It had been a good wedding.

Dr. Manik Malhotra was surprised. He had been dreading to attend the wedding ceremony of Cabir and Navya. Since his wife Alya's death, weddings were not his favorite thing. He was okay till they got to the 'till death do us part' bit, then he was inclined to go-to pieces for the rest of the ceremony.

Strangely, this time he had not felt it that way. Time was healing? Manik wondered. Maybe, it had. Maybe, it was just because Cabir and Navya so obviously belonged together. Maybe this time his children, Ruhi and Aryan had been with him and had been fidgety and he had to entertain them. Maybe it was all of these reasons that he could not account for. And he was able to sit through the wedding ceremony. The ceremony was too short, but it had been so hot.

Whatever the reason, it had been a lovely wedding. Manik shrugged into his white coat, peered at his reflection in the little mirror behind the door and combed his hand with his fingers. He searched his face thoughtfully. Was he imagining it or were the lines of grief fading from his face? 

About time. It had been two years now. Two long, lonely, heartbreaking years. The children had been more accepting of Alya's death, but he had challenged God at every turn. It had not helped. He had still woken up every morning alone.

Perhaps it was time to change that. A little light flirtation, perhaps? Maybe an affair? Nothing wild, just a discreet affair with a woman who understood the rules. 

Manik thought it would be a bit of ego-massage. Yeah.

He then grinned at himself, pleased with the idea, and his dull eyes sparkled back, light dancing in their depths.

A woman. His stomach was in knots at the thought, and he chuckled softly. Would he even remember how to romance a woman again?

----------------------------------------------------- xxxxxxxxxxxxx--------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Nandani Singhania found the Accident and Emergency department at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, U.K. She looked around. It was eight in the morning and the place was bustling with life.

Good, Nanadani said to herself. She could not bear to stand around all day with nothing to do. That was the main reason she had chosen the A and E department. Her next mission now was to locate her boss.

It was not very difficult though. A moment ago she was walking along the corridor minding her own business, and wondering where the hell would she find him, and the next moment a door opened and a tall, fair man walked into her path. They both banged headlong with each other. Literally.

Manik's hands came up and grabbed her shoulders, her breasts bounced off his iron-hard chest, and sensation exploded inside her.

Oh, Lord! so much heat, and sex appeal, Nandani wondered. So much strength, from the hands, gripping her shoulders to steady her. Gentleness too. His hands relaxed instantly, but stayed there, cupping her shoulders with his long, blunt fingers.

Nandani was stunned, confused for a second, and yet fascinated. She stepped back and looked up and found herself mesmerized by the most astonishingly honey gold eyes she had ever seen.

She recognized Dr. Manik Malhotra. Funny, his eyes hadn't seemed so brown at her interview. 

"Dr. Manik Malhotra?" she murmured. I am Dr. Nandani Singhania, your new 'Assistant Consultant Doctor.'

Manik felt as if he had been hit over the head by a rock. One minute he was dreaming of a woman, any woman, to lighten his life, and the next minute, bang! there was a woman in his arms.

And what a woman! Soft, dreamy black eyes, framed by long black lashes, without any mascara, dark glossy hair, and a soft, full mouth that was curved in a smile. He could happily die after seeing her.

He wondered, had she really been so lovely at the interview? He was not able to recollect. How strange that he could be unaware of this woman? Lord, he must have been blind, at that time.

Manik then remembered himself and his position and let her go, stepping back and making way for her. "Hi there," he managed insanely. Damn, had it really been so long since he had chatted up a woman that he could not remember how to talk to one?

Yes, but now he thought she was a junior colleague, and he would do well to remember that. He could not cozy up to this one, no matter how good she might feel against his chest.

Manik then cleared his throat and said, "Call me Manik, please. And can I call you Nandani?"

"Fine, whatever," she said. 

"Well. If you will come with me, we will see what we can do. You will need a coat," He asked her.

"I have kept it at the reception," she said.

"And a stethoscope?" he asked.

"Here," she removed it from her handbag. 

She had a grin on her face that Manik found delicious. "Fine. Let's go and find some patients," he said.

Nandani realized that he was fascinated by her, while he was also embarrassed by his reaction to her. She would not deny that she also had a certain fascination herself. What healthy woman wouldn't? His good looks and wonderful eyes had a masculine appeal of its own. His voice was soft, deep and a little gruff.

Nandani did not remember his voice from the interview. Perhaps he had not said a great deal. She remembered that Dr. Abhimanyu Singh had done most of the talking. She was sure she would have remembered if Manik had said much, with that sexy voice of his.

It was a shame that he was a colleague. She did not like mixing work with personal matters.

But probably for him, she could make an exception?

She followed him straight down the corridor, and then to the right into the treatment area. There were trolleys with patients on them, there were cubicles with patients sitting and lying in distress, and nurses bustling busily from one patient to another. They seemed quite efficient.

A nurse guided her to the staffroom where she could keep her bag, and she slipped on her coat, hung her stethoscope around her neck and went back out.

Manik handed her a badge with 'Dr. Nandani Singhania, Assistant Consultant' written on it. She pinned it on her coat. "Where do we start?" she asked him.

"Over here," he said. He sounded more in command of himself, which Nandani noted. He picked up a file from a stack on a table. "I think for the morning you better be with me and see how things work," he said. 

After the early morning rush, the work reduced, and Nandani was forced to stand like a medical student, and watch her senior at work. She wanted to scream with frustration. It would have been a good idea if she would have concentrated on taking all the technical details, like where X-ray, blood request forms were kept, who took care of strapping the sprains, who did the casts, which would be important in an emergency. 

Instead, Nandani watched his hands, long and strong and careful fingers as he explored injuries. She listened to his warm, melodious voice and was feeling dazed.

But she did not like to waste time, even time spent admiring Manik. She was glad when things started to hot up a little. She actually got to examine a cut for fragments of glass and then she examined an elderly lady and diagnosed her as having a 'Colle's fracture' of her wrist.

She was just about to lance (burst) an infected abscess on a young woman's finger when the sister popped her head in the room and told her there were two emergencies coming in an ambulance, and could she stand by and assist Manik, as Dr. Abhimanyu Singh, the other consultant, was busy with a cardiac arrest patient and cannot be spared, while Dr. Aryaman Khurana, the Senior Registrar was occupied with a child having severe burns?

"I think the patients coming in are critical," the nurse said. "Dr. Manik is on phone talking to the paramedics in the ambulance, giving him instructions for one of the patients. Could you come and talk to the other one?" 

There was hardly any time though because no sooner had she left to call up, she heard the sound of sirens entering the hospital grounds. 

A/N: Please give an opinion if you are liking my story. Would you be interested in a bit of medical knowledge that I have tried imparting? Please reply.