Mareez-E-Ishq (Chapter 11 – A bit closer or farther)

Hi guys!

Happy Raksha Bandhan to all my readers. May this festival bring a lot of happiness in your life.

A bit closer or farther

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Upon first glance I felt connected with you. Like we have met each other before. Why I felt this with a complete stranger I am yet to know but I trust further down the road our chance meeting will make perfect sense. 
~Vansh

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Author’s POV

“Would you mind if you teach me some exercises Miss…” Vansh spoke all of a sudden making Riddhima stop in her tracks.

Though he was aware of her name, he chose to act as if he wasn’t, maybe he did not want to make the situation awkward or he wanted to listen her more, no one knew. Don’t know why he felt himself yearning for her presence. Yearning for her sweet voice, her hazel brown eyes, her everything. What did she do to him? He himself was clueless.

“Riddhima.” Her mellifluous voice broke his chain of thoughts. She once again walked towards him.

“Well, I’m not a pro, but if you say I may try my hand at some.” She said nervously fidgeting her fingers. Although she remembered some exercises that she could teach him, she wasn’t quite sure as it have been long since she tried one, after all six months isn’t a short time.

“No problem, I won’t mind if you experiment them on me.” Vansh replied trying to ease her nervousness, and it did work.

Smilingly, she moved towards him and began with some stretching. Once she was sure that he was ready she moved towards the edge of the bed.

“I’m starting with the ankle movement.” She said as she gently held onto his left ankle. Moving it back and forth and then in circles, she repeated it for few minutes.

Vansh felt additional energy being pulsed into his body with her touch. Her touch made him feel relaxed as it soothed his pain. In some way, it made him feel like home.

He couldn’t refrain himself from noticing her once again. How carefully she moved his ankle in order to avoid the pain. How those hazel brown eyes of her looked at him quizzically asking whether he was comfortable with the slight movements. How gently she tucked her hairs behind her ears when they would plunge over her shoulder blocking her view. Everything related to her seemed so good to him.

“How are you feeling now?” She asked after she was done with all the exercises.

“Better.” He replied smilingly. Vansh didn’t realize when time passed so quickly. All the while, she was in front of her eyes but still he felt himself craving for her presence.

“Are you a physiotherapist?” Though he knew the answer, he asked it in an attempt to spend some more time with her.

“Not yet” came her reply.

“Well, it’s quite late I think that I must retire to bed”, Riddhima stated looking at the night sky through the window. “Good night”, she added further.

“Good night”, Vansh replied half-heartedly.

Nodding, Riddhima started moving towards her bed. She stopped midway when she heard a scratching sound. Turning around she saw Vansh struggling with the medicines kept on the side table. Once again, she went towards the direction of his bed.

“You would have asked me to pass your medicines.” Riddhima stated as she took out the tablets from the packet and placed them on his hand.

“I thought that you were feeling drowsy, so didn’t want to disturb you”, he replied as he gulped down the tablets with the water.

Riddhima chuckled taking the glass from his hand and keeping it on side table.

“Hic!” Vansh hiccupped startling Riddhima.

“Hic!” he hiccupped again followed by more.

Hastily picking up the jug from the side table, Riddhima poured water into the glass. Unknowingly, few water droplets fell onto the floor.

Extending his hand Vansh took the glass and guzzled it. Steadily, the hiccups reduced.

“Thank you!” Vansh said handing over the glass to Riddhima.

“Never mind!”

Placing the empty glass on its initial position, Riddhima stepped forward.

Unintentionally, she placed her foot on the water droplets and momentarily lost her balance. She felt herself falling backwards. Closing her eyes she prepared herself for the consequences, that is, hitting the floor and break a bone or two.

One second…. Two seconds…. Three seconds….

She didn’t fall, instead she felt a strong arm supporting her. She mentally thanked god for saving her.

Opening her eyes slowly, she found herself in Vansh’s strong arms. Her right hand holding onto his left shoulder for support while his right hand supporting her waist. Their eyes met and they felt as if time stopped. His eyes were full of emotions, some of concern and worry while some she couldn’t decipher while her eyes were full of fear, which later got replaced by calmness.

Their eye lock got broken by the flattering of the curtains. Riddhima averted her gaze and tried to get up, but to her bad luck, her foot slipped and once again she fell in his arms. This time her hand held onto his neck for support.

Vansh hissed in pain when her sharp nails pierced the skin of his neck. Realizing her mistake, she carefully got up and steadied herself.  Straightening her hospital gown, she mumbled a quick sorry and rushed towards her bed as she felt her cheeks turning turning hot in embarrassment. The red tinge on her cheeks didn’t go unnoticed by Vansh.

Vansh chuckled at her antics. She’s so innocent, he thought as he laid on the bed.

Every time he closed his eyes to sleep, Riddhima’s flushed face appeared in front of him.

“What did you do Riddhima?” He mumbled and looked towards the night sky through the open window.

On the other side, Riddhima too felt sleepless. Every time she closed her eyes, her mind replayed the incident that took place few minutes ago. She couldn’t stop herself thinking about those dark brown orbs which were full of emotions, ranging from concern to worry to lov..

“What are you thinking Riddhima?” She scolded herself for thinking such things. Huffing in annoyance at her own thoughts, she too looked at the night sky, because she knew that sleep was something that she won’t get today.

