Chaotic Tangles!

9||The Mishap

"Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which one to do, is a lot more painful.
-
PAULO COHELO"

Five days.

Five days had passed since that weekend when Manik dropped Nandini off, five days since that conversation, and yet Nandini couldn't forget that moment for once. It had stayed with her, refusing to give her a minute of peace. He hadn't even looked at her in the eye, but she could not shake that feeling of discomfort it had caused her. It was like someone has seen right through her, and she felt naked with her emotions, but was helpless around that feeling.

What had unsettled her more was Manik's poker face that he had started to use around much more than before. She understood where it stemmed from- Dr. Malik's comment from that evening. Nandini shared the Tuesday OPD with him and he had treated her exactly how he treated other students- PGs and residents- the constant calculated smile, the on point answers and the appreciation as and when required.

Shweta had stopped and even commented about the same to Nandini before the evening rounds.

"I guess Manik Sir has become comfortable around you too mam, it didn't feel like awkward at all today", Shweta had smiled and concluded after the day's events and Nandini had to force a smile even when that comment had burnt her inside.

Because she knew, if anything, they were much more uncomfortable around each other now, and she understood well how smartly Manik had dealt with the situation and pushed her further away from his inner circle, the circle she hadn't even had access yet either.

But if Manik was a genius of a psychiatrist, Nandini too was a bit smart for her experience. In all this mess, she couldn't help but wonder exactly why was Manik so affected by her, or her opinions of him? She was sure he was judged by more than half the people in this medical institution, even if they were from other departments, and she was sure he didn't go maintaining an arm distance from everybody.

Then again, she only had questions, no answers, like so many other things.

Walking into the hospital after her afternoon break, Nandini sighed. It was Friday that day, which meant today was her last day working under Dr. Manik for next two months. She was supposed to work under Dr. Simran from Monday and Meera would replace her in this unit. The OPD today had gone in the very similar way as Tuesday and while she wasn't spared an extra glance than required, she could not deny she did learn a few things that were completely unknown to her.

If nothing, Dr. Malhotra was excellent at his job, he had an eye for detail and his observation skill were par excellence. It was probably one of the reasons why he was such a good psychiatrist.

Making faces to herself, she walked into the ward and started rounding, making sure all the patients admitted today were tended to and given a probable diagnosis. Shweta and another resident walked her through them, and she continued to double check the medicines, the dosage and then ask every patient a few questions.

It was the last admission in the ward, a twenty seven year male, complaining about how someone was set out to kill him and use his blood for some kind of evil magic. Nandini looked at him and softly tried holding his hand for checking the pulse. He jerked her hand away, hard and she almost hit the other bed nearby but Shweta held her on time.

"Stay away form me, I can kill to protect myself, Understood you witch?", the patient screamed at the top of his voice and scooted further away from everyone to the corner of the bed.

Nandini took a good look at him, and felt her heart clench. These were the kind of patients she felt the most for, because nobody would believe them and consider them human. Being 'crazy' meant no value of their feelings or emotions, no one to comfort or console either.