WHO: @nikhilmehra
WHERE: Merrock Hospital.
WHEN: Week of the June 8th.
"I need to speak with Dr. Mehra." Of course, Adya doesn't look at them only to the nurse had been charting in the room that Nik was. In the measured way it was said, Adya is holding back any of the malice she feels towards him and their situation for when either they're alone or not at the workplace at all. If that were to happen ever again. That's what made this situation so difficult. On professional level, there were not many people she respected more. On a personal level? Nurse Kwog leaves and Adya gives her an apologetic smile, noting mentally to get her some sort of gift card or something sweet for the next time she sees her.
"It's about my patient that keeps coming in. You and I both know this is not the behavior of a drug seeker no matter how much my Attending thinks it so. He's being an ass and --" The realization that the personal familiarity slips into the conversation automatically. Though, they'd been coworkers, Nik had been her favorite and coworker bestie -- as some would say. "She's one flag away from not being able to be taken seriously in all of Maine and I'd really like to get her admitted and some proper testing done. Her insurance is ONLY letting the tests I know she needs done with reasonable cause, which, a hospital admission would be. If you could talk to my Attending and let him know that we've at least discussed this in detail over the past few months -- I think he'd listen to you over me." Translation: Dr. Kovak was an asshole misogynist that neither of them actually liked but listened to Nikhil more than them. He may not have meant to be harmful but he was ignorant, which was deadly in medicine.
Adya wants to sit down then, a wave of exhaustion coming over them, but instead steadies themself against the door finally casting a look over Nik after having paced & explained themselves in front of them. "Any patterns you've noticed lately?" The apple comes out of her pocket almost comically -- but an apple a day did keep the Doctor AWAY afterall.
arrival to merrock: Local. Left in 2003. Returned in 2015.
housing: Historical Downtown.
occupation: Surgeon (neurosurgery).
work place: Hospital Centre.
family: Gopinathan Mehra (father), Sangeetha Mehra née Rai (mother), & two siblings. All family members have moved.
relationship status: single.
personality
Logic outweighs his emotions, thanks to studying brain science, but he feels very deeply. Rather astringent, attention to a lot of details, internally panics if things fall through the cracks, but you would never know it by his face. He prefers to express things with his hands, including his work. If you watch him closely, he's actually quite expressive — good luck getting him to smile, though, it's a rare sight! It's clear he's a devoted and loyal person who has a lot of thoughts, it's simply rare for those thoughts to be shared out loud, and what he thinks sounds nice, ends up coming out pretty sarcastic and squinty-eyed. His job and life in the inner city has made him see things through a jaded lens. At the same time, close friends have told him that he's hilarious on accident and should go into comedy. This gets shut down real quick. He is an acts of service person, not words of validation; you pick around for a compliment and you get a blank stare. But you can always be guaranteed he'll tell you what he thinks, for better or for worse.
portrayed by Rahul Kohli; penned by Ghost.
full biography / background
triggering / sensitive content warning: smoking, mentions of the medical field + implied death.
As the eldest son, Nik experienced the pressure of what that meant from early childhood. He never wanted to buckle under it, naturally on the quieter side and not wanting to rock the boat too much in the face of two siblings who were much louder and more rebellious. This isn't to say it wasn't a loving home; if Nik asked for something, he received it more often than not, and growing up in Merrock meant he had a lot of places to retreat to, where everyone seemed to know everyone and he didn't have to explain anything. He genuinely wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and continue on the medical legacy; it was the least he could do, knowing (albeit much later) what his parents sacrificed to give him and his siblings a better life. He might not have been born yet to witness it, but their efforts echoed in the comfortable house and living situation.
This alone made him strive to be more. He wanted to make his parents proud. He graduated as one of the top students in high school, and even received the superlative Most Likely To Succeed. It was painful to have to leave his family and take up his medical residency elsewhere; after an arduous application process, he had been accepted into the University of Pennsylvania and would be doing their medical programme. His father had been rather open about his experiences in med school, so Nik thought he was pretty prepared. What he wasn't prepared for was the rush of the inner city life. Philadelphia was not the same as Merrock. He got so homesick, it took a pack of cigarettes every morning and a lot of sleepless all-nighters to make it through to the next week. He kept himself going by telling himself he would go back once he'd finished, and by the skin of his teeth, he made it through. There was no temptation to stay in the city life. As soon as his lease was up, he was moving back home.
Even though the city noise stopped, the internal struggle didn't seem to. He came back a changed person, unrecognisable to the quiet and studious guy some might have gone to high school with, a surgery loss having been witnessed during his residency and reality setting in. He has turned surly, rejecting any notion of friendship when it's expressed in words only to quietly put take-out on the door with an I'm sorry. note penned. He works on-site at Merrock's hospital and still has dreams about the loss on his table from years ago. Granted, he had only been observing — but the threat looms as the greatest failure of all. On top of this, he lived with his parents upon his arrival back to Merrock for about seven years, and then they broke the news that his father wished to retire to Florida. His siblings, long gone to the inner city life they ended up loving across the country, call on the phone once a month but little more. He sees their lives through social media, a vice he picked up solely to feel closer to them. In 2022, his parents left.
Moose came into his life later that same year. It's clear where most of his love and time goes into. He didn't want to face life alone in the noise, but now finds himself alone without that noise. But, well, who knows what could happen now that he's left to his own devices? If he dares to really open up againn, he might be loved just for who he is, like the books he's reading lately say. Or he might cause a few rifts and tiffs. There's truly only one way to find out, and the first thing on his bucket list for the upcoming year is to curb his smoking habit.
Momos are a type of dumpling originating from Tibet but widely popular across various regions of India and neighboring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of Southeast Asia.
Chowmein is a popular Chinese stir-fried noodle dish that has been adapted and become a favorite in many parts of the world, including India. Here’s a closer look at Chowmein.
