Heya lovelies!!

I hope you enjoyed the previous chapter. Shower the chapter with votes and comments.

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"So, how do you think this ideology can work for patients?" Aarohi asked the two other doctors she was seated with.

"I guess, it can be helpful because when patients go through clips and graphics like these, it might help create a sense of victory in them. I mean, half of the journey is covered just when the patient is willingly working hard for their recovery." Dr. Andrea Russo, the doctor from France answered, sharing his insight.

The other doctor who sipped on her coffee, Dr. Olivia Rodriguez added, "Right, Andrea. Besides, when patients are easily comfortable in working on themselves, the doctors can easily comprehend the issues that they face. So, it is also important to maintain a healthy and comfortable space for conversations."

"Mm-hm. You guys are right. And then, your observations are truly on the point. Usually, patients are stuck on the other side of that transparent wall of formality. Though all the doctors understand this, not everybody makes an effort." Aarohi thoughtfully said, taking a sip of her shake, a drink she was having.

It was a café at Mumbai where Aarohi was lounging and discussing various aspects of psychology that play an important role in physiotherapy with two of the many doctors who had come to India from different nations for a doctor's workshop of seminars to grow better relationships with doctors all over the world and learn more insight into various interconnections between various branches of specializations of medical field.

The workshop was conducted every year for doctors from all over the world, who made significant efforts in the initial years of their career. This year it was held in India and Aarohi had been here for the last six days now.

It had been eight days since Neil and Aarohi had the discussion that was more of an argument and neither of the two had any contact thereafter if one excluded the two trying to contact each other at the odd hours when the other was unavailable.

Aarohi was frustrated.

With Neil, ofcourse. And the situation.

The statement would be a lie if not for the various missed calls on her WhatsApp because Neil was also out of India, specifically in Brooklyn, New York for the deal he had talked about, and he also took along Pari.

When Neil was working, Aarohi would be in the bed at the hotel for their stay staring at her phone for Neil's calls while when Aarohi was working, Neil would be getting up and calling back Aarohi. It had been going on for the last week.

Safe to say it had become frustrating to the two of them. Aarohi was in denial of the urge that she felt to talk to him and the utter helplessness and sleeplessness that she felt in his thoughts while Neil was mad at her yet missed her bratty behavior and the sense of passion she held when it came to ignoring him and the connection that bound them.

"I feel we should move back to the seminar hall now, Aarohi and Olivia. The professor assigned for today is Dr. Batnager." Dr. Andrea mentioned as his face scrunched up at the thought of meeting that man again and the two girls groaned, both for different reasons.

Aarohi was tired of trying to correct the two doctors' pronounciation of Indian names in the last week. It was already tough enough for them to get her name right. Aarohi being the perfectionist, had been making efforts to improve the two friends she had made, outside of India.

"It is Dr. Bhat-naa-gar, you buffoon." Aarohi snapped at Andrea's mispronounciation. Andrea grimaced at the anger and annoyance in Aarohi's tone. "Please for the love of God, don't make me want to bang my head just in the start of the day, Andrea."

"Hey, not my fault that these Indian names are such a pain in-" Andrea's curse was cut off as he tried to justify himself by the single person audience the two had as Olivia did not like to hear anybody cursing in front of her.

"Your brain. I know, Andrea. I know. And I don't feel anything different about him. But what I believe you don't know is that I have very low tolerance for your annoying antics." Olivia basically drilled her eyes at Andrea with a tight-lipped smile, trying to control her expression of annoyance at the man's habit to curse all times.

The two doctors who fought on the first day of the seminar had made a truce when they met Aarohi, the only Indian the two of them wanted to befriend.

The two fought for her too but were interrupted by Aarohi when she was in a dilemma of choosing either one when she knew how much fun it was to be with both of them. The first two days had gone by quite awkward for Aarohi who avoided both of them while they made efforts of small talks to engage her.

"And what is the issue with him, Olivia? He is very much insightful in his sector of ayurvedic research." Aarohi looked at Olivia with a look of disbelief as she always found Dr. Bhatnagar's information-filled sessions quite interesting and fun to ponder over.

"Why don't you both learn to enjoy his sessions?" Aarohi asked the two of her friends, when Olivia remained silent.

"Do you look at the crappy man's face even? Looks like he gets so lost into the words he utters that he forgets people around him are not lip-readers. You will definitely like his sessions because you have a front seat in the hall." Andrea palmed his forehead over his frowns as he spoke out his thoughts that were no new story for Aarohi.

"Exactly. This might be one of the rare things I might agree on with Andrea but Aarohi," Olivia pointed her finger at Andrea as she looked at Aarohi while speaking and paused to give a dramatic effect with a shake of her head, with a glint of mischief in her eyes, "you need to up your standards, girl. If you'll like men like him, how will we find if there is any man that would suit you?"

Aarohi slapped Olivia's arm that was on the table to get back at her for the awful comment on her dating life. Just when she was about to retort, the alarm on her mobile rang out, silencing the three of them as they looked at the screen and got up in panic to cover the ten minute brisk-walk to the hall in mere 3 minutes.

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"Mr. Matthews, I am not sorry to say this but you will have to accomodate with atleast something that we present." Neil stood up when he was fed up of the various amendments of the plans at all times.

Running his hand over the lapels of his blazer, Neil buttoned up his coat and said, "Your demands keep changing and it is not an easy way to work like this. I agree this is my first international project but I am not unaware about how things work." Neil snapped in indignation at the outrageous actions of Mr. Matthews, his first international client- the man for whom Neil and his team of five people had been working for the past five days.

