Chaotic Hearts | ✓

04 | brevity

04 | brevity

ANIKA ROLLED HER eyes at the stupid doctor in front of her. For the past five minutes, he had been asking her stupid questions. Like what her name was. As far as she knew, the four man standing in front of her knew her. Specially the one with amber eyes. His actions a while ago had clearly stated that.

And now they were looking at her with so much intensity that it made Anika shift uncomfortably in the bed. The pain in her body had alleviated after the stupid doctor had given her the medicines so it was a little easier to move around. It was safe to say that Anika was not a fan of the Doctor Sharma–she read from his name tag.

But it wasn’t Doctor Sharma’s questions that were bothering her. It was the man that had earlier walked into her room–scared her–and then left abruptly after she asked him his name. For some odd reason, her gaze kept flitting back to him. Even as she was talking to Doctor Sharma, she knew he was staring at her with his greenish blue eyes.

She tried to remember who he was. She felt like she knew him and that the memory was just a feet away, so close to her hands but slipping away when she tried to grasp it. It left Anika feeling quite baffled because from her childhood, she had a great memory. She used to remember everything, from tiny details to things that one wouldn’t even notice. And now, her memory was failing her. If it wasn’t enough that her body was failing her, now her memory had to fail her too.

She was a fucking failure.

“Mam, now tell me about your family,” The doctor said and the frustration of not remembering something made Anika snap.

“I think we can deal with this later because I don’t think a patient is supposed to go through the streets you are putting me. So please, leave me alone.” Her tone was curt and terse. She saw the man’s jaw clench in fury but the others didn’t seem fazed by it at all. It was like they were used to it. “And please send somebody to change my bandages, it’s been almost six hours and they require a changing. I don’t know what job you do at this hospital.”

The man fought back a scowl, grumbled something incoherent under his breath and shooed away amber eyed man along with the new guy who had joined them today. They didn’t budge though. They stayed put and the inky haired guy approached her gingerly.

“Take care, darling. Will visit you soon, yeah?” He breathed and opened his mouth to say something but then decided against it. He bid her a greeting and the muscular guy behind him gave her a small smile.

Anika was thankful though because she could feel a headache growing when she wondered why everyone around her seemed familiar.

Anika watched as the doctor said something snobbishly–she could see it from his facial expressions–to the blue eyed man who give him a glare so dangerous the man halted in his words. “Mr. Oberoi–” why did that name ring a bell? “–I think it’s best if you leave. As Miss Anika said–” the man flinched at that.

“Look, Sharma, I think you and I both know why you should allow me to see her. You don’t have a right to say anything while I, on the other hand, do.” Blue eyed man said it so much disdain that the doctor backed away and left the room with a scowl.

Blue eyed man whose name she was yet to know watched the doctor grumble and leave the room. And then he turned to her.

They stared into each others eyes. And Anika tried to scrutinize him. It was hard to read him. His face was blank; though Anika could see the bags under his eyes and the hollowness of his cheeks. But unlike his face, his eyes weren’t. They held so many emotions Anika felt overwhelmed. She couldn’t even decipher them but she could see the tiredness of them along with the sadness.

She wondered why he would be sad. It looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

And Anika wanted to talk to him. She didn’t even know why. “Could you contact my family?” the man nodded with an impassive face. “Thank you so much,” she whispered, her tone soft unlike the one she had used a few minutes ago.

“Why didn’t you ask Sharma?” He asked quietly.

“Well, I would have, had he have a brain, I would have asked him,” Anika told him and a soft laugh escaped his lips. She thought it was beautiful. It seemed he hadn’t laughed in long and Anika could relate to that. She knew the man had many struggles and so did she even if they weren’t the same. But in an odd way, she felt connected to him.

“You are quite the something, I always knew that.”

A silence fell over them as she didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Do I know you?” she asked quietly.

“Yes, you do. Or maybe you used to.” And the pain on his face was so intense Anika couldn’t bear to look.

“Your name?”

“Shivaay.”