Metastatic Love

Waking up from a silent harmonious sleep is a boon for many. Vikram pulled himself together and sat on his bed upright, stretching his arms and back. In his two years of medical service, he realised that waking up the next day alive, after a long night sleep is marvel. As an oncologist, he has attended numerous cases where the soul would leave the body without much of a warning. With that in his mind, he gently closed his eyes and thanked silently to the Almighty for letting him witness another day.

Soon he came out from an energetic shower and picked his brand-new suit from the closet, which he had bought a week ago for a special occasion. Simultaneously he scrolled through his smartphone checking the schedule for the number of appointments he had for the day. He later dialled his colleague, Dr Narein Ramasamy, who is also a reliable friend from the hospital, wishing he would help him reduce his burden. He meddled with his spoon on one hand and milk on the other while multitasking with his phone holding it with his shoulder.

"Good morning, Narein." Vikram began.

"Hey good morning man. Anything important? A call from you this early in the morning has surely to be of something." Narein said. His voice was comparatively hollower than Vikram. There is no day and night in the medical profession.

"Sorry to bother you man. Are you handling any surgery till afternoon?" Vikram nosedived directly to the point.

"Well let me check with my schedule." A pause. " Looks like nothing, except for a review in uterine cancer."

"Great, can you add a breast cancer to it. And also, Mr Vinay Ram."

"Is he that patient with colono-rectal cancer? Sure, I can handle it." Narein continued, "Anything special today? You sound a bit upbeat."

 "Really? A small family thing came up, nothing interesting. I will be there before four positively."

"Oh, not a problem, I got your back. Have fun bud."

"Thanks a lot man. I owe you one." With that Vikram winded up with his breakfast and locked the house. No more job here until night.

The clouds covered the Sun and the breeze roared upon the empty streets. Vikram accelerated his Mini cooper along the early morning breeze. His fingers tapped on the steering wheel, his heart excited, his brain digging back his memories. His eyes watched the street but his mind was busy picturing the beautiful days of his life.

One such day was in his undergraduate first year. After clearing through the National Eligibility cum Entrance examination, he chose a college along the coastline of Arabian sea, in Mangalore. His hostel room being located five hundred kilometres far away from his home, he should have missed it. But he never missed home, he felt more comfortable in the hostel, enjoying his freedom and solitary.

That particular day had the usual kick-starting. He woke up and put his cold feet into the slippers, walked towards the window and pulled the curtains aside letting a soothing breeze play with his hair. He ran his fingers through his hair and admired the rising Sun. A thin athletic body with a narrow face made him more appealing, but his introverted nature pulled him back from having a huge friend circles.

He quickly refreshed and filled his stomach with the regular sandwiches from the canteen and hurried to his Anatomy lecture. To his surprise, the professor was not there. He checked his watch; it was ten past eight. Professor Sriman has enriched ethics in punctuality. Him not turning up to his class, would have been a fatal flaw.

Worrying about his professor's delay, he looks upon the benches, which were already filled with students, chit chatting about their previous nights. Since it is their first year, people had a lot to talk about, new introductions, strolling around the new place, a blissful feeling the encloses. College is a key for their cage when it comes to some of the students.

Vikram did not find a suitable place and neither did he have friend who could have saved a seat for him. His eyes searched along the rows and fortunately found one. He strode towards the fifth row from the podium to make sure the seat is available currently. To his surprise, he paused at the moment when he saw who was sitting there next to the empty seat.

The mornings usually turn breezy and gets interrupted with heavy rains in Mangalore. Thus, changing the ambience hand in hand with Vikram's emotions. His feet contradicted his commands and shuffled in the place generating a squeaky noise with the floor. He found himself hesitant to talk to the person, he swallowed a big lump and gained confidence to start a conversation, but then his squeaking noise with the floor gained the entire row's attention.

"Hey Narayan. Sup bro?" Aparna Balamurali from the farther corner asked. Her spectacles were enough to make Vikram run away. But she was not his main interest, so he chose to ignore her.

"Vikram. Vikram is fine." He smiled.

He then turned his attention to Nikhila Vimal, the person he crushed upon from the first day of his college.

"Do you mind if I sit here? The hall is quite full." With that he swiped few beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"For sure. Please make yourself comfortable." She said.

Her voice apparently sweeter than he had imagined. She looked pretty, but that is not the reason for his crush. She independently enjoying their first rain in Mangalore, irrespective of other's opinions caught his attention among the crowd. And also not forcing her friends and accepting as who they are, made her penetrate deeper inside him as a crush.

In a ray of hope that he could build a healthy conversation, he started with the basic question. "So where are you from?"

"Kerala." She smiled. "You?"

"Ooty. Actually, Tamil Nadu." He forced a nervous chuckle.

"Oh, in that case, Trivandrum." Her smiled turned to steal his gaze more often from then.

