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*****
Zain was on his way to the hospital after checking his patient, that kid is suffering from a chronic disease and he is getting treated from home because of family reasons. Anyhow since they are very much rich, all the conditions around him are maintained well.
After doing his job, Zain got in his car to drive back to the hospital but then on the way he saw Nandini, he is sure that she is crying as she is walking on the footpath alone and before he can approach her, she got into the bus and he lost her.
Zain got confused that maybe it's not her, Manik keeps his entire team on run instead of giving them breaks but that girl very much looked like Nandini.
When there was a red signal, He took his phone to call Navya instead of Nandini, just to confirm. After a quick questioning, he didn't tell her that he saw her crying in public looking devastated, no, he just told Navya that he saw someone who looks like Nandini.
Navya just smiled at his curiosity, "She is free today, must be on a date with Dr. Manik guessing from what she told me yesterday", she said. Zain politely thanked her for the information and hang up the call.
His gut feeling told him that the reason behind Nandini's sad face, for sure it's Manik. That jerk really needs a lesson, he thought to himself.
But unfortunately, his schedule packed till evening as he drove to the hospital. Zain informed his lover that he can't be with her tonight and they have to cancel tonight, as always Mukti agreed without asking him anything else, but he did promise her that he will tell her once he comes home. Pursuing Mukti was a hard task but he never regretted it, he is grateful for her existence in his life as she is the only one who trusts him and loves this much.
So, late in the evening, once he got free, Zain enquired a little and got information about where Manik lives in this city. He went to his house and of course, he is home.
Manik looked displeased as he opened his door only to look at his annoying friend, "What's up?", he asked.
Ignoring him, Zain walked inside and stood in the living room, "Today, did you go on date with Nandini?" he came straight to the point.
Because of his sudden question from his friend, Manik got confused as to how he knows but maybe Nandini told him as they already became close with each other.
"Yes. Now, can you tell me the reason behind your sudden appearance at my doorstep?", he asked. Manik also not in the mood to play today, he is fucking tired.
"I saw her walking away on the road while crying and somehow, I already know you are the culprit", Zain answered as he looked at him as if he wants to punch him right now.
Manik had a slight crack on his lip, courtesy of getting punched by a junior doctor. But listening to Zain made him angry, "So?", he said throwing Zain a challenging look.
Yes, he made her cry, and now getting questioned by his friend is making him even angrier.
Zain had enough as he took two steps forward and held Manik's shirt collar tightly, then looked at his eyes, "What the hell is wrong with you? What are you gaining in return by breaking that poor girl's heart?", he screamed at Manik on his face.
He is really angry now and there is no way he is going to allow Manik to get away from this.
Manik said nothing to his friend's accusation, he also didn't even try to break free from Zain's tight grip that he has on him. He is letting him do whatever he wants and that's not who Manik is, Zain thought as he left Manik harshly and calmed himself. This is not how he wants things to be.
As Zain left his grip, Manik went towards his refrigerator and then came back to his friend to offer him some water to cool down.
Zain sat on the couch as he took the water, he is so disappointed in Manik now. He knows Manik is rude inside and he built strong walls around himself so that no one can enter inside and make an impact on him, there is a reason. Manik is not a child who grew up with lots of love, it was very rare and as he grew up, he completely gave up on the concept of love itself.
But again, he is different when he is with Nandini. He doesn't pretend in front of her, he is showing her his real ugly sides to whatever fucked logic he has in his mind but still he is being genuine with her. So, Zain has no idea why the hell is he torturing her.
"If you keep hurting her, one day, she will leave you and will never come back," Zain said after a long silence.
Manik also sat on the other side of the couch as he smiled painfully, "That's what everyone does, Zain. Every fucking one leaves, no one stays", he said.
There is so much pain and anger building up in him, and he doesn't even know why that it is. he doesn't acknowledge the reason even though he knows why he is this irritated since he came back home from that date. Manik is feeling like there's a hole inside eating him up but still, stubbornly he doesn't want to know the reason.
At his answer, Zain left a sigh as he is tired of this shit, this Manik pushing anyone who comes close to him because he thinks they will leave him one day like everyone.
