Strange Aroma in the Elevator

Ugly Truth

"Ms. Ahuja, the director of DUH(Delhi University Hospital) is on the second line," my newly appointed assistant knocked on her door before informing Miara, she nodded her head at her and picked up the landline pressing one.

"Mr. Rathore, how can I help you?" She asked happily. He was probably one of the few men she respected.

"Do I need a reason to call my favorite student, " he replied laughing, she leaned on her chair closing her eyes smiling sweetly.

"Ex. Student, remember I dropped out after a month in med school," she laughed teasing back

"Are you free today? I heard about the new update, there are some changes I would discuss with you," he spoke after laughing heartily.

She sobered up and nodded "I will check with my assistant and get back at you, I will free up my schedule for later, let's have dinner later it's been a while," she suggested and both of them agreed.

"Hey, please come in," she pressed a button on the bell, the assistant from earlier walked in looking nervous, "what's your name?" She asked all while typing on her computer.

"Priya, ma'am" she replied looking at the floor.

Miara nodded her head," you got my schedule right?" She asked and Priya nodded "Good, cancel everything after lunch, I have an important meeting," she ordered.

"But..." Priya started but stopped when Miara, looked at her

"What?" She asked waiting for her to speak.

"Mr. Singh made an appointment to meet with you today, he keeps insisting on meeting you, he won't stop calling," she said uneasily.

Miara rolled her eyes at the mention of his name, "Just block him, this is more important, and ask the guards not to let him in," she told her seriously, Priya nodded her head stiffly walking out the room.

Miara sighed tiredly throwing her head looking at the white ceiling deep in thoughts, she shuddered before gathering herself and going back to work. She drove towards the hospital during lunchtime, she was smart enough to build her office ten minutes away from the hospital which saved her loads of time.

She wasn't followed by Ronit today, because he had asked for a day off as he had to take his wife to the gynecologist since she was seven months pregnant. He asked for a day off but she gave him a week to spend more time with his wife.

She parked her car and walked towards the hospital, she went directly to his office "Aloo... I'm here..." She stopped when she didn't find him in his office.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where Dr. Kabir is?" She asked a nurse that passed by.

She looked at her watch before answering "He might be getting out of the surgery right now," she smiled and left.

Miara huffed pouting unhappily, she hated waiting but Kabir always made her wait. He was the only one that got away with doing everything she hates.

She walked towards the OR and stood in front of it. She saw the family waiting outside, praying for the patient inside. She started at a particular chair in the back and a flashback hit her hard. She saw a girl dripping wet sitting in the corner trembling in fear, crying her heart out. Praying and begging God to help for a miracle.

"Miara, what are you doing here?" Someone's voice snapped her out of her flashback. She turned to look at him and she smiled turned upside down when she saw who it was.

"Hi, Karan, why are you here?" She asked him bothered.

He smiled at her sarcastically " I work here, you should try getting a job too, or better yet, get a badge since half of the time you are always here," he taunted her, she smiled back at him returning his energy

"But that would imply looking at your stupid face every single day, and I don't work for other people, they work for me," she was being coy with him and he smirked. "Don't waste my time, tell me where is Kabir?" He smiled then pointed to his right side.

"Second room from the right," she left without another word. He smirked evilly as he watched her walking towards the changing room. He walked away whistling giddy.

She walked up to the room and burst in "Kabir," she stopped when she saw a bunch of semi-naked people in the room.

Ayaan looked at the intruder and walked towards her before anyone else could, he was shirtless as he walked to her, her eyes bulged out of her sockets as she watched him approach "This is men's changing room, wait outside" he slammed the door in her face rudely.

She just continued standing there blinking rapidly, she couldn't believe that bastard tricked her into such an embarrassing accident.

She shook her head trying to take that image of six-packs out of her head, she didn't know he was that fit under that cold demeanor. She gave up trying to find him and walked towards the director's office who has been waiting for her.

"Hello, Miara, please come in," Dr. Rathore was an old man in his late sixties, his head was filled with grey hair, his face wrinkled but his smile was worth a million dollars, he never married and was dedicated his whole life to treating people that needed him the most.

"Hey, Doc looking handsome as always," she told him and he laughed happily.

"Save the pleasantries to young eligible men, Miara, find a nice guy and settle down, have a family don't be like this old man," he pointed to himself.

Miara rolled her eyes at him and sat down on the sofa, "you wanted to talk?" She asked getting comfortable

He poured her some tea and gave it to her "about the alert we got last week, I heard it was you," he smiled teasingly.

