🔸Hello divine beauties...🪄

🔸Here's the chapter...enjoy reading

It was nearly 10 pm. Most of the patients in the hospital had taken their medicines and were resting. The doctors were either in their cabins or attending to the few patients still arriving. Among them, a young doctor walked up to a little boy and gently checked his fever. The child looked at her with a soft, innocent smile - one that could melt the hardest of hearts.

"How are you feeling now?", she asked, her tone tender.

"I feel better than before, doctor didi", the boy replied with a grin that reached his eyes.

She smiled back and turned to check on the remaining patients, but just as she took a step, the boy called out, "Doctor didi, do you have night duty today?"

She paused, glanced back over her shoulder and replied with a smile, "No, Ansh. I'll just check on everyone and then leave".

The child's smile faded, a single shadow crossing his face.

"What happened?", she asked, returning to his side.

"I can't sleep. If you had night duty today, I could've stayed with you", he whispered softly.

She turned towards him, ruffled his hair and said with a gentle smile, "Don't worry, tomorrow's my night shift. We'll roam around then".

Ansh beamed, nodding his head with excitement.

With one last smile, she moved on to finish her rounds and stepped into the quiet corridor. Just then, a voice called out from behind.

"Lavanya, wait..."

She turned to see a fellow doctor approaching her, a file in hand.

"Hey, if you're heading downstairs, can you please give this to Dr. Kamal? He asked for it."

Lavanya took the file with a small nod. "Sure", she said and walked ahead.

This wasn't just any doctor. This was Dr. Lavanya Thakur, the most compassionate, warm-hearted, and slightly strict doctor of the hospital. A perfect blend of grace and discipline, someone who beamed not just with medicines, but with her presence.

As Lavanya descended the stairs, The hospital's lower floor stood quiet under the soft, sterile glow of white lights. Her steps echoed faintly as she made her way toward Dr. Kamal's cabin, the file clutched gently in her hand. Dr. Kamal was her senior - an Emergency Specialist like her, and someone she had assisted in some of the most critical, life - altering surgeries. A man she had respected only for his mind - blowing skills and precision.

She approached the cabin door, lifting her hand to knock - only to freeze mid - motion.

From inside, a muffled sound broke through the silence - a soft moan, intimate, unmistakable. Her brows instantly furrowed in disgust as she instinctively stepped back, her expression crumpling into a frown. The realization of what was likely happening behind that closed door made her jaw tighten in quiet disbelief.

Still, maintaining her composure, she knocked.

At once, the sounds ceased. A heavy silence replaced the moaning, and after a beat, a male voice called out, slightly breathless - "Coming".

Lavanya exhaled slowly through her nose, then pushed the door open and stepped in Dr. Kamal was seated behind his desk, his smile tight and visibly nervous as he glanced up at her.

"Lavanya...at this hour? Is something urgent?", he asked, his voice attempting normalcy.

Without flinching or letting her face betray her thoughts, she walked forward and placed the file on his desk, "You had asked Aarti for this file earlier," she said calmly, her tone professional and unreadable.

The moment he saw the file, recognition flickered in his eyes. Ofcourse - Aarti had sent it through her.

He cleared his throat and accepted the file with a quick, "Thanks, Lavanya".

She simply gave a curt nod and turned to leave. But as she did, her eyes flickered - just for a second - toward the drawn curtain near the corner of the room.

The silhouette was faint, but her instincts, didn't need confirmation.

She knew who it was.

She didn't speak. Didn't react. Her face remained a mask of poise, untouched by the knowledge.

The moment Lavanya stepped out of the cabin, her jaw clenched, and under her breath, she muttered. "Ridiculous"

Her footsteps echoed as she walked away briskly, her irritation simmering just beneath the surface.

Yes, she respected Dr. Kamal - but only within limits.

There was no denying his brilliance. The way he had handled some of the most complex emergency cases at such a young age was genuinely worthy of admiration. He was just four years older than her, but in the emergency ward, he had built a reputation for being calm under pressure, decisive in crisis, and a lifesaver in the most literal sense.

But that was just one side of Dr. Kamal.

But the other side of Dr. Kamal, Lavanya couldn't help but despise Dr. Kamal, Professional, he was brilliant - one of the best. But personally? An absolute mess. A top - ties flirt, a walking hookup artist. His cabin was less of a consultation room and more like a space for his next causal fling. No, he never crossed the line with female patients, but still, there probably wasn't a single nurse or female doctor in the hospital who hadn't been charmed by his smooth talk at least once.

He could flirt with anyone, anywhere with effortless ease. Strangely though, he had never tried it with Lavanya. Maybe because her boundaries were clear, firm and sky-high. Perhaps that's why, somewhere deep down, Dr. Kamal was a little afraid of her.

But Lavanya wasn't the kind to judge someone's personal choices. As long as he remained respectful towards female patients and staff, she didn't care what he did outside. What truly irritated her was his need to bring all that fliration into the hospital. Couldn't he leave that drama outside the professional space?

