Part 13: Jab Dil Miley

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Armaan heard the alarm clock. He woke up in one fell swoop. He didn't try to shut it like usual because he had some very important things to do. Today, his sloppy bread and butter and adha sadha lunch wouldn't do. He brushed his teeth, took a quick refreshing shower and promptly got to work. He had to fry an egg and toast the toast just right...and some people may not ever have guessed it, but this was a big task for a guy like Armaan, what with his limited cooking skills.

FLASHBACK******************************
Sanjeevni's underground area was buzzing with people. The fire fighters had just gotten to the experiment room and were busy trying to extinguish the fire. As soon as some flames died down, they reached the corner where Armaan was standing shielding Riddhima with his body now covered in sweat from the flames. The doctors were on the scene as well and among them was Dr. Keerti.
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He put the toast down on the counter. 'Ab...Ah...eggs of course' he thought, putting his finger up in the air like a genius.

FLASHBACK******************************
Arm - COMING THROUGH!! JAGA CHAHIYE!! MOVE MOVE MOVE!! (he yelled hurriedly to anybody and everybody in their way waving his hand in a 'move outta the way' motion, holding the stretcher with his other hand, directing the way to the Emergency Room, then looking at Riddhima and then at the Emergency room then back at her and back at the doors of that ER. The trip to that room seemed never-ending to Armaan).
Kee - (giving the nurse details on Riddhima's condition as she runs along with the stretcher) BP low hai, pulse weak, breathing faint...Doctor Shashank ko phone kijay jaldi!!!
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He looked at the eggs inquisitively thinking. 'Yeh thodte kaise hain thake ande main shell nahin jaye...vo kya kehte hain...andey ka fanda...what does that mean anyways?'. Since he only had two eggs, he decided he needed to get it right the first time. Afterall, it had to be perfect. So he opened his computer and searched up a youtube video on how to fry eggs. He had plenty of time because he woke up at 4:30.

FLAHSBACK*******************************
Kee - Aap yaheen rukain Dr. Armaan.
Arm - Nahin Dr. keerti, main Riddhima ke saat andar chalounga (with determination looking dr. Keerti straight in the eye)
Kee - Dr. Armaan, main aap se kehrahi hoon that you are not allowed in the ER, aap concious hain lekin apki health phir bhi bohot khatre main hai...aap ko abhi ke abhi check up karana hai (and with that they arrived to the ER)
Arm - Dr. Keerti, main Riddhima ke saath chalounga.
Kee - Aap bas ilaaj main rukavat baneyngay, agar aap itna help karna chahte hain, tho in darvaazon ke bahar intezaar karein! (she said sternly)
****************************************

He cracked the eggs as they showed in the most detailed Youtube video he could find "How to make an Ommelette for Beginners". He got his fork and started mixing in the spices. He looked at the bowl and the eggs inside it in liquid form.

Arm - Meri izzat ka falouda mat banana, bus apna omelette banalena, meri liye itna hi kafi hai.

FLASHBACK********************************
Just a few moments had passed when he heard Anjali running towards the ER and Dr. Shashank as well. A doctor intercepted their way. Dr. Shashank headed straight inside. The doctor in charge of Riddhima's case stopped Anjali from coming in. She argued with the doctor but it was useless. They wouldn't let her in. Armaan was watching through the glass door but at seeing Anjali feel as helpless as he did when he went through the same thing moments ago, he instictively went to hug her, he sat her down on the bench and sat down with her

Anj - I'm her sister Armaan...main uski behen hoon...mujhe andar jaana hai, Ridzy ko dekhna hai...it's not fair!!! (angry and tearing up)
Arm - Sshhh, I know...I know...(putting her arm around Anji aur uska kandha sehlata hai in a reasurring way)
*******************************************

He poured the mixture in the pan...'turning out pretty good' he thought to himself, 'Agar main doctor nahin hota na, tho I'd probably end up a cook...not bad for a beginner' he thought as he moved the pan around to spread the egg evenly.

