Continued...

At the function venue (a five star hotel),
It was beautifully decorated with rice lanterns and flowers. The entire building glimmered in the bright moonlight.
There was a host who was introducing each and every doctor who arrived and their families, to the rest of the guests. Each doctor, on entry, was greeted with a bouquet of flowers and a shower of rose petals. Everything was beautifully arranged.

Roja was the first to arrive.
She was greeted warmly by the host

"Welcome Ms. Roja. Pleasure to have you here this evening."

Saying this, a staff arrived and gave roja a bouquet of roses.
Roja happily accepted the warm welcome but her eyes were searching for Arjun.
She wondered if he had come. She had come mainly worried for his safety and she looked around for him, whether he was safe. Arjun hadn't arrived yet.

"Oh, innum Avar varala pola"
Roja mumbled to herself.

She found a seat from where she could see the entrance clearly and settled down.

About 15 mins later, ARJUN made a ravishing entry into the venue.
He was greeted by a group of other doctors. Upon entry, he was showered with rose petals which took him by surprise.
He felt ecstatic.
The host rushed towards him and shook hands with him.
"Welcome Doctor Arjun. Please"
One of the doctors questioned ARJUN about his fam..
Arjun : No doctor, Naa mattom than vanthu irukken. I don't like mixing up personal and professional life. Athu ungaluke theriyum. Moreover my fam is very big and bringing the entire family wouldn't seem nice. And sila pera vittutu sila pera kootitu vara Enakku virupam illa. So it's just me.

The host climbed up the stage and spoke over the mic.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please. Let me take the pleasure of introducing a very important guest, one of the most talented child specialists in the city, who can handle the most complicated and delicate cases in no time. Let's give a huge round of applause to Dr. Arjun Prathap!"

Arjun climbed up the stage amidst a loud round of applause and bowed in front of all the guests. That's when Roja's eyes fell on him.

Roja gasped
"My my! How stunning he looks. That velvet blue blazer, that pearl white shirt, perfectly matched shoes and watch🤩Sheer elegance!
How elegantly and humbly he carries himself. Inspite of being so educated, having so much name and fame, he is so down to earth"

Roja's mindvoice went on and on.
Arjun's voice was needed again to snap her out from her reverie.

"I thank the host of this function to introduce me with such kind words, although am not sure if I deserve all of it. I received a warm welcome and a thunderous round of applause from all of you, which am truly grateful for. I'm pleased to be here this evening, to witness the honouring of Dr. Elangovan, who is my mentor and my role model always. Thank you all once again"

Arjun spoke on the stage. While Roja was admiring him, someone was fuming at him. It was none other than Dr. Ashok Selvan who had just arrived and was at the entrance. Many medical students gathered around him too, but he walked away angrily ignoring all of them, annoyed by the attention ARJUN was getting.

"What a rude and haughty doctor"
The students muttered under their breath.

After that, the students went to ARJUN who had exited the stage. He patiently answered all the questions the students had for him
A couple of them wanted to click a pic with him too, to which he gladly agreed and posed happily.
All this made Ashok more and more furious.
"Hmph!"

After a while, Dr. Elangovan was invited onto the stage and a number of doctors were called to honour him with the shawl. Arjun was one of them but Ashok wasn't called. He gave an evil smirk.

"Vaazha porathe innum konjam nimisham than ARJUN. Athukulla ennalam anubavika mudiyumo athellam anubavichiko. Naa ethukku thaduthukittu. Paaaavam"

Roja was keenly observing Ashok all this while.
Roja : (to herself) Ivan moonjiye sari illaye. Kandippa ennamo panna poran. Thappu ethuvum nadakarthuku munnadi Namma than thaduthu niruthanum. Namma ivana follow pannalam.

After a while, Ashok got up and went somewhere. Roja followed him closely behind.
But Ashok was smart. He often turned back to check no one was following him so roja had to be extra careful to be not spotted by him.

He went to the backyard of the hotel and met a staff. Roja couldn't go too close to them as it was dangerous. So she hid herself at a distance and tried to hear them.

Unfortunately roja couldn't hear them as they were talking very softly. But after a long convo, Roja saw that Ashok gave that staff a big bunch of currency notes.

Roja : Ellame thappa irukku
Kandippa panam kuduthu etho thappu panna than sollirkan. Enna plan nu therinjika mudiyala. Innime Intha staff ah follow panrathu than buthisalithanam

Ashok went back to the function.
He maintained a safe distance from the stage.
Roja went back too. But she was uneasy 
She kept on looking for that staff who took money from Ashok.

After a while, Dr. Elangovan was presented with a huge shield by the head of the medical council for his remarkable contributions to medicine. Arjun sat in the front row. He clapped vigorously

The stage was circular and was right in the centre of the huge hall. It surrounded by chairs, decorations and people on all sides. There was a huge crystal glass dome light on top of the stage
Closely above which was the second storey. There was a staircase in the corner of the hall that led to it

After Dr. Elangovan was honoured, each renowned doctor was called up the stage to talk a few words about Dr. Elangovan.
After sometime ARJUN was called too.
He happily climbed up the stage. He was excited to talk about his role model.

Just as ARJUN went up the stage, the staff who took money from Ashok appeared out of nowhere. Till then there was no sign of him. Sharp as an eagle, Roja immediately spotted him.

He smiled turning towards Ashok, who in turn gave him a thumbs up. Roja noticed this too

Roja saw the guy climb up the staircase. He reached the second storey right above the stage. Then he did something

.....

Roja gasped in shock

.....

He took a pair a cutting pliers and a screw driver from his pocket. He used those to loosen the screws and wires on the crystal glass dome light.

😳😳😳

Roja couldn't breathe for five seconds

"Omg! How wicked! Avara kollanum nu athukaga...Avar speech kudukarapo...Antha light Avar thalaila vizhara mathri...no no no ...Ithu nadakavey koodathu."

She waved her hands frantically trying to seek Arjun's attention but he was too engrossed in the speech. She decided to scream even if it was against the decorum of the place

However much to her disappointment, just as she screamed, ARJUN finished his speech and everyone gave a thunderous round of applause thus her voice couldn't reach ARJUN. She saw the light. It was dangerously dangling but everyone was so busy hearing Arjun's fantastic speech that no one noticed it. 

Roja leapt to action.
She swam through the crowd and reached the stage. Just then the wires of the dome gave up and the light fell....

....

....

....

Thud!

Arjun fell flat on his face on the stage. Everyone stood up stunned. No one could blink.

Arjun got up. He turned behind and saw. His heart skipped a beat!

Apparently Roja had reached the stage and had pushed ARJUN away from the falling dome. But ...but...unfortunately before she could move away, the dome fell knocking down Roja.

Arjun's heart sank as he saw Roja unconscious in a pool of blood. He just realised what she had tried to do for him. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he ran towards her.

He bent down, and laid roja on his lap, frantically trying to revive her. He was soaked completely in blood. His pearl white shirt was fully red. All the doctors ran up the stage and Ashok used this chance to run away.

Just then an unconscious Roja held Arjun's hand tightly.

"Ungala kaapathiten. Athu pothum enakku"

To be continued.
Thanks for reading ❤️