Maya knocks on Akshay's door, carrying a tray of snacks. Akshay returned that morning from Mumbai after such a long time. After returning he didn't even talk to her once, but Maya could not complain because it had always been this way. Akshay goes into a different zone when he's busy with work and Maya has grown used to it by now. Akshay is a hot and cold person. One minute, he will have all the time in the world for you and the next he'll be too busy to even care. Maya knows that even if doesn't look like he does, he cares a lot. It's just that his priority has always been work.
Akshay opens the door to Maya. After a tiring day, looking at Maya is the best thing that could happen for Akshay. He was so consumed by the documents that he barely said anything to her since morning. Now that he looked at her standing in front of him, with a tray in her hand filled with delicious food. If this is not the best way to end the day, then what is? He invited her in and she placed the tray on his desk, sitting down.
"Hmm. I smell something delicious."
"Here, this is Moong Dal Pakoda and this is Besan Chilla with curd. Trademark Rajasthani food." Akshay sat down beside Maya as he dug into his food with a smile. Maya looks at his dark circles as she wonders how stressed he has been recently.
"How is it?" Akshay looks at her with his eyes wide.
"Nothing short of heaven." Maya shakes her head at how ingenious he sounded.
"Don't exaggerate."
"No, really. Maybe it's because I didn't have homemade food in a while that these taste so good, but they do."
"Fine. Have at it, then." Maya says and goes silent.
"Have one. Here." Akshay takes a Pakoda and feeds Maya. Maya looked at Akshay in surprise as he moved closer to her. Akshay placed his arm on the backrest of Maya's chair, his hand gracing her shoulder. Akshay pushed this chair closer to Maya as his heart raced at their proximity. He had never been this close to Maya, especially not with the intent of what he had in his mind. Since that day on the trip when he found Ranav looking at Maya, Akshay was all but insecure with what he saw there. Ranav's eyes held something that weakened Akshay's resolve to confess to Maya. The lost look on Ranav's and with the intensity which he looked at Maya pushed him into thinking that his love was still not enough. Can he ever love Maya enough? His insecurity has grown with each day he spent apart from her. Maybe it was because of that insecurity that he refused to let things be between him and Maya. Maybe, that's what pushed him to not hold back anymore. Maybe in the absence of the man who could potentially be his rival, he could unfold his out story with Maya and finally make a move. All these thoughts swarmed his head as he inched closer to Maya. Every speck of distance he covered between them encouraged him to go even closer. He looked at Maya's lips, a weird sensation contrasting his chest. His arm on her chair grazed her shoulder and Maya jerked back as if she snapped from the spell. Quickly Maya stood up to leave. Before Akshay can conjure up any reason or even an apology for what happened, Maya beats a hasty retreat out of the room and Akshay is left in a deplorable state.
Akshay knocked down the books placed on the desk, and they fell to the ground bringing the food down along with them. As the plates clattered on the floor, Akshay tried to take deep breaths, not understanding why Maya pulled away or why it felt so painful she did. He never made an attempt to physically get closer to Maya, but he never expected her reaction to the proximity to be so unwelcoming. It reminded him of the time in college when a guy named Nick dropped Maya at her home and Akshay saw them. Maya was clear that they were just friends when he asked her, but he could never feel relaxed. He was so agitated whenever she went to college and came home late. Every day, he waited at her house until she got home before he went back home.
Akshay dropped on his bed with his overflowing emotions and the hidden reason behind them. Maya's rejection that day was deeply ingrained in his consciousness and Akshay never realised what was the motivation behind Maya's feelings. It was not that they were never physically that close. No, they had always been comfortable with each other physically but that was because they were just friends or so they pretended, but now, that Akshay made a move, Maya was not ready.
In her room, Maya was lost in her own dilemma of what happened just moments ago. Whenever she looked at Akshay, she felt as if she was being drawn by an invisible string towards him as if she was under some spell. The psychological pull that she just experienced was new to her. As they got closer, she felt as if the back of her mind was set on fire, tugging her towards the flames that embraced her. The headache still lingered as she lay in her bed reminiscing the bizarre moment that just happened.
