FF: Partial Amnesia Pt 31Pg145-6th Dec - Page 25

"Shaantanu----" Khanak hesitated. She was hearing his name from her mouth for the first time yet it felt so familiar, as though it was a name she had cherished for years. Shaan looked up. He felt his whole body go warm at hearing his name from Khanak's mouth. He felt as though years had passed since she had addressed him like that. " Batayay na----Yahi hain na apka aur Natasha jee ka rishta"

Shaan remained quiet. He wanted to tell her that it was not true. That Natasha was nothing but a friend, that she was happily getting married to Mitul after 3 months, that Khanak had already got loose clothes made for the wedding because she knew she would be in her 9^th month when they would get married. Oh how he pined to tell her all of this! But as the force of Mitul's words entered his head. "---------She CANNOT find out anything that goes out of sequence", "---------You need to be careful Shaan. Everybody does------" and " If in such circumstances we tell her that she was having a baby with Shaan----- trauma of losing a part of her --------affect her brain extremely harshly" , Shaan made up his mind.

"Mujhay thora sa yaad araha hain----" Khanak said uncertainly, her hand becoming a light fist and Shaan looked up sharply. "---Agar aap mujhay thora sa batayay toh-----mujhay yaad ajayay ga----" she said pleadingly. Shaan felt his heart break into a million pieces at the fear and uncertainly in Khanak's voice; fear of what he would reveal to her about his and Khanak's relationship, and uncertainty about what he would reveal to her about his and Natasha's relationship. He could see it clearly; he really did know her inside out.

"Khanak----" he finally decided to break his silence coming close to her. He had to do it. He had to go along with the sequence. He had to tell her what she had the right to know at THAT moment. "You're the only one who can help her get her memory back" Mitul's words rung in his ears again. "----yay sach hain-----yay sach hain kay main aur Natasha ek doosray say-----" he gulped " ----ek doosray say pyaar kartay hain-----" He saw Khanak's face remain straight. "yaad karo Khanak----jub tum iss ghar may aye thee-----toh who bhee yahan thee-----yaad hain?"

Khanak nodded. She felt her heart going heavy but she didn't want to show Shaan so she looked down. It was important that she remembered everything. She could not let her feelings interfere with her thoughts and memories. Not right now, she said to herself.

Shaan took a deep breath. "Baith jao Khanak. Main tumhay sub batata hoon" he said even though he didn't plan to tell her everything. Khanak went and sat on the sofa. Shaan joined her.

"Jub tum yahan aye thee----toh tum nay Natasha ko yahan dekh kar----jaanay ka faisla kar liya tha-----" he explained.

"Mujhay yay yaad hain" Khanak interrupted him. "Natasha jee nay----wohh---wohh buhat ache thee----" she said her face going into thinking mode as she recollected a fresh set of memories and her eyes widened. "Aray!! Unho nay aap kay liyay khana banaya tha!! " she said with a jolt. "Aur kheer!!"

Shaan grinned widely, "HAAN! Tumhay yaad agaya!!" he was so happy he could have hugged her. "----Aur kheer main namak tha----yaad hain?" he asked pleasantly.

Khanak giggled. "Haan! Aur aap ko laga tha kay mainay banaya hain!!" she said again suddenly.

"Oh my God Khanak!! Haan!!" exclaimed Shaan, who couldn't keep his hands to himself and attempted to grab Khanak's shoulders but saw Khanak flinch as soon as they came close to her, so he moved them back, a bit sad. "Achooo!" Shaan sneezed again and grabbed a tissue. Khanak looked at him beadily.

"Laikin mujhay kheer bananee aati hain" she said proudly. Shaan smiled. 'Like HOW in the world can you forget that Shaan?' he said to himself ' She used to feed you kheer every second day!'

"Jaanta hoon---" he said quietly. Khanak looked up at him, her heart leaping. "Errr mera mutlub hain----tum ghar kay liyay kheer bana chuki hon-----buhat baar-----" he said in a rush. Khanak looked disappointed.

"Buhat pyaar karti hain na----Natasha jee aap say?" she asked abruptly.

"Hmmm---"Shaan lied, not looking at her.

Khanak looked at Shaan. She had to ask him. She just HAD to. No matter how inappropriate or indecent it sounded she HAD to. He was her husband after all. And she didn't see who else she could ask if it wasn't him. Urrghhh, 'did you just call him your husband?!' her mind asked her. ' You mean your husband's killer right?' it asked again. 'No!---- my husband!' her heart replied to the mind, vehemently. What was their relationship in the past one year. Were they still enemies, was there indifference, was there friendship? Was there-----? She couldn't bring herself to think of the emotion that exceeded friendship. Something told her that they had got over their animosity and indifference phase, that they WERE indeed friends. If they would not be friends, Shaan would not have brought her home from the hospital, he would not have wanted to take her to the doctor, he would not have brought her her favourite fruits, her favourite mithai, her favourite bhajia------But what if-----her eyes widened with fear---what if-----she didn't want to think about it-----NO! THAT was not possible! He loved NATASHA! Not HER. They wouldn't have ever-----but she HAD to make sure.