"That because you never try to hold them back, start giving them a reason like why they have to be with you. If they're leaving, instead of letting them go away, just hold them and try to reach them. Nandini can't keep on reaching you all the time, people get tired of living like that. It's not one side, it should be from both sides", he said. This is what he wanted to say, he did.
"If they already decided to leave, why should I stop them", Manik argued like an asshole he is, this guy really knows how to make Zain angry.
Zain stood up and he looked down at Manik, pointing his finger towards him, "Because you are the one who is making them leave. You're a coward who is scared of getting hurt Manik, that's why you push people away before even giving them a chance", With that Zain left him alone storming of his place angrily as if he stays here one more second, he may attempt to murder his friend in his angry, not literally.
Manik sat there unmoved even though it's been long since Zain barged out after lecturing him. This is the first time ever this happened, till now, no one came to him and spoke like this, he never let anyone came this close to him. But Zain is allowed because he knows him. He is not a guy who will tolerate bullshit.
And he knows whatever Zain said is true, Manik is a fucking coward, he knows it. He just acts otherwise in front of others because he has to be perfect. If he lives his perfect life, no one will be bothered with him.
But today he is just tired.
It felt ridiculous when he didn't get angry earlier when Nandini punched him. No, instead he felt guilty. He saw her leaving him, didn't tried to stop her like Zain just said now. He never made any efforts from his side. It's always Nandini and he took it for granted.
But that's not how he wants to be. He wants to show his real side to her and still, he wants her not to hate him. He wants Nandini to accept him whoever he is, to like his nasty side too. He doesn't want to pretend in front of her. He wants her like to him even after knowing he is not perfect.
And she did, but this time he really messed up.
Manik stood up as realization dawned upon him and for once, he tried to think from her side. She doesn't know he has trust issues or why he is pushing her away way too much. She is just thinking that he is playing her, but he is not, yes, for a matter, he does like teasing her.
But not because it's fun, he likes when she gets flustered. When she gets confused because of his actions. When her eyes enlarge whenever he stares at her suddenly.
He likes how her pulse raises when he comes close to her.
He likes how his own heartbeat raises when she comes close to him.
But he doesn't like her crying, to his dismay, she cries easily, and often he is the reason behind it. He hates it.
He took his overcoat and his car keys, then mobile hurriedly to go as soon as possible, he is rushing so he would hurry up. He already wasted his time enough. She doesn't deserve this.
When he is on his way to lock his apartment, his phone rang displaying 'Shreya' name, and just like that his thoughts ran back to his past. Of course, this is his life, how can it be easy. His life is fucked up and he can't let an innocent lamb fall into this.
With that, he rejected the call angrily as he threw his keys on the couch and went into his study room.
The next day, when Nandini came to apologize to him, Manik really thought maybe he can tease her more. Maybe this time he can try not to make her cry. But when she told him to end everything, he concluded that it would be best for her. He doesn't deserve her, she giving up is good. It's good for her.
Manik is good at nothing but his profession, that's why he tries to do his best in it. Now, he wants to do his best in sharing his knowledge with Nandini, to make her a proud surgeon. Maybe he does not have a place in her personal life, but professionally, he will be her first senior surgeon, she can't change this ever, he is selfish like this.
~
"That's a parting gift, you are not my assistant anymore", Manik told her.
It felt like a bomb on her, obviously, she is scared that she might lose her post because of how emergency it was or how she saved the patient yesterday, it is still a very impulsive thing.
And as she is just an assistant surgeon, the board members of the hospital turned their anger towards Manik and he took it well by staying silent and apologized, though Rajeev came and took the matter in his hands.
But her senior didn't even tell her about this, she got to know this from Navya. He didn't even warn her that she shouldn't do such drastic steps, she got success luckily yesterday and that's why everyone stayed calm, but we don't know, it would've ended badly if she took one more minute in finding his artery. Nandini is grateful that she didn't get any extra lectures from her senior.
He never gave her anything till now, he did share his knowledge but that's his job. And this gift suddenly is scary. But he just told her that she is not his assistant anymore and then went to check on his patients.
Nandini got more information from Navya as she happily announced that now Nandini is not an assistant surgeon anymore. She is a surgeon now, she will have her own team and room now. Of course, she still needs more experience, so she will be assisting senior doctors as Manik does usually. But now she is ready to perform operations when they're not too complicated. She will have no one to monitor, but still, they can and she can ask any senior doctor for help.
