Love at the time of dentistry

Chapter-14

Manya looked around her desk in bored frustration. It was one of those days when she didn't have many patients to attend to. She had already completed most of her paperwork by lunchtime and now she had nothing to do. She thought of going out for lunch and called Anya, "Hey babe, kya kar rahi thi free hai kya lunch ke liye?" "Kahan yaar, I have O.P.D duty today, I am upto my neck with patients", Anya did sound a little hurried. "Chal tu kaam kar I'll catch up with you later." Manya put down the receiver and let out a defeated sigh. Wait a minute, she could call one of her sisters and see if they are free for lunch. She called Shanaya at her studio first, "hey choti behna, apni badi behen ki liye thoda sa time nikal sakti hai kya aap" "Dramein toh itne hai aapke di, waise yeh toh mujhe aapse kehne chahiye, meri engagement ke baad toh aap jaise gayab hi ho gayi, ek call bhi nahin." "Oho, pot calling the kettle black, you are the one all wrapped up around your fiancé and lost in your own little world, you didn't notice me at your engagement party", Manya said in mock indignation. "Oh! I noticed many things at that party and I really want to talk to you about them." "So what are these things that you noticed?" "You are not getting away this easily, are you free for lunch?" "That was why I had called you myself, ok let's meet for lunch." "Great, I call Roma di and ask her too" "Wait, what about Phalguni?" "She is out of Delhi for an event; she won't be back by this weekend." "I didn't think her event management business would take off so quickly, she is always busy when I ask." "Yeah me too, but she is working really hard, you know how she is; she is worse than a leech when she puts her mind to something." "Hahahaa that would be our Phalguni, so lunch is set but you'll have to pick me up from the hospital, I haven't got my car back from the mechanic's." "Yeah, dad told me about it, he said maybe it will be done today and he would have it delivered to your hospital." "That's great, so you meet me outside the hospital entrance in 15 minutes." They talked for a little while and then hung up. She straightened out some things on her desk and looked at some paperwork and when Shanaya called to pick her up, Manya took her purse and hurried out of her office. On her way, she told Laxmi where she would be for lunch and that to not expect her for at least the next hour. They picked up a restaurant of their mutual choice and after they had ordered, launched into a torrent of gossip about almost everything under the sun. Shanaya told them about her snooty clients and their all sorts of irrational demands while Roma told them anecdotes about her patients. By the time their orders arrived, they were laughing so hard, some of the other diners were starting to look their way. Finally they were able to control their laughter and start on their lunch. They were not silent for much long when Shanaya said, "So now that we have covered all the usual mundane topics, let's get on to the main topic for this afternoon." "I thought this lunch for catching up between sisters", Manya said. "Oh no di that was just for your benefit, the real reason is something else", Roma said, adjusting her glasses and fixing her with her usual stare. Manya looked at both of her sisters, they were looking with quite some interest in their eyes; this was not good; this meant her sisters were up to no good. "Why are you two looking at me like this", Manya said a little uneasily. "I think you know what we want to talk about", Roma said. "We want to know about the new guy in your life", Shanaya said. "What new guy?" Manya said, taking a sip of her water "Ronit Raheja, who else?" they both said in unison. Manya choked and spilled some of her water. She wiped her mouth and looked at her sisters with wide eyes. "What in the world are you talking about, there is nothing between me and Ronit." "Oh please di do not insult our intelligence; we have seen you both together; your chemistry together could blow up a whole building", Shanaya said. "Yeah and we haven't seen you look at a guy like this since you broke up with Siddharth", Roma said. Manya was sure her jaw must be hitting the ground right now. How in the world did they know about Siddharth!! "What are you two talking about, how did you know about Sid?" Manya asked when she was able to string two words together. Both of them looked at each other as if they were talking to a very stupid child, Roma said, "Di you can be so naïve sometimes, everybody knew you were dating Siddharth, how can you even think we won't come to know about it..." "Especially after we saw you kissing on the roof", Shanaya finished with a mischievous giggle. This was unbelievable, Manya thought. "Why didn't you people say anything to me?" "After you yourself didn't say anything so we figured you wanted to keep it a secret and besides we were busy keeping mom from going to Kapoor aunty and planning you wedding with Siddharth," Roma said. "Mom also knew!!!" Manya all but shouted. "Yeah that was my mistake, I let it slip accidently one day," Shanaya said. Before Manya could say anything else, Roma spoke up, "Well all this is in the past and beside the point, we are more concerned about the new man in your life." "Look guys, you must be right about Siddharth but there is nothing going on between me and Ronit, he is just my boss." "Oh, so is it common practice with you to accept bike rides from your boss after midnight and also kiss them on your parents' balcony", Shanaya said with a crafty expression on her face. Manya felt her jaw was in serious danger of permanent dislocation from