"And why do you think so, Mr. Neil? I mean, is it not your job to cater to your clients' demands?" Mr. Matthews rose his eyebrow in mock curiosity and said, in a haughty tone, indicating his superiority over Neil, "I only began to work with you because of the fact that you're working for Mr. Goenka who is a renowned man in the business world. I have worked with him and now that I found out that you're working on some project for him, I only felt you can be hired for my café chains."

"Oh, so you mean to say that it doesn't matter what talent an individual has. All that matters is if the individual is working for a renowned man or not." Neil spoke in disbelief at the display of arrogance and vivid nepotism and favouritism.

"Fine then. You may go ahead and find some other interior designer who works like that. For this whole of a week, you wasted my time, Mr. Matthews and you must know that my time is very precious for me. I don't get that why would you behave like that. Anyways, no big deal for me. But, I would like to quit a project where my team's hardwork keeps going in vain."

As Neil stood up to leave, buttoning up his coat, Pari stood up beside him, hesitantly placing her hand on his arm, "Blues, tu sure hai? This is a big deal for our company. A breakthrough."

Neil sighed and looked at Pari with a stern expression, yet his soft eyes expressed his concern and advice, "Pari, when it comes to work ethics, never compromise, even for the best of deals." Turning towards Mr. Matthews, he continued, "And you Mr. Matthews, it was a good time learning how important it is to take care that your company grows. I'd like to take your leave with my team. Thanks for everything."

Neil and Pari, along with the other two people who joined them, strode over to the door of the conference room as others looked flabbergasted at the audacity of disrespecting the man, who according to them, held a lot of power in the whole of New York. Just as Neil was about to open the door, loud sounds of claps were heard.

They turned around to look at Mr. Matthews, slow-clapping with a smirk on his face and other people in the room sitting confused and unaware of what the course of action is. "Well, Mr. Goenka also told me another fact." Striding over to the door, he stood in front of Neil with an outstretched hand, ready to shake hands with Neil. "An Indian businessman is only worthy till the time they respect you and your talent not your fame and your reputation. I don't really think that I need to explain my words to you. I guess, you deserve to reach this height."

Mr. Matthews snapped his fingers in front of Neil's face when he realised the group of the four Indians stood blank and frozen. Neil blinked out of his stupor and asked, his hands in his pants pockets and his brows furrowed, "What even does this- Why?!"

"Well, I'm a renowned businessman not just because of what I do but also because of how I analyse what I do. Quality is key Mr. Birla. I am not here because of my reputation since day one now, am I? I am sure you agree to that, don't you?" Mr. Matthews raised his right eyebrow with a chuckle. Neil rolled his eyes with an 'I-agree-to-that' nod and exhaled deeply.

"So, the deal is on then, yeah?" Mr. Matthews asked, glancing at Neil and Pari. And suddenly, Neil thought about similar words from another very dear voice.

The deal is on then.

And that is how Neil was again agitated at finding something that made him think of her. Neil was confused about what to feel now that the deal he had been spending so much energy on and now that it was done, he was left confused about what to do next. But that was no more a concern because he was reminded of the person who has been on his mind since the day he had reached the U.S.

◇◇

After finishing the procedures for the day, Neil and his team retired to their rooms. Just as Neil sat on his bed, the group that was created with his team to co-ordinate pinged with a new message. He saw a message from Pari that read:

As we are free till tomorrow morning, everyone is free to relax. Just leave a message about your whereabouts once. Have fun. :)

Neil chuckled, shaking his head at Pari taking the right decisions for it did not even strike him that everyone was in need of a break. Neil thought and realised that it was all Aarohi's impact over him that he was so lost in his work.

And truly enough, it was. It was in the mundane things that happened with him throughout the day that made him realize her impact. Feeling annoyed when somebody mentioned their family because he was reminded of how Aarohi hated him being revealed as a mere friend of hers too. That word itself left a bitter taste in his mouth but he could start from there at least.

Moments when somebody referred to be feeling blissful at getting to work in the field of their choice, he was reminded of the conversation where Aarohi mentioned her family not understanding the importance of her profession. Whenever he was having his coffee, it made him think of the meeting where he had the first ever decent conversation with her.

And Neil realised how fucked up he was.

The thought that he was not to find anymore instances to meet her much, made his heart thud a little painfully. It confused him that he yearned to talk to her despite feeling angry. Not because he didn't know why but because it was not what happened usually with him.

Neil always shared his emotions with his family. Be it joy, sadness, confusion, self-doubt, his fears or his frustrations, he shared it all. But anger was one emotion he never felt like showing to anyone.

So, when Neil felt angry, he stopped talking to anyone and sorted the issue on his own. he preferred that because handling issues became easier without having to express and let go of his grudges. He understood that thinking and after retrospection, he could work better.

But with her, it was so different. That night when he felt angry at being dictated and sworn off, it felt disheartening and annoying to him. He felt pained and angry and he let it out in front of her. And it never happened before.

Could it be true that he, maybe, liked her?

Neil shook his head to shake the idea off his mind. Had that been possible, he probably might have been wanting to stay with her; not come here, getting angry.

Neil checked his phone for time and realised it was evening in India at that time and was jolted with the thought that he could talk to Aarohi today. He wanted to but was it okay for him to contact her? Probably not.

But then why was he tempted?

Believing his instincts, he acted on impulse and went ahead to press her contact and put the phone to his ear. Waiting with baited breaths, Neil heard the rings and was about to cut the call after the fourth ring but heard her breathing, "Hello?"

♡♡

And the chapter's finally updated. Istg, I was so stuck for such a huge amount of type.

Writer's block is real and a pain in the ass guys.

Anyways, how's it? Looks like Aarohi, depsite being aware, doesn't want to acknowledge her feelings while Neil is battling with himself.

Comment, Vote and Share.

Till the next update. :)

Love love,
~LoveKaur