Suspicion

Arjun gasped as he sat up straight, after hearing Manya mumble something in her state of unconsciousness that he would have thought about thousands of times in his waking moments. *Currently, his brain had transcended the state of confusion over what she had actually said, and instead, was contemplating whether he should freak out over the first statement, or the second one!? Heck, he wasn't even sure if any of it was real, or if he had misheard something and added his own assumptions to it! He was still not over the day when Manya had tried to confess her feelings earlier, as well as the chaos that had happened after.*

He didn't want any repeat of that for sure; thinking thus, he checked his watch. It had been more than fifteen minutes, and there was still no sign of the doctor. How was his staff behaving in this unusually careless manner today? He stood from his place to check if anyone was there, and that was the moment Ishaan appeared. He entered the room followed by a man dressed in a white coat. Arjun

could tell that the person was presumably a doctor, but he still needed to confirm his credentials. He stepped forward and asked, “Thank God, Ishaan, that you are here. I was about to go look out for someone, but who is this gentleman?”

Ishaan smiled amicably and replied, “Oh, of course I must introduce you. He is our family doctor. You know I am going for the adoption right now, so I had asked him to be present with the team, so I can get the baby's full body check-up done. But in this situation, I thought he would be the best option for Manya right now.”

*Arjun was not fully convinced by his explanation; the doctor seemed quite young to be classified as a family doctor. But he really didn't have grounds to object, neither did he have a basis on which he could doubt Ishaan again. Afterall, he was going to get married and adopt a child, too. He was also quite disturbed about Manya's anger and over their broken friendship. He tried to reason with himself, that the person who is so upset wouldn't go for anything extreme. 'On the other hand, only these people can and would go for the extreme', his brain tried to issue a warning, as a counter to his logic, while another part of him that was tired of this constant churning, yelled “Stop it!' as loud as it could.But in the end, it was his heart's command to stop the argument that persisted, because Manya did need urgent medical attention at the moment. He could always get a better doctor to consult with, but if the window for treatment closed and some permanent damage occurred...No, no, he had to let him treat Manya.*

Arjun was busy with his thoughts, and Ishaan took this as an opportunity to go near Manya, while the person who had been introduced as the doctor, pulled out a syringe from his bag. He was about to inject Manya, but stopped when a loud roar erupted in the room.

Arjun was definitely lost in his thoughts, but not as lost that he wouldn't notice what was going on. He screamed out as soon as he noticed that the man was going to inject Manya with something without briefing anyone else. He trusted Ishaan, but there was still a long road to be traveled before he would believe in him completely.

God was definitely his side on that day, and as soon as he interrupted him, Doctor Maheshwari entered the room along with the same lady doctor who had diagnosed Manya earlier. He approached Arjun with concern, wanting to ask him the reason for his scream, when he spotted Doctor Evan across the room. Greeting him with a smile and a nod, he then turned his attention back to Arjun and asked “What happened? Why were you shouting and screaming just some moments ago?”

Meanwhile, Doctor Razia had also gone ahead to examine Manya, and was currently discussing her situation with Doctor Evan.

Arjun noticed that both of them seemed to know the doctor and was ashamed of his actions, but he still needed to clarify his doubts. He asked, “Do you know him?”

Doctor Maheshwari raised his eyebrows and asked back again, “Know whom?”

“The doctor, standing over there!” Arjun pointed at the person standing near Manya. It was only minutes later when he realised and regretted the fact that he was not a kid anymore, that it would be acceptable for him to point a finger towards someone to gesture towards them. He immediately brought his hand down, embarrassment evident on his face.

Doctor Maheshwari smiled and nodded, “Of course I know him, but it is not the answer to my question.”

Arjun looked towards the ground, his eyes downcast as he was hesitant to accept the fact that he had been doubting the doctor and Ishaan just a while ago.

This is when the doctor finally injected Manya with the injection. Within five minutes, she opened her eyes and looked at the doctor standing in front of her. She was unable to recognise his face, besides, her eyesight was still somewhat blurry. But she assumed that he must be a doctor because he was wearing white, and that was when he addressed her himself.

