Don't let go...

Chapter 12 - Aashi/Arjun

A few hours later Aashi woke up in a unfamiliar room. Everything was painted in a suffocating white.

Although she was wide awake, she felt lifeless. Her whole body hurt. Aashi struggled to move due to the pain. She was very tired, but still was able to hear a few men talking. Two of them she assumed to be doctors, but one voice was breaking through. She immediately recognized that voice. But she could not pin point it to a face. She slowly tried to sit up and ask the doctors all her questions.

"Is she alright?" A concerned man asked.
"Well we have good and bad news.. the good news is that she is stable now. Ah Mrs. Sharma, I see you have woken up!" The doctor explained.

Mrs. Sharma? The doctor had mistaken her for somebody else. She did not remeber marrying anyone and certainly not becoming Mrs. Sharma.
"I-m sorry, but I'm not married."
She said in struggle.
"I assume this is the bad news?"
The man sighed.
Even if it took Aashi some time she finally recognized the strange man.

"Prem? What are you doing here, certainly what am I doing here and what happened?!" Aashi said slightly scared.

"Please Mrs. Sharma we need you to rest. You were in a car accident. Luckily you made it through with almost no scratches. We still need to make a few x-rays to be sure."
Turning to Prem he added.
"I'm afraid to say that Mrs. Sharma is suffering from a short term memory loss."

Aashi was already fed up being called Mrs. Sharma by the doctor. She did not remeber marrying anyone.

"Prem could you kindly tell the doctor that I'm not married and that I'm perfectly fine!" She insisted.
"Mr. Singh please be careful and do not try forcing any memory on her, we will come back later to do some tests."
With that the doctors left.

"Hey calm down princess."
Prem said while sitting down on the chair next to her bed. Princess was a nickname he had given her in college. That's all she was able to remeber. They were in college and Aashi was working to get her master degree in engineering.

Prem took her hand into his carefully.
"What happened?" She asked quietly. "You were in a car accident Princess. Now you have a big ouchie."
He laughed. She could not help it, but to join in with the laughter. Prem has always been her pillar of strength. He knew how to make her smile, even in the worst situations.
"I'm afraid though, that you have lost some of your memory."
He said stroking her hand gently.

Aashi was shocked. It took her a little time to process this situation. Could it be true that she was married. And if yes, why could she not remember?
"Am.. am I married?" She asked not knowing how to feel about this.
"Do you see a husband here?"
He asked. He was right, Aashi did not see a husband here or in fact any person worrying over her, except Prem.

Prem always had a huge crush on Aashi ever since he met her the first day on campus. Although he knew Aashi was married, he could not let her know. Especially after all the news of the big cheater Mr. Sharma. He felt angry. How could he hurt such a perfect and amazing woman and leave her for a cheap and lousy fling? Prem knew it was bad thing to lie to her, but maybe this time he actually stood a chance. He would not let anybody ruin this.

After some time filled with laughter and catching up the doctors came back.
They explained that almost everything was fine. Yet her memory loss would trouble her a bit. Fortunately that meant she was able to go home in a few days. As the doctors were explaining everything too Aashi, Arjun stormed into the hospital room. He was worried sick. Receiving a call that your loved one is in the hospital might possibly be the worst call you could receive.
Arjun embraced her with a tight hug.
"Thank God you're alright. I was worried sick. I did not know how I could forgive myself if something had happened to you." Arjun cried.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" She said in total confusion.
It was like someone ripped out his heart and cut it into million of pieces.
His own wife did not recognize him?

"I-I'm Arjun your.., you don't remeber me?"
"Mr. Sharma.." the doctor hesitated, but continued "Ms. Kapoor is suffering from a short term memory loss. We're afraid she doesn't remeber you, or in fact the past fifteen or so years." The doctor spoke.

It was like his whole world came crushing down. It could not be possible, could it? Aashi did not remeber anything, not their marriage, not any of the lovely moments they shared, not even their silly moments and stupid fights and the incident that she could forget. He was lost, he did not know what to do. He felt alone and empty.

"I'm sorry Mr. Sharma, I can't remeber you, I'm not even sure if I should? What kind of relationship do we share?" She spoke up trying to ease the situation.
Aashi did not know why, but she had mixed feelings towards this man.
Even if she could not remember him, something in her heart told her that he was important to her.
"I'm sorry I can't do this." He sobbed and left the room.
"I'll be right back princess."

Arjun sat on one of the chairs in the hall cursing himself. He felt like all of this was his fault.
"Arjun right?"
"Yes that's me."
"Look man, I'm sorry for all this, but as you can see Aashi does not remember you or your marriage, but she remembers me." Prem told him.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not following you?" Arjun said slightly annoyed.
"I think it's the best for you to leave, I'll make sure Aashi is fine and I will take her home with me so she can rest up and of course get back her memory."
"I beg your pardon, she's my wife I think she will come home with me!" He demanded.
"I'm not trying to say anything, but Mr. Sharma the big cheater is not the best person to be with for recovery." He said trying to hurt him.

Arjun was angry and mad. He did not cheat on Aashi. This guy gave him an unsure feeling. Still he could not fight against it. He was right afterall. If she did not remeber him, he was not sure it would be the best to go back home and force her memory onto her.
"First of all, I did not cheat on her and second of all, you might have a point, but I still want to see her and help her gain back her memory, as she is still my wife." He pronounced the 'my wife' part a little bit louder for him to understand.

"Whatever man, but I'm glad you get the point." He said and went back to Aashi.
Arjun did not know why he had accepted this. Was Prem trustworthy?
What if Aashi believes they're married.
Arjun needed some rest. His whole world was destroyed within a few seconds. Like a whirlwind could destroy a village.