Her head began to ache suddenly. Shaan noticed her discomfort. "Khanak? Araam karo-----main----" he attempted to get up.

"Shaantanu----" she said softly and Shaan heard the fear in her voice again. It worried him. "Kya hum-----" she gulped "---kya hum dono-----" she looked down, her eyes wavering from here to there, the fear in them palpable. "Kya hum dono kay beech-----laikin Natasha jee-----kya hum dono----pati patni----ka rishta-----"

And it hit Shaantanu what she wanted to ask him. He knew that the question about their relationship would come up and he had his answer ready. 'Nahi----' he said. 'Hum SIRF dost thay----sirf dost." he said looking straight into Khanak's eyes and saw her fear disappear right before him in an instant. Khanak's spirits lifted and she smiled. 'I knew it!' she thought. 'Hum dono kay beech main aisa kuch kaisay hosakta hain-----Shaantanu aur Natasha jee toh ek doosray say pyaar kartay hain-----Shaantanu meray saath kabhee aisa nahi karay gay---------" she thought and smiled again. She looked up at Shaan.

"Dost----" she said, smiling. Shaan smiled too though he felt horrible lying to Khanak. But it had to be done. "Shaantanu----? Ek baat kahoon? ---Aap----Aap ek achay insaan hain" she said genuinely. What Shaan had just told her had proven that. He had lived with her for more than a year and not exercised his rights of being a husband. He had made her his friend. It made Khanak respect him.

Shaan smiled guiltily. He didn't know what to say. 'Achhooo!' he sneezed loudly and got up. 'Khanak tum araam karo. Main----main-----errr----main bhee araam karta hoon------" and saying that he left the room, leaving a smiling Khanak behind him.

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2^nd December, 2011 11:00 am

"It's made her think she's never slept with me!" Shaan whined to Geeta over the phone. He was sitting on his bed with a red nose and a tissue in his hand. Geeta rolled her eyes in the department store she was in, picking up her favourite packet of chips.

"God Shaan it's done now!" she said, paying at the counter.

"I'd like to see YOU tell your husband that! That you guys never had sex! " Shaan said testily, over the other line.

"That is WHEN I have a husband! Haha!----So how come I'm the only one who gets to hear about your sex life?!" she asked him wearily, now sitting in the car.

"I would have thought the answer to that was very obvious! Because AAY You're our gynecologist and BEE, Mitul wouldn't talk to me about it. It makes him feel weird with the whole 'Khanak-is-his-sister' theory" he said rolling his eyes.

"Your life is so sad----" Geeta chuckled. "No friends!"

"Are you having a go at me? Do you want me to start too? How you've turned 30 and still single?" Shaan said firing up.

"Shurruupp!" Geeta said and laughed. She had been whining to whoever would listen, since the time she had turned 30, that she ought to have got married now and how her life was so sad because she was still single. "ANYWAAY! Moving on! So if you'd have told Khanak you HAD a husband wifey relationship with her she'd have hated you for life! She'd think less of you since she'd know that you're with Natasha blah blah and how could you be with 2 women at a time blah blahh-----"

"Yea yea I know! " Shaan said sadly. "And about the 'I have no friends' bit! Well let me tell you Adi and Simran are coming over after a few weeks."

"They both are?! They got married?!" she asked shocked. "Your University-going-friends from the PG you lived in?!"

"They were NOT in university! Well Simran was----and Yea they got married last month. It was small. I didn't attend. It was in Goa. " he said and sneezed.

"WHAT is WITH everyone getting married so soon?!!" Geeta exclaimed angrily. "Acha I'm coming over in a bit" and she hung up.

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5^th December 2011

After much insistence Madhvi allowed Khanak to enter the kitchen. Khanak had been missing doing what she did best; cook. When Madhvi was completely positive that it would not affect Khanak's health to stay in the kitchen for more than 5 minutes, she let her go into it under the supervision of Khushboo, who Khanak felt by the looks of it, had never entered the kitchen in her life.

"So Khanak? Choolah kahan hain?" Khushboo said rubbing her hands together, standing right in front of the stove. Khanak looked at her perplexed.

"Yay raha." She pointed right in front of where Khushboo stood.

"Oh!" Khushboo looked embarrassed. "SO?What are we going to cook today?Dhokla? Sambhar?"

"Wohhh mmain soch rahee thee----kay wohhh----Shaantanu kay liyay" she looked down " Jadi booti ka Kaaana banao?" she said hesitatingly.

"Jadi booti ka WHAT?" Khushboo asked, totally baffled. "Jadi booti ki sweet dish bhee hoti hain?" she asked shocked.

"Aray nahiii" Khanak laughed. "Kaana---wohh un ki tabyat kharaab hain na-----aur wohhh un ko gaana bhee gaana hain----tohh". It was true. Predictably Shaan had got a full fledged flu, with fever and an awfully bad throat. He wasn't coming to Khanak's room at all and Khanak had started to miss him. She went cautiously to his room a day before to see him sleeping on his bed like a baby, a tissue stuck lightly to his palm, his mouth half open. She stood and looked at him for a while before Madhvi passed by, talking on the phone telling the person at the other end that Shaan had fever.

