"Scalpel please," Her hands trembled as she forwarded them. "You can do it right?" The senior doctor looked at the anxious figure, the lines on her forehead showed how tensed she was. "Yes, yes I can," she said as she lifted her mask. Her eyes shined as she began to operate, she was focused and determined. It was her first surgery, no one could've wondered that anxious girl will be running her own hospital some years later. Her eyes flinched as she saw the red blood flowing inside the patient's body. She hushed as she backed, "Focus" Said the senior doctor as he looked straight into her eyes. "You can do it" The only words that gave her confidence in that room filled with the smell of blood and toxins, he was his mentor as an intern, Dr. Kamal Vajpayee, he had been working in that hospital for more than 20 years.
Nirvaani nodded as she took a deep breath.
"Give me the knife," She said to the nearby doctor, Dr. Vajpayee nodded to the doctor as she gave Nirvaani the knife.
Before she could begin, another doctor said, "You're going to kill the patient, be fast." Nirvaani looked at her side, she was Dr. Maya Bansal another senior doctor who didn't seem to like her much, she was strict and kinda rude to her. actually, she was not the only one Dr. Bansal was rude to.
Nirvani took another deep breath and looked at the patient's body,
Blood, pieces of muscles, and whatnot?
"Now," She said as she started opening the person's ribcage.
She knew what she was doing, her eyes were fixed on the body and her moves were slow and calculated. That's what showed her zero experience, she was no different than other interns at their first surgeries, anxious, focused, scared, keen...all at once.
_
"How does it feel" Asked doctor Vajpayee as he took off his mask. Nirvaani smiled at him while taking off her white coat which had a slight blood stain near the pocket, "Amazing, I never thought it would be so difficult to operate a living person." Doctor Vajpeyee chuckled as he walked out of the cabinet with Nirvaani, "Indeed it is, when it's a dead body you can't kill a dead person but when you're operating a live person his life depends on your actions. And it's difficult to even think in that environment, you were a bit anxious but you did a great job as an intern." Nirvaani smiled hearing his words.
"So now, rest?" Dr. Vajpayee asked as he went to his cabin. "Rest?" Nirvaani asked, "No, not at all I've too many tasks to complete today. I don't have time for that." Nirvaani said as she walked Dr. Vajpayee into his cabin, he looked at her with a confused face. "You've been working since morning, take a break you don't need to push yourself very hard from the beginning." Nirvaani gave him a comforting smile "Everyone works 7-8 hours a day, but not everyone becomes successful, right? If I want to grow I need to push harder than others." Nirvaani said as she bowed before taking her leave, she was determined to succeed, she aimed to become a top-tier neurosurgeon, no wonder why her schedule was always tight.
"I'll take my leave now sir." She slightly closed the glass door as she walked outside in the corridor. She took out her phone and the first thing that came to her mind was her father. She was excited to let him know that finally, she did her first successful surgery.
She was so excited to tell him all that, that instead of typing her father's name, her fingers went to the dial board, her fingers moved like they had dialed that number hundreds of times.
"Hello," a Deep and hoarse voice answered from the other end, he coughed before speaking another word "What's the matter, Niru?" He asked casually. Nirvaani was so excited that she started blabbering like a 5-year-old telling his mom about his first day at school. "You know what Dad! Today I finally did my first surgery as an intern, oh my god!!I can't tell you how amazing it was, and when I said *scalpel please* It was the best feeling in the world I just can't explain how proud I felt after that and-" Her words were interrupted by a voice of Dr. Bansal shouting her name from behind. "Dad, just a minute I'll call you back" Her dad hmmed in response as she hung up the call and turned behind. "Yes ma'am," She said as she bowed. "Don't get too excited about surgery, it's a part of your career, not an achievement." Dr. Bansal said as she rolled her eyes. "Sorry ma'am" Nirvaani's head hung down, She was drowning in the river of embarrassment just at the thought of her senior doctor seeing her blabber to her dad. "It's okay," She said as she Turned, "Go to ward number 6 and bring me the reports of patients." Doctor Bansal went out of Nirvaani's sight.
