." He said as he easily picked her up. She looked at him in surprise as she snaked her arms behind his neck for support. As they got out the whole hospital was in dark since the emergency electricity was being used to run the important machines.
"Aise bahut ajeb sa lag raha hai. Pehle bhaiya mujhe aise tab uthate the jab mai kabhi kabhi living room par couch par hi so jaati thi." She said to him with a smile. Yuvi smiles down at her affectionately, it felt good to have her in his arms and he could definitely get used to it. He took her to the locker room and seated her on one of the benches adjacent to the wall.
"Thanks." She said as he crouched in front of her on the floor keeping the flashlight on.
"You're welcome." He said while she tried to examine her ankle for the first time. "Naina..."
"Hmmm..." She said looking up at him.
"Tumahara mood aaj off kyun tha?" He said as he came and sat near her on the bench.
"Vo..." Naina tried to say as she looked up to see him looking at her calmly. "Vo aaj Mom-Dad aur Drish pagal ho gaye the." Naina said and found Yuvi looking highly confused. "Mom-Dad meri shaadi ki baat kar rahe the aur Drish bhi unhe support kar rahi thi."
"Kya?" Yuvi said looking highly surprised.
"Haan' aur upar se mujhe pata chalta hai saara idea Bhaiya ka tha! Huff' sirf ek Sid hi hai jisne meri side li. I mean mujhe shaadi nahi karni hai!"
"Shaadi nahi karni hai... interesting!"
"I mean abhi shaadi nahi karni hai."
"Internship complete karna chahti ho pehle?"
"Internship bhi aur uske baad MD bhi karna hai! I want to be a cardiologist like my brother. Aur is tarah se toh shaadi mujhe bilkul nahi karni hai!"
"Is tarah se matlab?"
"Arranged marriage..."
"Thought so!" Yuvi said smiling at her which even made her smile.
"Toh tumhare kya plans hai internship ke baad ke?"
"Just like you even I want to do MD... paediatrics."
"Ooohh... bachchon ke doctor uncle... huh!" She said giving him a playful shove as he smiled. She yawned once and kept her head on his shoulder. He looked at her as she drifted into sleep very fast. He kept on looking at her as she slept with a contented look on her face. Taking support of the wall behind them even he tried to relax since he didn't wish to leave her alone again. Anyway, their duty was about to get over in another 10 mins. Thinking about what had just happened even he drifted to sleep.