Only a few doctors knew this side of Kamal, and Lavanya happened to be one of them. Not because he told her, but because she was observant - quiet, sharp and never native enough to miss what most people pretend not to see.

Still, she never said a word.

Not because she was afraid - but because she doesn't like interfering in anyone's personal life - unless someone crosses a line that tests her patience. She minds her own business, keeps her head down, and stays in her lane...until someone gives her reason not to.

She was lost in these thoughts when a sudden commotion near the reception caught her attention. Without a second thought, she rushed toward The noise to see what was going on.

A patient was being rushed in on a stretcher. Blood. So much blood.

"What happened?", she demanded, her voice steady despite the rising adrenaline.

Before the wardboy could respond, Dr. Kamal came running in from behind, breath slightly labored. The stretcher jolted as it came to a halt.

"Car accident", the wardboy replied quickly. "He was unconscious when we pulled him out. Bleeding heavily".

Lavanya glanced down at the man. His shirt was soaked in crimson, breathes shallow, eyes fluttering shut. One look, and her instincts screamed. This was critical. He wouldn't last without immediate surgery.

"We need to operate. Now", she said firmly, already checking vitals.

But Kamal's voice cut through the urgency like ice. "Don't be an emotional fool, Lavanya. This is a road accident case. We can't touch him without a police report".

Her head whipped around, eyes narrowing. "Sir, he's in no condition to wait. He'll go into shock any second!"

"I know", Kamal said coldly. "But rules are rules. No FIR, no scalpel".

She bit her lips hard enough to draw blood, her fists clenched. She wanted to scream at him, call out his hypocrisy - how could someone so brilliant be so heartlessely bureaucratic? But she knew better. This wasn't the moment to lose control.

And then, as if summoned by fate, a pair of khaki-clad officer brust into the corridor.

"Start the operation", one of them said, flashing the FIR. "The paperwork's done. We've taken care of everything".

Without wasting another second, Kamal turned to the wardboys and nodded. "Take him to OT".

Then, looking at Lavanya, he added, "Get ready, You're assisting me".

She gave a single, silent nod.

Just as the team began walking toward the OT, a strange shiver ran down Lavanya's spine. Something felt...off.

She paused, instinctively turning around - and that's when she saw him.

A man. Standing just beyond the hospital gate, half - hidden in the shadows. His face was barely visible beneath the dim light, but what little could be seen was covered by a black mask. There was nothing overtly alarming about him - no sudden movement, no threat - and yet, his presence tugged at her gut like a warning bell.

It wasn't his posture that unsettled her...it was his eyes.

Dark. Still. But burning with pain and anger so raw, so silent, that it made her breath hitch.

He wasn't looking around. He wasn't observing the hospital. He was watching just one thing - the stretcher being wheeled toward the OT. His gaze locked on that unconscious patient as though...he wasn't a stranger. As though he knew him. As though his heart was being carved open in real time.

For a second, Lavanya stood frozen, a sense of unease coiling tight in her chest. But logic overrode instinct. This was a hospital - people came, people watched, people prayed for strangers all the time.

Shaking her head, she tore her eyes away from the figure cloaked in night. There wasn't time for paranoia. She had a surgery to assist.

With a deep breath, she stepped into her surgical scrubs, pushed the moment to the back of her mind, and disappeared into the light of the operating theatre...

An hour later, the OT doors swung open.

Dr. Kamal stepped out first - his face blank, unreadable, like a man trained too well in concealing the weight of uncertain outcomes. Just behind him, Lavanya emerged. Her steps were steady, composed - but her eyes held something else entirely.

A shadow of sadness.

The kind that doesn't scream, but lingers quietly in the corners of your expression, refusing to leave.

Two officers who had been waiting outside immediately approached them. "Doctor, how's the patient?", one asked briskly.

Dr. Kamal offered a practiced nod. "We've done the operation. Now we wait. He has suffered a severe head injury. If he doesn't regain consciousness within the next two hours, there's a high risk he might slip into a coma."

Lavanya didn't say a word. Her mind was elsewhere - drifting back to the man at the gate. That pair of haunting eyes.

She instinctively turned, scanning the corridor, the exit.

Gone.

He was nowhere.

Something within her twisted, something unresolved. That man...who was he?

"Sir", she turned to the officer beside her, her voice low but curious, "Has the patient's family come?"

The officer gave a sigh, scratching his head. "Ma'am, he doesn't have one - not that we know of. Local say he just...roams around. Doesn't remember who he is, where he came from. No identity. No memory. He's just always...there".

So...that man with the black mask was just a stranger.

Then why....why did his eyes feel like they carried stories to a heavy for silence?

Her heart clenched with questions she couldn't voice. The man was gone. But those eyes-they remained with her, unsettling her in a way she couldn't understand.

Not yet.

🔸I'm sorry for the late update, my beauties... but I promise this won’t happen again. I truly hope you enjoyed this chapter—if you did, please don’t forget to like and leave a comment. Your love and support genuinely motivate me to keep writing. 💕✨

BY CRESENT...🪄