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I approached the receptionist who was busy chit-chatting with someone and asked, “Excuse me, may I know where to find Daksh Raivardhan?”
The girl who had been standing beside me and chatting with the receptionist just whipped her head in my direction so quickly that I felt my neck ache at her movement. Ouch.
Her eyes were wide and her lips were set in a grim, regarding me like I was an opponent that she would have to face in the boxing ring. She was absolutely stunning to look at. A heart face with delicate features, a straight nose, big eyes under the full eyebrows, a plumb bottom lip and a mole on her right cheek. Her wavy hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she was in teal scrubs.
I was not particularly sure what I had done wrong to be on the receiving end of the hostile gaze that I was receiving.
Before the receptionist could reply, the girl beside me opened her mouth, her features cooled to a composure that seemed to be friendly, but that smile of hers felt like a growling chihuahua trying to smile, asking, “Dr. Raivardhan? Oh ho… he just went for a small break. You have an appointment with him now? I can help you find another doc if it’s urgent. One of our bests!”
“Ah… not exactly, but he did tell me that he had squeezed me into his schedule for the day,” I couldn’t help but frown. Would Daksh call for me and then head out all of a sudden? Did something happen? Was the incident caused by Vikrant already needing some damage control? But that would be needing Neel and not Daksh… What do I do now?
I watched the shock on her face like I just mentioned something really odd to her.
“Squeezed you in the schedule?” she squeaked, literally squeaked like a squirrel! The girl looked like she might burst or rather faint any second now. As she puffed up, inhaling all the air like a pufferfish.
“You okay?” I couldn’t help but ask out of worry and not sure what to do if she really does end up fainting before me. Well, we were in a hospital anyway, so what could go wrong? Right?
She exhaled loudly and smiled so wide that it scared me for a second because she looked like a smiling demon from the horror movie Smile.
Was she really a doctor here or was she a psychiatric ward patient on loose in the scrubs? She’s not going to kill herself next before me and I won’t end up being haunted by that demon next, right?
As if to save me from the nightmare tonight or perhaps even give me a mini heart attack, my phone went off, making me jump in my place and look at the caller ID. It was Daksh.
I received it immediately, “Hello Daksh? I’m in the hospital, where are you?”
“Oh, you’ve reached? Brilliant! I’m in the elevator, will meet you in a minute.”
The call ended soon after that. The face of the girl before me had transformed into a panic-stricken one. A lot of questions popped up in my head but before I could voice them, I heard Daksh call from behind, “Rynah?”
I turned around and smiled at my brother-in-law as we had a little french greeting of air kissing the cheeks. I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder once at the girl whose face had now become a tiny one. Desperateness was visible on her face and she followed us as Daksh guided me towards the elevator.
“I have confirmed with Dr. Sengupta, he will be doing a preliminary analysis once. Any delayed reports should come by email, so we will not be delaying any necessary treatment while we stay in Italy,” Daksh informed.
“Italy? You’re taking her to Italy? What? Why? When?” The girl who had followed us into the elevator asked, dragging the attention of all the people in the elevator. I didn't know if I should be annoyed or amused by her behavior. She was a character that I had never seen before. Quite animated. And brazen to be honest.
“Shanaya, what are you doing here?” Daksh, as if noticing her for the first time asked in a scolding tone as he added, “wasn’t it your turn to check up the wards?”
“Done and dusted, Doc. I have submitted my observations and was heading for lunch. Isn’t your lunch time a little bit from now? Why are you taking her to Italy? Where in Italy? Is she coming with us? If you end up needing a future radiologist at that place, should I come along with you both just in case? And who is she? Does she live in Italy? Is she our new patient?” She asked, while her big eyes batted those eyebrows a little trying to look as innocent as possible. I couldn’t help but purse my lips, trying to hide my smile. She had no filter. She was worse than me in this regard!
“Shanaya, you do understand that it’s my personal matter? Why are you asking me about a patient’s details?” Daksh emphasized with a pointed look.
Her face all of a sudden became so small, like an inflated balloon had lost some air. With her eyes wide open, her lower lip quivered like she would break into tears anytime now as she replied, “If she is your patient, I will have to work with her at some point of time since you are currently my reporting mentor. Also, if she’s going to be with us in Italy, I thought, I should get to know her better so that I can help her with her condition. Since, I know that she is not from your family, I thought, I would try to make her stay a little more pleasant.”
Pleasant, my foot. This girl was going to give me a heart attack with her visible mood swings. But I sure was enjoying the little exchange here. Daksh stared at her for a whole minute making her squirm like a tadpole in the pond before exhaling loudly, “Shanaya, firstly, meet my sister-in-law, Viaan’s wife, Rynah Raivardhan. And Rynah, this is my mischief-maker-mentee, Shanaya Rao.”
As soon as she heard my introduction, her face visibly paled and her jaw dropped, while her eyes opened wider than they already were, “s-s-sister-in-law?”
She looked at me then at Daksh and then back at me as she suddenly grabbed my hand and shook it with all the power that she had, “nice to meet you big sister-in-law! You are so beautiful, that I thought a model from Italy had flown to meet my mentor at the hospital!”
I looked over my shoulder at Daksh, not really knowing what to do in this situation, but I must say, I was quite amused with how dramatic she was. And the way she reacted.
Oh, right, hadn’t she said that Daksh was on his break when I enquired about him? But then it was her again, who asked if his lunch started in a bit… Wanting to see her reaction when I mentioned it to Daksh, I watched her from the corner of my eyes while asking Daksh,“Oh, weren’t you on your break? Is it over?”
Shanaya’s eyes widened even further, as if that was possible. A little more and her eyes might even fall off the sockets.
Daksh frowned asking, “who said that? I was waiting for you.”
I turned to find Shanaya shaking her head frantically with horrified eyes only to stand statue-still when Daksh’s eyes landed on her. Her eyes turned pleading, begging me to not throw her under the bus, making me end up chuckling a little at her antics before saying, “no one. I must have misheard it.”