In short, she is a surgeon who is in their first stage.
It's been two weeks already and Nandini is doing her darn best to catch up with everything. Now, that she has no one to guide her or give her instructions, in the start it was tough. She used to take time by noting down everything and then act. She is a little slow compared to others, but still, she made no mistakes till now.
Everyone supported her, Navya gave her Manik's team, and he got new team members, so that it will be easy for her to work with. She thought her senior will oppose but he didn't, it was strange. And now she has a junior doctor too, it's Dhruv.
Dhruv is quick and smart unlike her past clumsy self, he followed her orders and does his job perfectly.
Nandini is also keen on making her schedule as tight as it can be like her senior used to do, she also does random Q&A sessions as her senior does, she also started researching on the internet and kept on assisting senior doctor's operations when she has any free time. Maybe these are the things she picked up from Manik from all of those days of assisting him.
But unlike him, she is really open with her team and Dhruv does speak his thoughts openly with her. These days, they're more like friends. He scolds her when she skips her meals, he reminds her not to fall asleep on her desk and he teases her whenever she fails at drinking black coffee which her senior used to prefer.
~
Today, as they had no surgeries scheduled and not on emergency duty, it's 9 AM and Nandini just reached the hospital. When she is in the parking lot, she got puzzled by a lot of cars, more than usual, today it's packed.
When Nandini got inside, there's a rush, no one seems in an emergency, but everyone is here and there, on top of that there are media people in the waiting hall as they're stopped by their security saying outsiders are not allowed inside.
Nandini got confused as she walked up to Navya's desk, she thought to ask her as she gave her attendance and took her timetable, but it seems the head nurse is already occupied as she is throwing orders on phone, she kept getting phone calls continuously. So, Nandini quickly walked away as Navya gave her a tight smile.
Nandini thought to ask Mukti or Zain, but she met none of them when she is walking in the corridor.
But to her luck, she did meet the person whom she knows, it's Sarah, she worked under her has as an intern with Dhruv and now she and Ali are assisting Manik. Her senior still keeps his team busy and as Sarah is very much attracted with Manik's presence like everyone else, she choose her senior to work with though he already has Ali as his assistant at that time. Still, somehow, she got what she wanted, but Nandini has rarely seen her free.
Everyone whom she knows is giving her odd looks as Nandini continued to walk in the corridor, ignoring them she approached Sarah, "Hi", she smiled politely.
"Oh Hey", Sarah replied as she got startled due to the sudden greeting.
Nandini stood beside Sarah as they can see the reporters from here who are trying their best to get inside, "So, what's with all of this?", Nandini asked her as she gestured towards the media commotion.
Maybe some celebrity or someone like that got admitted to their hospital, it must be why. Or else some criminal getting treated here, Nandini thought as those are the only possibilities, she can think of now looking at the thick air.
"Not seen the news?" Sarah asked her as she gave her a surprised look.
Nandini nodded her head in no, she has no time for news. These days, she barely has time to get some sleep.
Sarah gave her one look as if judging her, then she replied, "Late night, famous actress Shreya Saran got admitted here. Apparently, she got sick and suddenly fainted in the middle of the shooting, so her staff admitted her in the VIP zone", she explained to Nandini.
Nandini now understood as that explained all of those media outside, but Shreya, that woman did seem close to Manik even though she doesn't know what they had. Looks like that actress is just a couple of years older than her senior.
"Do you know anything about her condition?" Nandini asked Sarah as she got curious because celebrities don't get admitted in hospitals if it's not serious, usually, they prefer to get treated from home in order to keep it hidden.
Sarah looked confused for a bit, "I don't know the details, but I heard it's due to orthostatic hypotension", she answered.
Nandini hummed in response as orthostatic hypotension is not that serious, but the patient should get treated and rest enough. It's due to stress and low blood pressure, it causes them to faint abruptly. It can be treated easily, all they need is complete rest for a couple of days.
Before Nandini can ask Sarah why she is here when her team is on the E.R shift today, Dhruv came and interrupted her. He informed her it's time for their medical rounds, so Nandini left with him without asking Sarah.
