''The truth is, I pretend to be a cynic, but in reality I am dreamer, who is terrified of wanting something she may never get" - Joanna Hoffman
"By God Mumma. I ate my lunch. Have dry fruits in my bag. And I am not dying due to exhaustion any time soon", Nandini exclaimed into her phone, and Meera and Dev who were sitting opposite her in the canteen, started laughing softly watching her dramatically roll her eyes. Nandini glared at them, but it had zero effect as they only laughed harder, even at the prospect of gaining attention from others.
Shaking her head, Nandini disconnected the phone and kept her head on the table, sighing.
"You know she bugs because she cares right?", Dev softly ruffled her hairs, and Nandini pouted as she sat straight.
"I know, but she needs to stop taking so much stress, especially just for my food habits", she shook her head, earning a chuckle from both Dev and Meera.
"But guys, I can't wait for the month to end, shifts to change so that I can work under Dr. Manik. Man, Nandini you are so damn lucky", Meera gushed, and Dev rolled his eyes at her, making Nandini giggle hard. He could never understand the obsession women in this hospital had with Dr. Manik.
Nandini had her own solemn moment at the mention of his name. Though it had been close to two weeks since she had joined, and she had fallen into a set routine, there were this instances when Manik still intrigued her. He was this mystery and she wanted to dug deeper into it, as and however possible.
"But Nandini", Meera huffed as she kept both her palms on the table, "How can you work with him, and not gush? He is such an eye candy plus he is so good natured!", Meera questioned, like she did everyday, and Nandini shook her head in fake annoyance to dodge the question.
"I toh love him, how can you not?", Meera gushed again, and the dreamy heart eyes she made aggrevated the entire fangirl effect. Nandini again rolled her eyes.
"Like seriously? You know nothing about him and you love him already?", Nandini laughed, trying to hide the slight flutter her heart did at the mention of the L word and Manik in the same sentence.
"So what? Haven't you heard about love at first sight? Also, I can always know him later", Meera defended, and Dev raised his eyebrows at her, while Nandini mirrored Dev's expression with a bit of annoyance reflecting in her eyes.
"No Meera, Love at first sight isn't actually love, okay? It's kind of an attraction, either to someone's physical features or their good nature, but love is a deeper emotion. You love someone means you accept their flaws with their strengths, and you cannot know about someone's flaws without actually knowing them. You are attracted to Dr. Manik, probably infatuated, but love? No baby", Nandini smiled, playing with the loose strand of her hair.
Meera pouted, knowing well that Nandini was cent percent right. But she also wasn't the type to give up that soon.
"So you mean to say you aren't even attracted to him?", Meera shot the question at her directly, and Nandini knew she could not dodge it again and again. Meera would bug her until she had her answer.
"I am. Attracted. But not to his features or his kindness. I am attracted to this certain serious brooding mysterious personality he maintains, I want to know what goes inside that brain which is ruling the field of psychiatry in India. I want to decode him, and I am aware he is a person and not a bomb, but like I said, his mystery draws me to him", Nandini answered, and that was exactly what went in head these days. She was a psychiatrist, it was her job to decode people and their thoughts, their inner feelings, but with Manik, she found herself incapable to even map the surface.
Of course her tiny crush on his candy face and his delicious brain was still there somewhere, but she wasn't going to tell that out to Meera.
"So what to do you think he does when not here? Street fighting? Hurting himself by punching the wall? Singing sad songs on his guitar?", Meera squealed, and while Nandini burst into loud laughter this time, Dev was the one who rolled his eyes.
"What in the name of God are you saying?", he was literally confused as why would Meera think any of those scenarios.
"She is thinking this to be either some cheesy fan fiction or some romantic TV serial where the male leads behave this particular way, clichés I tell you!", Nandini enlightened Dev who made a very disgusted face and Meera sat pouting at both of them. Nandini could now finally see how big of a drama queen her room mate actually was.
"You guys are no fun. That's how it happens in stories na? Sad guy, lively girl. And she teaches him to live again, smile again and all that!", Meera was adamant on her point as she tried explaining further, only to receive a shaking of head from Nandini.
"Are you crazy? What's the girl's profession in these stories? Personal therapist? And what's this teaching to live again? The guy doesn't forget to breathe, does he? And there is no one who never smiles, no matter how broken hearted your hero is, okay? Grow up!!!!!", Dev literally blasted and it amused the hell out of Nandini who was having the time of her life at her bickering friends.
Meera pouted first, but when neither Dev nor Nandini paid any heed to her, she made a face and started to collect her lab coat and stetho.
"No true romantic here, my bad. Practical fools, I tell you!", Meera blabbered to herself and left, leaving behind both Dev and Nandini in hilarious laughter.
"Was she serious? Such stories exist?", Dev asked Nandini, as she paid the bill at the canteen.
