.png)
A story by Haritha Sivakumar
“Are you still thinking about the picture?” Kavya asked as she sat next to Priya while opening her laptop.
“No,” Priya lied.
“I can see through your lie, you liar! You are internally zooming in on Aadithya and Pragya’s image for the 100th time in your mind. Is it not? Do not try to dodge away, Priya,” Kavya warned her friend, who exhaled in exasperation.
“What?” Priya looked at Kavya, who puffed out her cheek, “Yes. Okay. I agree. I am thinking about the image. But it is not easy to digest that image, ah-ha, don’t interrupt me. I know he cheated on me, moved on and blamed me for everything. Yet I loved that guy, Machi, and it still pains me to see him be that happy with another woman, so soon. I agree I have to move on from him sometime in the future, but the wound is still fresh. ARGHHH! Idiot he!Idiot me!” Priya complained with a regretful scowl.
“I know this is a wound that medical science has not yet found a medicine for, but trust me, he is not worth this pain. So, stop wasting your time and youth on him and instead come party with us.” Kavya suggested excitedly, while Priya the umpteenth time, ignored her friend’s suggestion and opened the image on Facebook. Before her in full size, zoomed, was an image of a group picture of five men standing along with three women amongst them, and in the farthest left corner of the image, the happy and smiling face of Aadithya screamed happy on her screen as he had his hands wrapped around a petite young woman, who was fair, short with purple hair-streaks and a bunny teeth smile. She was pretty, and he, as usual, looked heart-stopping handsome, with firm jaws, ruffled-messy wavy hair, and a stubble-less face. He was wearing a black linen shirt, khaki shorts, shades from Aubrey and leather sandals. He was dashing, and that ached Priya's sore heart, and she missed those days when they used to hang out. It was fewer during the lockdown, but in the time before that, they used to go out a lot. He used to be fun, and he hung out with his friends, while she was with him or their girlfriends, and they visited places. It was pleasant with him, but here he looked happy, free unlike with her.
“Was he right? Is it because of me he looked unhappy? Was it me who was hogging his life? Did I make his life insufferable?” Priya contemplated like viruses attacking a weak body, but she was caught out of it as she stopped walking abruptly and made sure she didn’t collide with the nurse who was walking forward with her head turned back.
“Watch out,” Priya called and cautioned the nurse, who was about to fall down in her distracted state of watching out of the window.
“Sorry, Doctor,” the nurse apologized and beamed in embarrassment as she held a bag to her side.
“Why are you blushing so much?” Kavya asked, stopping near Priya, “What happened ?”
“ I just met Siddanth Sir,” Nurse replied.
“So, what’s the big deal? He isn’t Shah Rukh Khan. What is there to beam about him?” Priya responded while all three watched Siddanth walk out of the hospital and towards the parking area.
“He may not be, but he is handsome and suuuccch a gentleman! He carried my bag and gave it to me politely,” the nurse spoke, showing her red bandhani tote bag.
“What’s the big deal? He carried your bag- it’s just a bag. What is the matter?” Kavya enquired with discontentment.
“Areeh ma’am, I am not saying he just held my bag for a second. He gave me a lift as I was returning from visiting Leela ma’am at her house office, and when I was getting out of the car, I slipped and fell on the pavement, twisting my leg a little. There was too much crowd outside. I was embarrassed, main kya batuan, what could I say, that I could not even sit up straight or stand,”
“Did he carry you in ?” Priya asked with interest.
“Noo!" The nurse blushed, " He assisted me and helped me to stand up, and he even carried this flashy handbag all the way here along with all my files. He even suggested dropping me at the office, but of course, I rejected his offer. How can I make him do that? He is our boss, after all. However, he insisted on dropping me off here. Isn’t he such a nice man? Most men shy away from carrying our handbags, and he wasn’t awkward about it at all. He was like it’s alright, I will carry it, he even wore it like us, when assisting me while standing up. Such a nice man,” the nurse beamed before walking away jauntily.
