Love, Death and Vodka | A FEATURED STORY

Chapter 28

Abhi came back with the doctor in tow. The doctor checked her vitals and gave her a sign off. 

In a few minutes, she was ready to go home. She was subdued and took furtive glances at Abhi. She felt awkward. Should she treat him as a friend or a potential lover or future boyfriend? 

She saw him in new light with her growing attraction for him but love and commitment were far from her plans. She decided not to decide about anything for now. Her top priority would be to resume her day-today activities. 

Abhi led her outside the hospital and asked her to wait to retrieve his vehicle. Tanvi nodded and went back to her thoughts. To love someone for so long without any expectations or a future was something she couldn't imagine. The plain simple fact was that, HE LOVED HER, in caps. He had always loved her even when she was with Arjun. She respected him for that but to risk her heart once again was something she was not ready to do. 

She was cut off from her thoughts when he signalled her to get into the car since there were too many vehicles. She sat in the car and buckled the seat belt. She closed her eyes and rested on the upholstered car seat. Her mind was a jumble. She was valiantly trying not to think about anything. But her mind kept producing images of Arjun and Abhi alternately. Finally, Sanjay's image popped in between and she burst out laughing but slightly grimaced in pain. 

He was curious, "What is so funny Tons? Care to share it?" 

She looked at him sideways and he held his breath. Even in her battered self, she was beautiful. He could never commit to a different woman until she lived. He understood her reluctance to accept him. He fervently prayed that she would eventually concede. He was both anxious and hopeful. He was ready to lay siege to her heart. He had to bring her out of her addiction first and foremost. 

"Nothing specific Abhi, just thought about Sanjay's antics in office and laughed". 

Abhi's thoughts came to a halt. He could not imagine Sanjay as a potential suitor for Tanvi but it was a humbling thought. Would he always be the second best? Tanvi was his weakness and strength. But this was going out of hand for him. It was literally killing him to be this close to her but still mind his actions. This was a different kind of hell. 

"So, is he a good friend of yours? I thought you just told that to mollify him. You were very irritated in his presence and poor chap did not notice it." 

Tanvi smiled and added, "You always catch me off guard with your perception. I admire that in you Abhi. Sanjay is a good person. But he becomes preachy after a while. He's been through a lot of misery when he grew up. So, he feels it's his place to share his wisdom with less deprived people like me. I don't always agree with him." 

"hmm hmm. That's a tangle then. But the Tanvi I remember was a good listener and had a lot of patience." 

Tanvi looked away wistfully, "Not any more Abhi. I'm very impatient, demanding and callous."

Abhi thought about it for a while and asked her a different question, "Why did you say he is your only champion in the team? You don't have friends in the team?" 

She thought whether to share it or not but this was Abhi asking her and she wanted to share it with him, "No. I have poor team dynamics and that's because I really don't care for them and most of the time my moods are affected by drinking. So I'm not drinking during the weekdays. I've put the thing as a weekend indulgence. But I'm bloody good at my job. I'm rather proud of it. I was doing fine even up until the minute I collapsed. I have no regrets. That was a sad side effect." 

Both fell silent. He was assessing her dependency on alcohol. If she could control the need to just weekends, was it truly addiction? Was she still grieving for Arjun? It was too long a time, more than a year now. But grief affected people in different ways and he had limited knowledge about addiction. He thought he would have to research about it to know where Tanvi stood. He must talk to his friends from medical profession. It was not as if she was unaware of her alcohol problem. She was, but the sad part was she continued with that habit. 

"You know I too put in a lot of work?" Tanvi looked curiously at Abhi. He glanced at her and continued, "I like to stretch. I put in 13 to 15 hours of work every day except Sundays. But unlike you I don't collapse." 

Tanvi raised a single brow menacingly. Abhi smirked and continued, "If you need to do that, you need to have a certain discipline in your life. Your body can take in just one kind of stress and you need to build the right kind of stamina for it to function the way you want it." 

Tanvi's attention was caught—she turned as much as possible in her car seat to give her undivided attention to Abhi's words, "Now I'm intrigued. How do you do that? 13 to 15 hours of work every day is incredible." 

Abhi had his focus on the road ahead but he could feel her regard and was secretly delighted that she was listening to him. 

"I don't drink any kind of liquor or carbonated drinks. I used to earlier but not anymore. Even at parties, I fill my glass with lime soda, top it with lots of ice and swirl it and occasionally take a sip. It looks more like Vodka you know." 

"hmm hmm I know, I can imagine it but it would never taste the same." 

"I'm not that concerned for its taste. There are a few people who serve only liquor at business meetings or social gatherings. There I stick with half a glass of their choicest liquor and swirl it for the entire evening. I don't drink that half glass, that's just pretense." 

Tanvi lifted both her brows in amazement. She could not imagine ever having so much self-control for a drink. That was never the case earlier but now that she got a hang of it, she wouldn't miss it for the world. 

"Hmm Hmm go on. I'm listening."

Abhi looked at her and smiled. His smile was doing odd things to her. She could feel the luscious clench in her belly and heightened sense of his presence. 

"I work out at least an hour everyday and seven days a week. I don't skip workouts. My food is disciplined too. I don't eat junk and I don't eat anything beyond 7 pm in the evening. Even late nights, I stick with just fruits or salads and sometimes fruit juice which is very rare. However, I eat sweets whenever possible. That's my only weakness," he shrugged and glanced at her. 

"It's good to have weaknesses you know, it makes us more human," she added sarcastically. 

He did not care for her attitude. He knew the point was made. 

After a few minutes, she quietly said,"Abhi. I'm very impressed with your regimen." Tanvi looked at him with such reverence that he couldn't hold back his smile. Tanvi kept looking at his beautiful smile. He smiled more today than on all the other times. Abhi was a quiet person but very vital. 

He suppressed lot of his energy and channeled it for his priority tasks. She wondered where she fit in his list of priorities. She hoped she was at the top of the list. Now she was being ludicrous. Why would Abhi want her to be his Number one priority? Just because he said he loved her? She internally chided herself for such thoughts. 

He was not a natural charmer like Arjun but he held a quite charm which words could not convey. Abhi had expressive eyes but these were mostly sad or serious or on rare occasions amused. She wanted to see laughing brown eyes like the black ones she seemed to miss. 

Arjun's name did not bring a lump to her throat as it used to, anymore. Did it mean she had stopped hurting and missing him? She was not sure what to make of everything. She again resolved not to think till she got her energy up, preferably with alcohol. Just then, he brought his car to a halt at her apartment.

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