Nandini knows their schedule because she still checks Manik's timetable and to make sure her schedules don't overlap with his. She is trying her best to avoid him as much as she can, but still, she can't help but notice whenever he is in the same place.
Sometimes, it feels like her college time, she used to steal glances of him whenever she noticed him. But back then, there used to be excitement and now, it's just a trashy feeling that she wants to do nothing with it.
Nandini smiled politely as every patient answered her routine questions nicely and her assistant note down everything as in summary. Then there was a regular check-up till noon, it's a little time taking since Manik is busy and most of his regular patients are comfortable with Nandini, they came to her for their check-up. It's extra work for her, but she did with no complaints as she is also familiar with them.
Then it's lunchtime and Dhruv will start nagging her if she skips her meals. So, they left to the canteen to have a meal together like every day, sometimes Navya or Zain or Mukti joins them but today, it seems all of them are quite busy.
Even though Nandini has stopped getting concerned about rumors, still there are gossips about her. As now that Manik is her ex, they find it a little amusing that she is spending her time with her junior doctor.
After their lunch, they checked the remaining patients, and then Nandini went to her room to read some records, mainly records about the complicated cases and how the doctors handled them.
"Dr. Nandini, I have something to say", Dhruv said as he stood there awkwardly at her desk, he is not like this. This is more like Nandini when she used to be her senior's assistant, awkward and clumsy.
Nandini removed her reading glasses as she turned towards him smilingly, "What is it, Dr. Dhruv?", she asked him.
Dhruv again looked at her nervously, "I want you to stop being so nice to me all the time", he said.
She didn't get what he said, like what does he mean by that? Is she being too nice to the point it's irritating or it is looking like sarcasm? But Nandini's intentions were never that, she just wants to be nice to everyone and treat everyone politely.
Even when Dhruv made a mistake with the defibrillator one day, she didn't lecture him, just after the surgery, once they came to her room, she explained what he did wrong and advises him to practice more, that's it. Then she also spoke with her team on behalf of Dhruv, to give him some time and from that day, he did no mistakes.
As she said, he is a clever one and works hard too. But from that day, he did start talking with her openly and more comfortable with her. Not that he crossed any line, he is just like a friend even though there is some awkwardness like now between them.
"I didn't got you", Nandini said as she ended it with a confused face.
Dhruv closed his eyes for a second and then opened again only to look at her intensely, "I meant I don't want you to be nice to me. I'm really trying to be professional, but I can't help it, I'm trying to stop these feelings. But you are being all nice and smiley to me, it's not helping me Senior", he said to her.
Nandini got shocked as she never knew about this, she didn't know she is being too friendly with him to the point she may be giving him mixed signals. All she did is being nice and polite. "What feelings?", she asked him staring at him hoping that this topic is not going to where she is thinking.
"I like you and I want to wait for you", Dhruv said to her, no, he literally confessed to her.
In shock, Nandini reached for her bottle and drank some water to calm herself down. She didn't know how to answer him, how to reject him. Never did she thought about him like that till now. How should she break his heart?
She knows nothing about this, it is senior's best area. No, this is not the time to think about Manik.
Dhruv has never seen his senior fidgeting nervously like this unless she is dealing with Dr. Manik Malhotra but other times, she is the most confident doctor and does everything confidently. He doesn't want her to feel uncomfortable after all, he knows that she recently broke up with Dr. Manik, maybe it's too sudden for her but Dhruv also is going through hell every day due to his feelings. He tried not to feel like this so much, but he failed miserably, he has never seen a woman that confident and charming at the same time as Nandini.
"You don't have to answer immediately, take your time. I can wait for however long it will be", Dhruv answered and with that, he left her alone taking her peace with him.
~
Nandini tried to concentrate back on her studies, but she couldn't. Suddenly, her room feels so suffocating, so she walked out as she randomly took her rounds in the E.R ward, this is more like her habit. But her help is clearly not needed there.
So, she walked towards their dorms to get some rest only to see their new nurses chatting among them. She never interacted with me till now, these four girls are pretty new, just joined a week before. They're getting trained by their chief nurse, Nandini thought maybe it's a good time to talk with him.
As she walked up to them and greeted them politely, she introduced herself.
