Part 4

Vikrant had a soft smile on his face as he sat listening to the girl in front of him, talking animatedly about her dance class. A wave of tenderness, protectiveness washed over him as she once again reminded him of his little sister, Veera. Both girls had gone through harsh realities of life and yet their zeal for finding their happiness never died down. He was not able to do much for Veera but for Khushi, he stood strong. At times, forgetting that he was just her doctor. His mind went back to the day almost 3 years ago when her case was handed over to him, a trusted name in the field of neurosurgery in India. It had been a little over a week since her accident then. The team of doctors attending her had concluded that she was suffering from retrograde amnesia, that is, she couldn't recall memories from her past. They were yet to see if she suffered from forming new memories as well. Her husband and her family were by her side, but she was not ready to talk to anyone, obviously scared due to unknown faces around her. And that was when Dr. Vikrant was called in.

In his career until then, he had not seen too many patients suffering from amnesia but from whatever little experience he had was enough to assure her family that she will be ok. Thankfully, the area of her brain where language skills are stored was not harmed so she was still able to converse to them. Her muscle memory too seemed to be doing well so far, meaning she was able to eat, walk, do things that a normal functioning adult does. The only thing that was affected by the injury was that her past was erased from her brain. Her memories were locked away. And sadly, medical science was not that advanced yet to precisely know how to unlock them. He had specifically chosen to become a neurosurgeon to study and work on how the human brain works, how we process thoughts and memories but as they were not physical entities, he was still struggling to get a breakthrough.

Albeit, they had managed to convince her that her name was Khushi Singh Raizada and she had taken it well thus far. None of her relationships were revealed to her yet, and that was when her husband, Arnav Singh Raizada came to him with a request to let her be known as just ms. Khushi Singh Raizada, youngest daughter of the Raizada family. Arnav shared some of his reasoning with Vikrant as the rest of her family silently agreeing and although, Vikrant had felt anger towards the husband after knowing how he had treated the poor girl in the so called 'short term marriage', he also saw regret in Arnav's eyes. And thus, he nodded to the request. He would have anyhow suggested revealing one truth at a time about her. But after knowing how many dangerous truths lay in her past, he would rather have her have a sense of normalcy for a while before preparing her to deal with some bitter truths of her past.

"Vikrant jiju, are you listening?" Khushi's voice broke his chain of thoughts, and he gave her a guilty smile as he mumbled a sorry.

Khushi let out a sigh. She had come here straight after her class to talk to him about her strange dreams, but when she reached his cabin, she was very nervous to directly talk about it. Vikrant jiju, who she used to call Vikrant Da earlier was always like a brother to her. Of course, all her relations were like this for her, "assumed", she had no memory of shared moments with them, or her growing up around them. Sometimes she wondered what if-

"You were saying something?" Vikrant probed, looking at the sudden seriousness in her expression.

Khushi's thoughts were halted by his voice. And she remembered what she was about to tell him. She mustered up the courage, hoping he wouldn't judge her.

Khushi still looked away for a moment and then spoke in a low voice, "I had a strange dream this time. I saw -I saw Arnav in my dream yesterday." her eyes were downcast by the end.

Vikrant leaned back on his chair, his eyes trained on her, but his brain preparing for a probable uncovering of a bad memory of her past, he asked, "Was it a bad thing?"

Khushi flustered, "No. Err. He just- he made me wear a payal. And it felt so real..." she trailed off.

Vikrant's face sobered and he leaned forward, "Perhaps, it could have been." It was a well-thought-out answer. Preparing her for an avalanche of her past coming in front of her someday, by assisting her in these small steps today.

Khushi's startled eyes met his in a flash, "You think so?"

He smiled, "Maybe, Khushi. But even if it was, it was probably between you two so unless you ask him, we won't know." he stated in a calm voice, not shooting her down neither giving her false hopes, "But I am happy that you shared it with me."

Khushi first reaction was relief, "Thank you for not telling me that I was wrong, jiju. Di would have..." she didn't complete that sentence. Her Di never encouraged her talking more with Arnav, always implying that she wanted Khushi to keep distance from him. Perhaps because he was a married man and her di didn't want khushi's name be tarnished by any wrong association with him.

"Anjali cares for you, a lot, Khushi. She just tries to look out for you."

"I know." Khushi nodded. Her Di's worried face swam in front of her eyes.

