Chapter 32

Part 32:

Recap – Shilpa's Accident

Present:

"Armaan! Wait! " Armaan rushed to the ICU unit, with Riddhima rushing in behind him, trying to stop him.

"I want to see her!" he replied, jogging towards Shilpa's ward.

"But- Just wait! Armaan!"

Armaan pushed open the door to her room. The ICU nurses all turned to watch him with cautious and nervous looks that gave him a second's warning before he stepped into Shilpa's room and heard her Shashank say, "Just relax Shilpa."

At his entry, Shilpa looked up and did a double take. Armaan gave a smile of relief, and started to rush towards her. When she flinched he slowed down a little so as to not overwhelm her.

He was just about to call out to her, when she uttered the words that turned his insides cold and stopped the word Shona on his lips.

"Excuse me?"

Both Shilpa and Armaan froze, staring for an endless moment at each other. Then he shook his head in wild-eyed disbelief.

"Papa.. Who is this guy? How can he just enter into any random room?" she said.

Armaan bit back a curse. "Sir—"

"Don't panic, Armaan." Shashank tossed a reassuring glance over his shoulder.

"We knew that she might have memory issues." Sid interjected.

Armaan cursed. Memory Issues!!!

"What? I know him??" Shilpa gasped.

"It's all right, Shilpa," Sid said in a soothing voice. "Your loss of memory is a result of your accident."

Armaan snapped out of his shock at the words loss of memory. He looked at Shashank and Sid, narrowing his eyes at the bit of conversation, where they knew something like this was a possibility. He will talk to them about it later. He had to talk to Shilpa first. He turned back to her.

"Shilpa…"

She looked back at him, the wary look in her eyes intensified now. He tried to approach her slowly.

"I am so sorry… I seriously do not recall you…"

He closed his eyes in pain, never ever having imagined hearing those words from his shona!

"Main…I am Armaan…" he looked at her closely, trying to read her expression, and find out if it rings a bell. If the name Armaan meant something to her, she hid it well.

"Hi Armaan…" she said cautiously and looked at Riddhima for help.

"He is your doctor Shilpa…" Riddhima quickly intervened. "He was the one you ran- I mean he was the one who found you."

Sid nodded, but Shilpa looked back at him with distrust. "Then why wasn't he here when I woke up?"

Armaan ground his teeth. He did not want other people between Shilpa and his conversations!

"Can I talk to her alone?" Armaan said softly.

"What? No!" Shilpa exclaimed in indignation.

"Armaan… I need you to leave now, you are upsetting her." Sid tried pacifying him.

"Now!" Armaan said, determined to get what he wanted – some time alone with Shilpa.

"But-" Shilpa started but Armaan came to her bed. She looked into his eyes and stopped talking, her protest dying on her lips at the emotions she could see in his eyes, something close to tenderness and relief and a little fear.

He acted without thought, running on sheer instinct. Crossing to Shilpa's side, he reached down to take her hand in his. Behind him, Riddhima voiced an objection, while Shilpa hissed in dismay as she drew back in a vain attempt to avoid his touch. He ignored everything but the demand screaming through him, one that insisted he protect her from everything bad.

He forcibly grabbed Shilpa's hand in his.

Shilpa jerked in response and stared at him in shock. Never before had she experienced such a powerful connection. It felt as though everything he felt flowed from him into her before slamming him with a backwash that left him drowning in emotion. He was fiercely handsome, with eyes of the deepest ocean and a stare that silenced with a stony glare, the kind he currently had trained on the nurses and doctors surrounding them.

"Who are you?" she demanded. She put a hand in front to stop his response before it could even form. "I know they claim you are my doctor. I mean, what's your name?"

"Armaan…" A smile warmed his tense face.

His gaze lifted to everybody gathered around her bedside and he jerked his head toward the door. Without a word they filed from the room. It didn't come as any surprise to her that they left. She had a strong suspicion that few dared to argue with Armaan, and those few who tried, didn't hold out against him for long.

"I'd also like to set one fact straight," he said the moment they were alone. "I am not only your doctor…. I am also…"

Shilpa looked up at him, expectantly. He was about to say he was also in love with her, but something in her eyes told him that she was not ready to hear that right now.

".. Your best friend…" he finished.

--

Shilpa sized him up before continuing. "I do remember bits of it… I remember somethings…"

He looked up at her. "You do?"

Shilpa gave a helpless chuckle. "I don't even know how I remember it or why I am telling all of this to you and not my dad…"

Armaan looked at her when she continued.

"I know that I am a doctor here at Sanjeevani… I also know that Dr. Shashank is my dad… I vaguely remember Riddhima…"

So its just me you don't remember then, Armaan told himself.

"… and I also remember the name Armaan…" she whispered.

He looked up. "You remember me?" he smiled.

Shilpa nodded and smiled in return. "I do… Well not exactly, but your name just clicked something… And now that you tell me you were my best friend, for you to be my best friend, I have to have known you long right? So you can tell me all that I have missed out on. Deal?" she said innocently.

Armaan gave her the first genuine smile of the day, the smile lighting his face up. "I will… with time you will remember everything… I will make sure you do." he said. I will make you remember everything, that I love you and that you love me…. He vowed to himself.

He nodded and touched her forehead, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I remember my accident…" and his hand stopped.

She looked at him. "bits of it…" she continued.

"Really?" he said.

Shilpa narrowed her eyes. "But there's something more. I can see it in your expression. What aren't you telling me?"

"We had a fight right beforehand." He admitted. "You left in a hurry. If only I'd stopped you from going! If only I hadn't delayed, you wouldn't be here, suffering so much"

She couldn't mistake his sincerity

"Don't blame yourself for the accident…"

His fingers tightened around hers.

"It's better this way… what if you had been hit with me there?" She offered a reassuring smile.

"It's far more likely that I would have prevented the incident from even occurring."

The absolute certainty in his voice amused her. "Looks like I have arrogance as my friend here!"

Armaan suddenly remembered the night of karwachauth when Shilpa had called him arrogance…

"Arrogance thy name is Armaan!!"

He looked at her and she laughed. "You're joking about it."

Shilpa stopped laughing, his genuine concern for her touching her to the core. She took his hand in hers.

"I'm okay… Don't worry…"

He nodded. "You should get some rest…. I'll see you soon" when he saw her squirming and tensing in pain.

She nodded and lay down. Soon she was asleep and Armaan sat next to her, looking at her, stroking her forehead.

--

"How could you not tell me memory loss was a possibility?" Armaan walked into Sid's office.

Sid looked up from where Riddhima and he were discussing something.

"Armaan… We weren't sure…"

"You should have told me…"

"Have you looked at yourself lately? Anything concerning Shilpa drives you crazy… If we told you that she might not remember you, you'd have worried more. We didn't even know if the loss of memory could be considered… we did not want to cause unnecessary pain to you…"

"Worried my foot! Do you have any idea how I felt when she uttered those words! "Do I know you?"! God!! I didn't understand for a moment! What am I going to do?"

"Armaan… I know it's difficult for us to really feel what you are feeling right now… we have to try and try together to make her remember us. And you are going to start that by not blaming yourself for this. We will tell her about the time she spent with us, take her places that hold our special moments. We will do everything we can. She will recall everything and soon." Riddhima said.

Armaan sighed, a tear slipping from his eyes. He nodded, sitting down on a chair.

"She does remember… She remembers dad and some of our names. But-" he said.

"No buts Armaan… There's a good start!" Sid said, a little enthusiastically.

--