Part-6:
For my part, if a lie may do you grace,
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.
-Shakespeare.
The rising:
Sakshi was lying on her bed. Now they were in the same room. She looked at his sleeping form in the next cot and saw a centimeter smile lingering on his lips.
It reminded her once again that she was cheating him.
She was still unsettled with this thought.
She was praying the God, every day for giving back her memory- at least a bit- a time. Then she would not have to writhe in with this prickling thought.
Suddenly this accident, then meeting Arjun here again, and her fabricating stories for him...
She had started aching to go home- To her house. She and he, and her stories too.
She had to thank uncle, if he wasn't there for her, she did not know what she could have become, by this.
He entered into this new life as a friend- but he was visiting her much before that as a doctor, which she had been missing to notice.
When he said to her about it later, it seemed as if she had been blind then. He explained it as if it was a sweet story.
While thinking back, now it seemed he was right, and it was for her.
It was true; he wanted to confirm her mental state before telling about her husband's illness.
He had to wait, he said, for the right time to tell her the whole story and eventually, when it came he did tell her.
But it did not change her life much, for she was still groping in the dark as she could not recognize herself. It felt as if she was living someone else's life.
Uncle would have said, here, 'yes, old Roshini's life', she smiled to herself.
He was really wonderful and how considerate he was while he entered in to her room one day and told her that she had still someone to hang on with in this world.
She did not know, if he had realized full, what it meant to her.
It gave a grip to move on. Though, it slipped once or twice as she started to move on.
Now, finally she had Arjun- Her Arjun.
She turned and saw that cute smile on his lips again.
#
The Uncle's story!
She tried to talk to the nurse, as her uncle didn't say much about his relative.
She did not want to press him.
She knew this nurse would know about it, as she was working under him for years.
When she approached her, the nurse just said, "Yes, his son is just now recovered from coma," with a sigh, she went on, "But he's lost his memory,"
It hit her hard to know someone else too was suffering from the same, but at least he had his relative nearby.
It too to her Uncle, after all? How miserable!
Her uncle does not deserve this.
When she said this, the nurse said, "No, he could recognize his uncle. He just lost part of his memory."
As a bell rang the nurse rushed there leaving her stand there and think.
He knew his uncle, not like her case...
Three days passed.
She came to her uncle and said, "Can you arrange a job for me? I mean- once I discharged, I've to-"
She could not finish.
"Right, why don't you come to my house?"
She seemed thinking.
"I mean you can stay there till you got back your memory, then we can see-"
She was silent.
"Once your health is back then I'll arrange the necessity- whatever you want,"
He tried some more.
She slowly raised her head and said, "How many of you in your house?"
He was taken aback. She was asking for a woman companion.
"Now-"
"If you are offering shelter for every patient you treat, I wondered how many of us staying with you in the house."
She explained and he winced as he could not tell her that he was her father now lawfully. First he wanted to confirm before he could say. He asked slowly,
"What if I adapted you-"
"Without knowing who I'm really?" she smiled, "Even I could be a terrorist or..."she laughed, but his face was hard.
"Won't you take me as your father?"
He was emotional now.
"Oh, uncle, I was just joking. It's just- I thought what I'd do once discharged, and thought I needed a job. You don't have to worry, I'll be around and come to see you, I promise."
That was worrying her this long. She was not going to understand his concern. He would not let her go. He realized he had to do something fast. He had created a relationship with her and was not going to tell her about Father now. She was not getting her memory back as they had expected. And she was going to take this seriously and that was going to affect her badly. If he let her think about it again, she would, perhaps, lose her hope and would not get her memory any sooner.
If she could not relax her mind, in something else she was going to suffer.
He had to do something fast.
"Roshini, come with me,"
He led her out. He had decided something.
~.
When she was trying to accept the facts her uncle told her just now, she was eager to see her husband at once.
Then her uncle explained, "You can't,"
She stared at him.
"Not now, I want you to know everything about him before you do visit him."
He had lost part of his memory...
"Uncle, he forgot me, right?"
That way she shocked him to the core.
"You know this?"
"Yes, I know he is the relative you worried about,"
Then slowly he filled her in with facts...an optical illusion, he knew it well- you could see, but it would be a false image...
#
The day had come.
After discharged from the hospital, they went to stay with his uncle.
Days flew fast.
Now they were going to settle in Goa. He was transferred and uncle had arranged to buy a house there for them.
Before the journey, uncle called her and gave her a cover. When he said, "See, Roshini, it's important, keep this with you, always. If you recovered or if you got a real problem in that house, I want you to open this. Will you?" his warnings made her laugh, but his tone said differently. She nodded sincerely.
