“My doctor released me.”
“From thehospital,” she shoved him playfully back. “Not from restrictions.”
“You can’t mean we can’t ki…”
“No.”
“Fine. If this doesn’t go my way then something else has to.”
“What?”
“Promise you will agree.”
“Not without knowing it.”
“Promise me, Doctor.”
“Don’t even try to intimidate me.”
He smirked.
“What?”
Nilay reached out and pushed her bangs behind her ears. She was so beautiful. In the winter sun of Mumbai, having shown him the strength of her will, now here again, softened into the girl he had just recently uncovered, he couldn’t stop staring. And thanking his lucky stars that his heart attack had landed him in Dr. Shravan’s clinic just as the poor doctor’s own emergency had broughtherthere. Big nicks in both their plans, but indispensable in bringing them here.
“What, Nilay?!”
“Stay.”
“I am here till night.”
“Stay the night too.”
She clicked her tongue.
“I am in recovery. I need a doctor. Look.” He turned and lay down with his head in her lap. She laughed. Her palm landed on his eyes and he closed them, breathing steadily. Sleep began to pull him in.
“Unblock me, Doctor.”
“You have been unblocked a long time ago.”
————————————————————
Recovery With Ritu could be a whole reality show of its own. And if it was, he would be the defaulter who always landed in the dungeon or the jail or whatever it was that meant imposition. Nilay had been a man too careful with his own health ever since his first attack. But with her becoming his Big Boss, he couldn’t help himself. He made phone calls to his office just to annoy her (usually to Kedar to do nothing but ask how he was doing). Kedar was going crazy at this point. He would whistle at her as she tried to cook (‘tried’ being the operative word), the latest was the song she had introduced him to during one of their rain-song-scouting jukebox junkie sessions. He would whistle it nonstop —Koi ladki hai, jab woh hasti hai, baarish hoti hai. He would finish his water, then fill it up again when she wasn’t looking, just to hear her rant about dehydration. He would try to grab her and kiss her, only to be smacked. Hands, arms, shoulders — nothing had been spared. Last time she had gone for his mouth. It was still tingling.
“Hey, Doctor, come here,” he tugged her arm as she passed him. She smacked his puckered lips and made him laugh again, falling back to the sofa.
“Take my BP at least, what kind of a nurse are you?” He managed between his wheezes. She didn’t take the bait, going to the island outside the kitchen and segregating the fruits she had ordered.
“Ritu!”
“What?”
“It’s been five days and you are not even touching me.”
“How did I take your pulse this morning?” She set the bananas in a basket and filled a bag with the rest of the fruits.
“You know what I mean.”