They got panicked and immediately stood up to greet her formally, Nandini brushed them off as she made them sat with her, "So, what you were discussing earlier? Any gossips?", Nandini asked them thought she is never interested in those, it seems like it's a useful topic to get close with these young ladies.
"Nothing like that, Doctor", one of the girls stammered as she answered to her, and the remaining all three of them kept quiet. It felt like a teacher trying to do friendship with students, Nandini exactly felt like that.
Nandini pouted, "Oh common, I am always cooped up in operation room that I never get a chance to know about these. I'm always the last one to know", she whined as she tried to ease them by making a funny face.
"You know, Surgeon Manik Malhotra", one girl started and Nandini immediately felt the urge to roll her eyes around, it's been a week, they still don't know the hospital areas properly, yet they already knew about Manik Malhotra. He really makes the girls dance around his fingers, this must be when he was polite to them at their first meeting and since then, they've fallen for him though she knows exactly that her senior doesn't care a bit.
He just acts likes he does.
Nevertheless, Nandini nodded her head as in to continue, and then she started saying, "Well, the news is he and the actress Shreya, they are very close with each other", Nandini almost fell from the chair as she listened to them. Nandini knows they're close, but only she knows this as she unexpectedly saw them together.
"Uhm... How do you guys know that?", Nandini enquired more making sure to keep her voice casual. These people don't know about her and her senior's fake relationship, so she wants to keep it like that. They will know soon from someone else.
All five of them sitting bunched up around the round table, then that girl said, "I heard from his assistant that Shreya kept on calling his name when she was getting treated last night, and Dr. Manik after finishing his surgery, he ran to the VIP ward and since then he is with her. He even canceled his entire schedule today", she explained, and all the other girls nodded their heads as in keeping this as a secret but Nandini knows they won't.
Nandini suddenly stood up, "I'm going to take a rest, you guys continue", with that she gave them a tight smile as she went to her usual corner bed and pretended to sleep.
She has no idea if what they're saying is true or not, but that explains why Sarah is so free in the morning despite being on E.R shift and that because her senior canceled his shift to take care of that actress.
Nandini hates that even after everything, she still can't help but feel a little blue. All these days, she is doing her darn best not to fall for him again. Not to look at him. Not to talk with him. And not to think about him. But this is all feels like a punishment, she wants to remember the times he made fun of her feelings cruelly. But she still can't help but feel sad.
Sometimes, she gets even angry with herself for falling for him and getting hurt. She wants to move on. She wants to be happy without thinking about him. She wants to not care about his personal life. But this is hard.
And now that her junior confessed his feelings towards her, Nandini doesn't know what to do with him. Yes, he told her that he will wait. But for how long? What does she think of him now?
If she comes close with another man, will her senior feel upset about it? Or he will just walk away like always?
The whole day went in blur and Nandini still didn't know what to do. This is why she hates having free time, without exhausting herself, she can't go to sleep peacefully. When she pushes herself too much and exercises too much, then she will just pass out at night times. And that helps her, she doesn't think about her senior at all.
~
The next day, their hospital is still in the spotlight as that actress is still in the hospital, probably getting rest with the right medication.
And she is hearing a lot more things today, how Manik didn't step out and canceled most of the schedule to stay with the actress all the time. Nandini has never seen her senior caring about others like this, maybe she really is special to him.
And maybe that's why Nandini failed to get a place in his heart because there is no place for her at all.
Nandini decided not to think about him today, after all, she has a busy schedule today. Early morning, there was a surgery assigned, it's a bypass operation. Luckily, there were no complications during the operation, and Nandini with her team wrapped up the operation successfully.
Now that they had free time, Nandini with all of their team went to have lunch together and she observed anything, that is since yesterday Dhruv confessed, she thought there will be awkward but no, to opposite he is coming on to her even more openly. While they're having lunch, Mukti also came to join them since others are busy.
During their lunch, the entire time Mukti couldn't help but notice Nandini's bright smiles and her junior showing a lot of interest in Nandini. Mukti likes when Nandini is happy, but now it's annoying. Nandini is smiling too bright, laughing at every little joke as if it's the best joke and she is not even caring about her junior's too friendly behavior.