FLASHBACK**********************************
Sha - Ji Doctor...aik bohot bura hadsa...(looks at Anjali who looks back at him with teary eyes as she recalled the horrible event) jiss main Riddhima ne bohot kuch khodia...aur hum ne bhi...(Anjali put a hand on Shashank's arm) Hamare ghar main bohot buri tarha se aag lagi jab Riddhima choti si thi aur iss sab mein meri dono betiyon ne...Riddhima aur Anjali ne...(broken voice) apni Ma...(he couldn't continue)
********************************************

Now for the toast. He put it in the toaster and waited while twiddling his thumbs.

FLASHBACK************************************
Dr. - Riddhima ki condition aisi hai ke agar vo aur stress le tho vo khatre main aasakti hai, stress can cause her to go unconcious again. Jo aaj incident hua tha made her relive her past and all the bad things that happened in that fire. Tho aaj jo fire ka incident hua hai, aap Riddhima ko yaad dilaane ki koishish bilkul mat keejayga. The more she thinks about it, the more she'll remember the last incident, the more stress she'll take. She'll most likely not remember much about this fire initially lekin haan, agar uss ko apne aap se yaad aye...without trying to think too much about it, tho uss ke baare main hum kuch nahin karsakte zahir hai, and that's what we want...instead of someone else trying to get her to remember about it, we need to let her own mind remind herself at her own pace. Lekin apni taraf se, aap puri koishish kareeayga that you keep her thinking about other things. Aur haan, VERY IMPORTANT, aap uss ke saat normal tareekay se act karein, mera matlab aap sab ka behaviour uss ke saat normal rehnachahiye, sudden changes in behaviour can trigger more pressure on her, and cause her to overthink everything, in this case, it can lead her to thinking about the events of the fire again.

Still wearing his burned labcoat covered with ashes, Armaan was walking and stopped outside the door as soon as he had heard the name "Riddhima" from the doctor and had been listening intently through the partially open door the whole time without anyone's knowledge. He was shocked.
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He was watching so intently. Suddenly, the toast popped up and the sudden movement made him jump up a little. He got the toast out quickly and put it on the plate. Then he started putting the egg into the toast.

Finally, he puts his masterpiece lunch into the container and keeps some freshly squeezed juice in a thermos. He puts all of it into a bag. Then he goes to his room and picks up his bag. There he sees the confetti heart that he kept in his locker and had brought home and put into a special tiny transparent glass container. He looked at it.

Arm - Hmmm...tho Basket ke saat abhi normal act karna pareyga...kuch din ke liye ye baat chupani pareygi that...that I love her. (smiles) Koi gal nahin basket, tumhare liye tho jaan hazir hai, tho yeh chota sa chupan chupayee ka khel kya cheez hai? Chalo, mujhe kuch din aur miljayenge tumhe satane ke liye. Tho look out Basket, vapes aaraha hai vo purana Armaan...but for you, and only for you...with a dash of love...and a pinch a masti (smiles).

SANJEEVNI

Anj - Ridzy!! Khao na! Itni der se, you've only been saying "kha rahi hoon, khaati hoon" lekin yeh kiya huh? tumhari plate vaise hi padi hai?
Atl - Haan Ridz...tum khao...healthy khana hai.
Rid - Di...Atul...mujhe vaaki mein bhook nahin hai.
Sap - Riddhima, tum khao gi nahin tho jaldi thik kaise hogi? Yeh weakness aise thodi na jayega.
Rid - (deeply touched that they all cared about her so much) Guys, tum log pleeease meri fikr nahin karo, main bilkul thik hoon. I'm completely fine.

Armaan enters.
Arm - Haan, vo tho clearly dhik raha hai.
Atl - Arey Armaan yar...tum hi samjhao Ridz ko.
(Atul, Sapna and Anjali get paged)
Atl - Oye! Gabbar ka page!
Anj - Chalo...duty time.
Sap - Arey...Armaan ko page nahi aya?

