ADHURI KAHANI: A tale of an amnesic bond

40. FORGOTTEN MEMORIES

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ISHAAN'S POV

FLASHBACK (Continues)

I stepped off the lift, each footfall heavy with the weight of my thoughts. My right hand clenched into a tight fist, while my left hand gripped the diary even harder. The thin material of the cover wrinkled under the pressure of my hold as if it could absorb the confusion and frustration surging through me. If Raaj was really my childhood best friend, he should know everything about me. Every detail. Every memory. Yet, in all the conversations we'd had, he had never once mentioned Inaaya-not even in passing.

Doubt gnawed at me, festering deep inside my chest. Was Raaj even my childhood friend at all? Had he been feeding me lies all along, constructing a false narrative of my past, one that I had been foolish enough to believe? And then there were my parents. They never once mentioned that I had studied in India-never once talked about that part of my life. Why?

My head throbbed, spinning with the chaos of unanswered questions. Was my entire life built on lies? Every single person around me-were they all deceiving me? I couldn't make sense of it. What were they hiding from me? What part of my life are they trying to erase? What was so significant that they wanted me to forget? And why did I?

My chest felt tight, my breath shallow as my mind spiraled deeper. The diary in my hand, filled with images of Inaaya and me, the letters I supposedly wrote her-how could I not remember any of this? Not a single moment of these memories. They were my memories, weren't they? The pictures, the places, the emotions... they felt like ghosts, haunting me, slipping through my fingers every time I tried to grasp them.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. Anger not just at Raaj or my parents, but at myself. How could I have forgotten all of this? How could I have lived my life without ever questioning it? And why was Inaaya-of all people-at the center of it?

My vision blurred, a combination of fury and panic clouding everything. I felt like I was standing on the edge of something I couldn't quite see, and I was terrified of what I might find on the other side.

I stepped into my cabin, my eyes immediately landing on Raaj lounging on the sofa, laughing about something. Shiv sat across from him, half-smiling, listening to Raaj's usual nonsense. They both turned toward me as I entered. Raaj, true to form, was about to launch into one of his typical comments, but I wasn't in the mood for any of it today. Not now.

"What happened to me?" The question slipped out unknowingly, even though I had so many others swirling in my mind, unable to decide which one to ask first.

Before he could even get a word out, I cut him off. The look of nervousness that briefly flickered in his eyes didn't go unnoticed, but it was quickly replaced by his usual smug grin.

"What happened to you is... you fell in love with your secretary," he said.

He didn't get it. He didn't realize I wasn't in the mood for his games. The anger boiling inside me blurred my vision, clouding my judgment. In a swift motion, I grabbed his collar, yanking him to his feet. His smug expression dropped instantly, replaced by a more serious look as he registered the fury on my face. Shiv, who had been quietly enjoying the back-and-forth between us, suddenly went still, realizing the shift in the atmosphere.

Seeing Raaj finally take me seriously, I released his collar, my fingers trembling slightly from the rush of adrenaline. But even as I let go, I could feel the anger still pulsing through me, struggling to be contained. I wasn't done, not by a long shot.