Marking the last report of the day, my body gave up and I laid my head back on the chair. Today was a tiring day and I as always overworked myself. Whatever happens, you can never leave your patients. Twenty missed calls from Dad. It's 2 at night and I am still not home. I'm so tired that I feen lazy to even move. I close my eyes letting out a deep tired sigh. I wish someone could massage my head, and my eyes that feel so warm. I must probably be having fever.
I almost had fallen asleep when the door of my OTD cabin opened. I sighed again going back to sleep. It's Riya, my companion, my bestfriend. She never leaves my side.
"I told you to get some sleep. Why are you so stubborn, Zoya??" she is younger than me, but has a greater IQ than everyone else. We just celebrated her 22nd birthday a month ago, yet she behaves like she's my elder sister. "Okay lesson of the day. I understand, Didi." I heard her laugh as she scoffed. She massaged my head slowly gently, rubbed my eyes which were feeling warm. No wonder I love her so much.
The cabin was silent as she was massaging my head slowly. But all of a sudden, my stomach growled out the blue, making me widen my eyes in shame. The silence in the cabin was broken by the loud growl of my hungry tummy. Riya laughed loudly while I felt my cheeks burn in embarrassment. "Stop laughing, you little!" I nearly yelled at her hiding my flushed face.
"See, that happens when you starve for a whole day." She laughs holding her stomach. Gosh, I'm so embarrassed. "Stupid!" I cursed at my own stomach under my breath.
it's her habit to curse at inanimate things, don't mind. she isn't crazy.
I have to eat something. I am hungry as hell. So, I called the first person that came into my mind. Who matters the most for me. The first call didn't connect. The second too. Third and fourth time I called. Still the line was busy. Sometimes I regret my life choices so much. But glad, the fifth time he picked up.
"Hey, Zoya!" his voice was sleepy, and hoarse that means he was sleeping.
"Are you awake?" Such a stupid question even when I know he isn't.
"No, why did you call?" he simply denied the question.
"Ah...n-nothing! I just called to say good night." I laughed it off. I lied.
"Oh...okay, good night. Sweet dreams!" he said.
"Actually-" He cut the call before I could speak.
I sighed before putting the phone down on the table.
The screen of my phone buzzes. Dad is calling again. I sighed before picking up the call.
"Hello?" I said and I could hear mom speaking and yelling in the background. My dad yelled at me as always for being late, and that I should reach home as soon as possible or else he would come and drag me out of here himself. My dad is so overprotective of me. Of course, I am the only child of my mom and dad.
But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that I am insanely hungry. Currently 2 am, month of January, it's chilling cold outside and almost nothing would be available at night. But I know there is someone who would be right there for me no matter what, where and when.
"Fine, I'm leaving. Can you lock my cabin, Riya?" I asked her. And without any hesitation she nodded to my words. She never denies to anything I say to her. "You're my savior, Didiji."
I smiled at her and grabbed my bag shoving the stethoscope inside, wearing my mask. I moved out the cabin waving her a goodbye. It's her turn for the night duty today, so she would be staying at here.
I left the hospital and got in my car. Placing the lab coat and my bag on the passenger seat, I started the engine. It's so cold, I am freezing.
Still, she wouldn't pull down the windows of her car.
It took me 15 minutes to reach his house. I have spare keys of his house but, Now I have to go upstairs to his room and knock on his door and tell him that I am hungry, and I am sure he isn't asleep. Man gets tired after a long hectic day at the office but he wouldn't be sleeping as much as I know him.
I go upstairs. Asshole lives on second floor. What could make me more tired than climbing two floors when I am already so fucking tired. Never mind.
I knocked on the door, but he doesn't answer. I knocked again, twice and thrice. I couldn't be loud as it's night and everyone would be sleeping.
I called his name but still he didn't open the door. My brows narrowed. "IS he dead?" maybe.
