Alluring Prevarications

Quite an EVENTFUL NIGHT

SPACE HOSPITAL    3 : 00 pm 

NANDINI : 

Today turned out to be pretty busy day. The work load is quite a lot. I have my shift in OPD. No. of patients is a much more than any other day....

I don't think I'll be able to work in lab at least for today. The schedule is so much hectic. I think this is going to continue for some more days. Because there are 150-150 patients of cholera, typhoid, jaundice,food poisoning each.Some are serious and need immediate hospitalization while some will do just fine with appropriate course of medicines. I think food and water to their areas was contaminated.

On top of that, I received a message from Manik that he won't be coming to hospital for some personal reason today. This decreased my chances of working for research. 

Moreover as a doctor, my first priority is My Patients. Though I'm a A-class surgeon who completed MS from Harvard. I'm still new in the field . I have assisted many surgeries but never performed one on my own. 

SPACE is my Hospital I don't mind doing work even as a normal doctor here. 

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Rest of the day also went like Nandini working in hospital . It was 7 : 00 pm when she got free. She left for Murthy Mansion in a hurry being tired due to whole day. After reaching home , first thing that came into her mind was dinner because she could not have proper lunch in afternoon due to work load. After dinner , she went into deep slumber just at 8 : 30 pm. 

After sometime she woke up...She sees the time in watch which shows 11 : 30 pm. 

She gets up to drink some water. After drinking water , she realizes that her pendant is missing... The pendant was gifted by Nandini's mother to her when she got an admission letter from Harvard ; just few days before her parents' accident. She used to wear it always . That pendant always gave her feeling of her mother's warmth and affection. She panicked when she realized that the pendant was missing. 

Nandini tried to remember all the events of the day ; in order to find out where she might have dropped it. After thinking for a good 20 min she came to a conclusion that it might have fallen during working in OPD , it could be anywhere in SPACE. She decides to go and find it at that very moment.

It doesn't take her much time to drive to SPACE as it was just 10 min journey from MURTHY MANSION and at this hour of time road traffic was negligible...

SPACE HOSPITAL      12 : 00 am 

NANDINI :

I stepped in SPACE with fear that I might loose the pendant if I don''t find it here. It is difficult to find it in a big hospital with 100s of wards , 10 floors. But taking into consideration my today's activities I hardly have to find it on 3 floors. Quite an easy task to do, isn't it? Okay I'm very much tensed right now and I have a habit of making such remarks in such situations.

I just need to search OPD, my Cabin on second floor, near the women's washroom and... Okay I think I have been to only these places today. 

I am heading towards OPD but suddenly I stop and face palm myself...Isn't it obvious ?! OPD will be closed at this time. Dr. Nandini Murthy please calm down and handle the situation wisely.

I went to the key room and took OPD keys from a guard. The OPD was drowning in darkness with not even a single light on. With the flashlight of my mobile I somehow managed to reach the switch board.It was quiet to the extent one might have got a heart attack. 

I searched there for almost half an hour but I could not find anything. So I locked it and left for second floor. Second floor had cabins of most of the doctors working in space according to their departments. 

Moving out of the lift , I first switched on a few lights in the corridor till my cabin. I would not be lying, trust me, walking through the dead silence of the empty corridor at 12 : 30 at night gave me a sinking feeling in my heart. The silence was too much to handle. My sensory receptors were getting 100 times more active and responsive ; with no sign of adapting to the environment. Though there was no movement at all on the floor until now ; my subconscious was screaming that something was about to happen....

Ignoring the sinking feeling in my heart, I walked till my cabin; looking carefully for my pendant in my way on the floor...Switching on the lights of my cabin with the hope of finding my pendant; I started looking for it. 

I searched on my chair, below the table. Below the chairs that were meant for patients...But couldn't find it. Then I moved towards the simple white examination table which is meant for examining patients ; placed in a corner of my cabin which has its one end elevated at about 45 degrees. I searched below the examination table , near the vase, in my drawers, each and every corner of my cabin but Alas! The pendant was no where to be found.... 

I was tired, disappointed but I was not ready to give up. I can't let that pendant go which was so close to my heart. Its absence near my neck had already started making me feel incomplete. 

Rest of the floor was still in dark. I wasn't having enough energy to walk back and switch on the lights of remaining part of the floor ; so I decided to search with the help of my cellphone's flashlight. 

Holding my phone in one hand ; looking down on the floor for finding my lost pendant ; I started walking aimlessly in the direction opposite to which I came from. 

After a good five minutes , while searching some light reflected on my eyes and my head instantly shot in the direction... 

Saying that I was happy would be an understatement. It was like I almost survived from a lethal accident and the happiness of getting back to my life was running through all my veins!

I bent down and took the pendant in my hands. Yes! It was MY PENDANT! Without wasting any time I wore it sliding it around my neck. 

As soon as I wore the pendant; I felt like I heard some faint sounds...It was strange...I looked at my surrounding and realized that I was standing in front of Aryaman's cabin ....... 

I waited for 2-3 minutes at the same place and the faint sounds continued. The sounds seemed like some swift movements...Lights in the cabin were switched off so I was not able to see through the glass door of the cabin.

My heartbeats were raised...Adrenaline was pumping through my veins...The happiness of finding my pendant was far subsided leaving me just with the acceptance for the innumerable screams of my subconscious....

After about 5 minutes, I decided to step in the cabin. By gathering enough amount of courage, I slid the door knob with my sweaty palm...Getting inside I quickly reached the switch board and turned on the lights...

The site in front , shocked me. I didn't know how to react...Just these words came out, "What are you doing in Aryaman's cabin at this hour of time, Manik ?"