Nirvaani went to the counter fixed her stethoscope and she asked the lady on the counter for a notepad, while handling Nirvaani the notepad the lady in an Anarkali suit spoke "She's rude to everyone, don't worry,"
"I'm not offended, what she spoke was right and for my own good. I really adore her." Nirvaani smiled writing something on the Notepad. "Anyways Priya please can you also give me the list of patients in ward number 3?" Priya looked at Nirvaani in confusion, "I can, but why?" She casually asked. "After ward 6 I'm planning to check on ward 3 patients too, I heard there is a shortage of Attendants, I'll talk to management about taking that ward over." Nirvaani took a glimpse of the patient's list and slid it inside her handbag. "You don't need to do that, it's not your problem that there are fewer attendants, management should've done something about it beforehand." Priya casually said while looking at the computer screen. Nirvaani hung her bag on her shoulders while saying, "I understand but patients should be given the best service that they deserve, and anyways I don't have much work this evening I'll be bored at home, so instead I can do some work."
Nirvaani walked towards the staircase as she took her leave.
_
"So you've been feeling like something is stuck in your through which is neither going inside nor coming out?" Nirvaani asked the last patient of ward number 3 as she took notes. He was an old man probably in his 60s, judging by his appearance he didn't look from a wealthy family, probably from somewhere rural with a dirty white kurta dark sun-tanned skin, and a sweaty smell. "Okay, so tell me one last thing, does it pain a bit in your ear? Like while swallowing food!?" Nirvaani asked looking at the man. "A bit," He said in a low voice while holding his neck to feel the pain as he swallowed. "Okay," Nirvaani said as she wrote something in her notepad. "Thank you, Mister Lakhan, rest for now, I'm not increasing any dose for now since your condition seems to improving. I'll be back at sharp 7:00 AM tomorrow." Nirvaani smiled at her last patient as she walked out, she closed her eyes after looking at the clock and taking a deep breath. She stretched her hands as she walked inside the lift.
Tiring day... But worth it.
"Good evening Intern Nirvaani" Dr. Bansal entered the life too, Nirvaanii bowed as she stood silent as the doors closed. "I see you're working till late," Doctor Bansal said with a straight face. Nirvaani nodded anxiously wishing she didn't commit any mistake this time, "impressive," Dr. Bansal said as the doors of the lift opened and she stepped out. Nirvaani was standing there in shock, praise from Dr. Bansal, she felt like she was dreaming. In 3 months of her internship, she had never seen her compliment someone.
"Aren't you coming out?" Dr. Bansal said Without looking at Nirvaani. "Huh?" Nirvaani asked coming back to reality. "Oh- oh yes" Nirvaani walked out of the lift hurriedly. Both of them went to the changing room, nirvaani took off her uniform and she wore casual jeans with a full-sleeved top as it was a bit cold outside. She let her bun down as her long hair touched her waist.
Nirvaani walked out of the changing room to find Dr. Bansal standing in a beautiful red saree, her grey hair beautifully braided and her hazel eyes staring at Her.
"You look good in a saree" Nirvaani took a risk of complimenting Dr. Bansal wishing she won't get a scolding for it.
But to her surprise, Dr. Bansal smiled at her and said "You too look good in those casuals" Nirvaani was now sure she was dreaming, she had never seen Dr Bansal smile even once, and what she had heard from the hospital staff she was sure Dr. Bansal didn't smile often. "Oh- oh thank you ma'am" She Stammered while speaking.
"You're going to be a great doctor, and I mean it." Dr. Bamsal said as she looked at Nirvaani.
Nirvaani was left wonderstruck by her compliment, that night nirvaani couldn't sleep all she was thinking about was Dr. Bansal's words, they were playing in her head on a loop like a broken music player.
"You're going to be a great doctor, and I mean it."
_
A/N - ik it is supposed to be a romance trope, but I don't want it to be focused only on "romance"... Of course, it'll be a cute romance but with a pinch of ambition, motivation, and character development... Hope you'll like it!
(btw this chapter is in italics because it's about the past in case you thought I'm some crazy person to write the whole story in italics)
YOU ARE READING
The Straight Line hospital
Romance"So Miss Nirvaani, Let me bounce one last question, why did you name the hospital Straight line? Doesn't it signify death, after all when there's a straight line on screen the heartbeat of the patient stops." The interviewer passed the mic to Nirvaa...