To check, I twisted the knob and surprisingly it was unlocked. "Wow." I mouthed and opened the door slowly. I entered the room and found that his computer was switched on and the pen drive was plugged in.
I looked and found him covered in the blankets. He was sleeping soundly wrapped in the warm blankets, cozily in the bed. Lord, this man snores so loud that my ears gonna bleed.
As if you sleep like a princess.
I turned the computer off and walked to the bed. His face was snuggled in the pillows, snores muffled against the sheets. God, this bed looks so cozy and warm. I want to sleep.
With him?
He turns his head, and my eyes have a view of his face. I smiled unknowingly. Asshole looks so fine without glasses. I mean, never mind. I am not a simp, okay?
Lord, what keeps happening to me?
I wish I could just jump over this bed and sleep, but I don't want to embarrass myself by those awkward noises my hungry stomach would make at night. And this bitch would make fun of me every time we will meet. I can starve for a whole day but can't sleep with a hungry stomach.
I have issues, a lot of them.
Grrrrrrr~~~
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Nischay woke up with a jerk. The sound was so loud that he got scared. Please someone kill me. I am so embarrassed!
He hides his face with the pillows. I rolled my eyes as red flinted my cheeks."TU?!!" he says and breaks into laugh. The pillows fall on the bed as he laughs so loudly. I am gonna kill him for real.
"Ho gaya drama?" I scoffed rolling my eyes again at him. But he doesn't stop. What's so funny?
You, hungry monster.
I plopped on the bed throwing my lab coat on the chair. His bed is so warm. The owner of the bed is warm too. Sadly, none of them is mine.
Why do I get distracted?
My eyes were closed and I was falling asleep. But the intense stare I was feeling couldn't let me sleep. I feel his stare. I always do whenever we are together. But when I look back at him, he looks away.
"So why are you here? At this time?" Nischay lies beside me and covers me with blankets. It wasn't new that we were on the same bed. We often hang out together, play games, watch movies and even slept at each other's houses when we were students.
NOTE: we are not hugging each other.
I am too tired to even open my eyes. So, I just nod to his question. And he smiles as if he knew. And he knows. "So, what do you want to eat?" he asks, controlling his laugh. I feel like burying myself six feet under the ground so he couldn't see my red face.
I pulled the blankets over my face to hide my flushed face. "I have to go home. Buy me something on the way. Dad has called me 20 times and he would eat me alive If I didn't return home soon." I turn to the other side. and he was laughing.
"It's okay. Don't worry about it. I will handle him. You can sleep here." he says like he's done some professionalism degree in handling my dad. I mean where is the lie? Nischay handles my dad like no one else. In fact, he doesn't listen to me but him.
"And what am I gonna eat??" I said, more like demanded, still under the blankets. He is probably smirking and controlling his smile. "As if you don't eat my mind every time!!" He mocks. This man thinks that he can pull the best jokes.
"Your humor is ded, so stop flexing your lame jokes!" I said and gathered the blankets all to myself, covering up. It feels so warm.
"I haven't eaten myself too, btw." he tells me. And I know he is not lying. He often sleeps without eating his dinner. "For real?" I pulled the blanket down my face to look at him. More like, glaring at him. "How dare you skip your meal when your friend is a doctor herself!" I yelled at him. I mean how dare he! "As if the doctor didn't skip her meals THRICE a day herself." This man has great brains. History has a record that I have never been able to win a fight with him. He has a point every time and I lose.
I rolled my eyes. "Doctor needs to study more herself and the advise others." I look away as I don't hear his bullshit. Man loves to give 'pravachan' to everyone.
"Imagine what your patients would think when they will get to know that their doctor herself starves for days and doesn't take her meals properly?" Nischay whispers in my ear, sending shivers. My back stiffens. How come he knows every one of my weaknesses?
I glare at him and he smirks. "Imagine what aunty would think when I would tell her that you didn't have your dinner and slept without locking the door and left the computer on?" I smiled and pulled his cheeks. His smirk vanishes and he back off clearing his throat. I controlled my smile.
