Part-9:
There are things that
We don't want to happen
But have to accept,
Things we don't want to know
But have to learn,
And people we can't live without
But have to let go.
-Shakespeare.
The First Crack:
It occurred at the end of their first month in Goa.
He stopped the car before the shop and she got out.
He locked the car as she moved toward the shop.
As he crossed a car, heard someone calling him from behind.
"Arjun," and before he could turn something touched his back. "Don't move," the man laughed.
"Watch your back-"
"Is the first rule of defense," Arjun finished it for him.
He turned and saw Mario standing there.
"Hey, what a surprise man!" Arjun exclaimed as Mario extended a hand.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
They shook hands.
"I'm working here, now. It's a long story. Come to our house we'll talk."
"Ah, how is Roshini? Last seen-"Mario stopped and said, "That girl is calling you."
He pointed Sakshi, who was standing at the entrance of the departmental stores. She had forgotten her list and returned back. She waved toward him but he turned to a man and shook his hand.
Arjun turned and looked at her.
She conveyed the message in sign and went back in.
"Who is she?" Mario asked as a man appeared and informed him, "Sir, it's getting late," in a polite voice.
"Arjun stared behind her and said, numbly, "A- A friend."
"Right, see I'm in a rush. I'm in china now. Same job," he winked at Arjun and went on, "Came here on duty. Now I'm going back, but next time I'll come to your house surely, okay? Remember me to Roshini, bye Arjun."
He went away with his companion.
It all happened too fast that he couldn't get a chance to react, even to do a double take.
'That girl is calling you, who is she?'
He could have forgotten her face and she could have forgotten- and how long are you going to believe these cock and bull stories, Arjun?
When he entered the shop with the list she was watching something on the display case.
"Who is he?" she asked and moved in.
"A friend," he replied.
"I thought you'd introduce him, but when you-" he was staring at her, "Are you okay?" she asked and reached him at once.
"Oh, yes- just a headache," he said quickly. He was not ready for a scene then.
"Come, we'll go home."
"No," he wasn't ready to drive now either.
"Ok, wait here I'll buy a coffee."
"I'm waiting in the car. No - I need nothing. You finish here and come." He insisted.
"Are you sure?"
"Yep,"
"Come, I'll walk you to the car."
Once she went back in, he took his mobile out.
"Suji, how is Mumbai?"
"Sir, Good to talk to you. How are you sir?"
"Scratching my head,"
"Sir?"
He grinned at once."They ask everything to be filled online now. See I'm now filling the form for Insurance Fund Nominee and I've filled most of the things. Thought, you could help."
He talked fast.
"Sure sir," she agreed at once, or she hesitated a little?
"Address, identity marks, Hmm... yes, I need Roshini's blood group. Can you see it in the files and tell me?"
Before he could decide between hesitation and delay she replied back, "It's O- positive sir,"
"O+, Suji, do one thing. Send me her picture to my mail- see she is smiling at herself for not even knowing her blood group."
This time without hesitation the reply came, "Sir, I've to ask Shree sir once-"
"Oh, it's ok. It seems she has one in her mobile. Thanks Suji."
He cut the call and confirmed that ETF Mumbai was doing something here. They were in this with Uncle.
Sakshi returned quickly and when he asked she said she would buy the other things in the list later.
But he said, "You said to go to some glassware?"
"Yes, second house aunty told me a shop, but we can go home now."
"Where is it?"
"Arjun-"
"I'm all right now, tell me."
"It's a shop named, 'Cling Cling' and it's-"
He smiled at the name.
"Good," she looked at him smiling, "You know it's dedicated to glassware and clay articles. Aunty said you can get nearly anything there and the shop's history goes back to Portuguese times."
They entered the shop and a small chandelier jingled once the door was opened. It sounded, "Cling, Cling", and made them smile.
"Now I agree," he said and they moved in.
She was seeing some cups.
He wanted her to relax, first.
"What's your blood group?" he made that question sound casual.
He knew it would not prove his point if she said-
"Show me a smaller one," She turned to him, "AB+,"
"I take this one."
Then who is she?
"Who are you?"
"Roshini. I need two pieces in that."
