Before You

10 | First Day at the Hospital

THE XAVIER'S HOSPITAL hallway was filled with buzz and chatter of the medical students. Today, we were going to start with our internship in the hospital. I had been waiting for this.

"Good morning, students. I'm Dr. Preeti" a young woman wearing a white coat introduced herself. "For all the new students who don't know me, I'm your institute head for the hospital duties. I'll be dividing you'll into groups of ten. Each group will be under a supervisor who will assign you your daily duties. And one member from your group will be assigned to be the leader."

"Now, as I announce your names, you'll will stand in groups" She adds.

"Kriti Sahani." She starts calling out names. "Yes ma'am," the students reply as their names were called out one by one.

"I hope we're together. I can't stand drama without you," Divya whispers in my ear, making me chuckle in agreement.

After two groups were formed, Dr. Preeti called out, "Kavya Patel!"

"Yes ma'am," I reply raising my hand.

"You are going to be the leader of the third group. Your team members are— Vedika Kaur, Zivah Joshi, Aman Kaur, Divya Arora, Dhruv Gupta, Rishi Manohar, Heena Mantri, Nishaant Dalal and Arjun Singh."

Say what?

This sounded less like a medical group and more like the formation of a deadly mafia group. She had clearly put the wrong ten people together. Was she out of her mind? But on the bright side, Divya was going to be there.

But wait— did she say Aman Kaur? Shit.

Drama, here I come.

Everyone had confirmed their presence except one person.

"Mr. Arjun, we're greatly honoured to have you grace us with your presence." The doctor mockingly snaps at Arjun who just walked in.

Arjun gives a flirtatious smirk. "Miss, don't lie. I know I've been your favourite student since a year now and me coming here just brightens up your day."

Dr. Preeti rolls her eyes at him while I hear Vedika murmur the word "dickface" under her breath.

"Oh my god! Arjun and I are together. We are just like soulmates. Meant to be," Heena squeals on the top of her voice as she rushes to Arjun who cringes his face, with a bored expression.

I turn around to glance at Aman who was on his phone.

"Kavya," Dr. Kriti calls. I look at her as she continues, "I've placed the most popular characters of this institute under you. I trust you with this. If they create any unnecessary problems, then bring it to my notice. I'll deal with them," She warns, throwing a glare at each of my team members.

I nod as she adds, "Your supervisor will be me itself. But on the days when I'm not available, it will be Dr. Aarush. Got it?"

____________________

"Okay, so I'll explain the rules first," Dr. Aarush begins as the ten of us listen intently. "First of all, no being rude or hostile towards any of the patients. Second, no coming in late otherwise you'll have to face serious consequences. Third, no making out in the hospital premises. And lastly, no fighting in the hospital. Got it?"

We nod our heads.

"You'll will also be working in the departments which are closely related to your fields. So, now I'll be assigning you your duties. Dr. Vedika and Dr. Rishi, you'll will be in the Cancer ward. Dr. Zivah and Dr. Dhruv, the Anaesthesia lab. Dr. Aman, Dr. Kavya and Dr. Divya, Paediatric ward. Dr. Nishaant, Dr. Arjun and Dr. Heena, General ward."

It was like the universe was against me. Aman with me? This was sure gonna be a long day.

From the corner of my eyes, I see Vedika scrunch her face up in disgust at Rishi who smirks at her. I had heard Rishi was one of the popular guys.

"Kavya, let's go!" Divya says dragging me down the hall to the Paediatric ward. I see Aman already heading to the lab ahead of us.

Was he ignoring me now?

_____________________

We had attended to four patients when Divya came up to me.

"Listen, can you talk to Aman?" She whispers. I narrow my eyes at her, shaking my head in denial.

She wrinkles her nose. "Bro, not for romance purposes. For, gossip purposes," She states.

I raise my eyebrows at her as she continues. "Ask him about the Vedika and Zivah drama. Ask him why they fought and all."

I shake my head, "why me?"

"Because he likes you," she grins.

"But, I'm not gonna use that to get information out of him," I reason out. "Plus, gossiping is bad."

Divya rolls her eyes and sighs out. "Please! Please!" She begs. "You won't do such a small thing for your dear friend?" She pleads showing her puppy eyes.

"Fine!" I give in. I make my way towards Aman who was sitting at a table and was writing something on a notepad. I hesitate for a while, but eventually call him. "Aman," I murmur in a low voice. He looks up from his notepad and smiles.

God, that made my heart skip a beat.

"Yes?" He questions in a deep tone.

"I... I wanted to ask you something, " I say with a shuddering voice. He nods his head waiting for me to go ahead.

"Can you tell me why Vedika and Zivah fought?"

He raises his eyebrows as his face turns red. "And why should I answer that, cheesecake?" He says in a flirtatious but steady tone.

What? Cheesecake? Who in their right mind calls someone that?

I stare at him for a while before speaking up, "Are you mad at me that I didn't call you?"

He narrows his eyes down at me. "Why would I want you to call me?" He asks in a curious tone.

I lift my eyebrow and gawk at him. "Because you told Vedika to give me your number so that I can call you if I'm interested."

His eyelids droop as he murmurs "Vedika is so dead" under his breath. He shuts his eyes tightly and then sighs out.

Then, he opens them looking straight into my eyes. "I didn't tell Vedika to give you my number," He states. "My sister lied to fix you up with me."

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