"Okay, I'll heat up the food. Let's have dinner together." He chimes and leaves the room glancing at me. I laugh out loud as soon as he leaves. Such a cutie, scared kitty.
I fall back on the bed and covered myself with blankets that I look like a ball. Its so warm and cozy. The blankets, the pillows and the bed. Everything smells like him. And when I am wrapped up in his blankets, I smell like him too. I remember back then when we were in college, I used to wear his hoodies often, and in exchange for that, I completed his assignment and often had to become his fake girlfriend so he could say no to the dates. He was an ace in basketball, and he called me his lucky charm. Because whenever I missed his match, his team would lose. He always found me and waved at me before the match started and his team won every time. Treats were important. A single day didn't go without us bickering. We were known as 'Rahul and Anjali' of our college. I had a dating life back then in college, while Nischay never gave attention to anyone even when girls proposed him every day. His locker was always filled with gifts and candies and letters. But he never accepted them, and everything he received, he gave it to me.
Even when I had a dating life, none of my relationships lasted more than a month. Each of the guys had an issue with me. Some of them said, I am too demanding, and they can't afford dates with me. While some of them said that they found someone better than me. I had so many breakups, but I never cried over a boy because none of them made me feel loved. It was just like I was passing my time with them. When I asked Nischay about the problem, he simply said, they don't deserve you. You deserve better, and no one is better than me in this world. He's been self-obsessed from the starting, has done professionalism in flirting, but only with me. It's so hard to believe that how can a person so attractive and hot and handsome ignore girls when they drool over him. He was so rude in college. I had my one and only crush in my college, but he too, ended up breaking my heart.
I don't understand why my dad and Nischay are so overprotective and obsessive over me. This asshole blackmailed my idiot crush so much before the prom that he refused to be my date. At last, being left with no option, Nischay became my date. And when I asked him what he said to him. Bitch proudly said "I just told him that I will break each one of his bone if he ever made you cry." this is the incomplete truth I know. ASSHOLEEEEE!!!
The door opens revealing Nischay holding a tray full of dinner in his hands. My mouth is literally drooling over the smell of food. He places the tray on the bed before me.
"It's hot. Carefu—
I shoved a spoonful of rice in my mouth before he could complete his warning. My mouth immediately burned. I FUCKING SHOVED A HOT SPOON OF RICE IN MY MOUTH ASSHOLE!!!!!
I blew in my mouth because I couldn't spit it out. My taste buds are burned. WHY AM I SO STUPID!?!!
I thought he would laugh at me for being so stupid but instead,
"Cool cool cool...open your mouth!" He held my face and rubbed my back. IT'S NOT THE TIME TO ADMIRE HIM, ZOYA! FUCKING CHEW THE FOOD! I opened my mouth taking air in so the hot rice would cool and covered my mouth. I finally gulped down the rice. Another embarrassing moment of my life he would laugh at. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!
WHY THE HELL AM I SO CLUMSY AND STUPID?!!
"What are you? A cannibal?" Asshole started again. "You ate like you haven't eaten from days." Why do I keep giving him reasons to laugh at every moment. I glared at him before shoving another spoonful of rice in my mouth. My mouth didn't burn this time, but my taste buds surely did. The food tasted bland. Poor me.
"I understand you're hungry. But eat slowly. It's all yours." All mine? Isn't he eating too? I glared at him and he gulps nervously. "Ahem...Mine too." The best thing about him is that he understands me without any words. Freind of mine with so many benefits.
N I S C H A Y
When I saw her standing before me, I thought it was a dream. Because of course I was dreaming about her.
Zoya,
even her name makes me feel a wildfire of emotions.