She sighed cursing Kabir in her head for having a big mouth "I was testing the new upgrade, " she said in her defense.

"Well you do own the twenty percent of the revenue, you had all the rights, but don't mess with the records it's illegal " he raised his eyebrows at her in a subtle way trying to warn her.

She respected him as a mentor so she nodded her head at him, promising to behave both of them were engrossed in conversation when a nurse burst into his office. She panted while trying to say something.

"What's wrong?" Both of them got off the sofa and waited for the nurse to speak.

"ER, fight... " that was enough to go ruining towards the taboo.

Maria went with them having nothing else to do, the ER was crowded with people and there were lots of people in black suits. One of them was harassing an inter holding his collar, no one did anything but her eyes found a doctor sitting on a bench holding his head, his body was shaking with fear. On looking closer she found it was Kabir, he was having a panic attack.

She pushed her way through the crowd and kneeled in front of him, she held his shoulder and brought him to look at her. He had tears running down his face.

"What happened?" She inquired the person sitting next to him.

"A high schooler was pushed off the third-floor school building a few minutes ago, she is in the ICU Doctor Kabir was to treat her but he got a panic attack, the man over there was found carrying her off somewhere else before the paramedics reached there. He is creating a scene here claiming he was just trying to help but the passerby said something else." He explained.

A memory of a bloody girl flashed through her head, the girl was in her school uniform as well.

The blood drained out of her system when she heard him. She held his hands in hers and rubbed them together "Kabir, Kabir, look at me, breathe, calm down it not her, please breathe, it's not her, " she tried to console him but the argument behind them wasn't helping.

She stood up and walked towards the loud man and punched his face, he staggered back not expecting it. "Shut the f**k up, " she yelled at him but he got more furious, he stood up straight and raised his arm to hit her but was caught midway. She was ready to counter his attack but didn't have to, his arm was caught by someone else. She looked at the hand and her gaze slowly traveled from the arm to his body. It was the rude doctor. The man struggled in his hold but no use.

"This is a hospital, get out if you are not here for treatment," he said as his voice was deadly calm. He roughly let go of his arm and the man held his bruised arm closer to his body.

"I will deal with you later," he threatened Maira glaring at her viciously.

Ayaan took a step closer to him and he gulped before running out of the ER. She sighed and trotted to her best friend. He was still in some kind of shock. She kneeled in front of him again but this time hugged him, holding his head closer to her chest.

"It's not her Kabir, it's not her," she chanted holding him tightly as he trembled in her arms, he hugged her back whimpering in pain.

"We should take him to his office," Ayaan said looking at the both of them. She nodded at him and pulled Kabir from his seat, and dragged him to his office, Ayaan held his arm helping her with his weight.

The crowd parted ways for them to leave "Everyone return back to your positions," he commanded as they dragged Kabir away.

They reached his office and laid him down on his sofa, Miara took off his shoes and massaged his feet. He nodded off after crying his heart out.

There was pin-drop silence in the room as both of them watched Kabir sleep in a fetal position.

"Thank you," Miara thanked Ayaan as he turned to leave, he nodded his head at her "You didn't ask me about what happened earlier," she asked as they closed the door.

"It's none of my business," he said straightforward, she stayed silent not expecting it. "But..." He sighed noticing her face, "We can talk if you want," she smiled at him gratefully.

They grabbed a coffee from the vending machine and stood near a window looking out.

"I wasn't always friends with Kabir, you know, He had a twin sister we were the famous tiro of our school, but we were closer than I'm with Kabir, one day during school hours she was kidnapped and none of us knew about it until we reached home. She was found a couple of days later, she saw pushed off a building, and people found her in a critical condition, her head injury was too severe and the doctor refused to operate on her without a consent form, Kabir's father refused to sign the consent form because he thought there was no way to save her, she is the reason he wanted to be a neurologist, there were seventeen different ways the doctor could have saved her but didn't. Kabir couldn't rest until he found the truth." She said sipping on her coffee, Ayaan listened to her without uttering a word. "No matter what he does or how strong he pretends to be but he can't stop panicking every time he saw someone in similar situations,"

He looked at her as she spoke wondering how he ended up in this situation.

Raj came rushing in, "Where is he? is he ok?" Ayaan looked at him and left. She watched him go.

She told Raj that Kabir was resting in his office.

"The surgery was a success, I took care of it don't worry, she is safe," he informed Kabir when he saw him awake, sitting on the sofa holding his head

She watched them interact and smiled, he finally had someone else to look after him apart from her. Her thoughts went back to the strange doctor that helped her so mysteriously.