ArHi FF: Here We Go Again (13/08) COMPLETE - Page 2

Chapter 4: The Girlfriend I Never Wanted

St Clair's Hospital

After 2 hours in the hospital staring silently at Khushi whist each holding one hand, the father daughter duo decided to go.

"I have to go to America tomorrow." said Karan, (Amba's father).

"I know, don't worry I'll take some time off work to keep an eye on her. Or I'll give Logan time off. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to get a small holiday." Said Amba.

"Are you sure you'll be ok?"

"Dad, I'm 22 years old, I'll be fine."

"Weren't you meant to call Logan to tell him how Khushi's doing?"

"Yes but I like him worrying unnecessarily, he's very cute when he's worried." She smirked at her father's scowl.

"Yes well you behave while I'm away."

"Don't I always?"

"No and that's what keeps me up at night."

"Dad I'm sure that's not the only thing that keeps you up at night." She winked at him and turned to leave a very shocked Karan Malik near Khushi's bed.

Dear Lord my daughter's a vixen. What happened to the sweet innocent baby that I once held in my arms? He thought and glanced at Khushi.

He held her and spoke, "Everything's fine and you're going to be fine. Just come back to us quickly butterfly." He kissed her forehead before picking up his jacket and leaving.

St Claire's parking lot

Before Amba got into her car she checked her phone. She wasn't surprised to see 20 missed calls and 15 texts from Logan. She rang his phone before getting into her car. She had barely started it before he picked up and started screaming at her. She rolled her eyes, barely paying attention to him, and drove off.

"Amba, Amba! Are you even listening to me?!" He screeched.

"God, you're like the girlfriend I never wanted!" But as soon as the words left her mouth she regretted it. She never Logan got really sensitive about his masculinity. There was a long and awkward silence and she could tell Logan was trying to keep his cool.

Nice one Amba! Why do you never think before you speak?

But luckily for her Logan was taking the high road today for two reasons. One; he's meeting with Mr Raizada had gone surprisingly well even though he was insulted so many times he had lost count. And two; he knew if he started getting angry at her, she'll torture him even more about Khushi's incident.

"Amba, why is mum in the hospital?" Ever since Logan's real mother died, Khushi had become a perfect replacement mother and he was scared to lose his mother again.

Amba could sense the panic and decided to put the poor guy out of his misery. It had barely been a year since her mother had got out of the hospital and the fact she's in again is obviously concerning.

Logan took her silence to mean something else and he went into a full panic mode. "Is it-"

"No. She got into a car accident."

"What!"

"Yeah, she's-"

"How is she? Is her condition stable? Is she paralyzed? Memory lose? Is she even alive?!"

"No need to be hysterical, she'll be fine-"

"What do you mean she will be? Isn't she fine now?"

"She's unconscious now. The doctor's said-"

"What did the doctor's say?"

"Logan you interrupt me one more time and I swear!" She snapped.

"I'm sorry."

"Her brain has swollen because she bashed her head because the airbag system didn't work. They may have to induce coma if she wakes up too early but they're sure she'll make a speedy recovery. If she wakes up, no when she wakes up, she might have memory lose or a personality change. All we can do is pray and wait."

When she finished there was a long pause. Amba wasn't the type of person you could go for comfort so she didn't know what to say to him. She always felt really uncomfortable in these situations but she always gave it a try.

"Logan-"

"Can I go see her?"

"Sure. Take the rest of the day off. I was planning on staying and doing some extra work anyway."

"Thank you. The write up of the meeting is on your desk. Call me if there's anything else you need."

"I'm sure I'll manage."

With that said she turned her car around and headed straight to work.

Well I guess that's a no to a long hot bath and a glass of wine, she thought, Oh who cares. Working has always taken my mind of things better than a bath and alcohol ever has.

Hey Guys I'm back and I promise to update either tomorrow or the next day.