She doesn't have an idea what she does to me, what her mere existence makes me feel. She touches me and I feel fireworks. She hugs me and I feel myself on the ninth cloud. She doesn't know nothing what her smile does to me. She will never realize how crazy her hair, her eyes, her lips, and her smell makes me insane. Sometimes I imagine, what would she think if I tell her.
She is so adorable I want to cherish her for life. Keep her hidden in my heart, apart from the world, not like a caged bird but like a little butterfly. To keep her forever mine.
My little princess was so hungry that her stomach was making noises. She is so embarrassed of herself, every time. She thinks I would laugh and she's so adorable I can't help but have butterflies. Sometimes she is so cute that I just want to cup her face and kiss her.
Now when she is here, I am so delighted to have dinner with her.
I heat up the dinner and brought it to my room. My heart slips again, when I saw her. She's wrapped in blankets and literally looks like a fluffball. I think I am gonna have a hart attack. Because this woman is literally gonna be the death of me. Why is she so adorable?!!!
At this moment I literally wanted to kiss her but I got a hold on myself and placed the tray on the bed. Her eyes were sparkled at the sight of food.
"It's hot. Carefu—
I couldn't complete my words and she shoved a spoonful of sizzling hot rice in her mouth. THIS WOMAN IS REALLY GONNA BE THE DEATH OF EVERYONE I SWEAR!!
Her mouth literally burned as soon as she ate. Princess is adorable but literally lacks some brain. No, she was really hungry. I hope it doesn't hurt that bad.
"Cool cool cool...open your mouth!"
I told her and she did. I rubbed her back and held her face as she chewed.
This was all I could do to help her right now.
"What are you? A cannibal?" I laughed because she was no doubt funny. "You ate like you were starving for days." I laughed again. "It's okay. Eat slowly. It's all yours." I said but regret it just after, as if I said something wrong. She glared at me. And she doesn't need any words to tell me. Her eyes speak a lot more than she says. "All mine? Were we not eating together?" It's her words when she glares at me. "Mine too." I gulped and dug in.
This woman in front of me, she holds the power to control me. And I owe myself to her in a way that she would rule the world and I would gladly bow down to her. My whole existence means being hers and I knew there was nothing I wouldn't do for her.
I was scrolling through Insta as we were eating. I felt her eyes on me every time. She wanted to ask something it was obvious. Or
"Stop checking me out like I am your boyfriend, Zoya." I didn't look at her, but I knew she was blushing. I love it when she blushes because of me.
"I am not checking you out." She says, scoffing so that I wouldn't get any clue. But even I know that she catches glances at me every time we meet. "You were staring at me." I looked up at her and she looks away.
"I want to ask you something." She finally says. I knew it she was curious about something. So she was not checking me out?
"What is it?" I looked back into my phone. "Back then in college," She starts and I feel myself drowned in memories. I have the sweetest memories with her from back then when we were young. But what excites me is what she is going to ask about. "Mhm-mhm?" I nodded into understanding without looking away from my phone as I scrolled one more stupid reel.
"You remember Vihaan?" She picks up the worst topic to talk about. So many sweet memories of us but she always talks about people I hate to death. Of course, how could I ever forget that asshole. "What about him?" I want to look at her and ask her why she still remembers those shitty people from the past. But I don't.
"What exactly did you say to him that day?" her question caught me off guard. She literally remembers everything. No wonder why she's the best doctor. Her memory is so sharp.
"You still remember the prom?" I finally looked up at her and my eyes were curiously wide. I swear to god if she remembers every single thing, And she nods. That means she still remembers. "You remember I was your date?" excitement danced in my tone while she tried to hide the blush on her cheeks. "You ruined my date!" she looks down trying her best to not look into my eyes. Princess looks so adorable when she tries to hide her blush. Of course, I ruined her date. The guy wasn't nice for her, and I couldn't see her with someone else. I wasn't her obsessive psych best friend who would kill anyone that comes between us, But I did care for her.
