*Palak Pov*

"He is the patient I talked to you about." Dr. Harsha Gode introduced the patient after introducing me to him first.

Not just you, Doctor. But everyone in the department talked to me about this patient. Even I got curious for the first time what could be the problem because all they reported was that he is a difficult patient but no one expressed the details.

I think a slight comparison can be made with David but something tells me it is really going to be difficult. I am still not sure why was I chosen for a VIP patient the moment I joined here. Weren't they supposed to check how I usually work before doing this thing?

Or did Senior talked about me too much near his seniors to make them do this? If that is the case, then I have to work harder for sure to not let him down.

"Mr. Anthony!" I turned to greet him and paused when I saw his blank expression, but at the same time the complete hesitance to even stay in our presence.

"You can just call him James. He will not mind." Doctor pointed out, but I just smiled at him not going to follow that for sure before turning towards the patient.

He frowned at me for a second before glancing at the Doctor with an unreadable expression saying, "I don't want her to be my doctor."

Wow! Now, that I didn't expect. I mean he doesn't know how I will approach the treatment or anything and I already became the fourth doctor he rejected during this one year. I shook my head to clear that thought the moment I realized I am letting other people's words to get into my head while thinking.

"Is there any problem because of which you don't want to take my consultancy?" I asked trying to keep a normal expression.

"It's not personal." That's all he replied and continued to stare at the Chief.

"You got all the reports, Dr. Palak?" Dr. Harsha asked, turning to stare at me ignoring the patient.

"Yes! I will handle with complete care and I already signed non disclosure document." I replied giving him a nod.

This is another weird thing, but I found out that all his previous doctors have signed the documents just like me. But why? It's not like we never got the patients like this at the previous hospital I worked.

However, they all acted like it was a normal procedure but the documents I had to sign were far from normal. It's like my career will be finished the moment I talk about him near anyone like literally not even his name should be uttered by me near others.

"How can you discuss my condition without getting my consent?" suddenly Mr. Anthony lashed out surprising me completely.

I know I should be aware of such behavior, but none of the patients acted this way at a whole new level on the first day itself.

"Then get yourself a damn guardian and I will ask each and every single matter to that person and will follow everything that person says. Until that moment I can do everything and I have already risked my license because of you. Do you know how serious it is to give you this treatment without your family consent? You even involved my wife into this." I took a step back this time hearing the chief lashing out this way.

Wow! This is definitely not a simple case. Risking license? Are they like serious right now? I was so scared to make Dr. Rohit do that during David's time when he got hurt in a fight.

"I will just shift to another hospital." Are we down to threatening now?

What am I even doing here? I thought, staring at the ceiling and they both just ignored me completely which is a good thing because I don't have any view regarding this matter and I shouldn't.

"Just go! The first thing they will do is to call your family and it is a not a difficult matter for them to get their contact. And you can even threaten to not continue the treatment which will definitely cause your Mom to enter this cabin. Which in turn will make me spill everything." Chief continued not backing down.

"Great!" I mumbled and immediately bit my lip, realizing they both were silent at that point and I was louder than I thought to be.

"Ask her to wait outside." Mr. Anthony rushed realizing I was still in their presence.

"You go outside and wait while I have a word with her." Saying that he rang the desk bell and made the nurse to push the wheelchair out.

Surprisingly, he didn't show the same behavior in front of the nurse and just went silently with her. I frowned at the closed door still thinking about their earlier discussion.

"I am sorry you had to witness that, Dr. Palak." I immediately turned, hearing his voice and gave a smile before taking the chair he offered.

"Like you just saw, he is very difficult. But the major part is that he is hiding major things from his family. They just know he is coming here to get the therapy every day and that's it. We are family friends and we both are close which made me lean into his wishes, but it will not be for long." He explained while showing the medical reports.

"I will not cross the line and just focus on his therapy. I will at least try to get him to have some therapy." I mumbled and he gave a nod.

"Just ignore if he lash out at you, which I don't think he will. He doesn't utter anything near anyone in this hospital except in this cabin. But still I will give a heads up. Tomorrow onwards the session will be during the early hours and if possible, let's add evening hours if he gives response to the therapy." He gave a few more instructions and I finally stood up to take my leave and meet my patient again.

"And you need to be more careful because his family is the main trustee of this hospital." He added that last piece of information and for a moment I didn't want to do this but I have to.

"Why was I chosen?" I asked to clear my doubt regarding this instead of speculating.

"You were highly recommended." That's all he answered and my mind immediately thought of Senior.

However, when I walked out of the cabin, I got informed that he already left the hospital. For a second I was glad to not feel pressured anymore for today, but the next second I realized I don't want to drag it till tomorrow.

Still, it is not in my hands anymore and it is better to research some more before taking care of other patients I will be passed down today. Somewhere I know it will be worse than the difficulty I had with David when he was stubborn to not get any therapy.