"Are you serious Dev? What world do you live in? Haven't you seen any Rom-Coms or read these kinda fanfiction? Of course they exist!", Nandini chided him, laughing at his lack of knowledge as they walked towards the department together. Dev looked at her like she had grown two horns on her head.
" So why didn't you support Ms. Drama queen?", Dev questioned and Nandini bit her lip, guilty.
"Well because these kind of stories are my guilty pleasures but I don't believe that's what happens in real life?", she answered it like a question and Dev chuckled, laughing at how two opposite poles he had gotten together, as his friends and colleagues.
An hour later, Nandini was done with her rounds and updating the medicines. She collected the two patient files she needed Manik's guidance for further treatment and walked out towards his cabin, but when she reached him, the voice coming from inside stopped her from entering.
"Manik, come on? Just a few drinks. It's the weekend!", Dr. Simran's voice reached her ears and despite all her moral policing, she could not help but eavesdrop.
Dr. Simran was a lady in her late thirties, a few years older to Manik, and was known for her friendly attitude. Over the past two weeks Nandini had already deduced that Dr Manik and Dr Simran were friends, she had never known how close until today.
"Simi, you know I don't like crowds, it makes me uncomfortable", Manik tried to refuse her, but Simran tilted her head and glared at him.
"Please Manik? It's not important to spend every waking minute either in the hospital or alone in that apartment of yours. You should go out, make friends. I don't remember the last time we hanged out, it has been that long!", Simran pestered, trying to convince him. Some days, she really fretted over him too much, but that was because she actually cared about Manik and she didn't like him trying to cut himself off from mostly every one except this department that he treated like family.
"What Kartik isn't home or something? Why don't you husband wife go on a date and let the poor man have his line time?", Manik's tease lifted a huge boulder from Nandini's shoulder, who was still standing outside, frozen, unable to understand how to react and why the hell was she so uncomfortable with Dr. Simran wanting to take Manik out?
"He has a conference to attend and I am not attending his boring neuro lectures. And you are accompanying me, that's final. No more discussions. I am picking you after evening rounds!", Simran announced, leaving no room for discussion and Manik had to agree. He anyway knew his best friend was a tough nut to crack.
As soon as Nandini got the hint that Simran had stood up, she immediately turned on her heels and walked back to the ward. Obviously, being caught eavesdropping wasn't going to be a good thing, was it?
A good chunk of time later, Nandini knocked on Manik's cabin door along with Shweta, who was carrying the tea. Manik looked up from the book he was reading and ushered them in.
"Dr Shweta, you know well you aren't here to bring me tea right?", Manik's complaining voice surprised Nandini. She didn't know he cared that much about the residents, because she had seen some professers actually treating the residents as their peons.
"Yes Sir, but Ward boy wasn't there. He had gone down with a patient, and the tea would have been cold if I waited for him", Shweta shrugged nonchalantly.
Sometimes Nandini was really jealous of the easy comrardie between Manik and Shweta, or for that say, most of his residents. They were comfortable with him in a way she wasn't and it went both ways because she could see Manik wasn't very comfortable with her either.
Nandini forwarded him the files while Shweta served him the tea. As Manik and Nandini started discussing drugs available for this treatment resistant schizophrenia, Shweta listened aptly because she knew she would eventually need to know.
It was when Manik sipped the tea while changing the drugs that his expression changed and Nandini rolled in her lower lip to not smile.
Manik was astonished, because in the last three years, nobody had made him this perfect a tea. It was always more sugar or less sugar, never his taste appropriat for he liked exactly two and a half spoon sugar in his tea. Whoever made the tea, usually the residents or the ward boy did, they put either two spoons or three spoons, which was why it was never according to his taste. He had tried telling them numerous time, but since the last ward boy left, nobody had made him a tea he liked.
Before he could express his doubt though, Shweta was called out by another resident and she asked for his permission and left. Manik didn't say anything but the expression of content on his face, after the tea, it was like Nandini's treasure. She did a little victory dance in her head before deciding to talk to him, because she needed to know him, to figure him our, or so she explained herself.
"Did you like the tea?", she asked softly when Manik put the cup down, taking him by quite surprise.
Though Manik had began treating him like any other student, there was this thin line of awkwardness with her, and in respect of that, he tried keeping his communication with her to the minimum outside work.
"Yes. Yeah. It was really good", he smiled politely.
"Thank you. I remembered specifically that you preferred two and a half spoon sugar!", Nandini smiled back, and was half sure she would be thrown out for her this little attempt at flirting, but seemed like Manik was more stunned then offended.
Dr. Manik was stunned was actually an understatement, because he wasn't used to people remembering details about him. It had been a year and a half and Shweta could not remember his tea preferences and here Nandini had picked it up in two weeks. He was thoroughly surprised and confused because he didn't know what to make of it.
The ringing of his cell phone broke their moment and Nandini nodded at him, picking the files and walking out. As she crossed his door, her lips broke into a wide smile at the irony of their moment.
Ringing of a cell phone, seriously?
Maybe Clichés weren't that rare in real life then!