“Come ti senti, Manya?” (“How are you,Manya?”)

Manya recognised the voice and quickly responded, “Oh, ciao. Sto bene, come stai, dottor Evan? E come mai sei qui?”

(“Oh hello. I am totally fine, how are you, doctor Evan? And how come you are here?”)

“Ishaan mi aveva chiamato qui, insieme alla mia squadra.”

(“Actually, Ishaan had called me here along with my team.”)

“Hmm, capisco. Va bene allora.”

(“Hmm, I see. It is good then.)

“Sì! A proposito, se ti senti bene ora mi congedo. Per favore scusami e chiamami se senti qualche disagio.”

(“Yes! By the way, I will take my leave if you are feeling well now. Please excuse me, and call me if you feel any uneasiness.”)

“Certo, dottore.”

(“Sure doctor.”)

Arjun's embarrassment had grown even more by now. He was aware that Ishaan had been glaring at him from the very moment he had screamed, and he must have been waiting for the doctor to leave. When he found out that Manya was also familiar with the doctor, he knew it was signalling the start of a typhoon!

Doctor Maheshwari and Doctor Razia also left the room just after doctor Ivan did, to get him up to speed on her condition.

As soon as they left the room, Ishaan turned towards Arjun and roared out, finally unleashing his fury.

“Seriously Arjun! Do you find me to be this petty? How can you ever think that I will even imagine hurting Manya? It would be the last thing I can think of doing, knowing that she can get hurt! I know that I have committed many mistakes in the past, but my intention was never to cause her pain..all I have done, was just because of the friendship, and because I did not want to lose her. And for that, I have already apologized to you- what more do you want me to do? Should I fall to my knees and pray for your forgiveness? I am even ready to do that, just say the word.”

Ishaan completed his sentence, rubbing the corner of his eyes as if to remove the invisible tears. He turned away to signal that he was trying to overcome the emotions which would gush out and create a flood in front of all of them, if not stopped beforehand.

Arjun had been expecting Ishaan to go off in rage, but his emotional outburst had left him surprised, as well as feeling even more guilty than earlier. He did not know how to react, and was staring at Ishaan, evidently at loss for words. He not able to decide whether he should console Ishaan, take his accusations back, or apologize first, when he saw Ishaan folding his hands in supplication.

Ishaan continued in a low tone, with his hands folded and eyes downcast. “I am sorry, Arjun. I know I am the most selfish person in the world, but you know what, I have become this selfish because of lack. Somewhere, it is because of the things I never had, despite the background I come from. Not material things, but things like true friendship, love and attention. You were lucky to have true friends, and the support of your family...but me? I have always been deprived of every happiness related to friendship and family from my childhood. I never had a perfect family...my parents were always busy in managing the business, and my Grandfather, the only person who understood me, the one who taught me everything I know about the ethics of business- I lost him at a very young age. I had no real friends...the reason everyone used to talk to me was for my status, not because of who I really was. It was like my parent's wealth was all I had to offer, and I had managed to make peace with this realisation as well, that I will always have to keep myself content with superficial relationships only. And then,” Ishaan took a pause and let out a sob before continuing his statement.

“Then, Manya comes in my life...the girl who was not affected by me because of my family background, because she came to know about it much later. She was not bothered by my looks or the money I own, and the reason I can say this is because I know that she is the kind of person who wouldn't even have noticed the details about someone she was not friends with! But I am sure you already know this. Do you know that the first time she talked to me, was because she mistook me to be one of her long lost friends! At that moment, I didn't know what the appropriate reaction was, I was too weak to break it to her that she was mistaken. You tell me, how was I supposed to see the disappointment reflected in those beautiful eyes, which had just been lit up, imagining that she had been united with her best friend again? I am deeply sorry for that moment of weakness, but apart from that...she is also my best friend, whether or not you like this. I do care for her, she is my only friend whom I dared to share everything- from my darkest secrets to brightest achievements with. How could you, Arjun? I am begging you to please think things through before you sling such accusations. She is already mad at me, but please don't blame me like this; otherwise, I won't be able to cover the vast expanse of misunderstandings between us. All I want is to just get married, adopt my baby girl, and return to Milan with my wedded wife, without any misunderstandings between me and my best friend. Manya..I am begging you.”

