Anika was still going through the list of library books in the dozens of catalogs spread around her, when she felt a prickling sensation on her neck. She looked up and her eyes met with an angry pair.

“Why are you hiding here since this morning?” Abhay Singham demanded.

“I-I like to read.” It had to be very late at night if he was back.

He threw the book in his hand on a chair next to her. “You were supposed to spend time outside, so people know you are still alive.”

“I tried.” She mumbled the words.

“And?”

“They said…they weren’t…I mean…they… they…” Anika’s tired brain wasn’t able to process, how to let him know in a diplomatic manner, that his people hated her, and didn’t want to deal with her.

He loomed on top of her with a thunderous frown as he waited for an answer from her.

Luckily there was a knock on the door that interrupted them.

“Abhay!” A strained female voice called out to him, visibly shifting his expression. His frown morphed into alertness, and he strode out of the room. For reasons she couldn’t explain, she followed behind him out of the library.

He went down the stairs, towards the ground floor, where a group of people had gathered. People parted as he neared, and Anika could see a small girl lying on the floor wheezing.

One look at the girl’s splotchy, red face, Anika knew what was happening. Knowing there wasn’t a lot of time, she ran back upstairs, towards the bedroom and straight into the closet where her suitcases were.

She pulled her medical pouch out of one of her bags and rushed out, clutching it as she ran down the stairs.

By the time she made it downstairs, the girl was coughing, and her skin was turning blue.

Anika pulled out the liquid medication from the pouch. She pushed aside the people who were trying to make the girl drink more water. A few of them resisted, but she pulled the glass of water from their hands and poured it on the floor. “Stop, and move aside. She is having an allergic reaction.”

Not bothering to wait for their reactions, she measured the medication and poured it into the girl’s mouth. “Swallow,” she told the girl in a calm, gentle voice.

The girl looked at her and then tried to swallow the medication. But the look on her face made it clear that she was unable to swallow. With the next hacking cough, the medication spewed out.

“What are you giving her?” A voice of a woman demanded. “Are you trying to kill her?”

Anika recognized the voice from this morning. It was the same woman who had taunted her earlier that day. Murmurs grew around them, but Anika ignored them. She filled up the medicine into an inhaler and placed it over the girl’s mouth. When the girl began to breathe, Anika looked at the people hovering too close.

“Move back. She needs some fresh air.”

She hoped the girl would be able to breathe freely soon, but her symptoms seemed to be getting worse. She checked the girls pulse, and it was dropping.

“We need an ambulance, now!” Anika told the people. She looked around frantically and saw Abhay Singham standing a few feet away, yelling into his phone.

The girl’s coughs grew weaker, prompting Anika to pull out an adrenaline shot from the pouch. She grew up with severe food allergies, and knew exactly what the girl was going through.

“She is going to kill our Meena,” someone in the background cried, but Anika ignored the remarks. She knew what she was doing. She adjusted the girl’s sleeve and drove the needle into the shoulder, releasing the medication.

“Breathe,” she told the girl. “You’ll be fine in a few minutes.” She pulled out the second shot, just in case the first one didn’t work immediately. She placed the inhaler to the girl’s mouth, watching her closely, and feeling relieved to see the girl’s skin returning to a normal color.

People began to hover over the girl again. “Please, step back. She needs air.”

For a change, the people around complied, but she felt someone closing in on her again, and standing right next to her. “I said she needs to breathe! Move away!” She placed a hand on a leg, and pushed a little, but the person didn’t budge.

When she looked up, her eyes met with Abhay Singham’s. Her palm froze on him for a moment before she jerked her hand back.

“The doctor will be here in a minute,” he stated calmly.

“S-she will be fine. She just had an allergic reaction, most likely food allergy.”

Abhay turned to one of the elderly women who was standing next to the girl by her feet. “Did Meena eat anything new today?”

“No,” replied the woman.

“What did she eat?” Anika asked.

“She ate prawn curry and started coughing a few minutes later.”

Anika frowned. “Are they farmed or sea caught?” she asked.