“It is such a bare minimum of job to carry a bag or help another human being- what is there to make it a celebratory event? Don’t every man carry a women's bag to help their women,” Kavya spoke.
“Not every man,” Priya answered keeping her face straight while she felt Kavya look at her incredulously, “Not every man is like Tilak, Kavya. Not every man is willing or happy to embrace the feminine energies in their life. And to those men, even the littlest actions, like carrying their partner’s bag, can dent their masculinity,” Priya answered.
“Aadithya? wow! That man is a crimson red flag, isn’t he?!” Kavya stated, but Priya did not stop to continue that conversation, not wishing to make her already ruined mood more acidic. But, her life mocked at her again.
As she continued walking alone south of the hospital, near the new pediatric section, her heart fell into the pit as she saw Pragya leaning on the white tiles and whispering in her phone. Pragya was a visiting doctor in the pediatric department, acerbic information Priya came to face like stale food a few weeks back during a leisurely walk through the corridors after meeting one of her patients. Priya hadn't realised it was that awful day, or else she would not have taken this shortcut to the VIIP lounge. However, she was here, and as soon as Pragya’s eyes caught the reflection of Priya on the glass door, her voice grew loud.
“Comeeeon stop it.. Stop it. I am at the hospital. I can’t say that.. Come on.. Honeyyy!!” Pragya said, taking her phone out of her ear, she tapped on her screen, and Aadithya’s voice boomed throughout the entire silent corridor and swamped her, tampering her existing little amount of air, harrowing her body with pain equivalent to thousands of needles sticking into her scalp at the same time.
“Gosh.. I missed you, “ Aadithya’s voice came out all passionate and sultry, and Priya found herself break into a brisk walk as her breakfast threatened to make a reappearance if she dragged along for a further moment. Eyes stinging with tears, body crowning into painful spasms, and acrid taste filling her mouth, she stood near a patient’s room trying to gather herself, calming her growing anxiety as she heard her ringtone somewhere down from her doctor’s coat.
She felt the tears stream down her eyes, Aadithy’s voice all sweet and sultry from before in her ears, as she read Siddanth’s name on the phone screen. Her voice choked and cracked as she said Hello.
And on the other end, Siddanth fell silent, “ Arghh. Priya, I am sorry to disturb. But I just wanted to make sure you are coming for the party,”
“Yes. I wi-will be there,” Priya replied curtly and disconnected the call before she broke down, trembling while crying.
Siddanth stared at the screen for a second, wondering the reason for Priya’s uncourteous reply, “ Is she alright? Why did she cut the call? Was she crying? “ Siddanth wondered, now staring at the rain pounding on the window panes. “ It’s raining again,” Siddanth smiled to himself- as he watched rain lashing over the skylines of Mumbai with its silver cap spread all around the city, making everything dull.
His mobile beeped, and so did his computer as he received a mail notification. Siddanth turned around, resuming back his work as he read the subject line of the mail.
“Cancelation of Chrismamthium Movie production,” Siddanth’s eyebrows furrowed as his heart skipped a beat. Curling his fingers into a fist and heart sinking deep with every word. The more he read, he sank deep back into his chair while his heart was palpitated with anxiety as his next movie in production with LincoMovies got cancelled under the claim of plagiarism and copyright issues. The production company accused Ani.Tribe for selling their content to an Italian firm, and Siddanth stared at the screen stumped. He chewed on his inner cheeks and read the entire mail for the third time when he felt his hand move to his phone, and he dialled his HR, “Pratap,”
“Sir,” Pratap sound hastily.
“Please come to my cabin now,”
(To be continued)
One part will be posted every day, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Leave your thoughts on the comment.
**This is an exclusive read on my new story, 'Match Made in a Corridor' and I (Haritha Sivakumar) sharing this with only specific readers like BeTa Readers, to understand your take on the story. I hope you can maintain this confidentially and not re-share with anyone else without my concern. Thank You**
Comments