"Ma'am you have got an appointment with Mister Raghuvanshi about funding," A girl with a formal white shirt and black pants walked behind Nirvaani as she tied her dark brown hair into a ponytail. "Tell the driver to bring my car." Nirvaani wore a black coat over her top. "Also clear my schedule for evenings 7-9 I have some plans." the secretary nodded as Nirvaani walked out of her million dollars bungalow.
Nirvaani was now a millionaire, money revolved around her, and the media revolved around her. She was a damn queen of her field, but how?
"Ma'am, are you sure you still wanna do that surgery?" Secretary asked as she tried to keep her pace with Nirvaani "I said yes 3 times since morning, Roohi." Nirvaani said with a done face, "I'm sorry ma'am, but don't you think an interview is more worthy of your time than that surgery, there are many doctors who can do that." Roohi said looking down, Nirvaani was not trying to sound rude but she unintentionally did, Roohi's expression was proof of it. "Look I didn't mean to shout, but Roohi, I'm a doctor before a businesswoman, for me, my patients are and will be always more important than any interview," Nirvaani said as Roohi opened the door of her car. Roohi too sat beside Nirvaani reciting her whole day schedule, which had barely left her time for anything other than lunch which was too planned with some client.
"Ma'am, can I ask you something?" Roohi said in a low voice, "Have I ever said no to you?" Nirvaani smiled "Go on,"
"Why do you work soo hard, I mean you can take breaks or appoint people for certain tasks, what's the point of soo much money when you're not even enjoying your life?" Nirvaani smiled at Roohi and looked outside the window as she took a deep breath before speaking, Roohi wasn't the first person who had asked her this, "Who said I'm not enjoying my life?" Niravaani closed her eyes feeling the breeze of air. "I enjoy performing surgeries, those business meetings and dinners with clients, also those TV interviews, and even these car rides and little conversations with you... I enjoy all of it." Nirvaani said as Roohi chuckled looking at her, "What?" Nirvaani asked confused, "Nothing, just you don't seem to know what real enjoyment is." Nirvaani was taken aback by her words, "clubbing with friends, going to the temple with family, attending marriages, binge-watching Netflix shows... That's the real enjoyment." Roohi said with a smile, "Some people might enjoy their work too, but you need to unplug yourself sometimes." Nirvaani smiled hearing Roohi's opinion, no wonder she had forgotten about all these in the marathon of being on the top, "maybe you're right," Nirvaani said, tho she didn't agree with Roohi, she could've never been this successful if she had wasted time in all such stuff, success comes with sacrifices. You can never get everything, either you can enjoy with your friends and family or you can become successful. Of course there is nothing wrong with choosing the first one.
_
"He died?" Roohi asked looking at Nirvaani's relaxed face. "Yes," Nirvaani said casually without looking at Roohi while taking off her cap, "how can you say that so casually? He died on your table!! How come you're so calm." Nirvaani chuckled at Roohi's expressions, it was the same question she asked Dr. Bansal once after an unsuccessful surgery, and she still remembered her answer. "What should I do? Weep? And waste my time so that another patient dies too because of my late arrival?" Nirvaani said as she took off her white coat, it was the same thing Dr. Bansal said to her. "Still, how can you be so heartless? He died and it's nothing for you? You don't feel anything?" Roohi asked as she took that white coat, Nirvaani chuckled at Roohi's innocence, she felt like she was talking to her younger self. "Well, that's what my profession asks me to do, I've operated on more than 500 patients, out of which more than 50 died on my table, if I had wept over their death, 50 more would have died because of late surgery."
Roohi made a shocked face when she heard Nirvaani, being a secretary she had never thought a doctor's job could be this difficult, apart from late night shifts, more working hours, and hard studies they were supposed to deal with the emotional trauma of someone's death, that too right in front of them. That must've been traumatizing. "Now, let's go else we'll be late for a lunch meeting," Nirvaani said as she walked out of the hospital, greeting the receptionist before leaving, she was followed by Roohi, who was jogging to keep up with Nirvaani's pace.
_
"So, we'll be sending our Neurosurgeon's team to your hospital for a month," An old man in his 50s said as he took a sip of water, his accent was British while his appearance was Indian. Nirvaani wiped her hands with a nearby tissue paper as she replied, "Surely," The Old man passed her some papers as he said, "You have to sign here."
Nirvaani took to papers and started to read them carefully, she smiled at the man before taking a pen out of her denim purse.
She carefully signed the papers with her black ball pen as she returned them to the old man. It was an important deal for her as their hospital required some highly qualified neuro experts in a really short duration of time so she had no option but to hire them from another foreign hospital.
After the deal signing she went back to the hospital for her last surgery of the day.
Luckily her day ended with a successful one, she walked out of the hospital, and for the last time, she glanced at the huge multistorey clean white building with a huge signboard saying "Staring line hospital" With a red arrow pointing diagonally towards the sky.
She closed her eyes, as her journey from a normal middle-class girl to a successful businessman and a doctor flashed in front of her eyes, from late-night studies to early-morning operations, everything she did was just because of that one motivation.
"The Straight Line"
"Ma'am, are you ready to go?" Roohi asked as she opened the gate of Black Mercedes. Nirvaani nodded as she walked towards the car.
"Home," Nirvaani said as she rested her head on the backseat of her car.
_
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...