Dr. Keerti walks up from behind.
Kee - jee nahin, Dr. Armaan ko maine leave di hai.
Atl - leave?
Kee - Haan vo f....(her eyes fall on Armaan who signals her not to mention the fire...she suddenly remembers what they had all talked about and how they weren't supposed to mention anything related to the fire incident)
Kee - filhaal...presentation tayaar karna hai doctor Armaan ko..iss liye.
Anj - Doctor Keerti, can I get leave too...vo...
Kee - DOCtor Anjali, aapki behen ab thik hain, you don't need to worry. Vaise bhi hospital main doctors ki zarurat hai.
Anj - Yes doctor Keerti.

Keerti, Sapna and Atul walk out. Before Anjali walks out...
Anj - Ridzy, I'm gonna be back to check in later, tum jaldi jaldi khao come on!

Riddhima sees that the only person left in the room is Armaan. She tries to sit up but still feels very week and dehydrated.

Arm - Hey hey...easy (reaches for her, holds her from her back and lets her get up)
Rid - (apprehensive) I'm ok...tumhe kaam hoga...tum jasakte ho, mera matlab you don't need to stay here...seriously, I'm fine.
Arm - Haan haan...tum tho Krish ki beti ho na...super duper human?
Rid - (smiles)
Arm - Tho (pulls up a seat)...ye khake dikhao (uss ke aage vo tray karta hai that Anjali brought. It's patient food. The bland and tasteless hospital food for patients)
Rid - Mujhe bhook nahin hai.
Arm - Oh really?
Rid - Haan...I'm not hungry (she tucks a piece of hair behind her ear with her finger)
Arm - (thinks 'Oye Hoye') Acha...tho Basket ko bhook nahin hai? (he gets up from his chair and goes outside. Riddhima wonders ke vo aise suddenly kyun chalagaya. He comes back a few moments later with something that looked like a toy in his hand. He sits on Riddhima's bed next to her.)
Rid - (confused by the toy in his hand, she fails to notice that he's sitting on her hospital bed with her, right next to her) Armaan...toy? Tum koi chote bache ho kya?
Arm - (puts his finger to her lips) Sshhh! Lie detector kee insult nahin karte!
Rid - (moves his finger from her lips with her hand) What? Tum pagal ho gaye ho? Ye? Lie detector?
Arm - (stretching out his hand) lao, haath do.
Rid - No way...main nahin...tum na, vaaqi main pagal hogaye ho.
Arm - Basket...haath do!
Rid - (looks at him weirded out)
Arm - (instead of waiting, he gently grabs her hand and puts it on top of the toy)
Rid - ARMAAN!!!
Arm - Chup! Ab tumhe bas han ya na mein answer karna hai.
Rid - (trying to realease her hand) Mera haath tho chodo.
Arm - Thik hai...choddounga...bass itna batado ke kya tumhe bhook hai?
Rid - No Armaan for the last time, mujhe bhook nahin....

She hears an electronic sound, it comes out of the toy-like thing Armaan was holding. "Jhoot Bola, Jhoot bola"

Rid - (looks down in surprise at the toy) Ye, issay kaise pata ke...
Arm - Ke sahi main tumhe bhook lagi hai? (he says pulling his face closer to hers)
Rid - Haan...(she just noticed that she admitted what she hadn't been wanting anyone to know. She was hungry, but this hospital food just made her want to well...it wasn't the best smelling food on earth)
Arm - (she looks into his eyes and he looks at her and both Armaan and Riddhima get lost in an eyelock for a few seconds into each other's hypnotizing eyes. His hand was still on top of hers so he lifted it with the palm of his hand to the back of hers and directed it to his chest where his heart was. Her hand was touching his chest...just like she always touched his heart for him.)
Arm - Dekha Basket...ye toy thak vo baat janta hai jo mere dil ne tumhe dekhte hi samajh liya tha. Bas tumse sunna baki tha (he says quietly and smiling)
Rid - (surprised to hear this coming from him) Ye kya kehrahe ho? Tum aise kyun...
Arm - (lets go of her hand...he didn't want her to see all of his love right now because he didn't want her to overthink anything...he didn't want to hurt her. He pulls back)
Rid - (still keeps thinking about it) Tum...
Arm - (stands up, backs away until he reaches the sofa. He turns around for a second and thinks 'Basket, mera bass chaley tho main abhi tumhe sab kuch batadoon...ke main tumse kitna pyaar karta hoon lekin I don't want anything bad to happen to you...I'm sorry Basket' runs a hand through his hair. When he turns around, he finds Riddhima still thinking)
Arm - (shakes off his helplessness and grabs the lunchbox with the lunch he'd prepared this morning. He goes and sits back on his chair next to her. He pulls out his egg sandwich that he'd made and puts down his thermos with the juice. He looks at Riddhima aur uske samne chutki bajata hai, which causes her to come back from her thoughts)
Rid - Sorry...mujhe pata nahin kya...umm
Arm - No problems.
Rid - (notices his khana...ande ka sandwich...and it smelled appetizing too, unlike the hospital food)
Arm - Uh...Maine socha ke tum apna lunch karrahi ho...to main bhi kyun na...I hope you don't mind.
Rid - No..of course not.
Arm - Tho khao na (he says as he takes a bite of his sandwich mischievously)
Rid - (looks at him, and then back at her food. The food looked like it was alive!! She picked up the plate and wrinkled her nose)
Arm - ('Oye Hoye, kya adayen hain')
Rid - (thought 'Main jaise hi iss hospital ki in charge banoungi, I'm gonna change the hospital food first thing...patients bicharon ko yeh khana parta hai? Isse acha tho cafeteria main milsakta hai..)