Chapter 5: Midnight

Lawson's Limited

It was midnight and Amba was the only person in the office besides the security. She had successfully completed all the work for the day and for the next 3 weeks. She had even managed to complete her assistant's work and was contemplating starting on Logan's work. She hadn't taken a break since she came back from the hospital because she knew if she took a break she'd over think things and send herself in a dark place. She was just about to take a look at Logan's work when her desk phone began to ring.

As soon as she picked up the caller said, "I can't believe you're still at the office."

She sighed and put down the file she was holding. "How did you figure that one out?"

"I tried your mobile and couldn't reach you."

"You're a regular Sherlock Holmes aren't you dad?"

"What are you doing there so late?"

"Playing Monopoly with the security." She said sarcastically.

He decided to play along with his daughter. "Who's winning?"

"Dad!"

"Seriously Amba you work too hard."

"Hard work has got me where I am today."

"Aren't you going to come home to see me off?"

"No."

"Did you visit your mum again?"

"No. I sent Logan over there. You know his dad suffered a heart attack a couple of hours before mum's accident so I thought he could visit her and his dad at the same time."

"His dad's in hospital?"

"Yes dad I just said that."

"That must be really hard for him."

"He's a big boy, I'm sure he'll survive."

"Amba can you be more insensitive?"

"Yes, yes I can." There was a pause and Amba could tell her father was trying to tell her something that was very difficult for him to say.

"I called Nik."

"Why would you do that?! He's on his honeymoon for God's sake. He doesn't need unnecessary stress!"

"I thought he could come back-"

"Dad I don't need a babysitter!" She stressed, "Why couldn't you just let him enjoy his honeymoon?"

"I'm going to be in America for a long time-"

"I can take care of mum and myself perfectly fine! I'm going to call him and tell him not to come."

"What about grandma and granddad?" There was silence on the other end and Karan could mentally picture his daughter counting back from 10 to get her anger in check.

"No thank you. Seeing them 4 times a year is enough for me."

"Why do you hate them so much?"

"Because they're always talking shit about mum and me!" she shouted.

"Amba-"

"I. Don't. Need. A. Babysitter! I'm an adult."

"Fine. I'll cancel every arrangement I made for you."

"Thank you. Dad I didn't mean to offend you about your parents."

"It's alright, I know what you mean. Do you think we should inform your mum's family?"

"You know how she feels about calling them about accident and injury. She didn't contact them about her surgery last year."

"This is different. She's unconscious and she could be a totally different person after she wakes up."

"Let's call them after she wakes up."

"I'll give you Payal's number in case she wakes up before I come back."

"Ok. Have a safe flight dad. How long are you going to be in America?"

"Thank you and two and a half weeks. Go home Amba you need rest and take some time off."

"I'll try, love you."

"I love you too."

She put the phone down and sighed. It had been a really long day. Her hair was coming out of her perfect bun, her clothes were crumpled and her stilettos were God knows where. She plonked down on her chair and rubbed her forehead when the door opened.

"I knew you'd still be here."

"How's your dad Logan?"

"He's fine." He said making himself comfortable in the chair opposite her.

"Really? He's just had a heart attack and now he's fine?"

"Yep."

She knew Logan and his dad had their differences but this indifference was just wrong. "Logan-"

He stood up abruptly and said, "Grab your stuff, I'll wait in the car."

"Which car?"

"Your car."

"What about yours?"

"It'll stay here duh."

"And how exactly are you going to come to work?" She began gathering her things and followed him out.

"With you." She gave him a look. "Oh come on, we're next door neighbours. We've known each other since you were 2 and you can't give me a ride to work?"

She smirked. "That's how I roll bitch."

He faked a shocked expression and put a hand on his chest. "I am shocked and appalled at the language you use."

"Do you want a ride or not?"

He straightened up. "Yes please."

"Then get in the f**king car!"

"Yes ma'am." He did a mock salute and got in the car. The drove silently for a while before Logan broke the suffocating silence.

"Want to grab a drink before heading home?"

"I'm dying for one, let's go." She made a detour towards the bar.

