There are just ten days for my marriage. And my mom is going crazy with shopping. She and my sister Kavya are taking care of all the things required for the marriage. Even though my mom was reluctant about my choice of bride, she seemed to accept Sharanya. Amit Dadu gave me some bangles of dadi and asked me to give them to Sharanya once we are married. My mom asked me to apply for leave for at least ten days for my marriage. But, I couldn't.

There is the surgery of conjoined twins at the brain after three weeks of marriage. Dr. Acharya is heading the surgery and it has almost fifty members on the team including our department, anesthesiology, plastic surgery, pediatrics, and nurses. And it requires meticulous planning. Since their brains are wired together, we need to determine which brain tissue belongs to which twin and which nerves we need to cut in each twin without damaging the other, how to get extra skin to cover the brain after the surgery. We will be developing 3D models of the brain and there will be multiple rehearsal surgeries. There will be contingency plans for every unexpected scenario. So even if I get one week's leave, it is a miracle. So I applied for leave for a week yesterday.

As soon as I reached the hospital and completed my rounds I went to the residents' break room and checked for my emails and found that Prof. Acharya asked me to meet him and Ananya also received the same mail. I checked the duty log and found that he is still in the office, I went there and met him.

"Good evening sir" I greeted him as soon as I enter his office.

"Arjun! Come. Have a seat" he told me.

Once we discussed the patients he asked me, "I have seen that you have applied for one week leave"

"Yes, Sir"

"Ananya also applied for leave for one week on the same dates. This is the first time you both applied for leave in the past two years. I have seen the department shift roster. I can grant one week's leave for only one person and three days' leave for another person. Since you both put in personal work for the reason of leave, I cannot decide whose work is important. And I also don't want to pry. Ananya's shift will start tomorrow morning. So you both decide between yourselves and let me know" he said.

"Yes, Sir. I will talk to her and let you know".

I forgot that she too will come to the wedding. My relation with Ananya did not improve at all. I know that both the sisters are reunited with no animosity between them. But, she still treats me the same. I am glad that she is working here. I am thinking of making her in charge of a branch in the future so that I can have support from her. My parents are right. It will be easier for me to manage the hospitals if I have some family members on the board and since Ananya will be my sister-in-law she is a perfect person to help me. I am also thinking of including Karthik and Siddharth. Strangely, Ananya and Karthik developed a friendship. Before my engagement, they just greeted each other politely as colleagues. But now Karthiik started teasing her as he teases me, they talk during the surgery and I have seen him joining Ananya and Siddharth for lunch sometimes. Surprisingly, she seems very comfortable with him and she even stopped calling him Sir. She calls him just Karthik. But she is as cold as ice to me.

It's almost ten in the morning and I have just seen her logging in. It will take her at least half an hour to do her rounds. So I texted her to come to the terrace after the rounds and went to the cafeteria to get coffee for both of us. These days whenever I have something to talk to her about, I am calling her to the terrace. she seems to like coffee so I always make sure to bring coffee as a peace offering.

I wanted to ask her to start over our friendship but I don't have the guts to ask her. During childhood, she stabbed me with a pen when I indirectly asked her to be my friend guaranteed my methods are not that good and she doesn't even know how to stab. But, now she is a professional in wielding a scalpel and I don't want to provoke her. She used to be very naughty. She tortured me so that I will break my friendship with Sharanya. She used to be very loud and clingy but now she is very silent and expressionless.

My thought chain broke when I heard her coming to the terrace.

"Good morning, Sir", she greeted me as soon as she saw me. I too greeted her. I wanted to ask her to stop calling me sir but as I said I don't have the guts.

I gave her the coffee and she took it while thanking me. I wanted to ask her to stop being so polite with me after all we will be family. But you know I don't have the guts. I don't know how to approach her anymore. So I went straight to the topic as I know she doesn't like beating around the bush. And also she doesn't like to make small talk especially with me.

"I spoke with Prof. Acharya yesterday. He told me that we both applied for leave for the same dates. He also said that he can grant one week's leave for only one person and three days' leave for another person. He asked us to decide ourselves" I explained to her.

"Oh"

"Yeah. And since it is my marriage can you please consider taking three days' leave instead of one week?" I asked her.

She let out a sigh and said, "Yes, Sir. No problem".

I smiled at her and said, "Thank you. And Sorry. Let's go back?"

We went back to the department and continued our work.