Times when di sat by her bed throughout the nights when khushi suffered from nightmares after nightmares. Some of them were so bad that she woke up drenched in sweat. Flashes of a car accident, flashes of someone manhandling her, flashes of someone slapping her, and someone telling her he hated her, made her terrified to sleep. Not knowing how much of it was a part of her buried memories and how much was just her mind playing games. And it was her di's warm embrace, her words of assurances that she was ok, that she was safe gave her the needed strength to wake up the next morning with a new hope for life.

Having that dream was a mystery, seeing Arnav's face in it was a mystery but Arnav being a married man was also a truth. She didn't want to act on something that was probably a thing of their past and held no meaning now. Her mind went back to their conversation the day before, when she asked him if he knew her from before and he had said he wished he did. So, he wasn't able to pursue it too, then...

"So, are you planning to talk to him?" Vikrant asked as she got up to leave.

"No..." she said, picking up her bag and leaving.

--*--

The man in charge of Delhi central jail was in a fire fighting mode since last 2 days. Ever since Shaym Manohar jha managed to escape from the high security jail. Inspector Sameer had already sent best of his men to trace Shyam while he himself was working overtime to find clues. But Shyam was proving to be tough one to catch as he was infamous for.

However, the inspector was not quite prepared for the phone call he received that morning. Even though the name flashing on his mobile phone's screen already told him who it was, yet he was taken aback as he heard the authoritative voice from the other end,

"Hello. Arnav Singh Raizada, here."

"Y- Yes Mr. Raizada." He spoke, trying to sound normal. Arnav Singh Raizada used to call him or his police station almost every month checking on Shyam's status. And occasionally when he was in Delhi, he would come to visit in person. Inspector Sameer hoped Mr. Raizada was not coming to India at least until they caught Shyam back.

"I am in Delhi this week. And I will be visiting-"

"No!" he hastily said.

"What do you mean, no? Is there any issue?" ASR asked suspiciously.

The inspector wiped sweat drops on his forehead, "No sir. It is just that we all are occupied with chasing different cases. So, if you could please hold on visiting the station for a few days."

Arnav was not entirely convinced but he thought against using his weight to push the guys further. He could visit the station a few days later.

"Ok." he said curtly and ended the call.

--*--

Kashish frowned looking at the unknown number flashing on her phone screen. She was in her hotel room, thinking what to do for lunch, as Arnav was already out for the day. Wondering who it was, she picked the call when the ringing was nearly about to end,

"Yes?"

There was sound of throat clearing on the other side and then she heard, "Eh, Kashish? Aman here."

She smiled. He got her number. Not bad! "Hey Aman. How did you get my number?" she asked and then slapped her forehead. What was the need to ask him this? Now she made him think like she didn't like him call her. Sh*t!

"Err. ASR...from the hotel, no I mean from your tickets..." Aman fumbled with words. How to explain to her that working with ASR made finding phone numbers a small task for him? He could swear he could now work for the FBI, CBI and all other detective agencies!

"No, it is good that you called me." she said, trying to cover up her previous slip and realized she made another one! 'Good that you called me? Wow, smooth, Kashish!'

Aman smiled.

"You mentioned that day that you have never had chole bhature? I know a place which serves really good chole in Delhi so, I was wondering if you have no lunch plans, we could-"

"That would be great. I would love to- *ahem* love to eat chole bhature." She said, dancing a little on the other side. Thank God this was not a video call!

"Great! I will see you in 20 minutes then!" he said, grinning widely.

.

.

Arnav sat in his car, waiting outside the arts college which Khushi attended. There was no specific reason for his visit. He had clearly instructed Mohan to ensure that she was always safely transported anywhere she wanted to be. But today, he felt a need to ensure that she was ok. It sounded quite ironic coming from him who lived continents away from her for most part of the year. But today his feet automatically took him here. Or perhaps it was the urge to see her.

And then he spotted her. Walking towards the main gate, talking with a couple of girls. Arnav took in her appearance with yearning eyes, she looked pristine in her peach-colored salwar kameez. Her hair untied, just as he liked. A few strands of hair fell on her face, and she tried to move them away from her face, her cutely irritated face visible to him even from that distance. He smiled.

He then looked around to see if Mohan was there yet. He couldn't spot the familiar car; however, he frowned as he saw a man wearing a cap, walk towards Khushi.

--*--

A/n - No ArShi scene in this one. Sorry for cliffhanger, but had to stop as the chapter was getting quite lengthy. Stay tuned for the next one.