#
Suji came to me, "Sir, Arjun sir called."
"Right,"
"He asked what Roshini madam's blood group was."
Seeing my face she got tense, "I told him that," she swallowed, "Then asked her picture and told him I'd to check with you."
She said and looked at me, but was surprised as I smiled and said, "Good."
#
Ayesha was on a mission.
She got the confidential file and sat at her desk.
It was the file of the accident-which caused this chaos.
The pair Veer and Preeti who informed the police about the accident claimed they were tourists and for sightseeing they went to the view point at the top of the hill. A visit they thought would be memorable had turned as an unforgettable.
The couple returned from the view point. They started down hand in hand.
Suddenly, an alarmed Veer said, "Pree!", he stopped short and looked the scene before them. Preeti followed his gaze and whispered, "Dear, God!"
He ran to Sakshi and kneeled down beside her. Preeti started crying at the heart wrenching scene. Sakshi was lying near the edge of the road and a few feet from there she would have ended in to the wide valley below. She stared at the unconscious girl smeared with her own blood all over.
"God, she is alive," Veer turned to Preeti. She ran to them and stood near him.
"Pree, call the police!"
~.
Preeti was still crying as the ambulance moved away. Veer was at her side and talking to her in a lower voice.
The inspector turned toward them once he checked the car standing there without a clue.
They suspected at first, it was a hit and run, but why should leave the vehicle there. They found the owner and were informed that an ACP from Mumbai took the car to the hill.
The idea changed then. The forensic team had found foot prints near the edge of the road and now they started suspecting the valley.
~.
Preeti and Veer informed the police what they had witnessed and pointed out that Sakshi cried as seeing a paper, that seemed as a letter. They told them she was holding a hand bag.
The police did not find a bag, anywhere near the scene, but they found a small pouch behind the rock covered with mud where Sakshi was sitting.
The pouch found its way there, while Sakshi tore the letter vigorously and didn't attract her attention then.
It had some money and a train ticket from Shirdi to Pune.
They had tried a lot to locate where Sakshi had come from, Ayesha could see.
The commissioner of Mumbai had arrived the next morning along with ETF team.
Everyone was silently mourning and taking in the progresses of the case, she remembered.
When Sakshi opened her eyes two days later, they had found father in Shirdi.
Father informed them that Sakshi went there for an interview and he could not tell them why she went to the hill. And when he was informed that they had a suspicion that perhaps, she could have ended as a victim of suicide, according to the couple who called the police from the spot, he was appalled, tremendously.
Father visited her, but she could not recognize him.
#
Uncle's Story!
Once started it took hours for them to find Arjun under the hollow.
They informed uncle about the accident and he was hard from inside as he reached the spot.
First Roshini went away, without a trace, now this!
She had called him actually and told him that she was coming, but she never did...
The ambulance went straight to the hospital where he was one of the board directors.
Once heard about Sakshi, he rushed to the General hospital where she was admitted.
He looked at her through the glass opening of the ICU as a nurse approached him. When he was asked to tell the name of the patience, he said on impulse, as 'Roshini', and theyd change once the police found her relatives.
When father appeared at the hospital, Sakshi was named/ informed as her name was Roshini, by a nurse.
He went with father to visit Sakshi and she just stared at them. He said that father was there for praying for the patients, at once, to console the patient.
Then he talked with father about the accident and the compensation he was ready to give.
But father needed nothing.
The next morning when he started to Shirdi, uncle expressed his wish to adopt Sakshi and took her responsibility, he was somewhat relieved, he had to return to his place, but leaving her there was excruciating him.
Soon, once she was ready to move she was transferred to uncle's hospital, still with the name Roshini, which was first intended to keep for file maintenance.
And when father signed the document for adoption he was informed duly that as she was a major without her consent he could not sign her adoption and as she was not mentally fit-there was a line in the document which gave her full authority to cancel the document in the court, if she did not agree when she got back her memory.
Uncle again suggested giving him money for the sake of the home, but his conscience did not agree to accept it. But when uncle gave him a check in Sakshi's name as a donation for the home, he could not deny it.
From that day, he got a check every month in Sakshi's name.
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