Part 158
Though Armaan promised his maa that he would take care of everything, his conscience wouldn't permit him to hide anything from Riddhima. But he had to make her understand that Kartik is not reliable. Otherwise as her mother rightly said, she'd start sympathizing with him. And he didn't want Kartik taking undue advantage of her goodness.
When she came back from the beauty parlour, all of them had finished lunch and were taking a nap. Armaan had called her up but she asked them not to wait for her as she would be quite late. She helped herself to some food and joined them. Ani was lying on Armaan's stomach. He had probably cried and Armaan had fallen asleep, putting him to sleep. She gently picked up the baby and laid him in his crib, so that she could take her rightful place.
Feeling the movement, Armaan opened his eyes and when he saw her, he smiled, pulled her closer and went back to sleep. Armaan woke up after a few minutes, while Riddhima slept on. He didn't move as that would awaken her. But lying with her in his arms, he started thinking what he should do so that "saanp bhi marey aur laati bhi na toote." He decided to warn Riddhima against him, but in the mean time he needed to find more details about Kartik.
To do that he would have to take the case in his hands. Riddhima told him that Dr. Mohan had given the case to her. How should he get Dr. Mohan to allot the case to him without revealing the secret of Riddhima's parentage, as that would put maa in a bad light. He had to find a way of removing the case from Riddhima and that too without offending her. He was brought out of his thought process by her question, "what are you thinking about so deeply, that you didn't even notice Ani was calling out to you?" Only then he heard the baby's "dad, dad" but she had already picked him up.
He started playing with Ani and succeeded in making her forget her question. In case she started probing again, he took him from her and said "Chalo hum jaakar dekhte hain anna kya kar raha hai." When father and son went into anna's room he sat at the table with a 500 bit jigsaw puzzle spread before him. Of late that had become his favourite pastime and he managed to rope in his nani to help him too, as she was the one who had got it for him, in the first place. It was a picture having all his favourite cartoon characters, Ben 10 and the aliens. So he was all the more eager to complete it.
Soon kaka called out to them for tea and snacks. When Riddhima didn't come Akshat went to look for her and saw her sitting with her laptop. He came back and informed the others that she was doing some 'padayi' and didn't want any snacks as she had had a late lunch. She had asked Akshat to get her a cup of coffee only which he promptly obeyed, though akka offered to take it.
P: Armaan, kuch socha hai?
A: maa maine aapko kaha na don't worry. I'll take care of everything.
Riddhima entered asking "What will you take care of?"
A: tumne room mein coffee mangayi thi to phir yahan kyon aayi?
R: Kyon nahi aa sakti?
Seeing his surprised face she said, "Arrey, kaka coffee mein shakkar dalna bhool gaye. Isliye uthke aana pada. To batao, tum maa se kya take care karne ki baat kar rahe te?"
Seeing Armaan lost for words Padma intervened, " Woh main Akshat ke birthday arrangements ke bare mein pooch rahi thi."
R: oh! Maa by now you should know that woh sab arrangements karne mein Armaan is the best. Remember Ani ke birthday par kitne achche arrangements kiye the.
P: Of course, woh main kaise bhool sakti hoon?
Ak: Dad aap mere birthday ke liye bhi waisey jungle decoration karoge?
A: Of course not!
Hearing that Akshat's face fell. Then Armaan teasingly said "same thodi karoonga? But I'm not going to tell you anything further, because then it won't be a surprise. Tum bus apne doston ke list banakar mujhe dedo. Baaki main dekh loonga. Akshat's smile extended from one ear to the other, hearing his dad's words.
Armaan didn't get a chance to talk about Kartik till bedtime. But then too, when he started to say "Riddhima tumhara patient..", she stopped him saying "tumhi kehte ho na, ghar ki baat ghar mein and hospital ki baat hospital mein. To tum mere patient ki baat kal mujhe hospital mein batana. Now I need to catch up on my course a little." When he protested about her wanting to study, she asked "kya tum chahate ho ke main fail ho jaoun. Armaan Mallik ki biwi fail? Tch tch tch"
A: Theek hai, theek hai. Drama karne ki zaroorat nahi hai. You sit here with your laptop and study, so that I can at least put my arms around you and sleep.
When she settled on the bed as requested by him, with the laptop on her lap, he lifted the laptop and put a pillow below it. Don't ever put the laptop directly on your lap, you could get scalded by its heat. Then he lay down beside her and slept hugging her, by the waist. She studied peacefully for 3-4 hours till finally at 2am her eyes shut on their own and she landed dozing off on his head the laptop still on.
After some time his eyes opened as he felt uncomfortable with her weight on his head. Slowly he shifted her and sat up. She opened her eyes disrupted from her position, but was still disoriented. He got off the bed, picked up her laptop, shut it and put it away. By then she had stretched out on the bed. Then switching off the light he went and lay down beside her. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead before getting back to sleep.
The next morning was as hectic as any other Monday morning. Ani was at his worst throwing tantrums, not wanting to separate from his mama after spending the weekend with her. Riddhima feeling guilty about putting the child through this. Armaan consoling her that he would be fine soon. Maa assuring her that she would play with him. Akka asking her not to worry. Only Akshat seemed excited as it was his birthday this week. He was mentally making a list of which friends to invite.