***
Time is such a confusing thing to happen. One can never anticipate what awaits them in the next minute. No sooner did Maya get the news that Dr. Abhimmanyu Birla was back in town did she first think about that strange friend she missed all these days. As soon as she got a call from Abhimmnayu, the first thing that came to her mind was Ranav. It had only been two weeks since he left in a frenzy to meet his dad and time flew by in his absence. Though Maya had little knowledge of what really went down in Ranav's family, she could tell that it was no less than the drama in her life. Since she had already spilt all her secrets with him, she wished Ranav also shared more about his past with him just so she could feel even with him.
"Oh, no. he's gonna stay a few more days. I am not sure if he will come back to Rajkot since the camp has ended. He'll probably just go back to Udaipur." The instant disappointment Maya felt upon hearing what Abhimanyu said surprised her more than the words themselves. Of course, he would stay there for a while and leave for Udaipur. His father seemingly woke up after 18 years and the camp has long ended, he doesn't have any reason to come back to Rajkot, Maya told herself. "Anyways, the reason I called is that I need a favour from you. I have received an invitation to attend a gallery opening. Actually, the hospital has been a sponsor for the charity organization that is holding this art gallery. This time the theme is Neurology and I wouldn't be able to make it, so I need someone to replace me and it has to be a doctor. Can you attend in my place, if you don't mind?"
"Ah, but do I qualify as a doctor? I mean I am not even practising yet."
"You are doctor enough. They don't really care about who attends on my behalf and I couldn't really ask my staff for something like this, so I could only ask you. Since you already declined my offer at Birla Hospitals, at least go to the gallery representing me."
"I don't have a problem attending since it's on the weekend and I didn't really decline your offer. I have little experience so I want to learn more before I stand as an employee in your hospital."
"I know Maya. I believe you will reach heights in this field. For a doctor, there is nothing bigger than the life of their patient and you proved it more than once. It takes guts to interfere in another doctor's case even if you know you're right." Abhimanyu said, reminding Maya of the incident that happened at the camp when Maya butted heads with a 2-year resident who diagnosed a patient with nothing more than an allergy when it was actually atopic dermatitis. Maya had pointed out that the symptoms did show an allergic reaction but the previous health reports of the patient showed no history of such reactions before. So she pointed out that it is very unlikely to be an allergy. This helped them do more tests and find out that it was actually a skin disease that had caused the reaction. Even though atopic dermatitis mostly happens to children, it can be acquired at any age. The senior was definitely unhappy with Maya's involvement but it made everyone else at the camp quite hostile towards Maya since. Maya was not discouraged by the hostility as it came at the cost of doing something right. "Now all you need to do is prepare for a small speech."
"What? I am going to give a speech there?" Maya does not have any problem with being on stage, but she hadn't expected that she would be required to give a speech. Usually, it takes quite a lot of time to prepare a speech and she could barely catch up with the assignments she received from her mentor in London and the workload from her job. She's already packed with work.
"Well the speech will be taken care of by my assistant, all you have to do is finalize it according to your liking and deliver it on stage. If it hadn't been for the speech, it wouldn't have mattered if no one went on my behalf. I know this might be a trouble for you, it's okay if you can't but I really only had a few options and you were the best among them."
"I mean, I don't have a problem as such. Fine, I'll make it work."
"My god, thank you. Maya, now I owe you a favour. You can ask me in the future if you need anything." Abhimanyu takes a breath of relief. Now he doesn't have to worry about someone doing a bad job in his absence.
"I'll hold you on that." Maya hangs up. She lays back on the sofa as she twirls the soft satin ends of her Kurta. This is one of the dresses that Ranav has selected that day. Maya can't lie that Ranav has great taste in clothing. No wonder he always looked so good in whatever he wore. He just knows how to dress himself. Maya wonders if she should ask him to pick more dresses for her when he returns. If he returns...
***