As she is holding the plate up to herself, a andey ka sandwich wrapped and everything appears before her eyes. Armaan is holding it up to her. She puts her plate down.

Arm - Ye lo.
Rid - Nahin, it's alright mujhe bhook...
Arm - PHIR JHOOT? Aur tum kiya thodi original nahin hosakti, har bar vohi jhoot use karti ho...tumhari jhoot-machine mein kuch kharabi hai kya?
Rid - Armaan...please
Arm - Nahin nahin...tum batado, main spare bike parts lene jaaraha hoon kal, tho, I mean I can pick up some parts for your jhoot-machine. Ya phir you can borrow some of mine...
Rid - I know...tum tho jhoot bohot achi tarhan se bol lete ho (laughs)
Arm - Acha! Meri hi billi mujhi ko meow? Chalo jaldi lo ye andey ka sandwich. Main jaanta hoon tumhara kitna dil chahra hoga.
Rid - It's ok...ye tumhara lunch hai...
Arm - Hmmm...shayad tumhe yaad nahin hai...
Rid - Kya?
Arm - Med-exam ke din...jab tumne apni food tray gira di thi tho

RIDDIMHA FLASHBACK*******************************
Rid - I know...vo line bohot lambi hai, aur vaise bhi, mujhe bhook nahi hai.
Arm - Well... line to lambi hai, lekin main yeh mannay ko tayar bilkul nahin hoon ke 4 ghante ki intense exertion ke baad tumhe bhook nahin hain...that's a lie. (he puts his tray forward)
Rid - (looks at him)
Arm - Mujhe kaho gi kya? Come on Riddhima..meri selection itni bhi buri nahin hai (points at the tray), I mean egg salad sandwich and greek salad...it's good stuff.
Rid - Nahin, I'm fine, really.
Arm - ACHA! To aisi baat hai (Armaan gets up from his end of the bench and goes to sit on her end)
Arm - Now, for every second that you don't eat the sandwich or the salad, main tumhare aur kareeb ata jaaoonga
Rid - Kya? tumhe kya hogaya hai? Apne aap ko kya samajhte ho? Tum jo bologay sab karaynge? You're not the boss of this world Armaan (he keeps inching closer to her)
Arm - Soch lo...mujhe jo chahiye hota hai, vo main haasil karke rehta hoon.
Rid - (heart starts beating fast...'he wouldn't')
Arm - (reaches for her hand)
Rid - (pulls her hand away and quickly grabs a sandwich) Ok ok...you win...maine le liya...dekho...sandwich...in my hand (she puts it right between them in front of his face)...le liya maine...le liya.
Arm - (inches away and smiles) that's like a good girl.
*******************************************