"Hey buddy, we exist too!" Aparna squeezed herself from the corner and extended a warm handshake. "I am Aparna, from Cochin, Kerala." She smiled and pushed her spectacle to the nose.

"And this is Preeti Singh." She pointed to the girl who sat in between Aparna and Nikhila, silently immersed into the world of social media.

"Hey. Nice meeting you." Preeti waved her hand in a robotic dialect.

Then the bench fell silent immediately. Questions sprung up into Vikram's head, but he feared if it would make him look desperate in front of his crush.

Nikhila, finally, broke the awkwardness spread among the four and ran a background check with Vikram. His schooling, his NEET scores, how he managed to choose this college and definitely how is Mangalore for him, and it went on.

"You own a membership for a circulating library?" Her face brightened up with a question mark. "Even I want to! Will you please take me there?" She pleaded.

Preeti Singh swiftly elbowed Nikhila in the action of bring her voice down.

"Really guys? In the digital era, you guys are fond of libraries?" Aparna mocked.

Nikhila waved her hand in dismissal and returned back to her interesting conversation.

"Which kind of novels do you read by the way?" She asked. Her eyes in curiosity.

Vikram clicked his tongue against his mouth and said, "Bestsellers mostly." He shrugged.

Nikhila wore her killer smile again and asked, "Genre?"

"Anything except for drama." He replied.

"Ouch." Preeti interrupted.

Nikhila stared blankly at her for a while.

"How about you?" He pulled her back to his interesting conversation.

"I am a fan of classics. Romantic novels." She said. "And obviously a Potterhead." She chuckled.

Aparna being extremely bored, broke their preaching for novels and spiced up the contents.

"Hey Narayan. Rumours are there that you crush on Nikhila. Is that true?"

Nikhila turned instantly to her, eyes widened and lips pursed together in disappointment.

Vikram studied Nikhila's reaction and realised there is no point in hiding. "Yes, it is true." He said.

Nikhila turned towards him abruptly, her face flavoured with shock and surprise, her breathing turning harder than previous.

"And if you are willing, we can talk it over a cold coffee." His nervousness vanished into thin air. His hormones ruled the body now. He felt excited and uncontrollable blushing dominating all over his face.

More than Nikhila, her friends portrayed mixed emotions on his statement. Preeti Singh dropped her phone and stared at Vikram whereas Aparna stared at him with her jaws wide open.

"Su.. Sure..." Nikhila stammered.

"Wow guys, I was just messing around. You guys are going on a date now, because of that?" Aparna was stunned with the drama unfolding in front of her.

"Well, I think yes. By the way, you own the credits for this." Vikram smiled and stood up. He then turned his attention to his crush.

"Six?" He asked Nikhila.

"Sure. I will wait near the hostel gates." She replied.

"Great. See you there." He charmingly walked out of the hall since the professor never came to the class.

Vikram pulled his car over to the sides and parked it in front of the huge building of GRT jewellers. He smiled at his memory, his face reddened from uncontrollable blushing. Later he pulled his phone out and ran through his messages quickly to make sure that his package is ready to be delivered. After satisfying his doubts, he walked across the street and hurried inside the jewellery shop.

A tall guy identified him near the entrance and guided him towards the delivery section. Regular customers, the ones who have a peculiar taste and also the rich personalities are easily identified on their recurrent visits.

"Here's your diamond ring. Designed as per your instructions." The salesman said.

"Do you mind if I open and check?" Vikram asked.

"Sure, you can. No problem." The salesman smiled.

The diamond refracted the light source inside the shop, directing to his face when he flipped opened the box. His facial expressions gave a quick answer to the salesman. Vikram loved the ring.

Once his purchase got completed, his brain dug back another memory before he reached his destination. The day he confessed his love to her.

After three weeks of continuous cold coffee dates and group studies, he decided to tell her how he feels about her. How his crush had evolved into something more beautiful, Love.

"Nikhi. Drop whatever you're doing and get ready." Vikram texted her.

The three dots sprung up immediately to action. After a few seconds pause, the text arrived.

"What? Why? Where are we going?" She asked.

"Surprise." Vikram replied.

"Well, that is intriguing." She added the emoji that pretended to be lost in deep thoughts.

"Ready?" Vikram hurried. "The Sun is already setting. Make it fast."

"Okay five minutes mister. A girl requires a lot more time." She added a blushing emoji at the end.

It took fifteen minutes for Nikhila to reach the hostel gates. Vikram kept staring at this watch fearing what if his plan goes wrong.

"You look nervous." She startled him.

"I am worried if it will rain. Nothing else. Let’s get going!"

He pulled her to the nearest auto rickshaw and carried the suspense on the place of destination. He made sure she was not listening when he whispered the place to the auto driver.

