LOVE IN THE AIR

It was morning 5:30 when I woke up. I tried every tracksuit I had to find in which do I look the best and later settled on a grey one in which I looked good comparatively. I walked out of the house and saw Abhishek already waiting for me he was wearing a black tracksuit, he is always in black. He gives me a quick hug as soon as he sees me. We walked in silence, so long that we had almost completed the walk and Abhishek broke the silence by telling, "You know it is really very hard to unpack my things with this hand"

"Abhi didn't I advice you not to use this hand", I asked him sternly

"I know but I have to arrange things so that the house doesn't look untidy. Idea! Can you take off today so that you can help me to unpack stuff, and you know it would be helpful and we can spend time together it will be fun", he said and I instantly agreed to it as we walked back home.

I go home freshen up and march to his house to help him with his unpacking. As I enter his house I see everything so messed up, all carton boxes here and there, his clothes were popping out of some carton boxes, and his stuff was lying all over the house. I stand there smiling, and looking at him struggling to set them all properly. I then help him set his clothes properly and clear all the stuff and he prepared me some coffee and then we again resumed the work of cleaning. By the time we completed, it was already 3 pm.

"Aren't you hungry?", he asked me as we sat

"I didn't even have my breakfast"

"That's too bad, I'll prepare something"

"I can't let you cook with this hand come let us go out", I said and we drive out to have lunch.

We entered the restaurant and he ordered food for both of us, we had it happily, laughing and chit-chatting. This was after a long time that we are eating together I mean like somewhere out, we always used prepare something at home and eat. Suddenly Riya and Rachael enter the same restaurant. I signaled Abhishek to leave because I didn't want them to come here and spoil the alone time I'm spending with Abhishek but my bad luck he didn't notice. The couple walked straight to the table where we were sitting.

"We were on our way to both of your houses, thank god we met you guys here itself, take this is our wedding invitation card"

"Congrats buddy, and you to Riya", Abhishek wishes them and shakes hands with them.

I congratulate them and give a hug to both of them as I hug Rachael, Abhi walked out without a single word this action of his surely showed that he is angry but why did all of sudden nothing wrong happen here. Then I had a small chat with them and took a leave. I saw Abhishek in the parking slot leaning on my bike, browsing his mobile phone and there was a super disturbing look on his face I went closer to him.

"Shall we leave", I questioned him

"Okay let me drive", he said

"Excuse me your hand is swollen I can't let you drive"

"Okay", he said annoyingly

We rode in silence and I could see the restlessness in his face through the view mirror breaking the silence, "Why did you walk out, are you... you know.... like unhappy about their wedding or something" I raised a question to him

"What are you kidding me I'm happy that they are getting married; I walked out because if I had stayed a little longer I would have smashed that bastard Rachael's face for hugging you. How can…" his voice trails off.

We don't speak anymore and drive in silence like always. This time the silence was making me think more does he like me? Is that why he got angry? This question traveling in my mind made me restless to know the answer. I drop him in front of his house and ask' "Do you feel the same way as I feel towards you", my words were playing tricks

"Can you be clear", he demands

"Do you have any... like more.. than friends type feelings for me"

"Yes completely, wait one sec, oh my god is it true that even you have the same feelings towards me"

I nod my head slightly and he jumps in excitement and locks his eyes with mine, he slowly cups my head between his hands and said, "Trust me I love you and I completely believe that you are my better half and I assure you that I can keep you happy until my last breath." These words of him made me happy and speechless, he held my hand tightly and gave me a promising look this was an amazing fairy tale moment of my life and it eventually got spoiled when the phone started ringing. It was from the hospital and they said that there is a patient admitted with a high fever and seems to be given medication immediately.

"Abhi I need to leave, a patient is waiting for me", I said

"No issues do you want me to drop you", he asked

"No, I'll go by myself"

"See it is quite dark and late, is it safe"

"I know you are caring, but for now just take care of your hand don't worry about me, I need to go bye", I said to him with a quick hug and rushed to the hospital.