*David Pov*

"You really want to go home today?" Satish asked again, even though we already reached the road after crossing which we will stop before the building.

"I need to know what happened and I can't ask her for sure." I explained after being silent for the past half an hour regarding his questions.

"Are you going to ask him?" he asked frowning.

"Of course not! I will just observe him." I replied, rubbing my forehead, feeling worse with all these thoughts in my head.

"You should have known ahead, which hospital she is going to work at. Are you both even dating? How can you not know?" he continued to nag like from the morning.

"These few weeks our conversations just reduced too much and we both are busy with our own works." I explained not able to accept myself that I didn't think about her working place.

"All are just excuses. You got yourself too much on your plate. You are going in different directions and it is taking a roll on you. Stick to one thing and not these many concepts." I sighed, realizing even he is right.

"I am already in the middle of it. And I don't want to lose anything. If I really stop everything right now, will it be fair to each and every person or only for a few people? I can't be selfish, right?" I asked, frowning and we both cut our conversation when he stopped before my home.

"He must have some other appointments because of which he didn't return to the company. You need not go and check on him like that." He pointed out again.

"I want to meet others too. I have been missing them." I mumbled, getting down from the car after the gate closed behind us.

He decided to leave instead of greeting my family and I took a deep breath before walking inside only to get hugged immediately surprising me for a second.

"At least let him walk inside peacefully, Jasmine." Mom started scolding her.

"I am hugging my brother only, Mom." Replying to Mom, she shifted a little to stare at my face.

"You need to sign one poster for me." She whispered so that Mom can't hear her.

"For your boyfriend?" I asked smirking.

"He is not my boyfriend... yet." I smiled hearing that last word she added before glancing at Mom who is staring at us with a frown.

"What did she ask this time?" I smiled more seeing Mom's usual treatment for things like this.

I can't say she is completely serious. But she had to put up a stern look to take care of everything in Dad's place. Of course I didn't understand during my teenage days and I can see my sister is going through the same when I found her rolling her eyes.

"Be good!" I whispered before walking towards Mom and hugged her finally after these few weeks of hectic schedule.

"You are going to stay, right?" she asked patting my back.

"Yes, Mom! Is he at home?" I asked, releasing her.

"You see him every day and you are asking only about him. If everything is fine between you two, then shift back to home." She replied folding her arms.

"Even if I shift back it will be like before only, Mom. My schedule is still difficult even though I changed to work for the company." I gave her the usual excuse and she just shook her head.

"He just returned from some meeting he had it seems. You should know that rather than me. Anyway, he is working in the study room." She explained before walking towards the kitchen while Jasmine dragged me to her room.

"So, aren't they suspicious regarding from where you are getting these autographs?" I asked, signing the poster with my picture from my last race.

"I always brushed off their questions, but this time I told him that you are my friend's brother." She replied shrugging.

"Oh no! I got abandoned by my sister." I placed a hand on my heart with a hurt expression.

"It was all your fault to hide the fact that we are your family. Anyway, you kind of retired now and can just tell them about us, right? Why are we still hiding it? There is no need to worry about our privacy." She pointed out.

"You will not understand." I sighed and she immediately glared at me.

"I am not a kid. And just because you didn't come to my 19th birthday party doesn't make my age to reduce." She rolled her eyes.

"I am still not away from the media and I working on a few projects along with commercials. The media are still behind me and it will take a few years for them to calm down about my matters. Then I will be normal for everything. Otherwise, our brother will kill both of us." I explained and she just sighed.

"Will he also keep conditions like that for me if I express my dreams someday?" she asked in a worried tone.

"He did that for our family. And at present the only dream you have is to date your crush." I joked at the end and she immediately hit my shoulder.

Sometimes I really feel bad for my brother. Even though we both have nearly ten years difference, we were able to stay close. But he had to be the head of the family and didn't get the same connection with her.

And the connection he had with me got lost somewhere, but that doesn't mean we three don't love each other or care for one another.

****

During the whole dinner, I tried to find some clues to see whether my suspicion is right or not, but he behaved normally and he really had meetings in other places which explain his absence today.

"How is the therapy going on, James?" Mom suddenly raised the topic and he immediately paused.

"Yeah! Is everything okay?" I joined in the conversation and he stared at me with a frown.

"Why? Why are you asking that question?" he asked and this time I felt awkward because I never questioned him regarding that thinking he will feel bad to make him remember about his condition.

"I am your brother and it is not a weird thing to ask about that." I replied shrugging.

"Are you hiding anything from me, David?" he asked point blank and I stilled at my place.

"Why would I hide anything? This is the reason why I never come home. You always mistake everything I do just because I am trying to have my own life along with the one you decided for me." I lashed out with as much defense as I can so that he can't suspect anything.

"David Anthony!" I closed my eyes, hearing Mom's voice.

If she uses that surname for me then she is definitely angry. I cleared my throat before smiling at her and tried to finish my dinner.