Dinner was finished and I placed the empty dishes on the table. Zoya shifted comfortably under the blankets and rested herself against the headboard as she opened her phone. I turned off the lights and she immediately looked at me startled. "I don't like brightness." I said and turned on the night lamp getting inside the blankets with her. The room was so cozy, warm and covered in a blue dim light, just as I like it. Zoya was scrolling through her Instagram, when I peeped inside her phone as I lied beside her resting my head on her shoulder.
"What did you say to him that he clearly refused to be my date?" Her sudden question caught me off guard as I looked at her. But she scrolled her finger up, swiping one more puppy reel. She didn't look at me while asking the question, so I could tell that she still feels mad about the thing that someone refused to her for the very first time in her life. It's so funny how she doesn't know that I was the reason behind her not having a perfect boyfriend in college. I couldn't tell her that I was the reason why every guy she dated broke up with her.
"You blackmailed him. Didn't you?" she asks again as she likes another post by the guy she calls 'bunny'. I was in deep thoughts about how to answer her question. I couldn't tell her what exactly happened the day before the prom night.
Vihaan glared at me when I showed him the photos. His eyes piercing through the screen of my phone, he quickly snatched it from my hand. I scoffed looking away and continued on chewing the gum in my mouth. Asshole really thinks he's smart. "Should I repeat my words?" I said to him when he was busy furiously tapping his fingers on my phone, deleting the photos that held his secrets. Man is a fuckboy and has fucked almost every girl in the college. I hated him the entire session of our college but I didn't have anything to do with him.
Only if he had tried to even lay a single finger on Zoya, I would have ripped his skull off his body, and he would be buried six feet under the ground by now.
He doesn't dare to touch her until she has me. But Vihaan had her on his aim and eyed her like a predator ever since we joined. He was the senior.
"Who do you think you are?!" he growled waving the phone before my eyes, smiling in victory as if he's just won a whole country. "Her bodyguard??" he smirks at me, eyes wide enough that I could see the nerve vessels inside. Vihaan throws my phone upon the table and passes by me, hitting on my shoulder. I smirked, without looking back at him.
"You think it's done if you deleted the photos." He was backing me, but I could feel him clenching his fists as his frustration and anger fumes up in his mind. I hide my smirk looking down at my feet. Vihaan storms to me and clenched my jacket from behind in his fist. "Dude, I've got nothing to do with you." Sarcasm dripped like drool from my blindly sweet words, as I lowkey smiled at him, frustrating his blood to erupt. I jerked him away from me, coming back to myself, putting up on that cold dead stare.
Zoya once said "You are so rude and arrogant to everyone but me." And I want to smile so wide remembering that she's right. I am so cold to everyone but a sweet softie who melts like butter for her. No one makes me smile like she does, and I don't want to gift my precious smile to anyone else but her. Because she captivates me in a way no one ever did. Zoya says that people often ask her to teach them how I am so sweet with her. Bullshit. No one can be her.
"I still have the pen drive that carries every photo you just deleted." I spat at his face. Vihaan's smirk vanished. "Swear to god, your photos will be uploaded at the school community board and as the top headline of the newspaper tomorrow if you tried to play." Vihaan scoffs nervously. His jaws clenching as he holds my collar in anger, muttering useless curses under his breath. I scoffed at him looking at my side, thinking how pathetic the human before me was. "I got nothing to do with you. Just fucking leave my best friend alone and you'll be held free like a bird." I stared at his face, feeling disgusted to be touched by an asshole like him.
He tries to make up a thought to come with, and chimes in suddenly. "Why would I leave her so soon when I had been waiting for the time?" he says, making me clench my jaws. For a minute I want to punch him in the face so desperately, but I hold myself back. "You don't want to be dead. Do you?" I laughed at him, and he glared.
"You are in love with her, aren't you?" he says, and my fists clenched. "That's why you are keeping her specially preserved for yourself, right?" his disgusting words and fucking cheap thoughts make me wanna beat him until he dies. Only I know how much I am holding myself, for Zoya. She probably must be waiting for this asshole to ask him out for date, and I need him to refuse clearly. Only if it weren't for Zoya, I would have killed this man by now.