Tania was surely the first name on his list, but she was a little upset these days. The day after tomorrow, that is on New Year's Day, her dad was leaving to take up a job in Bahrain. Then he recollected which of his friends had not invited him for their birthday party. They were surely out. Finally he came up with twelve people on his list.
At the breakfast table he reminded his parents "mama, dad aaj hum Tania ke ghar ja rahe hain na?"
A: Of course, betu. Tuma tayyar rehna, hum hospital se aate hi ho aayenge.
Riddhima explained to Padma that Mathew had got a very nice offer in a company at Bahrain, so he was leaving on the first.
Ak: Aur nani kal raat ko hamare colony mein New Year's party bhi hain.
P: Matlab this week is full of parties and celebrations.
As Armaan and Riddhima left for the hospital, akka took Ani to the backyard so that he wouldn't create a scene seeing them leave. "He doesn't cry after they have left, only if he sses them leaving," she explained to Padma later. As soon as they set off Armaan said "Riddhima mujhe tumse kuch zaroori baat karni hai."
R: Haan bolo.
A: Riddhima woh tumhara naya patient hai na?
R: Haan, Nr. Kartik? Kya hua usey?
But by then they had reached the gate and Dia and Varun joined them. So Armaan couldn't tell her anything. When they reached the hospital, he thought he would speak to her before she began her duty, but an emergency was waiting for him already. He just whispered "please don't reveal any personal details to Mr. Kartik, come what may. It's important, tumhe meri kasam. I'll explain later."
Before she could ask anything further he rushed to the patient who was violent and creating a ruckus. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Armaan had never ever said "tujhe meri kasam". It must something very serious.
When she entered Kartik's ward after discussing the case with Dr. Mohan, she was reminded of the time when she used to dread the thought of entering his room wondering what tantrum he would throw that morning. But she was in for a surprise when he greeted her with a big smile. "Hello doctor, good morning." She also smiled back wishing him a good morning.
While she studied the chart and made a note of the new drugs that were to be administered as per discussions with Dr. Mohan, he said "last night I couldn't talk to you much. How's Shashank?" Riddhima smiled ever so sweetly at him and answered to the point saying "Oh he's doing good." Then she set about checking his tongue, eyes etc. so he couldn't converse much. And before he could question her further she said "I'm very happy that you are such a co-operative patient. And I'm also very pleased to see that you are self-motivated to give up alcohol. That's the first and most important step for anyone who needs to be de-addicted.
K: My brother has been taking me to Alcoholic Anonymous for almost a year now, to get me motivated to come here and undergo complete treatment. But Padma is the last person I hoped to see here.
Riddhima was dying to ask him more questions but remembered Armaan's request. So she called the nurse and instructed her about the change in medications. Armaan in the meantime got the patient's home address and phone number from the hospital records. Kartik hailed from the textile city of Tiruppur near Coimbatore. Armaan called up his younger brother, Kannan. He seemed a nice gentleman. Armaan told him that he wanted to meet him personally so that he could discuss in detail about his brother's health. He expressed his inability to come over as his wife wasn't keeping well, but promised to provide whatever information he needed, over the phone. When Armaan subtlely enquired about their financial condition, he said that they would manage to pay MSHC bills, as they still owned some farm lands.
He made a mental note to visit them the following weekend to get further details. His next task was a difficult one. He went to Dr. Mohan to ask a personal favour. He requested Dr. Mohan to transfer Kartik's case to him. He told him he cannot reveal the reason to him at present, but promised to disclose everything to him, once he had resolved the matter.
Dr. Mohan knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't ask a favour unless it was absolutely necessary. So he granted him the favour but when Armaan said that he didn't want Riddhima to know that he had asked for it, he was surprised. He always they were the closest couple he had ever known. Then why was Armaan hiding this from her? Seeing his confused look Armaan beseeched him with his eyes saying "Sir I'll definitely clear everything to you in time." Mohan just nodded and smiled.
Then Riddhima was summoned to his cabin and one of Armaan's case was transferred to her. "Riddhima, I want to hand over the case of an adolescent drug abuser to you. She's more or less out of the addiction but I want you to counsel her and motivate her not to go back to it. This case was being handled by Armaan but I thought you'll be able to handle it better, being a female. And I've transferred that new case to Armaan instead. "Yes sir,I'll do my best" she said and took leave of him.
Armaan was waiting for her to go home for lunch. When she didn't come at the appointed time, he went in search of her. He was surprised seeing her come out of Mellessa's ward. "Yahan kya kar rahi thi?" he enquired and the look she gave him. "didn't you know Dr. Mohan has handed Mellessa's case to me?" He bit his tongue then and mentally slapped himself for the mistake he made. "Yes, he did. But it just slipped from my mind" he lied.
When she walked angrily and got into the car he was worried. When he got in beside her, he just glanced at her not daring to talk to her. "Mujpar bharosa nahi hai na? I trust you more than myself Riddhima is only lip service na?"
A:Ab yeh bharose ki baat kahan se aayi?
She didn't reply. Only glared at him and turned away. My God! he was in great trouble.
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