Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
DHRITHI
Dhrithi scanned the busy hospital corridors looking for the boards that would lead her to the right floor. She’d finally managed to escape the theatrics of what was going down at the Gokhale residence, with some help from Virat. And she’d come straight to the hospital for her checkup.
And to see Amay of course. The urge to see him, to look into his calm, steady eyes, was an itch beneath her skin that she just couldn’t scratch.
She stepped up to the reception counter, joining the queue there and waiting her turn. Her phone buzzed angrily inside her handbag, but she didn’t pull it out. It was either her parents or Varun’s and she wasn’t interested in speaking with either of them and listening to their abuse.
Her nerves thrummed, her anxiety a steady hum that had her entire body vibrating.
“Next!” The lady behind the counter had the largest wart Dhrithi had ever seen in real life hanging off her cheek. It was rather disconcerting to make conversation with someone whose wart was large enough to warrant a place at the table.
“I’m here to see Dr. Amay Aatre,” Dhrithi said, averting her eyes from the wart. Was it her imagination or was it looking bigger? “I’m scheduled for a post-surgical review.”
“Dr. Aatre is in surgery. Dr. Aarushi Rawat will see you instead.” Wart Lady pounded away at her keyboard, a ferocious frown on her face.
Dhrithi’s heart sank. “I’d rather wait for Dr. Aatre. Do you know when he’ll be done?”
Wart Lady raised her gaze from her computer screen, outrage oozing from her every pore. “It’s surgery madam. Emergency surgery. How can we predict when he will be done?”
“Oh.” Suitably chastened, Dhrithi handed over her file. “I’ll just see Dr. Rawat then.” Disappointment sat like a lead balloon in her stomach. She’d gotten so used to Amay’s steady, reassuring presence that she’d forgotten that he had a whole life that didn’t include her.
The woman slapped her file down on the counter and said, “Fifth floor.”
Dhrithi took the elevator to the fifth floor and approached the reception area there. She paid for her review and then went to sit in a vacant chair in the crowded waiting area to wait her turn.
After an interminable forty-five minutes, they called her name and she was ushered in to see Dr. Rawat. It was the young lady doctor who’d come on rounds to her room, she realised.
She smiled at her, but the doctor was too busy perusing the file to notice.
“Please lie down,” she said, her voice impersonal and a tad impatient. “Sister will help you get ready for the examination.”
Dhrithi allowed the nurse to help her into a disposable robe and lay down on the bed in the corner of the room.
“Any pain?” The doctor asked appearing behind the screen, snapping her gloves into place around her wrists.
“A little.”
“Any fever?”
“No.”
With a grunt, Dr. Rawat started examining the surgical sites, her brow furrowed in concentration.
“All good,” she announced a moment later. “You can get up now.”
Without waiting for a response, she disappeared behind the curtain leaving Dhrithi to fumble her way back into a sitting position. When she finally emerged from there and sat down, Dr. Aarushi Rawat handed her a prescription.
“This should take care of any lingering soreness,” she said. “Is there anything else?”
“I was wondering if Dr. Aatre would be free to see me now.” Dhrithi slipped the prescription into her file without looking at it.
“Why?”
The blunt question had Dhrithi startling. “He was my doctor. I’d like to-‘
“I was your doctor too.” Dr Rawat leaned back in her chair, a contemplative look on her face.
Dhrithi fell silent. “Thank you for your time,” she told the other woman and stood to leave.
“He’s in surgery,” Dr. Rawat told her, looking up at her with that strange look still in place on her face. “I can leave him a message.”
“That won’t be necessary. Thank you.”
“Mrs. Gokhale.” That hated name stopped her by the door. “It’s not a good idea for you to build castles in the air.”
“I beg your pardon?” Dhrithi stiffened, her angry gaze meeting the other woman’s pitying one.
“You have enough problems. Don’t add to them. And more importantly, don’t add to his.” Dr. Rawat dismissed her by bending towards the file on her desk, not bothering to watch her leave.
We’ll talk.
Amay’s quiet promise from earlier that day echoed in her head as she found her way through the crowded hospital corridors. She pulled out her phone and checked it. No call or message from him.
He was busy. He was in surgery. It wasn’t like he could take a break to message or call her.
She punched the button for the elevator and waited along with the horde of people milling around for the same reason. She would just have to wait for him to get home that night to have the conversation she knew they both desperately needed to have.
Don’t add to his problems.
She was doing that, wasn’t she? She’d not just added to his problems, she’d dumped a truckload of them on his doorstep.
The doors slid open and there he was. Standing at the back, his arms folded across his chest, his scrubs looking crumpled and stained, a surgical cap still perched on his head. He looked exhausted, lines of fatigue etched into his lean, austere face.
“Amay!”
The name escaped her before she could control herself. She saw his colleague glance at him in surprise as she stepped into the lift. There were too many people between them for her to reach him. She tried but she couldn’t make it through. She slowed her struggle when she realised he wasn’t making an effort to get closer to her.
Dhrithi stilled, meeting Amay’s guarded gaze and what she saw in it made her heart quail. Gone was the friend she remembered, the man who’d teased and coaxed her back to health, the one who’d helped her find her feet in a world gone mad. Gone was the Amay who’d kissed her senseless, teaching her mind and body to feel again.
He stood in silence, frost and reserve cloaking him. A bitter shield against the world and anyone who thought they could get close.
This was the man who’d operated on her, who’d stared at her like she was a nightmare from his past. Or rather like she’d brought the nightmares of his past into his present.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, people streaming out of it, lessening the congestion in the cramped space. She stepped to one side, averting her gaze from him, keenly aware of the fact that he hadn’t greeted her.
The elevator cab kept emptying out as they stopped at different floors. Constantly jostled by people, Dhrithi found herself shunted back until she was standing beside Amay. She didn’t look at him, preferring instead to stare straight ahead.
She didn’t miss the fact that he shifted slightly, putting more distance between them, almost as if he didn’t want to touch her, even by mistake.
Dhrithi blinked back hurt tears as her fragile hopes crumbled and scattered like dust in a storm.
When the doors slid open at the floor she needed to get off on, she stepped forward only to come to an abrupt halt. His strong fingers wrapped around her wrist stopping her from going anywhere. Dhrithi glanced at his hand and then back at his face.
“Yes?” she asked.
“You are well?” he demanded, his voice low and controlled. “The checkup went okay?”
The doors slid shut and the elevator began its upward glide to another floor. Dhrithi growled, a frustrated sound that startled the few people left in the elevator.
“Yes.” Dhrithi yanked her hand out of his grip, massaging her wrist in a vain bid to erase the imprint of his long fingers on her skin. “It went well. Thank you for concern.”
“I’m only concerned as your doctor,” he said stiffly.
“Well, don’t be,” she snapped. “I’m doing great thanks to your stellar work. I’ll make sure I give you a five star review on Google or something.”
“Thanks,” he said dryly. “It would probably save my career.”
The doors slid open again and she marched out, not bothering to check which floor it was. Amay’s eyes drilled holes into her back but she didn’t bother to look around. She’d get home and pack up her stuff and move out of his place. She didn’t need this. She didn’t need another man messing with her head. She didn’t need him, the one guy she’d believed would never hurt her, dragging her on this emotional rollercoaster.
She blinked back the tears that stung her eyes.
Dammit. She didn’t need him but she wanted him. She wanted him so bad!