Bound by Blood: A Tale of Mafia and Medicine

10.

ADITYA'S POV

Maa finding both of us together like this, was surely embarrassing. I took two steps away from Soyra, standing behind her and signalled Maa to keep things simple, looks like she failed to read my expressions. Soyra turned back at me and gave me a 'why are you running' type of look. I had the idea of saying something to break the awkwardness, but I couldn't come up with a response. She turned back towards Maa and gave her a soft smile, not before taking a deep breath.

"Good Morning Ma'am, this is Dr. Soyra. I'm here to check up on Raj. May I ?" Soyra spoke pretty confidentially surprising me. I thought she wouldn't be able to speak well out of nervousness. 

"Morning Puttar, tum kab aayi? Aao, baitho" Maa exclaimed, holding Soyra by her elbow and taking her inside the room. I followed them praying to god that nothing awkward should happen. Papa, Muskan and Raj's eyes followed her as she entered the room.

Stop staring y'all, she must be awkward, I cursed internally. She passed a faint smile and a slight nod to everyone in the room. I made my way beside Muskan and was about to whisper the thing that Soyra was scared of meeting her, but she spoke cutting me off. 

"You are the one????" Muskan was somewhat loud, causing Soyra to startle a bit. Without any delay, I pushed my elbow backwards and hit Muskan's stomach. She immediately rephrased her words.

"I mean, you are the one as Raj's doctor?? I'm glad. I've heard about you many times from the senior doctors, you are quite talented" She went ahead and sat on the edge of the bed, opposite Soyra. I noticed the doctor, she replicated a warm smile with a 'thank you' and resumed her work, nearing the stethoscope at Raj. 

"How are you feeling? Is the pain bearable?" Soyra asked Raj.

"Ye chote chote ghav se hume dard shard nahi hota. Dard toh kahi aur ho raha hai kya he batau aapko" Raj was being dramatic. And I knew he would speak something way too stupid like this. I don't know what he is up to now. 

"Huh?" She was confused. Raj looked at me and before I could express myself he interrupted again. 

"Dil ka dard, doctor sahiba. Dil ka dard."

"Are you feeling any kind of burning, tightness or pressure on your heart?" She asked him seriously, bringing her eyebrows together. 

"Aree tum bhi na-" I glared at Raj, and he immediately understood the reason behind my glare.

"Aree AAP bhi na doctor, samjho na, dil ka dard hai. Muzhe mere jaane se pehle mere bhaiya ki shadi hote huye dekhni hai. Par bhaiyya hai ki maan he nahi rahe" He faked his tears. I'm going to kill him. This was not necessary, he was way too dramatic. 

He gulped, as my gaze turned dark and serious. I enacted my thumb as a knife and taking it towards my throat, I moved my thumb from left to right, over my neck, showing him that he was going to die soon. 

Hearing a sweet laugh from Soyra, my gaze softened and moved towards her. I felt my chest pinching, being jealous of Raj that he made her laugh. Maa, Muskan and Papa also laughed along with her.

"Acha toh ye samasya hai, ye samasya ka hal toh mai nahi de sakti" She chuckled while replying him.

"Hal toh tum he ho-" Muskan murmured.

"Agar tum logo ki bakwas hogayi ho toh hum jaye? Hume breakfast ke liye jana hai" I interrupted her, as it was getting all awkward. 

"Chalo puttar, maine twade liye aaloo ke paranthe, chole aur lassi banayi hai." Maa held her hand and took her outside the room. Muskan, tiptoed behind them, trying to escape from me. 

"Wahh wahh ram ji, jodi kya banayi" Raj started singing.

"Bhaiiya aur Bhabhi ko, badhai ho badhai" Papa Ji also joined him.

"Papa yaar aap toh mat chidhao please" I whined making a pout. 

"Aur tu, haramkhor, tere pet pe nahi muh pe goli lagni chahiye thi, theek hone ke baad maine tere pet pe aur das goliya nahi mari na toh mera bhi naam Aditya Malhotra nahi " I gave him a quick tapli on his head and he kept on cackling. 

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Except for Raj, we all were seated at the dining table. Maa, Muskan and Soyra were gossiping something about hair clutches. Seriously, hair clutches? I thought.  

Three of them bonded so quickly, that they were laughing, discussing, whispering into each other's ears and laughing again. While having breakfast, I was stealing glances at Soyra. And to my surprise, we made eye contact a few times. My heart skipped a beat whenever our eyes met. 

All of us were enjoying ourselves until an attendee came and handed a phone to Papa Ji.

"Pooch kya rahe ho, haath kaat do. Voh sab hojaye, toh end me gala kaat ke final kardo." He spoke over the phone, not realising that Soyra was sitting there. SHIT. I can't let her know about our family business. Not yet. How can Papa be so casual about our work? 

I examined Soyra's face, and I could tell that thousands of questions were going through her mind at that time. Her hands paused, and she kept staring at Papa Ji. And my 'great' father, resumed eating like nothing had happened. She was horrified hearing him answer like that. Her eyes followed me, and I immediately tried to cover up:

"Tailor. Tailor se baat kar rahe the Papa. Voh suit sila rahe haina shadi ke liye. Usko kaise karna hai voh bata rahe the, kyu? haina papa ji?" I widened my eyes towards Papa, hoping that he would understand what I was trying to hide. 

"Haa puttar, voh darji humara thoda bhola sa hai, Voh Aditya ko call kar raha tha subhe, usne receive nahi kiya, isliye mujhe call kiya. Tum Ruki kyu ho? khao na. Preeti, usko ek aur paratha do" Papa understood the assignment.

"Nahi nahi uncle bas. Bahut kha liya maine. Agar aur khaya toh sojaungi mai, Mujhe aaj patients bhi bahut attend karne hai" Soyra replied grinning at Papa. After finishing her food, she stood up and approached the door. 

"Chala, mi yete aata"
(I'll take your leave now) She sounded contended. I need to start learning Marathi, she always used small phrases like these, while speaking to me. 

"Puttar, mera mann kar raha, tujhe yehi rakh lu" Maa seemed quite pleased with her presence. 

"Soyra, text me when you're free okay? We'll go shopping." Muskan hugged her. I mean what the actual fuck??? It's not even 2 hours, and they're already hugging each other and making plans. This is not fair yaar, I'm the one that should be hugging her. They bid goodbye to Soyra, and I headed her towards the car, finally getting some alone time.

"Someone was scared I guess"

"Haa, you were the scared one. Dekha maine, jab aunty ne darwaja khola tab kaise bheegi billi ki tarah mere peeche aagaye. Sharam nahi aati tumhe, besharam kahike" She pinched my arm, making me wince in pain. No one dared to touch me. And here she was, literally pinching me.

 My eyes focused on her skin, which was glowing in the sun. Hazel brown was the colour of her eyes when she was in the sun. Moving closer to her, I gave her an intense look and spoke,

"Besharmi abtak dekhi nahi hai aapne humari, Ms Gaikwad." My husky voice made her still. Her gaze was shifting between my eyes as she struggled to concentrate. I chuckled at her cute scared face and opened the door for her. She wasn't aware that I had opened the door for her because she was preoccupied with my eyes.

"Jaane ka irada nahi aapka?" I interrupted her stare and chuckled a bit. She didn't reply further, sitting in the car, adjusted herself and just waved back at me. 

"Yete mi" (I'll go) Was the only words she let out. I could see the blush she was trying to hide but failed successively. My eyes followed the car as it disappeared through the gates.