I saw a woman sitting near my cabin she looked so pale. I checked her temperature and it was 103.4 degrees Fahrenheit it was a very noticeable condition. I immediately asked the nurses to arrange a bed for her because I did not want to take a risk and keep her in observation. I instructed the nurse to give her Acetakynophen and inject a dose of Bylokyphenelen. I decided to stay back with the patient so that it could be better. I asked about the patient's details and the nurses said that her name is Geetha and she is down with fever since yesterday. It seems that the fever was mild yesterday and had increased to this level today. My inner self kept on telling me Megha this is not normal, surely something is wrong, maybe a chronic disease I thought.

After a few hours at around 11:30 pm, I send a text to Abhi which read, 'Hey Abhi, in case you are up still can you call me', and I get a call from him the next moment.

"Hey, you are awake still", I asked

"Hmm-mm, why haven't you reached home yet"

"Were you spying on my house all this while?"

"No not at all, I was just walking around your house every 10 minutes "

"And that's called stalking"

"I was actually you know a little concerned about you"

"Whatever, I'm staying back in the hospital there is a patient under my observation"

"Anything serious"

"Her temperature seems pretty noticeable so I want to take personal care of this patient"

"Ohh,"

"So then"

"Rachael once told me that you hated all love, relationship, and stuff"

"Before meeting you, yes I just lost trust in these"

"May I know why?"

"A bitter past"

"Krish Malhotra?"

"Just cut it off it's very irrelevant, never speak about this topic ever again okay, good night sweet dreams", I said furiously, taking up his name even after so many years also breaks my heart I am not able to forget him still and this isn't fair for Abhishek, I am angry on myself I can't forget Krish and at the same time I am in love with Abhishek

"Good night sweetie", he says and hangs up

We kept Geetha under observation for a week she seemed to be abnormal. I called dad and informed him about her health condition of her, he suspected that it might be some disorder related to the brain and he asked me to contact a neurologist. I decided to call Dr. Akhil, a neurologist my colleague

"Hello doctor, I know you are on leave sorry for disturbing but this is something important, I need your advice", I said

"No problem doctor. What's wrong", he asked

"So we have a patient here and I feel that she must be suffering from some disorder related to her brain"

"Could you please explain"

"So we have a patient here who got admitted a week ago, she has a few symptoms like high fever, seizures, stiff neck and she is slowly losing her sight and hearing capability"

"So Dr. Megha considering whatever you have said I doubt that she is suffering from Encephalitis"

"What do I do now"

"I will be there by an hour and we can run some tests and proceed with the treatment," he said and we hang up

Dr. Akhil was there in the hospital by night and he ran some tests and took some scans and confirmed that he was right about her suffering from Encephalitis. So we formed a small group and started her treatment and gave her more care. This case made me spend more time in hospital which made Abhishek upset.

Abhi and I had started to meet every day, mostly at his house. We used to meet in the evenings after my hospital work and after he comes back from school as he was working as a science teacher. He was an amazing cook, he used to cook non-vegetarian dishes rarely though he doesn't add garlic and corianders his food tastes really yummy. I used to cook him his favorite vegetarian food and he helped me by chopping the vegetables and washing the vessels. We had a lot of arguments and the small fights made us build a stronger bond with each other.

We were spending time on the balcony after our morning walk; we were drinking our morning coffee and chit-chatting.

"Do you remember that day you rushed to the hospital and stayed a night in the hospital to treat a patient? How is that patient?" he asked

"Ohh, Geetha she was one of the most interesting patients in my career so far", I reply

"What is so special about her?"

"She got admitted with high fever, a week later she was suffering with Encephalitis and a couple of days later she was in a coma and after two days she had a brain dead"

"Gosh! That is so crazy"

"I know right, and then Dr. Akhil and his friend Dr. Shashank donated her organs"

"None of her family or friends approached you guys"

"Even I waited but there was no sign of anyone"

"That is incredible"

"Hmm-mm"

"Listen I need to go out of station tonight, I need to meet a few people for the discussion about the sports meet in school"

"Ohh"

"Yeah even I got the information just yesterday night, it is a very sudden plan"

"Abhi take care, see pack all the things properly don't forget anything, and call me regularly."

"Okay it is getting late for the hospital, go home get ready and leave for the hospital, patients will be waiting for you. Do you want me to drop you"

"No I'll go by myself; you start your packing bye. Abhi I will miss you a lot". I said, gave him a tight hug, and leave.