all the dropping. This was totally utterly unbelievable. Both of them were now looking at her with determined expression, looking exactly like their mother when she put her mind to something. There was no way out of it, she was totally helpless. "Are you people spying on me?" "Don't try to put the blame on us, you are the one doing all the hiding, we are just being little sisters," Roma said with her usual logic. "Yeah exactly, you should know that," Shanaya said. "What I don't understand is that how come you both were kissing each other the first time you met at the party, you are not that type of a girl?" Roma asked. Manya sighed defeated, "That party was not the first time I met Ronit, he was a post graduate student where I did my undergrad." And out came the whole story of how she met Ronit. Now it was her sisters' turn to drop their jaws. By the time she finished, they both had identical stunned expressions on their faces. Why did people reacted this way to her story, was it so unbelievable? "Say something", Manya said after sometime when both of them didn't speak. "Let me just get my senses around me," Roma said. Wow! Roma didn't become speechless this easily. "Come on guys, it's not that earth-shattering as you are making it out to be", Manya said. "Di, these kind of things don't usually happen to girls like you, this is a little unbelievable", Shanaya said. "What do you mean 'girls like me'; do you mean you don't expect me to have a boyfriend?" Manya asked getting a little irritated by her sisters' reactions. "No di that's not what I was trying to say, you are a very sweet, simple girl; you are not the type to get into love triangles straight out of some novel", Shanaya said in a conciliatory tone. "Yeah this is a little unexpected," Roma said. Manya lost some of her irritation, this was not their fault; it was her mess. "I know it was not what you were expecting but it's the truth." "Wow this is awesome and so exciting, di you are a wily fox, we didn't know you had it in you to keep a guy like Ronit interested after you," Shanaya said. "Is that suppose to make me feel good," Manya said. "Of course!" "Look di, it's crystal clear even to a blind person that you both are interested in each other, the question is what are you going to do about it?" Roma said coming straight to the point. "What will I do about it, there's nothing to do about it." "You have to do something di, you can't let it all go waste," Shanaya said, ever the romantic. "Look he is my boss, even if I won't to do something I can't, it's awkward." "Oh come on di, which age are you living in? These things don't matter anymore now; he clearly doesn't give a damn about it or he wouldn't have offered you a lift at such a late hour," Shanaya said. "He was just being a gentleman, that doesn't mean that he is interested in me." Shanaya looked at her as if she was mentally retarded, "Tell me something di, did he try to kiss you after he gave you a lift." Manya shifted guiltily in her seat, she hoped her sisters won't noticed the guilty color rising on her neck, she wasn't that lucky. "Aha, I knew it! He did try to kiss you! Shanaya exclaimed excitedly. "It was just on the cheek," Manya said in a small voice. "Oh, don't try to hide it, it's written all over your face, you clearly like this guy and I don't blame you; he is hot with a capital h," Roma said. "Exactly, if it wasn't for Aarav, I might even try for him," Shanaya said. Manya raise her eyebrows at her at this and before she could say anything Roma said, "Look di, there's no use pretending anything now, if you really like this guy, you should go for it. No use beating around the bush, it doesn't suit you." "Yeah you should go for it, make the move," Shanaya said getting excited again. She looked at their faces, they were both so excited. "I don't know guys, what if he is not interested in me anymore, it would be so embarrassing and awkward, I mean we work together," Manya said in a doubtful tone. "Di do you really think after all this that he is not interested in you, he clearly wants you, you are the one stopping yourself from wanting him back," Shanaya said. "Be strong di, if you really like the guy just go and tell him, there's nothing wrong with it," Roma said, ever the feminist. "Wouldn't it look a little desperate if I ask him out?" Manya asked. "So what, guys like a little desperation in girls," Shanaya said. Roma and Manya looked at her in mild surprise; Shanaya saw their expressions and said, "What! It's true; don't tell me you didn't know that." "Anyways, di it's perfectly fine if you ask him out. Tell me do you really like him, do you want to be with him?" Roma asked her. Manya thought about it; did she really like Ronit that much. She certainly didn't care what happened in the past and yeah she was attracted to him that was a fact. In all this time she had come to know him, she knew that he was a nice person and a brilliant doctor. Oh, what the hell! "Yeah I really like him, I should ask him out," Manya said, somewhat in a daze. "Yeah!! That's my girl!" Roma exclaimed and hugged her. Shanaya was laughing delightedly. Somehow Manya felt a lot lighter now, is she really going to do this? After this momentous talk, Shanaya left her at the hospital, taking numerous promises from her to call her as soon as she did the deed. She returned to her office still in a little daze. She attended to some of the files Laxmi had left on her desk while she was away but her mind was on Ronit. She cannot believe she had actually agreed to ask him out. The mechanic hadn't called her by the time she was finished for the day. As she gathered her things as was about to leave her