"I waited every day, every minute seeking for a chance to talk to her, and now the time has come when she would be my girlfriend, my one-night stand." He smirks wickedly, fingers brushing softly against my shirt. His cheap imagination about her makes me want to hang him upside down in a dungeon and I wish I could beat him up to death.
"Imagine," he whispers seductively in my ears, to provoke me and I do so much. "How I would slowly remove every piece of cloth from her body, my hands running all over her smooth skin, filling each and every hole of hers, kissing and biting, creating my marks all over her body. Imagine how I would fuck her uncontrollably until she's ruined before you and you'll just watch—
My veins almost popped out of my neck and arms when the anger lashed out and he was caught off guard by the punch I threw on his face. Hearing what he imagines about her makes me wanna pull his brain out of his skull and shove it inside his own mouth and make him swallow his own dirty cheap fantasies he's been imagining.
He did punch me, as to fight back. But I stopped, even though I was so mad I could kill him right now.
My anger was fuming so insanely in my mind I was going crazy. Madly desperate to beat him, but I couldn't. Because it wasn't what Zoya would want, and this was clearly not the time. It's just two hours before the prom, and she might be getting ready by now. I sighed and grabbed his phone, while he was holding his jaw and groaning in pain.
"Hey, Zoya. I am sorry I will no longer be able to be your date today. I am so sorry, but I just got a girlfriend. I hope you understand. So, sorry. xoxo"
I typed the text and sent it to her. This isn't mine text to her, but this is exactly what Vihaan would say. A smile covers my lips when the grey tick turns into blue, means she has seen the message. So, she would no longer be waiting for this asshole.
I blocked Zoya's number and deleted it from his phone. Scoffing, I glanced at Vihaan for the last time before throwing his phone back on the table as I smiled leaving to get ready for the prom.
Zoya must be waiting for her new date.
"NISCHAY?!?!!" Zoya shakes me for the third time pulling me out of the flashback. I stare at her like I was a newborn baby who just saw the world. I drive of memory into our back days, it feels like I am just now going to the prom, and she would be waiting for me with flowers in her hand, wearing the red gown. As if it was just yesterday we met. I stare at her the same as I stared when I saw her in the red prom dress, and she was flushed because of nervousness. I want to smile.
"Can you like telepath or something??" Zoya says catching me off guard. Sarcasm dripping from her words. I come back to reality from my sweet imaginations, which were once true. I stare at her not getting any of what she meant. She scoffed at me and moved me away, going back to her phone. "I asked you a simple question, but you seem like you're thinking some kind of historic theory to tell." She says coldly, having her gaze fixed at the screen of her phone.
I smile looking at her, admiring how much she changed in these years. I am now realizing that she keeps getting prettier every day, as I had dived into the deep ocean of overwhelming sweet memories.
I rested my head back at her shoulders and hugged her arm like she was a soft toy. Wait, Zoya is literally watching her phone for like one hour. Isn't she like tried? I remember she was so sleepy she couldn't even hold her eyes up. But here she is, watching her favorite show for the nth time literally.
"Forget about that asshole, Zoya. He wasn't nice as you think he was. We had a little fight before I met you. You remember I had my lips bruised up? That's because he punched me. He was going to cheat you with his girlfriend. So, I had to teach him a perfect lesson so he wouldn't play around you again. Of course, I had to do it."
I told her the whole story, keeping off the part about my and his convo. But she didn't reply to any of what I said. And then I realize, she was wearing her earphones.
I looked at her and found she had fallen asleep. I laughed admiring how adorable she looked while sleeping. I took off her earphones and turned off her phone before laying her on the mattress and covered her with the blankets making sure she could breathe.
I wonder if she heard my words.
TBC