Part 5
Trapped
The warmth of the darkness reminded her of home, something she hadn't felt for a long time. Blinking she opened her eyes in to the amber light that filled her room. A pair of black eyes were staring at her lost somewhere as she watched them. It was a teen girl.
"Don't worry Di..everything will be alright"
"What'where..who are you?" She stammered and the girl looked startled.
"Er..what do you mean?"
At that moment Sonali enter carrying a glass of water.
"I'm sorry beta we never thought you'll take it this seriously, I mean the doctor said that if we.."
"What's happening where's Uday?"
Sonali looked at her shocked.
"Who's Uday?"
Manyata said nothing she just rubbed her forehead a little bit more and closed her eyes breathing deeply.
Sonali turned to Janvi. "Janu call Adi "
The name gave her a shiver.
"Adi?" She asked.
"He's the only one who can explain this to you"
"What are you going to explain? Where's Uday?"
"It's alright Aunty" Someone said knocking the door, "Can I see her please?"
"Yep beta, come in" Sonali said placing the water glass on her bed side table and turning to leave. A tall figure entered looking every inch of a person who was not a stranger in that room and who was familiar with everything in there.
Manyata gasped at him. It was Aditya.
"How are you feeling now sweetheart?" He asked casually as if they shared the conversation every day.
"What are you doing here?" She asked him, much more strongly than she felt at the moment.
"On the earth this is my house" Aditya said rising his eyebrows. "Why should I answer such a question?"
He walked in and closed the door. "You are worrying for no reason" And then suddenly he smiled. "I missed you so much" He said sitting on the edge of her bed. She pushed herself away from him slapping his hand that tried to touch hers.
For a moment Aditya seemed to be shocked and then he smiled again.
"I think the doctors were wrong again, you don't remember me do you?"
She eyed him in disbelief, what the hell was happening?
"You're Aditya" She said after a moment, "And I shot you"
Aditya raised his eyebrows again, "What?" He demanded.
"One plus point and one minus point" He said smiling. "I am Aditya correct and the second sentence should be I am your husband"
The remaining colors drained from her face.
Aditya handed her the glass of water. "See what I mean? You don't remember a thing"
"This..this is a lie" She stammered after a moment, Aditya smiled again.
"So this is a lie too?" He asked showing her the photograph that adored the bedside table. It was unmistakably a wedding photo of..them.
"This..this isn't true"
"Then what is?" Aditya asked her pleasantly.
She leapt off the bed and looked around each of those dark blue colored walls had a photograph hanging in them. From each of them a happy face of hers smiled down at her always accompanied by that scary figure of Aditya.
"Then tell me who are you?"
"I'm Manyata Udayveer Singh queen of Yuvraj Udayveer Singh" Manyata said in a cold voice.
At this Aditya started to laugh so hard that he fell on to the bed trying to catch his breath.
"That's a good one" he chocked. "Queen of Yuvraj Udayveer Singh" He started laughing again. Manyata watched him laughing at her and wondered what was going on. Surely Aditya wasn't going insane, or was he?
The same thought seemed to have occurred Aditya as he controlled his laughter.
"We were treating you wrong, you haven't lost you memory but you've gone insane"
"I'm not INSANE!" She bellowed.
"No sweetheart you're not, yet what you're saying is completely insane"
"Get your hands off me" She said in a rude whisper as Aditya shook her shoulders. "Where's Uday?" She asked in a loud voice.
"There's no Uday here Mana Ray choudry and please" He said tightening his grip, "Keep your voice down""I won't!" Manyata said even more loudly, "You can't fool me Aditya I know who you are!"
Her loud voice had gained an audience, Sonali was knocking the door.
"What's happening Mana? Are you alright?"
"Nothing" Aditya said loudly pushing her to the wall, "Just a sweet conversation between husband and wife"
"Let. me. go" She said clearly.
"No" Aditya said simply, "If you know me so well as you claim to'you must remember that I. Don't. let. go. of . things. that. belong. to. me"
"I don't belong to you" She said in whisper. Her eyes wide with surprise.
"Good" Aditya said his grip getting even tighter. "Now listen" He tucked back an escaped lock of her hair, "You are Mana Ray Choudry and you are my wife"
"Let me go" She replied.
"You can believe otherwise if you want" He said after a moment smirking at her. "But no one here will believe you princess" He said his lips brushing against her collarbone.