office, someone knocked on her door and entered. She looked up to see who else but the object of her thoughts, Ronit. "Are you leaving?" he asked. "Yeah, I was done for the day." "Well I noticed your car was missing from the parking lot, is it not back from the garage yet?" "No it's not, they were supposed to call me when it was done but so far there had been no call." "If you don't mind, I can give you a lift, again." Manya thought about it; maybe this was the opportunity to go for it. "Well if it doesn't trouble you, then it's fine with me." "What trouble? I quite enjoyed it the last time," he said, smiling at her meaningfully. She smiled back at him; yes this was the moment she was looking for. "Well if it pleasures you so much, how can I deny it?" Did she really say that?! His smile grew a little wider, "I'll meet you outside, I have to get my helmet from my office." After he left, her phone rang. It was the mechanic calling telling her that her car was ready and asking her when to deliver it. Damn her luck! No, she wasn't going to let this opportunity slip from her hand. It was not every day she agreed to do things like this. She told the mechanic, "Aisa karo bhaiya, aap gadi ki puri servicing kar do acche se aur kal parso tak deliver kar dena, theek hai?" it wasn't difficult to get the mechanic to agree to keep her car for an extra day or two. Just as she put the receiver down, Ronit came at her door, "Who were you talking to, was that the mechanic?" "Yeah, it was the mechanic, he said there was quite some problems with the engine, it will take some time to get it repaired, maybe a week or so." She hoped he didn't catch her lie; she wasn't that good a liar. He just shrugged and said, "Well that's bad but that means I can give you lifts for a week now." "Yeah, that won't be so bad." They went down to the parking lot together; she recognized his Harley standing in the VIP parking. How come she missed such a gigantic machine before? "What are you thinking?" he asked her, strapping on his helmet and handing her hers. "Nothing, just some things." She put on her helmet and climbed behind him on the bike. This time she didn't think much before holding him. Thankfully he didn't comment anything on it and she couldn't see his expression. He started his bike with a roar and again she felt the same excitement coursing through her as the last time. She loved riding bikes!! They reached her apartment before she could enjoy the ride fully. She climbed down from the bike and handed him back her helmet. Now was the moment. "So, I think I'll...." "Will you like to come up for some coffee", she blurted out before he could finish his sentence and before she lost he nerve. He looked surprised at her question, he wasn't expecting the offer. After what seemed like eternity, he smiled and said, "Yeah, I would like that." She let out her breath slowly in relief; for a minute she thought he would refuse. They climbed the stairs to her apartment slowly. Her heart was beating so fast; she hadn't done anything like this in her life; she must be out of her mind. She let them both inside the apartment, "Make yourself comfortable, I'll be back in a minute." She rushed to her bedroom and freshened up as quickly as she can. Then she rushed to the kitchen and put the milk and coffee in the coffee maker. After the coffee was ready, she took the cups in the living room. Ronit was going through some of the medical journals left on her centre table. "You have quite the collection of these journals here." Yeah well I love to read and this was something I was interested in, so I got as many as I can." She was babbling; God! How was she going to this? She handed him his cup and sat on the adjacent seat to his with her own cup. He took a sip of his coffee and put his cup down, "So, what's on your mind?" She was a little thrown aback with his question. Was she so transparent to everyone? "Nothing's on my mind, why do you think that?" she laughed unconvincingly. "I can tell when there is something on your mind, so spill it out you'll feel good." Ok, she can do this; she just has to be strong. She put her cup down on the table, took a deep breath and got up; she was feeling too restless to sit. "Ok the thing is we both know that we are attracted to each other; there's no use hiding that'" she started slowly; he raised his eyebrows in surprise at this. Before he could say anything she continued, "So I was thinking that we should do something about it; I don't know about you but I can't go on like this, so I was thinking and I did think about it a lot, will you be my boyfriend?" she finished in a single breath. He was looking at her with a startled expression. She hadn't seen him this surprised before; he looked really cute. Now that she had taken matters in her own hand, she allowed herself to relax a little but not for long. She was waiting for his reply; he was trying to say something but was unable to. She took that as a negative sign; oh God! He was going to say no to her, he just couldn't find the words; oh, why did she listen to her sisters, she should never have done that. This is so embarrassing; she could feel her cheeks growing hot. After he didn't say anything for some time, she tried to get him off the hook, "Look it's totally fine if you don't feel that way, I understand. And don't worry about me, I will be absolutely fine. You can say no if you want, there's no pressure," she was babbling again. While she was saying all this, Ronit got up and came towards her and took her face in his hands and kissed her on her lips, long and leisurely, stopping her from saying more effectively. "What makes you think I'll say no?"