Khushboo looked at Khanak, still confused. "Yea but what IS a kaana?"

"Wohh ek sharbat hota hain----" Khanak replied. "Acha adrak, podeena aur shahaid (honey) kahan rakha hain?" she asked.

Khushboo looked at her nonplussed. "Ermmm-------Hari lal! Hari lal!!Khanak ko batao kay adrak etc aur baaki kee yay strange jadi bootis kaha rakhi hain----Khanak yum sharbat ko pakao gee?! Stove par?!"

"Haan bhabhi!" she said "Aap bus daiktee jayay!" Khanak said happily, finally cherishing being in a kitchen.

"Okayyy" Khushboo said. "Choolay say door rahna theek hainn----" she said pulling her back a little and getting scared of the flame herself. Khanak smiled at her. Everyone in this house was so nice, she thought happily.

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Shaan rested his back against the head board as he sat up in bed. He was in a miserable state. His fever had worn off but he had started coughing a lot and his nose was still red and runny. He picked up his baby's scans from the side table and looked at it. He used to do that often when he felt like connecting with Khanak. He smiled as he recalled the evening they had conceived the baby, that wet rainy evening. And then he smiled again remembering the many fits of mood swings Khanak would have, the most prominent of them being her 'I feel like going to Dhulwadi'. He coughed loudly and uncontrollably again causing the picture to fall off from his hand on the carpet below. As he bent down to pick it he saw Khanak and Khushboo bhabhi enter the room, Khanak with a glass of a ridiculously brown liquid in her hand. Shaan straightened up, surprised.

"Khanak? Bhabhi? What's up" he sneezed and wiped his nose with the tissue.

"Khanak made some Juice for you! And that too On the STOVE!" Khushboo said happily.

Shaan groaned. 'Why MOM whyyy? WHY did you let Khanak go to the kitchen? WHYY?' he asked himself. 'Is that all I'll get?' Jadi booti Kaanas and Jadi booti showers?"

"Yay lain----yay pee leejiyay-------"Khanak said to Shaan handing over the glass to him. He took it after much thought. Khushboo left the room murmuring something about 'getting her nails done'.Khanak was looking at Shaan closely. Shaan noticed and took a small sip. He felt his throat burn and made a face at the bitter taste. "App ki tabyat theek hojayay gee----garam garam pee lay----" Shaan took another sip and felt surprised at himself. This was the first time that he had not created such a big fuss at him being ill. The events of the past few months had taught him a lot, he registered. He felt suddenly very grown up. Slowly, he finished drinking, noticing that Khanak stood in 'their' room till he did, looking at him. He immediately felt much better.

"Thank you----" he said, handing over the glass to her. His fingers brushed Khanak's, creating butterflies in her stomach. She smiled.

"Dosti main No sorry----no thank you---" she said.

Shaan turned so quickly to look at her, he almost cricked his neck. "Kya! Kya kaha tumnay? Yay tumhay kisnay kaha?" he said smiling, expecting acknowledgment.

"Kisi nay nahi-----" she said confused. "Yay toh mainay-----ek philm may dekha tha----kis ki theee? Yaad nahi araha----Hiten Kumar ki toh nahi-----aray yaad aya! Salman Khan ki!! Salman aur Bhagya Shri! SAlman Khan nay kaha tha Bhagya Shri ko-----" she said, making Shaan wanting to hit his head against the wall with disappointment. He made a huffy face and looked away.

"Aray yay kya hain?" Khanak said, pointing to the carpet. Shaan turned to see in horror Khanak picking up the picture of their baby and bringing to close to her eyes.

"Kuch nahi! " Shaan said snatching the picture from her. "Kuch nahi!" Khanak felt hurt at Shaan's bluntness. "Errmm----tumko aur kuch kaam tha kya? " Shaan said attempting to change the topic and turning the picture upside down under his palm on the bed.

"Nahi----Wohhh main----" Khanak said hurt again.

"Shaan wohhh-----" Natasha entered Shaan's room suddenly, saw Khanak and stopped in her tracks. She had not seen Khanak in the room. Khanak saw her, gave a small reluctant smile and left. Shaan looked at her till she reached the door. Then she turned and gave Shaan one last look and walked away.

"Excuse me!"Natasha said to Shaan accusingly as soon as Khanak left. "We were supposed to have a major fight! Remember?!"

"Let's have it now!" Shaan said decisively with gritted teeth, aiming and missing to throw his tissue in the dustbin.

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Are you sure SHE hasnt remembered everything yet ???

Originally posted by: rbo_d_best

Are you sure SHE hasnt remembered everything yet ???

What if she has and Shaan thinks otherwise ... OMG !!!!!

How did she Remember the MahaPurush ne Kahi Linee ... :O :O :O

GOsh ... It hurts to seee Shaan have to LIE about himself and Natasha to her !!!!!

:(((((((

Good Gooiing Beee ... Muaaah ... And you did Include ur name in one of the dialoguess .. BEE :P