When the auto reached the spot, Nikhila wondered where is she being taken to. Because she has never visited these places. A parental restriction to roam around the city bound her within the hostel walls.

"This is not our destination. Let's grab a ferry." Vikram said.

They boarded a short ferry to cross the backwater lake and reached the other side. They held hands while walking in the lonely roads. The cold breeze from the Arabian sea mixed with the tall pine trees and touched her skin softly. She knew the feeling; she had felt it previously in her hometown.

"Are you taking me to a beach?" Her voice rich in surprise.

Vikram's lips formed a thin smile and he pulled her towards the sunset, running along the sand. They gasped a bit. Nikhila wiped her sweat beads above her lips and looked above at the broad driven sky. The gradient of orange, the sun which is nothing but an orange silhouette, the breeze combing her hair, the calmness made tears form in her eyes. With that Vikram turned her slowly towards him and rested his forehead on hers.

"I wanted to tell you, how I have been feeling lately. About you." He whispered. Her marble eyes conversed variety of expressions that her silence didn't. She eagerly waited for him to tell it out.

"I th... Think. I am in love with you." He stammered.

She closed in the gap between them by leaning and kissing him. She pulled back slowly after few seconds and whispered," I love you too Vikram."

The whole scenario had been mentally relived by Vikram by the time he reached Apollo Hospital, where he is serving as a surgical oncologist. He pursued his post graduate at AIIMS, Delhi. He specialised in the field of oncology, in-depth pancreatic cancers. His experience earned him a valuable recognition in the hospital and wealth came along with it.

He parked his car and waved at the security, a usual greeting sign. He tapped on his pockets to make sure if he had taken the present or not. Once his palm confirmed the presence, he felt more relieved but a subtle excitement covered his heart like a blanket. He reached the oncology department, where everyone made remarks of his stylish suit and his happy-go attitude. He reached the in-patients' floor and rushed towards the room 306. He stood before the door and pulled in a deep breath comforting his heart beat. He wished he wouldn't get a cardiac arrest because of this, his heart beat strong enough to be heard outside. He then pushed the door handle with penultimate confidence and opened in.

Ahead of him, a bald woman in her thirties turned on the sound his arrival. Her skin glistened with the light rays travelling from the nearby window, but interrupted here and there with numerous tubes running deep into her veins. Monitors ran along the sides keeping touch with her vital signs.

"Hey Vikram! Wow! When did you get the suit? You look handsome af!" Nikhila smiled.

Vikram shrugged and chuckled at the compliment. He then drew closer to plant a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"So, how's today feeling like?" He asked.

"Well, I completed my reading voyage of Pride and Prejudice. Such a beautiful narration. I am so in love with Mr Darcy." She wore her killer smile again revealing her dimples.

While he pursued oncology, she found her interest in paediatrician. Since both earned a wealthy reputation, their families did not object their relationship. They could not have found a better match for each other. Since then, Vikram and Nikhila lived together serving in their respective fields.

"I am so jealous." Vikram kissed her on the cheeks.

Nikhila felt like tiny toddler in his presence. All excited and care-free.

"So, ready for the surgery?" He asked.

"Yes, I guess. I wish this five-month battle comes to an end after today." She said.

"I could’ve..." Vikram started.

"Hey, hon. I totally get it." She smiled and held his hands together.

Even though he belonged to the field of his expertise, he decided not to be the surgical head. He did not want his brain and heart battling over her life. So, he assigned the case to his trustworthy colleague, Dr Aditya Varma, who is also an expert sharing the reputation and success of the department with Vikram.

"Before you go, I have a surprise." He whispered.

He stood up, pushing his chair aside and went down on one knee. He pulled his ring box from the pockets and flipped it open. The diamond now shimmered with beauty. Nikhila clasped her hand to her mouth and sobbed softly.

"I want to marry you Nikhila Vimal." He confessed. His voice calm and pleasant.

"You didn't stammer." She chuckled.

"Really? I am getting good at this." He let a soft laugh.

"So, do you want to marry me?" He asked.

Nikhila stared at the ring with a smile spread along her lips. "Definitely. Not for you, just for the ring." She chuckled.

Vikram raised his eyebrows and mocked a dismissive shrug. He then leaned to kiss her.

"I want you to come back. Just for this." He pushed the ring into her finger.

He brought her hand closer and kissed it with love.

"I will. I love you Vikram." She hugged him.

"I love you too honey." He held her tight and kissed her head softly.

Stage III pancreatic cancer bombarded their beautiful life without any early symptoms. Still, they managed to survive together. Pancreatectomy was the only choice after months of ineffective chemotherapy. Better than metastasising into the nearby organs and blood vessels. Vikram knew about the complications, but he agreed to it. He strongly believed he could aid her in that, lifelong. He strongly believed in her, in him and also in their love.