Recognition hit me hard like a rock. I shot my eyes up to the amused brown ones, that were gazing down at me.

"You knew," I exclaimed, angrily. "And you didn't tell me!"

"Knew what?"

"That....that..."

"That you were interning under me? That Mr. Mahadevan, who you admired and spoke so greatly about was my father? That you are obviously tongue tied right now?"

"Oh shut up," I said, then realized I was speaking to my boss.
"Um I mean sorry sir. I was just a little surprised."

He started chuckling. "Chill Riya, I was just playing with you..even I got to know only in Cafe Coffee Day..I just didn't tell you there since I wanted to see your reaction when you figured it out..."

"Haha very funny," I said.

"So anyways I didn't know you were studying dentistry," he said.

"Hmmm..I didn't know you were a dentist too...and not just some dentist," I muttered. He heard that.

"Can't exactly go telling people you're the son of some famous dentist first day you meet them can I?" he said and I laughed.

"Nope I guess not," I replied.

"So how have you been doing?" he asked me.

"Good, hoping to pass my second year with flying colours, what about you?"

"Well what do you think? With a father with such great expectations, satisfying him is no piece of cake. I am dying," he said dramatically.

I rolled my eyes, but a small smile came onto my face. Destiny had not been so cruel after all. I had a few months to work with him and I was going to see lot more of his beautiful face than I thought I would.

"Sooo you're done with 2nd year then?" he asked.

"If I pass," I replied oh so positively.

"Of course you will, anyone who's good enough to work under me HAS to," he said cheekily.

"So yeah technically I am done then," I said. "I have my summer break now."

"Aha I see..before we go ahead with clinicals, I would like to ask you a few basic questions if that's alright?" he asked.

Ever so polite even now, I thought.

I gave him a genuine smile. "Sure."

"So are you well acquainted with all the instruments used in cavity preparation?"

"Yeah," I said. That was an easy one.

"Then let's start with you handing me the correct instruments, alright?" he said.

"Okay," I replied.

Before he called in his patient, he told me about what was going to happen. The forty year old lady had an occlusal pit and fissure cavity on her maxillary first molar. And he was going to do an amalgam filling.
I nodded my head to everything he said. I was really excited. It was the first time I was going to witness the cavity preparation and restoration process.

I wore gloves, a head cap and a mouth mask and So did Arya. I mean "Mr Mahadevan" I had to get used to calling him my boss though he didn't insist. The set of sterilized instruments were placed in a rack near the dental chair and I had to give him whatever he asked. I had understood that much.

The patient came down and explained about her problem. Then she lay down on the chair. Arya adjusted the lighting such that it was comfortable for him and leaned over to assess the condition of her maxillary first molar.

"Mouth mirror, Riya," he said and I handed the shiny tool to him.

He adjusted it according to the light to visualize, indirectly the extent of the cavity damage.

"Are the burrs and aerotor ready?" he asked me.

"Yes sir!" I said and almost giggled.

He took it with an amused look on his face.

I watched in fascination as he made a perfectly smooth cavity preparation with the help of just the mouth mirror. He occasionally used the water spray to prevent drying of the mouth and stopped to let the patient spit saliva out. He knew exactly where the enamel ended and was careful not to venture into the dentin on the tooth surface, considering that it was a shallow Class 1 cavity.

Wow, I thought with a sigh. I was nothing compared to this young man in front of me.

"Straight probe," he said and I absent- mindedly handed him the periodontal probe.

"Straight probe," he said again, exasperatedly. I then realized I had handed him the wrong one.

"Shit," I said, handing him the right one.

He used it to check if the floor was flat. It was. Then he used a cotton swab to clean the cavity and remove debris. He left it to dry for a minute.
Meanwhile, he told me to mix zinc phosphate.

I obediently put a dollop of powder on a glass slab and a drop of liquid. Using the pointed end of my cement mixing spatula, I pushed a bit of powder towards the liquid and started mixing over a wide area in a circular motion, like I had been taught. I mixed it till it got to hook consistency which was what was required for making a base.

But what happened next was definitely not predicted. My hand accidentally knocked over the glass slab which was sitting on a side cabinet and it fell to the floor, breaking into shards.

"What the hell is wrong with you Riya?" Arya said and I bent my head in shame.

My first day couldn't get any worse.

"I am really really sorry," I stammered.

"You're so clumsy I can't even imagine..is sorry going to bring the cement back?" he said angrily.

"I don't know what happened...I am really sorry..it won't happen again," I said sadly.

"How long do I make the patient wait?" he asked. I could see the crease lines on his forehead and I knew he was stressed.

"It was my first time...I am really sorry," I apologized again, and his eyes softened.

"Alright clean up the mess," he said. "I will show you how to be more careful."

"Thanks for giving me a second chance."

"What? Do you think I would kick you out so soon..I can't lose you..not yet," he said softly, which caused me to blush.

"Everyone makes mistakes, some bigger than the other," he said with a smile.

When he noticed how shaken I was due to the explosion of his anger, he walked over to me and lightly gave me a shoulder pat.

"I am sorry I am so short tempered," he sighed. "I should've realized that you've just finished 2nd year and have just begun clinical. It was harsh of me to have screamed at you in that manner. I apologize," he said.

A small smile crept onto my face despite the seriousness of the situation. And I chuckled and then tried to muffle it.

Arya turned to stare at me and there was something about his gaze this time that made me feel weak. My heart started beating louder than usual and I felt butterflies exploding in my stomach. My palms started sweating and I suddenly felt nervous.

The patient as though sensing me feeling uncomfortable coughed at the right time. It broke the daze both of us had been it and Arya smacked right back into action. He mixed the base on his own really quickly and applied it to the base of the cavity. Then he used the amalgamator to mix amalgam, which he pushed over the base using amalgam and parallelogram condensors.

"Riya, ball burnisher," he said and I handed it over.

After he finished burnishing the restoration he carved it using diamond Carver and let it dry, waiting for it to harden. It took 4 minutes.

By the time Arya had finished, I was in awe. The patient slipped out of the room after that quietly. The accuracy with which he did his work made me admire him even more than I usually did. As if sensing that I was too astonished for words, Arya turned around just then and offered me a wide smile. As usual, my cheeks turned pink and I grinned too.

"So my first day turned out to be a disaster then," I said sadly, looking down at the floor.

Arya came closer, closer than I anticipated and stood in front of me. He gently slid one finger under my chin and tipped it up, causing my gaze to lock with his. I gasped. The emotion in his eyes was undecipherable.

He spoke softly "Don't fret yourself Riya..like you said, it was your first day...come-on.. everyone learns from their mistakes...I am sure you will be a great dentist."

--------------------------------------x---------------------------------------------------

Hello peeps,

Looks like the awkward tension between Riya and Arya is rising..
What do you think? Is the love blossoming yet? <3
And who knew Riya was so clumsy? She was certainly having a bad day..
But don't worry there's lot more of Riya and Arya moments for you guys to keep turning pages overnight ;)
Sorry for too much dental jargon..hope it didn't bore you...
If you liked it till now, please vote and comment :D
Adigos Amigos
:) harshini :)