Italics are thoughts. The green bits are meant to be Hindi, my Hindi is terrible so I'm not going to attempt to write it and confuse you poor people so it's written in English. Enjoy! 😊

Chapter 6: Rollercoaster

3 and a half weeks later

Lawson's Limited

It had been 3 and a half weeks since Khushi had gotten into the accident and had shown little signs of coming out of her induced coma. Amba had taken off 2 weeks off her work until her father came back from America to take care of her mother and then she had thrown herself into work. The past 3 and half weeks had been an emotional rollercoaster for everyone and they were all exhausted and praying for Khushi to wake up soon.

Amba was working on her pitch when she heard a knock at the door. When she looked up to see who it was she was shocked. Arnav Singh Raizada. She sighed. She really didn't have the patience today to deal with him but she plastered a smile onto her face and motioned him to come inside.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you." He said politely. She stared at him like he had grown 5 heads and was eating the furniture. He smiled at her expression before continuing. "I'm sorry about my behaviour last time we met; I was having a bad day."

She gawked at him but them composed herself. "It's ok."

"It's just my schedule was mixed up and then I didn't meet with Logan Lawson and so I got angry. I hope you can forgive me."

She gave him a strange look. "Of course sir, it's not your fault the person who was supposed to schedule you and the person you were meeting with was in the hospital in the same day. You're forgiven."

"Thank you." There was a pause and Arnav began to stare at her again. She gave him a questioning look and he realised what he was doing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare but you look really familiar."

"Perhaps you've seen me on T.V.?" She suggested.

"No, I'm sure it's nothing. Oh well, I'll leave you to get on with it." He turned to leave but paused at the door. "I hope your mother's fine."

She frowned. "How did you know about my mother?"

"Well last time you rushed out of here you said mum to Logan and I assumed…"

She smiled. "Mum is a word we use for emergencies."

"So it wasn't your mother?"

"It was." He waited for her to continue but when she didn't say anything more he left her office. Amba smiled a small smile at what had just happened.

He's not as bad as I thought he was.

Just then her boss knocked on her door. She stood up from her desk and motioned for him to come in.

"What brings you down here sir?"

"Oh stop with the formalities Amba, I've known you since you were a baby. Call me Logan like you normally do." Scolded Logan Lawson Sr before pulling her into a hug.

Amba smiled. "Since we're at work and you are my boss I'm going to call you sir. How are you doing now?"

"You are no fun now that you've grown up. I'm absolutely fine now."

Amba laughed. "Hey that's not fair I'm just being professional. Are you sure?"

He smiled. "Yes yes. How's my favourite assistant and chief marketing manager doing?"

Amba immediately looked old and exhausted again. "There's still no-"

Before she could complete her sentence the phone rang. He motioned for her to pick it up and as soon as she did her eyes widened.

"Mum?" He asked.

"Mum." She confirmed.

"Go." He ordered.

"Wanna come?"

"I have a meeting now but as soon as I finish I'll be on my way, this is unavoidable. And don't tell Logan you're going, he's in a meeting and he's handling it very well. Call me as soon as you know the facts."

"Ok, bye sir." She grabbed her things and rushed out.

St Claire's Hospital

Amba parked her car and made her way to the private room that her mother was in. As she approached she saw her father waiting outside the room looking just as dishevelled as 3 and half weeks ago.

"So?" She asked him.

"I haven't gone in yet. The doctor's called me to say she was awake but I didn't have the courage to go in by myself." He confessed.

She could see just how jittery he was so she held his hand and said, "Let's do this together."

When they pushed the door open Khushi was sitting up in her bed watching tv, she didn't notice them come in so Karan cleared his throat. Khushi finally acknowledged that there were people in the room and looked up to see who it was.

"Arey Karan? What are you doing here?" She said in perfect Hindi whilst sporting a big confused smile.

Both Karan and Amba stared at her in shock and surprise. Khushi hardly ever spoke Hindi now a days. But then their brains caught up with what she had just said-What are you doing here?

Green bits are meant to be Hindi.

Chapter 7: Lies

One sentence rang in both their heads and time seemed to stop for a moment.

What are you doing here?

Karan was the first to recover. "Why wouldn't we be here Khushi?"