"Mom! Can I also change my surname to yours after his popularity reduces? Jasmine Mattew sounds better than Jasmine Anthony." My dear sister started to save me from this situation.

"You first graduate with no backlogs." That's all my Mom said and the family dinner finished with no other disturbances.

I sighed lying on my bed feeling relieved that he didn't meet her and it was someone else that got transferred to her otherwise he would have made some issue during dinner by bringing out the topic.

I closed my eyes and immediately opened them realizing I should have gone to her place after dinner instead of staying here. And that thought made me realize another thing that I am really deep into this.

After one hour, I finally sat up and got dressed before stepping out of my room. I know I shouldn't call Satish right now and I didn't and this change of heart is because of her too.

I shook my head and took a taxi before reaching her place. After sending a message to Satish to pick me up from her place in the morning, I entered the house using the extra key she passed on to me.

And it is definitely not surprising to see her sleeping peacefully on the bed. I sighed, changing into extra clothes I had at her place without making a sound so that I can wear the ones I brought from home to go to work tomorrow before lying beside her.

"You said you are going home today." I got startled hearing her voice and turned to stare at her face.

"I disturbed you, didn't I?" I asked sighing.

"You know that I will always be alert when I stay alone. I know from the moment you entered the house." She replied, shifting to curl in my arms and I hugged her back.

"Wait! So, you saw me changing my clothes too." I pointed out.

"I closed my eyes... for some moments." She added at the end chuckling.

"This is not fair. You need to pay back." I warned to which she just laughed.

"This is not a joking matter." I added lifting her face before kissing her and she immediately stopped laughing but pushed me away.

"Did you come here this late for this?" she asked shaking her head.

"No! I am here to sleep." I replied, sighing before closing my eyes and settled to drift off into sleep, but stilled when I felt her lips pressed to mine.

"I don't even know why I missed you so much today. I thought of you a lot too. I was fine when we were in different places, but as it is kind of possible to meet whenever we want to, I missed you more. Thanks for coming home today." I kissed her back hearing those words and I can't even describe the way they pulled me in.

"Few weeks back, I realized something, but I never get to express it to you. I don't know whether it is the right moment to say now or not, but I want to say it." She whispered when we broke our kiss.

"What is it?" I asked, caressing her cheek.

"I think I love you, David." I paused, hearing those words and couldn't give any reaction no matter how much I tried to process it.

"I know I am still not sure, but I am kind of sure in a sense. I need some time to get a complete grasp of my emotions, but right now, I don't think I want to be with anyone except you." She continued.

"Good night!" saying that she closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep after a few minutes hugging me tightly while I stayed awake for some time before letting the sleep win over my thoughts. I have too much to think about from tomorrow onwards.

*Dr.Harsha Pov*

"Why are you calling me at this time?" I asked her frowning after stepping out of the bedroom to not disturb my wife.

She already has to wake up early for a surgery and she will be pissed if she finds out whom I am talking to right now and the matters relating to it for sure.

"I got free time right now. Anyway, did you get her to be his doctor?" she asked and I sighed before telling her the truth.

"Great! This will be too much fun." She laughed while I rolled my eyes.

"Even though I don't know what your actual plan is, I helped you with this just because you told me James deserve this chance. But this is the only thing I am going to do for you." I pointed out.

"Sure! By the way, are you sure you are not hiding anything from us?" she suddenly asked I gripped my phone.

I must have let my emotions run more than I thought when she talked about her plan. If not for James's condition I wouldn't have got myself involved with all this and she too knows that, but I can't tell her about his condition no matter what.

Already many people know and now even Dr. Palak found out. Until he is ready, I need to be careful no matter how much I am pushing him to tell everyone.

"You seem to be hiding too much from everyone. What is your plan actually? Why are you behind her instead of the main person?" I asked, changing the topic.

"Even I have my secrets and everything is going according to my plan. And I am behind the main person only while she is just the way to reach." She assured me but I shook my head.

"Maybe you actually don't know what is going on even though you think you know." Saying that I cut the call before leaning on the door.

I can't believe I followed her words today, but Dr. Palak really is good at her work and she may end up being the one to make him participate even a little. She already worked wonders with David when I transferred him to the branch where she became his doctor.

Ugh! I groaned, feeling more confused thinking what is actually going on and what is each and everyone doing in our lives. To top of that I need to push him more to let his family know about his condition.

Taking a deep breath I let go of all the thoughts before walking back into the room and sighed in relief when her sleep didn't get disturbed because of this call. My work is done and let these people handle the things their own way and I will just stay away from this and not get involved again.

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So, i think i took longer than two weeks break... and i know this is kind of a filler chapter for most part... i just want to introduce his family and new character...

i think this is the first dont leave me series to have too many chracters... i hope i am going in the right way... and hope for a great chapter after this... fingers crossed...

how is it???

comment plz and vote...