Nirvaani looked at the clock as it was already 7:30, 15 minutes before the meeting, she quickly piled the papers as she got out of her cabin.
"Good morning ma'am," A lady with a white coat greeted nirvaani, "good morning Dr Nancy," She greeted with a smile as she walked towards the meeting hall.
She looked at the huge wall clock before entering the hall, still 10 minutes till the meeting, she quickly glanced at the printouts of her presentation as she took her seat, and adjusted the mic before glancing at her mobile phone screen.
Soon the chairs of the meeting room started to fill with the people in white coats, many of them were wearing glasses whereas some were old and loud as they talked about politics. Nirvaani looked around to find Abhishek sitting at the opposite corner, she gave him a warm smile, and he gave too as she took hold of the mic while hunching forward.
"Good morning Doctors," Nirvaani said as the whole room silenced.
"Hope you all had a good travel," Nirvaani said looking around the large hall filled with new faces, "So I'll like to start with the-" Nirvaani's words were cut off by a large bang sound of the main door as it thudded open, everyone looked in the direction of the sound as they saw a young man with slightly dark completion panting.
Nirvaani too turned around to look at the reason for the interruption in her morning meeting.
She looked at the man as her face filled with shock, she blinked twice before looking at the young man, she couldn't believe what was in front of her eyes, those pale black hair and bright green eyes, Nirvaani could've recognised them even in the darkened room, very few Indians had them and when it came to him, he had a different glow in them, but they looked different now, the glow in them was lost, his skin looked paler may be because when she last saw him, he was a teenage boy with healthy skin. His lips were the same they just lacked the smile they had before, the only that was exactly the same as it was years before was his hairstyle, same as it was years ago when she first or you can say last met him.
The young man walked inside the room and took his seat at the end of the huge hall, in the opposite row from where Nirvaank was sitting. Nirvaani's eyes were fixed on him, she felt like she was dreaming and soon her alarm will ring and she'll wake up to the call of Roohi, but she was not. It was him, right in front of her, there was no chance of her being wrong, that face, those eyes everything was stored in the curves of her cerebrum which could never be removed.
"Ahem" Abhishek coughed bringing Nirvaani back to reality, Nirvaani's eyes flinched for a second as she looked around making her thoughts pause for a while as she took hold of the mic bringing her focus back to the meeting, "Hope the latecomers will be punctual the next time." Nirvaani taunted looking at the late doctor thinking he'll just look at her for once but to her surprise, he didn't even hear it or maybe pretended to not hear it as he took his seat while grabbing the glass of water from the table, he didn't seem to care about anything around. Nirvaani looked at him one last time before connecting her desktop with the screen, there was no way he remembered her.
_
As soon as the meeting ended Nirvaani ran out of the meeting hall searching for the young doctor.
She looked around wriggling restlessly in the hospital corridor. She just wanted to have a chat with him nothing more, just a chat. She walked to the end of the corridor but he was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly she heard a deep voice as she turned around to find-
There he was, talking to someone on call in front of the empty Operating theatre, she walked in his direction, her eyes fixed on him as she looked at his back while he talked through the phone,
And when she was just 3 feet away from him, someone called her name from behind. She turned around to find Roohi panting while her hands were on her knees, "Why were you walking so fast ma'am," She asked as she finally took a deep breath. "Oh, it's nothing," Nirvaani said as she looked back to find the Young doctor already gone, she had already lost him.
She looked back at Roohi as she asked, "What's the matter? Why we're you searching for me?"
"Yeah, the Head of the neuro team was looking for you," Roohi said while taking a sip of water. "You mean Dr Batra?" Nirvaani asked not expecting an answer, "I'll catch up with him," Nirvaani said as looked at the walking Figure of Abhishek, "There he is," She said looking at Roohi, Roohi looked in the direction of Abhishek as she said "Ma'am be fast, you have got an interview after this, I'll wait in the car." before bowing and greeting Nirvaani one last time before walking towards the exit.
Nirvaani looked at the disappearing figure of Roohi as Abhishek approached her. "Hello," He said as he waved. "Oh, greetings Dr. Batra," Nirvaani said as she smiled at him. "So how may I help you?" Nirvaani asked with a smile.
"Actually I'm here for apologising," Said Abhishek as Nirvaani looked at him in confusion, there was no reason for him to apologise, and when doctors say sorry it's mostly bad news. "Apologising?" Nirvaani asked as she tilted her face a bit.
"Yes, about Dr Malhotra," He said, "I'm sorry about his late arrival, I'm sorry that he messed up the first meeting" He looked at nirvaani, he was already guilty of the mistake he didn't commit, Nirvaani smiled at him before speaking, "Oh it's fine, I know you all must be tired after a long flight, actually I'm sorry that you guys didn't get any time to rest." Nirvana said, "And Also about the name badges, I've already given the list to authorities, guess it'll be ready by tomorrow." Nirvaani said as she waited for Abhishek to reply, "That's great, I'll let the Juniors know." Abhishek replied with gentle expressions which were welcomed by Nirvaani's warm smile.
Nirvaani looked at the clock as she said hurriedly, "I'll have to go now, you can call me anytime if you need anything."
Nirvaani greeted Abhishek one last time before walking towards the hospital exit.
Abhishek looked at Nirvaani as she left, her walk was as usual very fast and it took less than 30 seconds for her to reach the exit gate, before leaving she smiled at Abhishek who was still adoring her from afar.
_
"Ma'am, it's 10:30, do you want me to drive you home?" Roohi asked as Nirvaani looked up from her bulky book as she looked at the clock while replying, "Oh my god, I'm sorry I kept you working till this late, I'll ask the driver to drop you home," Nirvaani said "I guess I'll stay the night in the hospital as I've plenty of work." Nirvaani streched her back while looking at the books she had in front of her, although her studies were complete but she still used to poke her nose in books late night learning about new diseases.
"Take care, ma'am," Roohi said as she stood up from her seat while walking towards the exit, "Also, Before Leaving can u please ask the receptionist to bring me the list of neuro team," Nirvaani asked as Roohi nodded in response, Nirvaani wanted to be sure about that Doctor although she had faith in her memory.
Soon the receptionist came with the printout of the neuro team's list. Nivaani carefully took the lost from her hand, and while sipping her black coffee Nirvaani started reading the names of Doctors with their positions.
"Dr Abhishek Batra
- team head
Dr Rashika Panchal
- neuro specialist"
And so on, she kept reading the names one after another and there it was, the name she was looking for.
"Dr Saaransh Malhotra
- Neurosurgeon"
She was right, it was him. No matter how many years passed or how older he got, she could never fail to recognise him.
The one and only
"Saaransh Malhotra"
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...
