"Who are those people, jiji? And who is the man who saved me?"
"Khushi? Are you mad?" Payal asked, shocked that she would try to crack such a joke at this time. "We were all so worried about you, and you think its funny?"
"What? No, jiji!" Khushi cried "I'm serious! Why would I be joking? Who are these people?"
Arnav stormed into the room. He'd had enough of her drama. He caught hold of her arm and jerked her towards him. She winced in pain.
"Stop it, Khushi" he growled dangerously. "If this is your idea of a joke, then please stop. Its not funny, its sick. If you're angry, then show me your anger. Not this crap, understand?"
Khushi snatched her arm back. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't even know you, why in the world would I try to crack jokes with you?" She turned to her sister angrily. "Why aren't you asking him to leave, by the way? Why is he still here?"
"STOP IT, KHUSHI!" Arnav roared. "Just stop, dammit!" He caught hold of her shoulders and pulled her towards him, not caring about the fact that she would probably fall off the bed. He shoved his face closer to hers. He wanted to scream some sense into her, when Dr. Verma stopped him.
"Mr. Raizada, please" he said, pulling Arnav back. "Please control yourself. It'll be best if you left right now. I think-" But Arnav was in no mood to listen to the doctor's preachings.
"Control myself?" he cried "my wife refuses to recognise me, thinking she can fool me into believing this is some kind of a memory loss problem, and you want me to relax? DOES SHE EVEN KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH?" he screamed, turning back to Khushi. "I almost lost you, Khushi!" he said, seizing her again "Tum nahi jaanti, ki pichle 7 ghanto me meri kya halat hui hai. Please Khushi, you can stay mad at me for as long as you want to. But don't do this. Don't pretend that you don't know me. I beg you. I won't be able to bear it".
Khushi was petrified. She didn't know what to make out of the situation. Who was the man in front of her? Why was he so worried about her? Why was he calling her his WIFE? She didn't even know him! Who were those people? Why were they here? Her head swam with questions. She began to cry out of desparation and helplessness, silently praying for someone to shed light on all the sudden happenings around her. She craved answers but nobody was even ready to believe her. In fact, she couldn't remember how she'd landed up in this hospital in the first place.
Thankfully, the doctor came to her rescue. "Mr. Raizada" he said firmly, sensing something was terribly wrong here. He could see that Khushi was not lying. She looked frail and tired, but there was something else. Her eyes. They were terrified and lost. He needed to find out what was going on.
"I think both of you should leave" his words were directed at both, Payal and Arnav. While Payal nodded her head reluctantly, Arnav looked like he would kill somebody if they dared to ask him to leave. Payal put a hand on his shoulder.
"At least let the doctor talk to her, Arnavji" she said, softly. He shrugged her hand of irritably and thundered out of the room, banging the door behind him. Payal followed.
"All right, Khushiji" Dr. Verma sighed, and turned to his patient. "Time for us to answer some very interesting questions".
******
Everybody looked up in surprise as Arnav practically threw himself out of Khushi's ward. A very tense looking Payal followed, adding to their confusion.
"Chhote? What's wrong?" Anjali asked, least expecting her brother to react this way. "Is Khushiji allright? Why are you-" her sentence was cut off by a collective gasp from everyone as Arnav stormed forwards and punched the nearby pillar hard. His whole form shook with barely controlled rage.
"How can she do this to me, Di?" he spat out. "I know she's angry. I get it. But THIS? did i do something so unforgivable that she refuses to even recognise me now? Why is she doing this?" his voice changed from being angry to being completely shattered. It was as if Khushi had mortally wounded him.
"Payal bhabi?" Nk said, preferring to ask her as he did not expect Arnav to elaborate the situation at the moment. "You tell us. What happened? What is Nannav talking about?" he asked her, his voice laced with confusion. The others were as clueless as he was.
payal looked around. Amma, buaji, Akash, Anjali... everyone looked at her expectantly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, already dreading their reactions.
"Khushi refuses to recognise anyone. Except for me, ammaji and buaji".
******
"So, khushiji" started off Dr. Verma conversationally. "Could you start by telling me your full name?" He was sitting in front of her very casually, as if talking to an old friend. He was trying to make her feel at ease, khushi guessed. But there was also something very serious about him. she couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but she suspected it had something to do with her current situation.
"Khushi" she replied.
"I said I wanted to know your full name"
"Khushi Kumari Gupta"
He paused, looking at her intently, with a frown on his face. "That's all?" he asked.
"Of course" she replied, feeling a bit uneasy "that's my full name. What more would there be?"
"Hmm. Okay. Now, tell me about your family. Who all are there in your family?"
"My amma, babuji, jiji and a buaji. We live in lucknow, but buaji also has a house in Delhi" she answered, feeling puzzled. Why was a doctor asking her all this?
"Do you remember why you're here?"
Khushi thought for a while, struggling to remember why she was here. This was something which had mystified her from the moment she had woken up to find herself surrounded by weird looking machinery and with half a dozen wires shoved into her hands. Then she had been surrounded by so many unfamiliar faces that she hadn't had time to think. She had been too busy trying to figure out what exactly was happening here. Slowly, she shook her head.