In the velvet darkness of the night, the stars twinkled joyfully as if they were also happy with the meet of the two strangers. The tree tops danced here and there showing their happiness.  The silvery moonlight peeped in through the window of their ward, as if blessing the two souls a happy life.

Mausam ka kya pata, kab barsaat hone lag jaaye,
Kab sooraj dhale aur raat hone lag jaye,
Kya pata un chamakte sitaaron ke neeche,
Do anjaanein dilon ki mulaqat hone lag jaye.

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The sun rises as a canopy of gold, bright amid the blue, bidding the stars to take their nightly rest. As darkness surrenders, every colour changes from tinges of charcoal to a vibrancy.

Sarah could not help smile watching Riddhima carefully solving the jigsaw puzzle. All her attention was focused on the puzzle that she not even noticed the nurses moving hither tither in her ward.

Sejal’s diary was indeed very useful, Sarah thought.

“Done!” Riddhima exclaimed happily as she precisely placed all the puzzles correctly.

“Very good,” Sarah said taking the neatly arranged puzzle from Riddhima and placing it on the side table.

“Here, take this. There are a lot of notifications on it,” Sarah said as she handed over Riddhima her phone.

Riddhima checked her phone after whole six months. There were numerous calls and messages from the past six months.

Scrolling she went through the various messages, some were related to bank while some were related to her mobile plan. But one message caught her attention. It was from Lifeline hospital.

As she opened the mail, her face beamed with happiness. The hospital authority was asking her to continue her internship. She was glad that they still remembered her.

“Sarah see, the hospital authority is asking me to continue my internship. I’m so happy!” Riddhima exclaimed as she showed Sarah the mail.

“Nice!” Sarah said with the equal enthusiasm that of Riddhima.

Watching a happy Riddhima, Sarah thanked Vansh in her heart as their plan was working.

Yes! It was all planned. A day ago when Sarah had a conversation with Vansh regarding Riddhima, they first planned that their first step would be changing Riddhima’s mind, which seemed to be easy as she had Sejal’s diary with her.

Their second step was to make Riddhima stand on her own feet, which would only be possible if she have a perfect degree and an internship certificate, so that she could apply for a job.

Continuing her internship at the same hospital she worked before would take her less time and be more comfortable in comparison to doing internship at a new hospital with new atmosphere. Persuading the hospital authority was a difficult task, but given the number of contact Vansh and his dad had, it became easy.

And once she was done with her internship, she could apply for a job and soon everything would fall into their place.

“I think that you must rest now,” Sarah said looking at her watch, which indicated that it was half past 11.

“Yes,” Riddhima said keeping her phone on the side table.

Bidding Sarah a goodbye, Riddhima laid on her bed and in no time sleep took over her, after all she didn’t have a good sleep last night.

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.

.

Vansh sat on the hospital bed listening the doctor’s instructions about what to do and what not to do once he got discharged.

Yes! Today he was getting discharged.

He remembered how Sia and Ishani visited him early morning telling that they were here to take him home. He first thought it as a prank, but seeing the nurses and ward boys moving here and there making necessary arrangements of his discharge, he knew that they were not joking.

His heart sank at the mention of his discharge.

Wasn’t he supposed to be happy at the idea of him going home, getting rid of Dr. Batra’s boring exercises? Yes! He was supposed to be happy, but what he felt was extremely opposite of it.

For now, he did not want to leave this ward. All he wanted to do was to spend more and more time there. He wanted to spend his time looking outside the window, seeing the sun rise and set. He wanted to spend his time listening the chirping of birds outside the window. Mostly importantly, he wanted to spend time with Riddhima.

Although, he did help her without her

“Mr. Vansh, I hope you follow the given instructions.” The doctor said and Vansh nodded giving him a sad smile.

“Come, let’s go home!” Ahaan said cheerfully as he helped Vansh settle down on the wheelchair. As they were about to move, Ahaan phone rang.

“Wait, let me take this call”, Ahaan said as he move outside the ward to receive the call.

While Ahaan was on the call, Vansh wheeled his wheelchair towards the side table to drink water in order to clear the lump forming in his throat. He noticed that there were still some water droplets on the floor. A small smile crept on his face reminiscing the incident that transpired over there.

Further he made his way towards the window and ran his across window pane. His smile grew wider as he remembered Riddhima standing by the window.

At last, he made his way towards Riddhima’s bed. She was sleeping with her elegant face glowing under the sunshine. The way her lips were curved into smile were enough to tell that she was sleeping peacefully. Suddenly her smile frowned and she made an annoying face. It was because of a hair trace. He gently tucked the hair trace behind her ear and she smiled once again.

Running his hand over the side of her face, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. Don’t know why he felt a sudden urge to kiss her. This was the first time he was behaving out of his character.

“Let’s go!” Ahaan said breaking his thoughts. Vansh simply nodded because he knew his voice would betray him if he tried to speak.

As Ahaan wheeled the wheel chair towards the exit of the door, Vansh looked at Riddhima one last time.

His mind clouded with a lot of thoughts as he bid her a silent goodbye in his heart.

When will they meet again?

Will she remember him?

Will they ever meet?

Little did he knew that the paths of their life were going to cross again, and this time with a stronger reason.

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As promised, I updated. But I don’t know when the next update would be, but will try my best to update as soon as possible.

How was the chapter guys? Do tell your views regarding it.

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Please comment motivate me to work harder.

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Till then, take care!

Stay safe, stay healthy!