"It has some instructions for you to follow, right, my girl?"
She was touched and a lone tear escaped her eyes.
"No, no more tears, dear. Never forget you are precious to your uncle. Promise me."
The flight touched the ground and they walked together through the crowd.
She remembered her uncle's words.
"Don't worry, dear. He can't find you. If you have any doubt in anything in answering him, just ask him to guess. This way you will get time to think. And, see, if you've to order for dinner, don't blink, just let him order, problem solved."
"And what if he ordered all my dislikes?"
She returned and they burst in to laughter.
"I think you've to be careful in dinner time."
"Something secret?"
Arjun asked her suddenly, as seeing her smiling to herself.
"Oh, I-" she came back to Arjun and blinked. Think fast, "Actually, I've never been to Goa," she tried something, "And when I heard that you had been transferred here, I read an article about Goa's well old churches, haan... famous beaches and the crystal clear waters-"
"And it's crystal clear girls," he whispered in her ears.
Wrong direction.
Uncle had reminded her that Arjun was still not mentally prepared for an emotional relationship. He had advised her that if they started a new life after he or she got back their memories it would be good for them both.
The next morning, an inspector rang the bell.
Arjun opened the door.
He saluted and said, "Sir, I'm inspector, Balsdhar. I received them from Mumbai. They sent them while shifting the things, sir. And I'm keeping them in the station for the past two days and giving them a grape each, every hour. I could have forgotten to sign the register, but not this."
Finally he produced a pair of love birds in a cage.
Arjun had to smile for the inspector's mystic speech and called him in.
"At least a cup of coffee?"
"Thank you sir. But I've to go to bazaar street before going to office. Sir!"
He saluted again and went away.
Arjun took the cage in and called Roshini.
"Rosh, come and see this."
The birds were cute- One in green and one in blue. They were talking non-stop.
He showed them proudly to her once she emerged out of the kitchen.
"Coming, coming,"
They were still talking.
"What's this Arjun, suddenly?" she inquired.
His face fell, but he asked slowly.
"Don't you like them?"
She could see his every move. Thus she said at once, "Who told I didn't? I just thought, why they should be pent up in a cage. They don't deserve it, don't you think? See how cute they are. They should fly freely."
"If you don't like them, we'll let them fly."
"No, see, their wings are too short. They can't fly, Arjun. We'll do one thing. We feed them, and ll ensure that when they wish, they can fly freely."
He nodded. And she thought she had convinced him. She went back to the kitchen. But Arjun was still sitting there, thinking.
If she didn't like them, then who brought them in Mumbai?...
If she didn't like why should they buy them?
If they had bought them for his pleasure, why should she talk like this now?
No, She asked, 'why suddenly'.
She didn't know them before.
His fingers touched some buttons and I came on the line.
ETF Mumbai= His past.
"Sir,"
"Shree, Roshini's birds-"
He gave a gap and waited.
As expected the answer came fast.
"I've sent them already sir. Didn't you?-"
"Yes, yes. I received them, just to say thanks I called. Ok, take care."
What could be the meaning?
Perhaps, she disliked them after the accident?
It's perhaps, her mental stress?
'She is not ready, yet.'
He let go of the matter at once.
But the cage got a place in their back lot.
#
Story of the birds!
They were their pets. Roshini had named them Biti and Giti according to their colors. They were a gift from a dear friend of hers.
After her, the pair had become a nuisance for him. Not only they always chirping happily, but also turned as a constant reminder that he was single, alone, without a pair.
He tried to get rid of them. Killing them was beyond him. When he opened the cage they did not fly away. They were not that kind.
He simply gave it to Chottu to keep them away from his sight, as we were always around the house to help him, but he took us as another nuisance was our pure fate.
Since then, he fed them in his apartment and now when the talk about shifting came up, I suggested sending them to Goa with other things.
"They may unite the hearts when they are around, you know."
"What if he kept them and threw her away once got back his memory?" Chottu asked quietly.
"Exactly," I detonated the bomb then said, "That's the idea. Can't you see? If he did as you said, then he would start missing her, start thinking about her, start trying to get her back. Uncle is a genius."
"You think? What if she got back her memory and kept the birds and left him behind?"
Then I started to realize that Chottu was dangerous sometimes.
I thought about it and then replied, "Simple, really," I emphasized.
"The same, from he would start missing her- to- trying to get her back. It's called Love. And since only geniuses can understand it, no wonder you are still arguing about."
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