She knew he wouldn't listen. Hiding it from her friends was impossible, and what about everyone at the hospital? What would they think? She was terrified. Just as she feared.
she told her friends, it all came out. Her old landlord, how she called Abhi, how he rescued her and took her to his place. "I've been dreading this from the start, Tulasi! You never listen! Why didn't you just stay in a working women's hostel? It would've been safe there!We are staying .its safe there." they exclaimed.
"I can't! family problems!" she explained. They're looking for me, "I can't stay in those places – PG's, working women's hostels..I can't. Don't ask me more, please." – they're the first places they'd check. It's not safe for me there !. She pulled up her mask, hiding her face.
Shashirekha, one of her friends, scoffed, "Seriously? You couldn't find anywhere else but Abhijit's place?".
"Why are you saying that?" Anita, another assistant doctor, interjected.
"He helped her that day, didn't he?".
"Helped her? And we're just supposed to leave Tulasi with a guy like that? he has bad habits. Tulasi, you shouldn't stay there!" Shashirekha warned.
" he's never misbehaved with me, Shashi! We're living in the same house, but he hasn't said a single bad word to me, you know?" Tulasi defended him.
Her friends exchanged surprised glances. "You can say whatever you want, but I don't like you staying with Abhijit. The sooner you move out, the better!" Shashirekha insisted.
"Honestly, Tulasi, he's very disrespectful; he may never misbehave. OMG and his big mouth. no one else in this hospital will stand up for him except you. How do you tolerate his temper?".
"He's not as bad as you think; he's actually a good guy!" Tulasi insisted. Her friends looked at each other, as if asking, "Is this really our Tulasi, who used to call him a monster?".
Just then, Abhijit called Tulasi again, and she left. Shashi looked worried.
"What's wrong, Shashi, why are you thinking so hard?".
"We need to move her out of there urgently! "Shashi insisted
"She won't agree to stay at our place, nor a hostel. And what's the guarantee that another place won't have the same problems?" Anitha fretted.
Another nurse chimed in, "That's what I'm thinking too. It's really not safe for her with Abhi".
The Head Nurse, who had overheard everything, spoke one decisive sentence: "Abhi may have a temper, but in all these years, he has never misbehaved with anyone in the hospital. His habits are his personal business. Yes, he gets angry and shouts, but has he ever used double-meaning words with any girl, flirted with nurses or beautiful patients like other doctors? Never!".
"When he teaches classes, you all know how girls fall for him! He looks at them seriously and keeps them in line. He never does anything with any student or staff. If anyone says Abhijit did something, I won't believe it, because he has strong ethics". With that, she walked away.
But the gossip didn't stop with her friends. Their joint arrivals and departures at the hospital had made their situation public knowledge.
"Hey, did you hear? Doctor Abhijit and Tulasi are living in!".
"Really? He's always yelling at her; do you think he's actually fallen for her?".
"Who knows? Maybe he just keeps her at home instead of calling 'outside entertainment,' if you catch my drift!". Tulasi was deeply hurt by these words. She cried. For days, those painful whispers haunted her. But no one dared to say such things to her face, because everyone knew Abhi wouldn't tolerate it if anyone so much as looked at Tulasi wrongly. Still, the words echoed in her mind.
One day, utterly distraught, she couldn't bear to be outside and came into Abhi's room. She saw him there, a drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other, a file in front of him. He didn't even notice her. Her heart ached.
She yearned to confess her feelings to someone, to have a good cry, but there was no one. She couldn't tell her friends, and she certainly couldn't cry openly to Abhi.