She pushed him off disgusted and ran outside the room straight in to Mr. Ray Choudry.
"What happened Mana?" He asked.
"No, No" She said backing away from him and descending the staircase.
"Where are you going Mana?" Sonali called out.
"Mana di what are you doing?" Janvi said holding her back.
She covered her ears, their voices haunting her brain. Everything was fuzzy and she felt the dizziness again, and everything went dark.
***
Jay paced the room hurriedly as she watched the rising sun illuminating her window. She couldn't get a wink of sleep for the whole night and the sounds outside her closed door told her that neither any other person in the palace had slept.
There were overwhelming press reports swimming in to the conference hall and Dadi sahib had ordered to disconnect all the phone lines that connected the palace to the outside world. The news that princess Manyata was alive and well had spread out like a wild fire and everything was hardly understandable.
Uday was silent his face buried in his hands he didn't even look up when Raj Singh the head of security entered the study followed by some other security personals.
"Jamai sa?" The man called out,
"Huh?" Uday asked startled to find himself dozing off,
"It's time to address the press"
"You don't have to if you don't feel ready Dada" Unnati had just approached her long dark hair swinging in thick curtains.
"I don't like the way they're talking"
"You never did, choti" Said Uday standing up, "Where's Jay?"
"She's in her room, getting ready" Unnati informed him.
"And Manyata?"
Unnati said nothing for a moment, and when she looked up her eyes were brimming with tears.
"I can't believe we went through all this dada"
"Oh" Uday said in a relaxed voice, "Where is she?"
"She's with dadi sahib, talking about the press conference"
But when Uday knocked her door, he found Manyata staring unfocusedly out of her window.
"Hey princess?" HE called out, "What happened?"
She turned slowly to face him and looked at those worried brown eyes that were gazing down at her.
"Dadi sahib was talking about Aditya" She said slowly, "Uday they haven't found his body"
"Maybe he's not dead" Uday said casually leaning against the window and gazing at her as her eyes grow wider,
"Don't say that!" She said alarmed, and after a moment she hugged him still shuddering at the thought. He planted a kiss on her head.
"I could still feel he's here touching me" She said shivering and hiding her face against his chest, "And you talk about him coming back"
"Look here" Uday said gripping her chin and turning her to face him, "Even if he does return.." Manyata jerked her face away, "No listen even if he does return I won't let him touch you, ever again"
She looked up after a moment,
"You promise?"
He kissed her forehead.
"I promise"
He said simply taking her hand, he kissed it and Manyata smiled at him.
***
Manyata was sitting in the large sofa her legs stretched out, her head resting on its arm. She looked a little calmer than she had done before and a little weaker.
Sonali was sitting across her looking at her with a pained expression and she broke the silence after a moment.
"Aditya was Jagat's friend you two got married in 2011"
Manyata said nothing.
"Before meeting him, you were engaged to Jagat as we had told you and you met Aditya at his birthday party, since then you two had always been together happily minus the times Aditya visited his family in India"
Still she said nothing.
"He really loves you Mana"
"That's the problem isn't it" Manyata said after a moment. "That I am not Mana"
"You are, you just don't remember"
"Let me go home, you are mistaking me to be someone I'm not"
Sonali sighed.
"Take some rest and you'll see things differently"
She said clapping her shoulder as she stood up to leave. "I don't feel like leaving you here but you really need to be in familiar surroundings, to remember things which are necessary to remember"
"Are you leaving?" Manyata asked her,
"Yes dear, you are home now, there's no reason why I should be here"
"That's right" Aditya said as he entered. "Mana and I have a lot to catch up don't we?" He asked smirking at her.
Sonali smiled and walked away janvi followed her and Manyata looked up at the nightmare before her.
"So" Aditya said clapping his hands together, "The night is young Mrs. Udayveer Singh"
"Don't you dare…touch me!" Manyata said in a dangerous voice.
"ooo, I'm scared, you always keep scaring my poor heart, don't you dare this, don't you dare that, I'm your husband for god sake!"
She stood up feeling her heart rate rise as she did so, "I'm warning you Aditya, you might regret this"
"Will I?" He asked innocently, "Well we'll find out won't we?"
***
Let me take some rest,
Tell me how it was? Lovely? sleepy? Shocking? Boring? Awesome? Pathetic?
Eagerly waiting to know!!
Thanks for reading!!
Cham.
