Kahaaniyan: Moran OS Collection

11.2- Yaadein: Yaadon Ki Baarat

YAADEIN (PART 2):

YAADON KI BAARAT:

"Agar kuch samajh nahi aaya toh tumhe pata toh hai hi ki main kahan hoonga", he said. She nodded, closing her notebook.

"Thanks, Karan", she said, standing up.

Three months. She was better now. No casts, no bandages.

No memories.

Every time they tried to make her remember, she would get an intense headache that would almost reduce her to tears, so they had reduced their efforts from pictures and videos to stories and places.

The pain hadn't faded. It flooded in every time he looked into her eyes, and didn't see the tenderness he was used to. It clutched his heart every time he see her offering a polite smile to him. He was a stranger.

She had dreams. She would smile in her dreams, cry sometimes, even laugh slightly but when she woke up. Blank.

She said she remembered flashes. Just faces. Random. It didn't make sense. They weren't in order. They went by too fast. Too blurry.

But she saw him. She saw Faizi. She saw Koel. She saw Sanju. She saw everyone. But she didn't remember memories.

It was progress, the doctor had said. But it would take time. It might not ever come back.

He had given up hope. Not because he was letting her go, but because he didn't want to let himself hope and then all came crashing down when she couldn't remember him. He couldn't. He wasn't strong enough to deal with that.

"Anytime", he said, nodding.

"Karan", her voice stopped him from leaving. He turned to her wordlessly. "Main tumse kuch poochh sakti hoon?"

She didn't mean to hurt him but damn, did those words hurt. When had she needed permission to ask questions from him? She had been right up his face, asking and demanding answers the moment they had met.

He jerked his head down in a nod, shoving his hands in his pockets to hide his clenched fist.

"Hum... dost the, na?" She asked. "Accident se pehle?"

An uncomfortable lump appeared in his throat. He was no stranger to it. He stared at her face.

She didn't remember.

He had proclaimed his love to her, he had kissed her, he had spent hours at ends with her. The best part of his days. And she didn't remember.

Was this fate's way of giving back the pain he had given Monami when he rejected her love? Unreciprocated love was... painful.

He turned around, walking right out of the door.

---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---

Monami knocked on the door, and it creaked open. She paused, hesitating before entering the room, looking around.

"Karan?" She called out, glancing around. The room was empty.

She wanted to apologize. She had struck a nerve with that question and she had instantly felt guilty when pain flooded in his eyes. He had stared at her and walked off without answering.

She sighed, turning to leave. She paused. What was that? Leather bound notebook. A diary.

'Yeh kis liye?'
'T-Tumne meri jaan bachayi, thank you, Karan.'
'Tumhaari jagah koi aur bhi hota, toh bhi main yeh hi karta. But... thanks for this.'

Her eyes snapped open. She had given him this? Her fingers brushed it lightly. Another flash. She was inside his room, searching for something.

It was briefer, and it didn't make sense, much like her dreams. Vague. Unclear.