Khushi gave him a confused look. "Because you live in England."

"And?"

"And I thought you were in England." She said as if she were speaking to a child. "Who's that?"

Amba's world came crumbling down all around her and for the first time in her life she didn't know what to do. All she could do was gap at her mother; the woman who gave birth to her, who raised her, who loved her. She could only stare at her mother with a broken expression on her face. She had been preparing herself in case her mother did change after the accident but she had never contemplated this. She slumped down on a chair and continued to stare at her mother. Karan could see exactly how those two words affected her but Khushi hadn't noticed and decided to carry on.

"What happened Karan? Where are Amma, Babuji, Buaji and Jiji? Why am I here?"

Karan tore his eyes away from his daughter. "Khushi I'll explain everything but first you need to tell me what you remember last."

"The morning of Jiji's wedding."

"Which one?" And as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted it. Karan could clearly see the distressed look on Khushi's face to find out that her sister might have been married multiple times. So he tried to rectify the situation. "I meant which guy is lucky enough to marry your sister? My Hindi isn't what it used to be."

Khushi gave him a disappointed look. "You were always a huge flirt. It was Abishek Khana. And just because you live in a foreign-"

"Khushi you can give me a lecture later. What is the exact last thing you remember?"

"I woke up and I was obviously excited beca-"

"Khushi!"

"Ok ok. I was looking for my earrings and that's the last thing I remember. Why?"

"I'll answer your previous questions after I talk to the doctor, ok?"

"Ok."

Karan dragged Amba, who still had a stunned expression on her face, out of the room. He went straight to the reception desk.

"Excuse me but who is treating Ms Khushi Kumari Gupta? I need to speak to them immediately."

"If you wait outside her room, I'll call the doctor and they'll be with you as soon as they can."She replied. She then began to type in her computer and then she made a call. After 15 minutes a doctor arrived in front of them.

"Mr Gupta?"

"No it's Mr Malik, we never were married. But that's not the point. My friend can't remember a good part of the last 22-23 years. I was told there might be only minor damage, this is a major problem!"

"Mr Malik I don't know what other doctors have told you but Ms Gupta has had a really bad brain injury. The fact that she's alive is a miracle. We still don't understand the brain properly and we did predict there may be a change but maybe not to this extent. Is there anything else wrong with her that you can tell?"

"No it's just her memory."

"The best thing you can do is not put any pressure on her to remember anything. If you do she may suffer from irreversible brain damage or worse she may fall into a irreversible coma."

"But she had a daughter she can't remember! What am I supposed to do? Do you have kids Mr'"

"Chopra, Kumar Chopra. And yes I do. And I know this is going to be hard for the kids especially but remember she may get brain damage or slip into a coma. Did she have any kids before the one she can't remember?"

"No. But how am I supposed to fill in the last 23/24 years?"

"You need to link everything to things she'll actually remember. And don't stress her out."

"Ok, thank you doctor."

As the doctor walked away, Amba came out of her stupor and turned to her father who was pulling his hair and rubbing his face.

"Umm dad?"

"Am call the Lawsons and tell them everything. I'm going to go in there and lie my ass off to your mother."

"Dad you are the worst liar on the planet."

"Yeah well I'll become the best for your mother. I'll record everything so we don't slip up if she questions us later, we really can't afford slip ups. I also think that now's an excellent time to inform her family about her situation."

"I'm glad I'm handling the Lawsons and you are handling mum's side of the family."

"No chance. We are doing mum's side together because they scare me and I'm not afraid to admit that." After a pause he looked his daughter up and down. "Are you ok?"

"I'm going to make that call, you go in and talk to mum."

"Am-" He called after her but it was no use she had already ran away. He sighed, took a deep breath in and stepped into Khushi's room.

St Claire's Car Park

By the time Amba reached the car park she had tears streaming down her face that she was wiping furiously with one hand as the other was busy looking for her car keys. As soon as she found them she got in her car, locked the doors and spent 5 minutes composing herself before she made the call. She had never felt so powerless in her entire life but she knew she had to be strong for her mother and father because they were all in this together now. She dialled the number and at the first ring someone picked up.

