Home (DISCONTINUED)

10. win

10. win

There was a grim aura in the surrounding, a chime with an eerie sound, fresh air yet it felt suffocating, open ground but still caged, and the crowd made them feel lonely, as the noise fell deaf on her ears, and his eyes, were stationed at her. She was seated on the old steps, half broken, half withered, yet firm enough to hold her burdened self, and he did not what else to do but sit by her. Today he had crossed a line, well, Aarohi knew he crossed a lot of lines before, to make her quit and she had well ignored them, only because they were silly, harmless, a little too different way to get her to back off but today, well this was her last straw at tolerating his shenanigans.

And if he truly, desperately wanted her to quit, so much that he had gone to the ends of the world to make this happen, well, then this was it.

She quit.

For a while, some couple of minutes, or maybe hours, none of them spoke, not he, not she. But she did have her gaze focal on a fewer steps downward and he had his gaze focal on her.

"Dr. Goenka..."

He tried, for this first time in his life, he took initiative, mostly because he knew this time he took it too far, or maybe for once, he wanted to hear his very sassy Dr. Goenka speak up again and she did, she cut him off immediately as she stood frozen in her seat. Her eyes were still pointed towards the steps downwards, and she chuckled.

"Surgeon Rathore," Aarohi chuckled, shaking her head, in a feeble attempt to shake off the tears from her eyes, miserably failing since Aryan's sharp gaze caught them well. "You know that step, the one below the yellowish one," She pointed and Aryan was forced to look at her pointed finger, "that one is where my mother slipped her leg, rolled down the stairs, and died right in my arms, bloodied, and instantly, and you know the last name she said was..." Aarohi stopped, she hated how the last memory she had of her mother was also not for her, "it was Akshu, as in my elder sister, as in the bestest Goenka to ever exist." Aarohi sighed, smiling, a sarcastic, humorless smile, a smile readily haunting Aryan because he hated how Aarohi was acting right now. "At the hour of her death, she took the name of the girl who was not even her actual daughter, and the reason of her death, honestly. But that is how the entire family has been treating Akshara, and that is why I decided to leave them, leave my silly vengenance back here and start afresh only to come across you..."

Aryan looked at her, she was hurt beyong anything and the guilt he wanted to avoid came surging back to him, "listen, Dr. Goenka..."

"You took me in your team after insulting me, you put me to work for three months with admin and paperwork, you never gave me a chance to be at par with the other residents," Aarohi said it all in a calm rage, the kind of rage Aryan was famous for, "you bombarded me with so much work that I passed out in exhaustion, you spread a rumor about me sleeping with you, and you never let a single day go by where I could have a fruitful day and you only wanted me to leave the hospsital when you could have easily fired me but yet, yet you wanted to fulfil your ego." Aarohi now met his eyes, for a change, their roles were reversed, "so this it..." Aryan felt his hearbeats slow down at her words, like she was controlling them, "I quit, sir, you win."

Aryan looked at the girl, now re-thinking his decision and even though these were the words he wanted to hear from her, somehow, it was not sitting well with him. Aarohi sighed, a heavy sigh, a frustrated sigh, a regretful sigh, and she turned to meet his eyes, they carried no expressions, no feelings, nothing.

"I'll be sending you my official letter tomorrow when I'll be coming by the hospital to collect my stuff." She got up, dusted her long blue kurta and tied her hair in a messy bun, and without a single glance at the arrogant surgeon, moved away, fading with every single step she took away from him and Aryan Singh Rathore was speechless for the first time, he could have said a lot of things but he did not, he could have avoided doing a lot of things, but he did not, in fact he could have turned this day into something different but he could not.