The Straight Line hospital

A lion's Dinner

“SAARANSH!!!” Nirvaani thudded on his cabin door, “Please open the door if you're hearing me,” Nirvaani shouted again.
A tear dropped from Nirvaani's eye as the negative thoughts made their way inside her head, what if Saaransh did something to himself?? What if he couldn't take the news, what if her last conversation with him was going to be her last time talking to him. Nirvaani wiped her tears only for thek to get replaced by others.

Another thud on the door, but there came no response.

Saaransh's cabin was at the corner of the third floor of the hospital because of which not many people visited the place, fortunately none saw their boss crying and screaming while banging the door, but Nirvaani cared less about people seeing her crying and screaming.

“Niru!!” Shouted Karishma running towards Nirvaani as soon as she got a sight of her best friend, seeing her cry broke her heart, since childhood there had been very less times when she saw her always so calm bestie weep. You could call Nirvaani one of the most emotionall strong people, who had control over both their anger and tears but look at the irony in the same month and people got to see her both sides.
karishma was followed by Abhishek who was just as worried as her, seeing the love of his life cry was the last thing he ever wanted to see.

Karishma reached to Nirvaani extending her hands for a hug. “What's wrong Nirvaani??” She asked as she patted her back trying to calm her down, although it seemed to make no change in Nirvaani's condition which made Karishma even more worried.
“Saaransh- Saaransh- is not-” Her voice broke and a flood if tears started to flow doen through her eyes as she tried to tell the Karishma about the situation.

Abhhishek on the other hand who knew the whole situation left Nirvaani in the care of Karishma as he barged towards the Locked cabin, “Saaransh!!” He knocked, “Dr. Saaransh!” He knocked again and then looked at Nirvaani who was still not ready to stop crying.
“I think we need to break the door, is it fine??” He asked as Nirvaani slightly nodded in response.

Abhishek knew breaking the door alone was near to impossible so he started to gather some of the staff which he saw nearby to help him in breaking the door.

The news about Saaransh started to spread in the hospital leading to all the members of staff who were nearby gather around Saaransh's cabin.

“Okay, Push in 3” Said Abhishek as the staff around him nodded and prepared themselves.
“1”
“2”
“3”
“Push”
Everyone pushed with their whole strength but the door didn't seem to get affected. Breaking the door is not as easy as shown in those bollywood movies, it takes a lot of strength, Abhishek realised it that day.

“Okay again,” Said Abhishek as everyone again prepared themselves for another push.

After 4 pushes finally the door banged open leaving everyone in cheers but that was not the end.

Everyone made way for Nirvaani to walk inside the cabin. Nirvaani too scared to look inside made her way towards the door, her steps were small and subtle. She prayed with each breath she took for the well being of Saaransh. The things were not going well for her in recent days, which scared her even more.

She peeked through the door and saw Saaransh lying on the couch with a bottle of tablets nearby, it was difficult to read the name of the medicine from a distance but the glass bottle resembled with that of poision.
Her hearbeats fastened as she got closer to the unconscious body. As of now she had almost forgotten about the bottle and was staring at the unconscious figure of Saaransh.

A tear dropped from her eyes as she got closer to the body, “Dr Malhotra” Her voice was breaking but she still managed to pronounce his name.

As she drew more closer she was now standing right above his head, no one dared to walk inside the cabin while Nirvaani was in there.
Another tear made its way from her left eye which dropped directly at Saaransh's cheek making him move a little bit.

"Wait what was that?"
Nirvaani shocked at the moment looked away from Saaransh at the bottle of pills on the table
“Calcium and vitamin D3 tablets” She read and looked back at Saaransh with her eyebrows raised.
She shook his body, while calling his name “Dr Malhotra.”

Not very later Saaransh opened his eyes, adjusting with the bright lights of the room.
“What is it?” He yawned as he got a blurry view of Nirvaani standing above him.
Nirvaani finally took a breath in relief, "he was just sleeping" She thought while closing her eyes as a subtle but genuine smile appeared on her face.

Saaransh rubbed his eyes to get a clearer view.
While yawning he looked back up,
“Why are your eyes red, were you crying?” he asked sitting up straight and serious..
His eyes then went from Nirvaani to the staff and then on the broken door of his cabin.

“What is going on here?” He asked while adjusting his clothes.

“We should be the one to ask you this,” Karishma after pushing half of the staff came on the door with both her hands on her waist looking like an angry bird, “Are u deaf?? Or were u intentionally pretending to be asleep in here??” She walked inside the cabin sliding the broken door aside with her leg. Her rage was acceptable, that man made half of the hospital worried by his sleep especially Nirvaani who had been continuously crying without any breaks fir half an hour.

“You see this lady here?” She pointed at Nirvaani who was showing no emotions. “She's been banging your door for half an hour, and you've been peacefully wandering in your dreams while making everyone around worried.” Karishma barked.
“You call yourself a doctor?? When you've no sense of time, voice, phone calls, anything when you're sleeping??”
Karishma shouted making a pin drop silence around her, it was only her voice that could be heard.
Nirvaani was still standing near the couch silently watching the scene, you can't say she was mad at saaransh she was simply pleased that he was fine. Saaransh looked up at Nirvaani and then at the staff who too were blankly staring at him, he was still trying to understand the situation which he had guessed a little by the words of Karishma. No one even tried to step in between Karishma and Saaransh at the moment. Obviously who would want to become a lion's dinner by speaking any word.

“We had planned a girls night today,” Karishma said, “But thanks to your irresponsible behaviour, now all her mood is ruined.” With that Karishma ended her rantings, she was short tempered, and when it came to her loved one's she tolerated no one. “You know what, I'll just wait for you outside Nirvaani. Finish up fast with this man.” Said Karishma making her way back outside, “And what are you guys watching? Your doctor is all fine, he was just taking his beauty sleep.”

_

After a few moments everyone had left leaving Nirvaani, Saaransh and Abhishek alone in the cabin.
There was silence for a few minutes but then Saaransh decided to break it, “I'm sorry Nirvaani, I didn't mean to make you worried.” He said, “I don't usually sleep like this idk what had gotten into me today.”
It was after a long time Saaransh was apologising to someone, most of the times even after his mistakes his ego didn't let him apologies, but this time he knew despite being unintentional he created a scene and made people around him severely worried.

“Haha, true, you seem like a heavy sleeper.” Said Abhishek in a playful tone thinking it'll clear up the seriousness of the environment but obviously it was a lame joke at a bad time, making things even more awkward for him.

There was a silence for a few more seconds and then,
“It's alright,” Finally Nirvaani spoke in a soft but loud enough for everyone in the room to hear voice, “I thought you did something after watching the news, I might have overreacted” She said "I'm happy that you're all right."
Saaransh looked at her in confusion, raising one of his eyebrows he asked, "What are you talking about?"

_

“Okay, so now officially He's in trouble??” Abhishek said and paused the video on Nirvaani's phone.

_

A/N - Okay so I'm here to shamelessly apologise for the delay in chapter. Well speaking on which I did an announcement in December itself about taking a break in January, but idk how it didn't get posted and ironically I didn't even care to check it again until I got a DM from a reader asking when I was going to publish the next chapter... So yup here I'm with the chapter, again sorry for the inconvenience I unintentionally caused...

Also do let me know how was the chapter (I personally think it was a little cringe but do let me know what are your thoughts on it)