Nandini is like this since she broke off with Manik, it's good that she finally stopped pretending for other's sake but since then Nandini changed. She is working fine but she is smiling too often, and her smile doesn't even reach her eyes anymore. But today, it felt even more strange as she and Dhruv are going on as if there's something between them.
After lunch, once they got a little break, Mukti called Nandini to come with her casually. They both settled on an empty bench in the hospital's garden, their favorite spot as there are also other patients who are there to enjoy some fresh air with helpers looking after them and family members.
"You know, I really like this spot. Fresh air, all these plants make me peaceful. I think it's a beautiful idea to have this big garden, it helps everyone. I think", before Nandini can rant further on, Mukti cut her off.
"So, what's going on between you and your junior?", Mukti asked her to come to the main topic straightly, she has been noticing Nandini for few days and honestly, she had enough of this fake pretense that Nandini is putting on, acting like everything is going on absolutely fine.
Nandini got surprised at her sudden question, is it that visible or Mukti is just sharp, "You noticed?", she asked Mukti instead answering of her question.
Mukti sighed as she nodded her head in agreement and gave her a stern look to continue, to answer her question instead of stalling.
Nandini dropped her head low as she said, "Yesterday, he confessed".
Mukti already expected something like this, but this is not what she wanted to know, she wants to know Nandini's response to his confession. "And your answer was?", Mukti asked her.
Seriously, if this dumb girl accepted him because of her past heartbreak trying to move on, she is going to kill her because it's clear as day that this girl hasn't moved on a bit from Manik.
"I haven't answered yet. He said he will wait", Nandini responded.
Mukti breathed in sign as she didn't make any mistake, "Do you like him?", she asked calmly.
Nandini laughed at that painfully, there's no humor just sadness, "I like him, he is good at his job and very good assistant. But do I like him romantically? No. That's a clear no, Mukti", she replied to Mukti, she knows she has no feelings towards Dhruv. She just doesn't know how to reject him, how not to break his heart painfully.
"Then tell him that as soon as you can, Nandini. After all, you know very well, how much waiting for someone hurts, right?" Mukti advised her and those words worked well, of course, she knows how much waiting in anticipation hurts.
Before they can say anything, Dhruv came with a cup of coffee for her with a pleasant smile on his face.
Mukti gave her a comforting pat on her back before leaving them alone.
~
Manik had his white coat in his hand as he walked through the corridor while rubbing his neck with another hand, he is so tired.
For the last two days, he couldn't get a good amount of sleep because of certain someone who couldn't take better care of themselves and end up in the hospital, he had no option but to be with her, to take care of her. And he did perform surgeries that were already assigned in between but he did postpone his E.R shift though, to look after her.
Now, he just wants to go home and take a good shower, then maybe get some sleep before he comes back here.
When he is on the first floor, he saw a bunch of doctors talking between them, there are not from his department, so he didn't care to greet them as he continued to walk away as they also did not notice him.
"Waah, from Dr. Manik Malhotra to junior surgeon Dhruv, talk about a huge step-down. Only Dr. Nandini can relate", they laughed among themselves as they had no idea who is standing behind them and can clear their words.
That made Manik interested as he looked towards the hospital garden from the glass walls, there is Nandini holding hands with her junior doctor and smiling brightly. He showed no reaction as he continued to walk away as if he saw nothing important.
After getting into his car, Manik suddenly hated the idea of going to his home where lately everything felt cold, he wants to blame it on the cold weather.
He drove mindlessly, without thinking anything, and finally, he ended up at a rich bar that looked like there is something royal going on with the theme. He doesn't care about all the details, all he wanted is to get himself a strong drink.
Manik doesn't drink often, but he is really good at drinking, his alcohol tolerance level is really high, so him getting drunk takes time.
Without thinking straight, he spent the entire night, till 4 AM, sitting on the stool in front of the bartender and kept on drinking.
There were some girls and a few men too, who showed some interest in him, but he is in no mood, so like a loser, he kept on drinking.
After paying the bill, Manik sat in his car which is in the parking lot, and he fell asleep without realizing it.
Around 7 AM, he woke up due to his phone alarm, Manik felt like his head is breaking in half. He immediately searched the pill for headache in his car cabinet and once he found it, he took it with some water. Then he washed his face with the remaining water in the water bottle, he harshly rubbed his face to sober up.
