The Broken Doctor

11 - First phone call

Deepu's POV:

I was so busy at the hospital that I didn't get time to see my phone. Once I reached home & had lunch ,I called my parents & talked for a while. There is a missed call from an unknown number. I ignored it & went out for my grocery shopping.

Finally I received my first paycheck today. So I immediately ordered my 2wheeler. I will get it delivered by tomorrow.

I was so excited. Finally I can have my own vehicle no need to wait for auto or bus daily. I can come home in my nyt shifts & have fresh hot food rather the food I packed in mrng..💃💃

I reached home with 2 heavy grocery bags & dumped them in kitchen. I opened my whatsapp. There I found 10 messages from the same unknown number which I had missed call in mrng. The profile shows the pic of
Handsome Vijay Devarakonda.

I thought may be he/she might be his fan. I opened the msg & there I stood shocked.

Message info:

Hi Doctor, How r u
This is Vijay Devarakonda.
I need a favour from u
I am attaching reports of my distant relative diagnosed with breast cancer.
Plz look into it when u r free.
Thank you.

I thought that one of my frnds are doing prank on me. Why would "vijay devarakonda" need my opinion in this case.. I mean there are many senior & famous doctors than me that he can contact . Then why me??

I look over the reports it's stage2 breast cancer which requires modified radical mastectomy ( surgery removing breast) followed by chemotherapy.

But anyway I want to clarify that is it really Vijay or it is a prank. So I called that number. After 3-4 rings someone attended the call & said "Hello" in a husky voice. I can recognise it's vijay's voice. I composed myself & said.

"Hello, this is Dr.Deepika. I got a msg from this number. May I know who is this? " I asked innocently acting that I didn't recognised his voice.

On otherside I can hear some shuffling sound followed by
"Ahh.." vijay squealed over the phone.

"What happened? Is everything alright?" I enquired.

" Nothing..it's just that I hit my foot with the bed. By the way, Dr.Deepika this is Vijay Devarakonda. I hope u recognised my voice " he said in an excited tone.

" Yay now I recognised. U didn't got hurt na?" I enquired about his foot.

"No nothing big. How are you doc. How was ur day?" He asked.

"I am fyn. I hope u r doing good. No fever na.." I enquired about his health.

"I am perfectly fyn Doc. Tqsm for taking good care of me. I already started going for shooting." He said with gratitude.

" Good. Coming to reports u sent me it's stage2 breast cancer " I said & informed him about the further management & prognosis. I informed him to consult an oncosurgeon.

Then we spoke about other random stuff about his shoots, cinema ,about my work, about food etc..

He even invited me to his place to taste Radhamma's tasty biryani.
He is very down to earth, no stardom or celebrity feels. He always speaks his heart out.

I reminded him about his follow up to hospital 2 days later. He said " I don't want my visit to hospital to be in media again. So as I am totally fyn, I will skip it."

As a doctor I don't support skipping follow ups " Why don't u opt in-person home follow-ups? We had that option in our hospitals " I advised him

"What it exactly means" he asked.

"A doctor comes in person to ur home & check you up & do necessary treatment." I said clarifying his doubt.

"I may look into it" he said & we chatted for a while & ended our conversation by bidding Good nyt.

I felt contended speaking to him. My heart felt light. It felt like speaking to a good old friend. Usually I don't openup to others easily but with vijay it felt very safe & homely.

With these thoughts in my mind I drifted to sleep..😴😴

Vijay's POV:

I felt very tired after shooting for 10hrs & slept after reaching home.
My sleep got interrupted by a phone call. I said hello in my sleepy voice.

There comes the sweet angelic voice that I wished to hear from past few days. I got up with a jerk & in excitement I hit my foot to the bed causing me to yelp.

Then we spoke for sometime & she suggested me about ' in-person home followups '

I grinned like a fool hearing that. Its like ' one shot 2 birds ' kind of option.
No media + I will get alone time with her.

As she is the only Dr involved in my case I am damn sure that Dr.Bharadwaj will only send her for my follow up.

I informed Akshay about it & asked him to take an appointment for my followup in home.

He checked my schedule & said that day-after-tomorrow i.e; sunday I had an off from shoot , so we scheduled the followup for Sunday.

From childhood I was always afraid of going to a doctor / hospital. But now I am looking forward for the day to meet a Doctor...My cute Doctor.

Life is so unpredictable u know...🤷🤷🤷