Ahana melted against Vikram, lost in his kiss. It wasn’t until there was a loud bang from someone slamming a car door nearby that she finally regained her senses.
Ahana pulled away, struggling to catch her breath. Why had he kissed her? Means they are realize the love feelings for each other and they really want to get together but for compeleting each other.
Why had she kissed him back? May be she is really serious for him as she confess her love before also but Vikram was hesitating to confess his feelings.
“Ahana,” Vikram began, and Ahana immediately knew he was about to apologize.
“It’s okay,” Ahana said quickly, cutting him off. “I really need to get going. Thanks again for everything,” Ahana said, desperately wishing she could just walk away.
But of course, Ahana couldn’t walk anywhere, not without the crutches.
“Can you get the crutches out for me?” Ahana asked when Vikram didn’t say anything.
“Sure.” Vikram stepped back, opened the door, and pulled them out. “I’ll walk you inside,” Vikram said.
“No!” The word came out much harsher than she’d intended. Couldn’t he see she was hanging on by a thread? “Goodnight, Vikram.”
Ahana tucked the crutches beneath her already-sore armpits and made her way up the sidewalk. Of course, Vikram didn’t just let her go inside by herself; in fact, he rushed ahead to open the door for her.
Keeping her gaze averted, she made her way toward the elevator. “Thanks, but I’ve got it from here,” Ahana said with a bright smile. “Have a great day at work tomorrow,” Ahana added as the elevator doors opened. Ahana swung inside and jabbed the button to close the doors.It wasn’t until the doors closed and the elevator starting moving that she sagged against the wall in relief. The trembling in her legs had nothing to do with the exertion of crutches and everything to do with Vikram’s kiss.
What had just happened? A better question might be—why had that happened?
She’d heard about Vikram’s aloof reputation on her very first day. All the nurses talked about the fact that the good-looking ER doctor didn’t date nurses. Not even ones who worked elsewhere in the hospital.
But that wasn’t the only reason she’d been fighting her attraction to him. Ahana didn’t want or need the complication of a man in her life. Ahana was here getting over a bad relationship, not to jump into a new one.
Still, Ahana couldn’t help lightly touching her tingling lips. Vikram’s kiss hadn’t just barreled against the walls she’d built around her heart, it had broken straight through.
Ahana closed her eyes and prayed for strength.
Ahana’s ankle felt much better the next morning, so much so that she decided against going to an urgent care, her only option on the Memorial Day holiday. The swelling had come down to the point she probably didn’t really need the crutches, but she used them anyway just to rest the ankle a bit more, especially since she was scheduled for another twelve-hour shift the next day. At least Ahana had scheduled for the night shift, so she’d have the entire day to rest it.
Summer clouds darkened the sky, making it a great day to stay inside doing chores. Getting her laundry done was tricky, but she managed to scoot the basket into the elevator to get down into the basement.
As the day wore on, Ahana couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Vikram. Which was ridiculous, because she’d already decided that she needed to keep her distance from him. Yet Ahana must have checked her phone a dozen times, wondering if she’d missed his call.
Or a call from Aisha.
Ahana thought about the poor woman as she placed the frozen bag of peas over her ankle. She’d called Aisha’s number several times, but the calls went straight to voice mail. Either Aisha’s phone was turned off or Kumar had destroyed it.
Ahana shivered, hoping that Aisha had managed to keep the phone hidden. If not, the poor woman had no way of calling for help. Not that she’d called the police so far.
Ahana had sensed Vikram’s frustration yesterday when Aisha had refused to press charges. She understood all too well what was going on in Aisha’s mind.
How many times had she begged her mother to leave Goa? Too many to count. Her mother always had an excuse—either she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to find a job, or she was afraid of Ganny would come after her, or she was afraid Goa would actually leave her alone. She’d tried to tell her mother they were better off without him, but it wasn’t until he’d attacked Ahana that her mother had sneaked away in the dead of the night, going straight to a women’s shelter, one of the many. Ahana had tried to convince her to go away from the past.
