Prescribed Insanity

Chapter 12: Lights, Camera, Action!

"Khushi, I know you're not a morning person, but you look like a wreck today, what's up?" Payal remarked with a toothbrush in her mouth, as she eyed her sister from the bathroom door with concern.

"Why thank you very much. Good morning to you too," Khushi replied with a grunt.

"And why do you sound like that?" Payal continued, ignoring her sister's crabby mood. "Are you sick?"

"I'm not sick. Like you said, I'm not a morning person."

"No that's not it, you don't sound good to me," Payal shook her head and walked across to where Khushi sat on the bed, huddled in her blanket and bed clothes. She placed a palm over her sister's forehead and found it to be few degrees above normal temperature.

"Oh God you have a fever!" she exclaimed.

"Jiji I am fine," Khushi said irritably, pushing her sister's hand away."And ew. You had toothpaste on your hand which is now on my forehead. Ugh."

"You are not going to the clinic today. That's it."

"Jiji I told you I am fine."

"Khushi you are not fine. You have a fever running. Just because you are a doctor doesn't mean you have some super human immunity that guarantees you to never fall sick!"

"I don't have a fever."

"Good thing you're a dentist."

"What is that supposed to mean? You think I'm a BDS and not an MBBS so I don't know the basics of- "

"Shut up and get back to bed. Tell that squeaky assistant of yours to inform the patients that you won't be able to make it today."

"Jiji I have to go to the clinic. It's Arnav's-"

"....."

".....Yes?"

"I mean all patients are counting on me for their appointments."

"All patients?"

"Yes. Oh! And that Nihaal Khurrana is also coming today."

"Interesting how Arnav came first, and Nihaal Khurrana came next. I see."

"What do you see? There is nothing to see. Anyway, I don't have a viral flu. It's just a slight rise in temperature because of this darned weather. The patients will be fine."

"It's not the patients I am worried about."

"Oho Jiji, I will be fine! Okay I'll go and I promise that if I don't feel so good, I'll immediately cancel all appointments and head back home. Alright?"

"Incorrigible," Payal shook her head disapprovingly. "Fine. Go to the clinic. But if you don't head back the instant you feel the temperature rising-"

"Jiji I will be back. Promise," Khushi said in an assuring voice and threw the bed covers off herself.

Arnav happened to reach for his appointment that day day fifteen minutes ahead of the scheduled time. He had been uncharacteristically anxious since morning, and something told him that being at the clinic instead of all the overthinking going on in his head, would help calm him down. So when Anjali all but blackmailed him to take her with him to possibly catch a glimpse of Nihaal Khurrana, he pretended to reluctantly agree for her sake, anduponher insistence, reached the Clinic earlier than he was expected to. Upon reaching however, he made it clear to Anjali that there was no way he was going to let her embarrass him in front of some soap opera fool, and at best she could stay in the car and wait for the guy to leave the building to catch sight of him. Anjali loudly protested and even resorted to emotional blackmailing, but she had finished her quota of blackmailing potential that morning itself when she had persuaded her brother to take her along with him. After a long spell of sulking, she decided to just make the best of the situation, and waited back in the car while Arnav went upstairs.