"Logan Lawson Senior."

"Logan there's a slight change of plans."

"Why what's happened?" Amba could hear the panic in his voice.

"You can't come down to see her."

"Why not?"

"I'm going to tell you everything but don't interrupt me." And she proceeded to tell him everything she had just found out and he listened patiently. "And that's why you can't come down to the hospital." She finished with a sigh. She could feel her tears threatening to come back but she held on. After a pregnant pause Logan finally spoke.

"Are you ok?"

Amba brushed the question aside with a simple I'm fine and continued. "Do me a favour and tell Logan for me."

"Amba you know he doesn't listen to me."

"He doesn't listen to you as a father but as a boss he has to listen to you. So just call him up to your office and tell him."

"Where would I be without you?" Amba could practically see him smiling at her.

"The company would fall!" She replied dramatically and for the first time since she found out about her mother's condition, she laughed.

Logan got serious again. "I am giving you a paid holiday."

"What?! You can't do that! I already took one for Nik's wedding and two weeks when dad was away."

"I'm giving you a sick leave then. Don't question me, I'm your boss. You can take as much time off until your mother recovers."

"What if she never does?" She whispered.

"Then look on the bright side, you'll never have to work again." He joked.

Amba smiled a little. "Bye Logan."

"Amba you take good care of her and yourself. And remember it's ok to cry."

"I wasn't crying."

"Don't lie to me Amba, I know you too well. Give my best to everyone."

"I will."

After that conversation Amba just sat in the car staring out into space.

St Claire's Hospital Neurology Ward

Meanwhile Karan was given the incredibly difficult task of lying to Khushi about the past 24 years.

"Karan! Finally! Help me find a Hindi channel, all this English is hurting my head. You think because we're in India, there might actually be some Hindi speaking people but you'd be wrong. What is the country coming to?"

"Um Khushi, I'm going to tell you something and I need your full attention." But Khushi being Khushi wasn't paying the slightest bit attention to him and was wrestling with the channels again. Karan grabbed the remote out of her hand s and turned off the tv. Before Khushi could protest Karan gave her a look that shut her up. "This is really important Khushi, please listen and don't interrupt!"

"Alright, go."

"Khushi don't freak out but you're not in India." Seeing Khushi's eyes widen and her heart rate go up he quickly add, "You came to see me in England on holiday." Her face softened and her heartbeat gradually went down.

"Oh thank Devi Maya. But where's Babuji, Amma, Buaji and Jiji?"

Karan looked around hoping and praying that the answer would come to him. "Umm Payal's married so she has a family to take care of."

Khushi seemed happy with that answer. "What about Amma, Babuji and Buaji?"

"They uh they um, they said you work too hard to take care of everyone so you deserved a holiday. By yourself. Without any of them. Umm yeah."

"Oh ok. But Karan, why am I in hospital?"

"That is a very good question. And the answer to that question is'"

"Is?"

"You were hit by a car."

"What!?"

"Yeah and you lost a lot of memory."

"How much memory?"

"22, 23, 24 years." He mumbled hoping she'd drop the question.

"I didn't catch that."

"About 24 years." He said a little louder.

By this time Khushi was thoroughly aggravated. "Karan I really can't hear a word you're saying!"

"About 24 years!" He yelled and immediately regretted it. Khushi's face fell and her eyes looked empty. She started hyperventilating. He could see her heart moniter and her heart rate and blood pressure was increasing. He suddenly wished he wasn't the one doing this to her.

"Khushi, it's ok. Calm down. Please. Oh God what have I done? Khushi please calm down for your health." Seeing how none of what he was saying was affecting her he decided to give it one last shot. "If you don't calm down you'll die!" He yelled and saw Khushi's eyes widen again but he could see she was trying harder to calm down so he continued. "And what would happen to Amma, Babuji and Buaji if you died? Who will look after them?"

I was another full and long 5 minutes until Khushi calmed right down. "So what have I missed in these last 24 years?"

Amazing. How is Khushi going to react now