"No. Why am i here?" she asked him.
"You had a little accident" Dr. Verma replied evenly, not wanting to shock her too much. "Do you remember anything from before the accident at all?" he inquired further.
She took a long time to reply to this one. Khushi struggled to remember what she'd been doing before she'd found herself in here. She couldn't remember anything. It felt as if a huge wall had suddenly been created in her head, blocking out everything she'd done so far. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard, trying to find one thing that would help her make sense of everything that was going on. Suddenly she remembered something. Her eyes flew open in shock.
"I remember something" her voice came out in a whisper.
"What is it?" Dr. Verma asked her. She looked at him, the horror clearly evident on her face.
"Its my jiji's wedding today! But- but why am i in a hospital? I was supposed to go somewhere! I remember telling jiji that i'd be right back. I- I need to go.." she started to get up, trying to remove the wires that were attached to her hands. But Dr. Verma stopped her.
"Wait. Hold on, hold on" he said, placing a firm hand on her shoulder and making her sit back down. "You're not in a condition to go anywhere right now"
"But- jiji-"
"No arguments, Khushiji. I have one last question for you. Where was this wedding supposed to take place? I mean- where do you think you are now?"
She looked at him as if he were crazy.
"What do you mean by 'where do i think i am right now'?" she asked him incredulously. "Im in some hospital in Lucknow, of course!"
******
Dr. Verma was cornered by Arnav before he'd even stepped out of the ward properly.
"What is it, doctor? What's gotten into her? Is she sick? Is she allright?" Arnav asked, firing one question after the other at him.
"I will tell you in a moment, Mr. Raizada" he replied, moving away from where Arnav was towering over him. He walked over to Payal.
"Mrs. Raizada? Could you tell me how long ago you were supposed to get married in Lucknow?" he asked her. A shadow crossed her face, as if bringing back memories she'd rather forget.
"Almost two years ago. Why do you ask?"
"Tell me the exact time"
Payal thought for a few moments. "A year and a half" she replied. Nodding, Dr. Verma turned to Arnav.
"I'm sorry to say this, Mr. Raizada. But Khushi has forgotten everything that happened to her in the past one and a half years. After she was shot, her brain went into shock, maybe because of something that had affected her deeply and terribly. This has led her to forget the recent past of about one and a half years. Or eighteen months. Its called partial amnesia"
Arnav stumbled backward, not believing what he'd just heard. No. It couldn't be true. Khushi had forgotten everything? She had forgotten him, their love and all the moments they had spent together? The woman he loved, the one who mattered to him more than his own life, had no memory oh him. For her, he didn't even exist. Arnav didn't exist for Khushi.
"What does she remember, doctor?" Payal asked, hesitantly.
"That its your wedding day today. And that she's in Lucknow. She remembers that she was in a hurry to go somewhere"
"Sheesh Mahal" came Arnav's broken whisper. It was that very day he had seen her for the first time. On the day of Payal's wedding. That one day which he would never, ever forget. It had marked the beginning of their beautiful journey of love, changing him completely along the way. He remembered each and every moment he'd spent with her ever since and how he'd finally fallen in love. But she had forgotten everything.
"But don't worry, Mr. Raizada" Dr. Verma continued. "She will eventually remember everything. But not immediately. It will take time. But she'll be allright".
"How much time?" Arnav asked, even though he knew that the answer wouldn't be pleasant. But if there was a way to get Khushi back again, he was ready to wait. He would wait forever.
"I'm not sure, Mr. Raizada. Maybe a few months. Maybe even a few years. One cannot say anything in such situations. But right now, i would advice you not to stress her too much. Let her adjust to her surroundings. Let her be with her family first. As for now, ive put her to sleep. When she wakes up, she should first talk to her family members. They need to tell her that she's in Delhi and not in Lucknow. She'll have a lot of questions, yes, but you will all have to be very patient. Don't try to force her into remembering anything. It'll all come back to her gradually. I wish you all the best". With that, the doctor left, leaving behind a man whose life had just shattered into a million pieces in front of his eyes.
Arnav peeped into the ward to find her sleeping peacefully. He remembered all those times when he'd shouted at her to leave him alone and to stay out of his life. He'd hurt her so much, over and over again, crossing his limits every single time and had never bothered to apologize. Never had he realised what he was doing, how much pain he was causing her. He'd done what he thought was right. That's why this was happening to him, he thought. That at a time when she mattered to him the most, when she was the only one he needed to be happy, fate had snatched her away from him. Standing there, at that moment, his heart bled for every single time he'd hurt her.
But no matter how much he wanted to undo everything he'd done. It was too late now. She was gone.
"Mere paas hokar bhi, tum mujhse aaj itni door chali gayi, Khushi" he whispered. Destiny had such a sick sense of humor.
so??? how was it??? there wasn't much in this chapter... it was merely to set the base for the story to proceed... I'll make Khushi go back to Shantivan in the next chapter, probably...😊 so stay tuned!!!!
don't forget to comment and for those who want pms, please buddy me... until next time then!!!😃
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
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