A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 43

                                Seeing how innocent she looked when she laughed, the Doctor couldn’t help saying, “You look wonderful when you smile, Madam. In fact, beautiful is the word.” As she colored, he quickly reigned in his appreciation, seeing that she could feel uncomfortable. He had broken his life-long rule of not commenting on a client’s physical appearance, ever. He wondered why he had done that just then. He was inexplicably drawn towards Martha.

                                 He shook himself mentally and said blandly, “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, Madam. I just blurted out my feelings inappropriately.”

                               She laughed as she remarked gently, “On the contrary, I thank you for your compliment, Doctor. You’ve made my day.”

                              Deftly changing the subject, he said, “I hope you aren’t writing now. Are you enjoying your new job? Tell me about it.” As she narrated her experience, especially her fainting spells and the uncanny resemblance of John with Juan, her novel’s hero, the Doctor saw the root cause of her mental turmoil. She had been directly accosted, seemingly, by the very person whom she had been running away from; Juan, the hero of her novel. She would have to maintain a safe distance from her colleague, probably work in another department, if she had to recover. Otherwise the constant trauma of being reminded about him could do a lot of harm. He decided to tell Norman about it in private or through a personal phone call later. He didn’t want her to be distressed.

                          “I think that there is nothing drastically wrong with you. Please learn to unwind and enjoy life. Keep all your novel’s characters aside. Forget about them and come into the real world. All of us are there to help you. Meditate daily. Do deep-breathing exercises. Lastly, don’t dwell on unpleasant things. You are precious.” He corrected himself, remembering his vow. “Life’s precious. Embrace it. That will be all for today."

                         “Well, how did it go?” asked Norman, relieved to see her smiling; and her usual confident self. “Fine! Supposedly, nothing’s wrong with me. I’ve to just take it easy. For starters, let’s go for that movie.” He calmly told her to wait for him in the car as he had a word with the Doctor. Martha felt like a small kid with her Daddy. But she was glad to do as he said. She wanted to just enjoy herself. Not dwell on unpleasant things.

                         The Doctor was surprised to see Norman and relieved too. He told him to effect a Department change and keep Martha away from John. He briefed him about John’s resemblance to Juan, Martha’s novel’s hero. Norman groaned inwardly, but said “Of course, Doctor. Anything for Martha!” Dr. Hussey’s eyes narrowed. Norman was in love with Martha for sure. He felt awful. He was sure that the other gentleman, Arnold felt awful too.

                         The movie was a re-run of the classic “Gone with the wind”. Martha enjoyed herself thoroughly. Norman was also pleased to see her so relaxed. They later had dinner at an elegant restaurant, talking about things in general. Martha had a vague feeling that Norman was trying to appear normal and relaxed when something was evidently bugging him. She uneasily wondered whether Dr. Hussey had told him something worrying about her. Then she decided to just concentrate on the wonderful meal and not bother asking him about the same. Would it alter things? No, was the answer. So why worry? She’d take one day, rather each moment at a time. She didn’t want to lose the present for the future. Little was she to realize that the future, rather the immediate future involved working without John.

                            Norman cleverly avoided effecting the Department change immediately realizing that Martha was astute enough to notice it and link it to their visit to the psychiatrist. Instead, he sent John on outdoor errands the next day. Then he deputed him to attend a workshop instead of him, in London. That would take care of 4 days. Then there was the weekend when the office was closed. Initially, Martha didn’t find anything amiss. But when the next week Norman deputed her to work in the subbing section she saw red. She marched to his office to demand an explanation.

                            “Why did you ask me to work in the subbing section, Norman? I’ve been oblivious to the fact that you’ve kept John out of my sight for the past week. But now I have realized that there is more to it than meets the eye! Has Dr. Hussey asked you to see to it that John and I don’t cross our paths in the office; just because he resembles the hero of my novel?”

                            Embarrassed at being questioned so pointedly and accurately by Martha, Norman merely nodded in the affirmative. “Then I must be told what else the Doctor has advised about me!” she said peevishly. “Well, if you must know, he has asked me to keep John out of your sight, lest you have those recurring panic attacks and fainting spells. Even I feel that it is much better this way. Last week was a dream for me as you were fine, absolutely fine.”

                          When he saw the look of dismay on his face, he softened and embraced her. She pushed him away bitterly and said, ”But that’s taking the easy way out, Norman. For how long can you keep John and me apart? Don’t we work in the same office? At some point of time, we are bound to meet. Then what will you do? Now I’ve realized that you find me, rather my behavior embarrassing. Why don’t you just pack me off, home? Sack me.” Her eyes had filled with tears as she stormed out of his office.

                         Norman thought about her reaction and wondered what was brewing between his fiancée and his Senior Editor? He had some inkling but wanted to be sure. He now had to decide on his further course of action. He had failed miserably in his task.

To be continued.... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.