When he realized that he slept for three hours in his car, he drove straight to the hospital as his shift will begin within an hour.
When Navya saw Dr. Manik walking towards her desk looking like a sick zombie, she got worried as maybe his taking too much on his plate. But when he came close, as he stood up in front of her desk to take his timetable, Navya scrunched her nose in distaste as he is reeking of alcohol smell.
He sure does look like he is sober, but the alcohol smell coming from him is impossible to ignore.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Manik, I can't allow you to work when you are in this condition", the Chief nurse told him as she took the timetable sheet back from his hands, this is not like him. Navya has never seen him getting drunk and coming like this to here, the dark circle under his eyes tells her that he barely slept.
Manik nodded his head in disagreement, "No, I'm fine. I can handle this", he tried to agree with her.
Navya sighed looking at this stubborn person, "I'm assigning you the afternoon shift, take some rest for now. If you don't listen to me, I'm afraid I will have no choice but to report you", she told him, almost threatened him as politely as she can because she knows very well, he will not listen to her normally.
Manik mumbled sorry to her with his head held low, as he walked towards their dorm rooms to get some sleep and to get rid of his hangover.
~
Nandini always finds the 24-hour shifts the hardest.
She is on duty since yesterday morning and now that night shift also finished, she finally breathed in a sigh after all of the busy schedules, now she can get some rest. All the other members from her team left for their home, while Nandini walked towards their dorm to get some rest after filing all those report files.
As she walked in she got shocked to see her senior sitting on a bed with his legs propped out on the floor lazily and his head held by his hands, he is looking down.
Nandini has never seen Manik coming to their dorms, how late or tired he will be, he either takes naps in his office room or leaves to his home. So, this is new.
There is no one else in the room and he still didn't notice her as he had his head bend down.
It's been almost a month since she conversed with him, Nandini thought to ignore him or just run away from here without letting him know but instead, she found herself walking towards him still keep a good distance between them, "Is everything fine, Senior?", Nandini asked him.
Even though she very knows it's not her business, she still asked him anyway.
Manik immediately raised his head to look at Nandini and for some unknown reason, he felt all the frustration coming out, "Leave me alone", he snarled in a low tone as if threatening her not to push him further.
Nandini stood there as gave her a rude answer like always, there is no difference between the past and now.
But as she took in his appearance, today he is looking pathetic. For sure, he is the most handsome doctor in their hospital, but now he just looks like a mess with his red eyes, pale face, and unruly hair.
"But are you really fine?", Nandini asked him again looking worried.
Something snapped inside him as Manik stood up abruptly and came towards her, as he took steps towards her, Nandini kept taking steps backward in fear. For a second, she felt like prey and he is her predator coming to eat her alive.
She had no way to escape as her back touched the wall and her senior smirked dangerously as he trapped her in between himself and the wall leaving no space for her to get away.
As her senior kept a hand on the wall beside her head, he leaned towards her, "From starting, I told you to leave me alone, right?", he said coming close to her and Nandini felt like her heart will stop because of the closeness.
"But you never listened", Manik whispered that in her ear in a low tone.
Nandini didn't know where to look as when she looked at his eyes, all she saw was some dangerous emotion on his face, "You didn't look good, that's why I asked you", she found herself mumbling the words without stammering.
"Even I had enough, Nandini. I became this pathetic because of you", Manik spatted those words at her with a deep emotion behind and Nandini wants to know what he means by that.
She wants to ask him but the closeness in between is making her feel nervous and her pulse kept on racing even though she told herself continuously that she has no feelings towards him, she doesn't like him anymore.
She kept on telling herself as she tried not to look at him.
As Nandini refused to look at him, Manik held her jaw and turned her face, making her look at him.
"So, from now you should take the responsibility", he breathed those words on her lips, their noses almost touching and her hands are on his arm trying to pull his grip away from her face.
Nandini had no time to answer him, to question him what does he mean by that as he held her waist with his other hand.
And then their lips met.
*****
I started a new book "Manan: Moon Light", you can check here https://www.wattpad.com/story/264590814-manan-moon-light
It contains mature content, so please do read it only if you are comfortable. But this is something I really wanted to write for a long time and so hope you guys will like it too.