Saying this, he was about to kneel down when Manya interrupted loudly, her tone devoid of any emotion.

“Stop! Stop right there. What happened, would somebody care to clue me in first?”

Ishaan turned to look at Manya, rooted to the spot. Meanwhile, Arjun approached her and sat by her side saying, Minnie, actually, I am sorry. It was my fault that-”

He was in the middle of his sentence, when Ishaan intervened. “He thought that I have hired some con artist to play the part of a doctor in front of him in order to harm you, and that the person is not our family doctor. But I swear, I will never do anything to hurt you-”

“Stai zitto! I know what you can do and what will you do, so you don't have to explain it in front of anyone, including me!” Manya responded to him and then spoke, looking into Arjun's eyes.

“Seriously Arjun? How shallow can you be? How can you accuse someone without knowing them, without knowing their relation with me, without knowing the entire scenario!? I know he had lied to me, but I also know that he lied because he cares for me. I was there with him for the last twelve years, and I know exactly how much he does care for me. Right now, I am angry with him, but it is not because he wanted to hurt me, but because he had lied to me- and so did you. Hence, you both are on the same plane for me right now! If I am not comfortable in trusting him, then I am not comfortable in trusting you either, even though I know you both were trying to protect me. But I still need time to process everything, I am also a person who has a different thought process and different methods of working through things. I wanted time to myself so that I could think, and every time...every time I think that now is the time that I should forgive you guys, both of you outdo yourself! I am telling you guys- at this point, it's a talent! Why don't both of you just leave me alone? Or should I leave this place, is that what you want? Anyway, this would have been the last official workday for me, in Arena's and ARMA both. Last day- tomorrow onward, if things stayed this way, we were going to become strangers to each other. One day...just one day that I wanted to spend in peace, and confess that I was also wrong, so I wanted us all to be friends again. But the juvenile behavior you both have been displaying is giving me the hint that I am dreaming about achieving a hollow box of treasure, which is beautiful from outside but empty and dark inside!”

*Arjun and Ishaan were both rendered speechless by Manya's rant. Neither of them know how to retaliate or even react at that moment. But they sure did want to scream- scream about how she could even think about leaving, didn't she know how much they cared for her? They know that their love had given her this authority, but she still didn't have the right to hurt them like that. They knew that she was hurting, but so were they!*

Arjun finally gathered his courage to speak. “Minnie, you know that you sometimes unintentionally hurt the person you care for, right? I know that you know this. I know you have been a perfectionist since childhood, but I also know that you are actually a mixture of an escapist and a perfectionist- you always tend to run from the situations you find overwhelming. You always try to hide your pain behind the anger, and you know that I love you from the very beginning, which has always given you the permission to do whatever you feel like. But you need to be reminded that sometimes, you hurt me beyond my love. And trust me, when I am saying this, it means that my heart has already been shattered into a thousand pieces, because I don't know the limit of my love for you. It's like I am willing to give my life for you, without thinking even for a moment; and at the same time, I feel a selfish claim to this life because I wanted to spend each and every day with you. So I am willing to tolerate every pain you give by not talking to me, by staying angry at me, but the thought of losing you...the statements where you repeatedly mention that you will be leaving me again, they kill me every time. I have already lost you once before; and at that time, I hadn't just lost you, but a part of my own family too. And now that I have found you after twelve years, how can you assume that I will be okay even after knowing that you are planning to run away? You know what a better option would be? If you want to leave me again, just kill with your own hands first! Yeah, I think that would work out well for both of us!”

Arjun had started out by talking to her in a very delicate tone, as he was afraid that he might end up hurting her feelings. But he was also unaware of when the twenty-seven year old Arjun was replaced by the fourteen year old teenage Arjun, who had somehow ended up confessing his feelings in anger. By the time he could become fully aware of this fact, and begin to calibrate the blunder he had caused on a scale, Manya was staring at him in shock.

She stammered out, “You love me? Like love- love? Since when?”

************************