Adhura Alviida

red threads

The Red Thread of Fate , also referred to as the Red Thread of Marriage, and other variants, is an  belief originating from Chinese legend. According to this myth, the gods tie an invisible red cord around the ankles of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation or help each other in a certain way.The two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break. This myth is similar to the Western concept of  or a destined partner.

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As Aditya and Arjun reached New York, they immediately went to their family property that had lay forgotten for years here. The sound of the doorbell had alarmed both of them.

Arjun opened the door to his pleasant surprise.

"Welcome baby!!!" Noor yelled as she threw her arms around him and he lifted her off the ground and spun her around. He gave her a quick peck on the lips before putting her down.

"How did you get here so quickly? I thought you had a lecture tonight!" He asked in confusion.

"I bunked it!" She said shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

Arjun gasped at her in shock. "Noor, you're making Mr. Siddiqui pay thousands in dollars to bunk your lectures and meet up with your boyfriend, not cool!" He said teasingly.

"If you don't like the surprise I can go back!" She said proceeding to the door.

"Na na na! Come here!" He grabbed her wrist.

The sound of creaking stairs alarmed them both as they maintained a good distance from each other.

"Noor!" Aditya gasped with happiness in his voice. If Noor was here, that meant Zoya would be here too. He ran up to his sister-in-law and embraced her.

"Noor! How are you?" He said after seeing his sister in law.

Noor smiled pleasantly at him "I'm go-good, jiju,"

"Noor! Where is meri Zoya?" He asked.

Noor looked at Arjun who looked rather sad at his brother's question.

"Noor main tumse kuch pooch raha hoon! Teri appi, meri Zoya kahaan hai?" He repeated, thinking she didn't hear him the first time.

"Umm...actually jeeju! Aapi is shopping na?" She said while plastering a smile on her face. "She said you asked her to buy you a new watch, your old one is broken and she said you loved the Armani brand only so she's in Manhattan at the store buying one for you."  She quickly said in one shot while looking at Arjun who muttered an inaudible thank you to her.

"Oh! Haha! She'll never change!" He said while smiling and looking at his watch.  His Zoya was so thoughtful, she even remembered that his watch stopped working from when he told her last week.

Unbeknownst to him, Arjun had heard him talking to himself and later rambled to Noor about it the next day, hence Noor decided to use the situation as a way to prevent Aditya from having another panic attack.

As Aditya proceeded to go upstairs, Noor approached Arjun.

"Arjun, we have to get him admitted to the psychiatric center at NYU soon. My friend is an intern there and she's already made the arrangements. Tomorrow bring him to the center at 9 AM sharp, there you'll be meeting with the head of the department. I heard she can be a bit tough to deal with it, but don't take her too seriously. The psychiatric department is supposed to be the best in the country and I'm sure Jiju will be able to function better once he starts his treatment there."

"But Noor, I've never left bhai anywhere after his condition. How can I just leave him there?"

Noor placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Arjun, he'll be in good hands. And besides, you can visit him whenever you'd like. You'll be staying here too. And inshallah, if all goes well, you'll have your bhai back. Just like before." She said, reassuring him.

**

"Maya, coffee!" Sahir said as he placed it down on the table besides the woman checking through various files and entering data on the computer.

"Sahir, you're a godsend!" She said as she munched on a croissant and looked back and forth at the files.

"Why are you in such a rush today?" He asked as he looked at her flipping through pages.

"There's five new patients being admitted today!" She said.

"Ahh...and you get horny thinking about work isn't it?" He said jokingly.

She stopped her work to look up at him. "Sahir-what the fuck? That's not funny!"

"It's true! The same way people act when they get horny is the same way you act while discussing work!" He chuckled.

"Shut up!" She yelled as she reached over to smack his arm for being so stupid but her action threw off his balance and spilt an entire cup of coffee across one of her files.

"SHIT!" She yelled.

"Oh my gosh, Maya! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to—" Sahir immediately apologized.

"No, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have hit you." She muttered.

She glance at the file. The patient's entire medical history and conditions of mental trauma and PTSD were still visible through the brown smears on the paper but the name was now illegible with the coffee stains. How was she going to figure out who her new patient was?

**

As the day progressed rather bitterly, Zoya continued her usual routine of meeting with new patients and their families. It was the only time the department staff had seen her interact friendly with other people. She was used to dealing with patients who were mentally unstable and while talking to them she reassured them of their safety and often times they instantly took a liking to Dr. Maya. She was a favorite among the majority of patients there and they often were adamant on being seen by her only for check-ups and routine therapy. But amongst her staff, she tolerated no inconsistencies. A single misdiagnosis or improper treatment could result in an employee's termination. She tolerated no mistakes.

As Zoya began reading whatever was legible of the infamous coffee-stained file, she heard a knock on the door. She was not looking forward to meeting Mr. Coffee-Stained-His-Name mainly because she liked to build a rapport with her patients and not knowing his name was unprofessional and irresponsible!

"Come in!" She said, loud enough for the patient to hear.

"Dr. Maya, I'm so pleased to me--BHABHI?"