“Farmed,” Abhay replied quietly. “I think I know why she had this reaction.”

Before Anika could ask him to explain, an older man carrying a bag, hurried towards the girl. “How is she?” he asked.

Anika saw him remove a stethoscope from his case.

The older woman began to explain what had happened with the child. She also mentioned that Anika had helped.

The doctor smiled Anika. “Thank you for helping,” he said. “Have you read about dealing with allergic reactions?”

“Yes."

"That's great. I could use a lot of help here. I'm always short of people who are willing to help the injured or the sick. Maybe I can train you with some basic emergency techniques if you are interested."

"No. That's not necessary," Anika replied.

"Oh." The doctor's face fell. "I thought you would be interested. Abhay always helped when required, and I thought… "

Anika shook her head. "No, I meant the training is not necessary, Dr. Rao. I'm already qualified."

"Oh." Dr. Rao's eyes lit up. "Do you happen to be a nurse by chance?"

"No. I'm a—" Anika broke off when she saw Abhay Singham's impassive face.

Tearing her eyes away from the intimidating man's face, she looked at the eager face of the older man. "I'm a doctor. General medicine.”

There was a stunned silence in the room.

Then Dr. Rao broke into an excited grin. "That is such great news!"

Anika smiled back tentatively.

The doctor's eyes fell on her medical bag, placed on the ground. "So you didn't just give the girl some vapor to ease her breathing?" the doctor asked, looking confused.

"No, I gave her an adrenaline shot." Anika gave him the details about dosage.

“Oh… but how did you have the adrenaline shots handy to give the child?”

“I have food allergies, and sometimes I have similar reactions.”

Anika felt Abhay Singham's eyes on her. Until then, while she was dealing with an emergency, she had almost forgotten everything except for saving the girl’s life. She was back to the reality as soon as she felt his glare.

Instead of thanking her, Abhay Singham looked pissed at her.

Surprisingly, he directed his pissed-off gaze towards the doctor. “Dr. Rao, does Meena need to go to the hospital?”

“No, she is fine now.” The doctor packed up his case and stood up.  

“It was my pleasure to meet you, Dr. Singham.” The innocent words of the doctor made her wince. Yikes, is that my new identity?

“Take Meena inside and send up dinner to the suite,” Abhay instructed someone.

He then directed his gaze towards her. “Let’s go.”

When she stood rooted to the ground, feeling uncertain, his frown grew in size. He grabbed her wrist and tugged her towards him. The grip on her wrist wasn’t hard, but she felt the burn as he led her up the stairs to the master bedroom. He shut the door behind them as soon as they were back in the suite.

Anika felt paralyzed when she saw the rage on his face. She cowered, expecting him to lash out at her about something or the other.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had food allergies? You could have died if you ate something by accident while I was away.”

She was so shocked by the unexpected question and statement, she stopped trembling. “I-I check before I eat anything.”

“How?” he demanded.

“I’m only allergic to food color, and I noticed no artificial colors have been used in any of the dishes here.”

His frown softened. He was about to say something but stopped when they heard a soft knocking.

“Come in,” he said out loud. And then he looked at her. “Have dinner and sleep here and not in the library.”

She nodded slowly. He looked at her for a few tense moments before striding out of the room past the woman who was rolling in the food cart.

The woman began to set the dishes on to the dining nook. After she was done, instead of walking away with the cart, she stood up and looked at Anika with a smile on her face.

“My name is Lakshmi. I want to make you your favorite dish tomorrow.” The woman smiled sheepishly.

“Thank you, Lakshmi. I liked the beetroot chutney that was made a few days ago. I would love to have some more tomorrow.”

Lakshmi smiled again and left.

After dinner and a shower, Anika laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. So far, she had three potential allies—Dev, Dr. Rao, and Lakshmi. They seemed nice, but she didn’t know whether any of them would dare to cross Abhay Singham, to be able to sympathize with her situation and help her.

That meant, apart from building allies, she also needed to work faster on getting her family to safety.