Riddhima felt a presence next to her. She feels someone breathing near her ear and whispering in it.
Arm - Kuch yaad aya?
Rid - (turns her head sideways to look at him. They were only a few inches away from each other. He was smiling and still holding out the sandwich. She looked at him and then looked down at the sandwich. He kept inching closer and her hand slowly reached for the sandwich. Armaan felt her grab the sandwich from his hand 'Game over' he thought to himself and backed away...although he really wanted to stay right there in front of her and keep going closer.)
Rid - (unwwraps the sandwich) Cafeteria se laye ho?
Arm - nope
Rid - tho phir bahar vaale breakfast place se?
Arm - nahin
Rid - Tho phir? (she says and takes a bite)
Arm - Maine khud apne mubarak haton se banaya hai. (he says proudly)
Rid - (looks at him in surprise) really Armaan?
Arm - mmm hmm...kaisa laga?
Rid - Umm...wow...I mean mujhe nahin pata tha ke tum lunch apna khud hi banate ho...aur vo bhi itna acha (smiles and takes another bite)
Arm - (ecstatic that she liked it....finally all that work and getting up early paid off...just to see that smile on her face)
Rid - Roz banate ho?
Arm - No way man! Itna jhanjhat roz? (puts his hands together) Spare me!
Rid - I'm...I'm so sorry...vo tumne itni mushkil se banaya hoga...aur maine khalia...
Arm - Arrey, Basket..ek tho maine tumhare liye banaya tha!
Rid - Oh...I see...sab ke liye ek ek banaya tha.
Arm - Main tumhe pagal lagta hoon kya?
Rid - Tho tumne yeh sirf mere liye...iss ki zarurat nahin thi Armaan
Arm - Pata hai pata hai (masti sooj rahi hai ab) maine socha ke tumhe jitne din weakness rahe gi, utne din tum hospital bed pe pari rahogi queen ki tarha...aur unn dinon ke liye, mujhe tumhara bhi saara kaam karna pareyga...iss liye, better you get well as soon as possible.
Rid - (finished her sandwich) Acha aisa hai?
Arm - (pours some juice) Juice?
Rid - Thanks Armaan.
Arm - (smiles, he hands her the juice in a glass. She reaches to grab it but as soon as her burnt hand comes into contact with cold glass of juice, it starts to hurt)
Rid - Ouch!
Arm - (puts the glass down immediately and takes her hand) Yeh tum bhi na...dekh ke. Abhi tak vo dava nahin lagaee na tum ne?
Rid - Armaan, vo bas, main bhool gayee...
Arm - Basket...tum bhi na, bilkul basket ho. Abhi ruko. (He goes to the reception counter gets Riddhima's new prescription for burn cream. He then quickly runs to the cafeteria and grabs a mug with a handle)
Rid - Main karloungi.
Arm - Bachon jaisi baatein mat karo. Haath agey karo.
Rid - Mujhe do, main khud karloungi.
Arm - (he listens to her and gives it...knowing full well what's gonna happen next. Putting that cream on is much like pulling a band-aid off except 10 times worse. Putting it on yourself is close to impossible because it stings so much.)
Rid - (gets some onto her finger and starts trying to rub it on) Ouch....(she can't do it right obviously, the burning and stinging mixed together doesn't make the whole situation too enjoyable)
Arm - (arms crossed) Ho gaya Riddhima? Lagalee?
Rid - (looks up like a guilty kid) Nahin...bohot dard horaha hai.
Arm - (smiles at this kid-like Riddhima. He uncrosses his arms pulls up his sleeve like he's going to war and sits down onto her bed. He takes the cream from her, gets it out onto his finger and starts rubbing it in the palm of her hand slowly. She closes her eyes anicipating pain. Then she feels a cool sensation instead of stinging and burning. She opens her eyes and Armaan's full attention is on her hand. He blows on it delicately when he carefully puts the cream on to give her hand a cooler sensation instead of stinging. She looks at him. Uss ki zakham ke liye itni fikr. Armaan doesn't see her looking. For Riddhima, it's the first time she looks at him without him looking back. Vo usse jee bhar ke dekhti hai. She thinks 'Armaan hamesha se aisa hi tha? Itna hi caring? Aaj alag sa kyun lagraha hai?')