THAT'S NOT ALL

9. NAINA OPENS UP TO ARJUN

They both went, leaving her crying on the road. I had never seen her so broken... I couldn't even count the pieces she was broken into.. I couldn't see her like that.. Unable to control myself, I rushed to her and knelt down beside her. She felt my touch on her shoulders and turned to hug me... tight as ever.. it was the same hug.. the same feel.. she was my Naina. I knew she needed me, so I helped her get up and took her to my car. We drove to my apartment in silence between her sobs... I didn't know how to console her, or even what to say to make her feel better.. so I chose to stay quite. We sat on edge of bed and she held my arms tight.. she kept on sobbing while leaning on me. 

"I'll get something for you." I told her and she looked at me. I went inside my kitchen and took out the black forest cake I baked for her birthday, like every year. I had decided to not let her know about the cake but that was all I could think of that time to make her feel a little better. 

Suddenly her tears slowed down and a twinkle took place in her eyes... she started glowing all of a sudden and I could clearly tell that she was happy. 

"You still remember?" She asked looking at me. Before I could answer, she continued, they don't even know how much I hate their classy red velvet cake. And how will they know, if they hadn't celebrated my birthdays ever. A tear dropped down her eyes. 

You know Arjun, for a very long time I thought that it was my mistake, but no, it was not, they just didn't love me. They never did. I could clearly tell that millions of bad memories were flashing before her eyes. I took a piece of the cake and brought it near her lips. 

She opened her mouth looking at me with love and I let her eat a piece of happiness.. I settled myself near her. "You can talk to me if you want." I said.

She looked at me like I just gave her a new life to live. "Will you?" She asked choked in emotions... I nodded in a yes. 

She placed her head on my right shoulder and held my arms tightly like she was not letting me go anywhere before she finishes. I switched off my phone and placed my palm on her hand in assurance that I was there. 

"You know Arjun, she's my step mom. I lost my mom when I was 2.. I don't even remember her face. I was sent to a boarding when I was 5. I spent all my life away from home. I don't even know what a family looks like. But may be it was my mothers blessings or my environment that it didn't let hate get inside me.. but I closed up.. because I didn't know how to open. Years passed. The whole family would come on my birthday and go back in few hours. My aunt used to arrange the cake and gifts, so Mr. and Mrs. Malhotra still don't have any idea of what I like and what not. " She breathed and continued..

"But I was a child, seeing everyone happy with there parents, I used to think that I might be a bad girl, that's why my parents didn't like me. So I would tried to do everything they would tell me to do. They said me not to be with boys, I obeyed. They said me not to come home, I obeyed. They asked me to join a med school. I obeyed..they.." 

Before she could say anything, I spoke up. "What? You didn't want to be a doctor? But you were the topper of the class." 

She looked at me and smiled. "Marks doesn't reflect your happiness. Right ?" she asked innocently. 

" I always wanted to join IPS or army. But things always doesn't turn out your way .right? and my case was anyways exceptional, where things never turned out my way." She stopped and looked up at me saying. " You were the only thing that happened to me the way I desired, and see it went down in doom " her voice grew heavier. " Then why did you leave Naina?" I asked.

"I didn't Arjun." There was silence and millions of questions rose in my mind. I wanted to talk to you about this since I joined this office. But you were way too angry at me to listen. 

"Will you?" She again asked me before letting out the answers I have been waiting for all these years. I nodded again. 

She started - "That day, when I left with Aniruddha. All I knew was that it was something my parents wanted me to do. And I was habituated to obey them in hope to get their love someday. We had hardly crossed a kilometre from university when the thought of living without you started haunting me badly. You were all I had to say my own. And I was leaving you back. I was leaving my hope to smile again back. I couldn't gather that courage to leave the only love I had . The love I had been craving for throughout my life. So I asked him to stop the car. And I told him about us so that he could say no for his relation. I even got out of his car to head back to you.. I was happiest to take a decision for myself for the 1st time. Your love gave me the courage to do so. I literally ran back to hug you tight and ask you to never let me go. After a few minutes, all I felt was a hard bump on my back... and I don't remember anything else." Her voice dropped in fear and pain, and I felt like a part of me died within.. 

"I had an accident. A car, may be... ran over me."..................she completed. She was lost in that terrible but blurred memory.. and I was numb and totally clueless about what to think. They told me that I was in coma for 2 years. " she told. 

Who told?" I asked. 

Baba. Baba and amma spotted me that day on road.. and took me to a hospital. When they couldn't get through my identity, they decided to take me with them to Delhi. They told me that I was in coma for 2 years. Even they didn't know, why did they kept me at their home for so long, may be because they had once lost a daughter in an accident, and they didn't want me to die." She spoke in a breath.

I was staring at her. She looked at me. 

"After I regained consciousness I remeberd your name. Baba, kaki and I searched everywhere for a research specialist named Arjun malhotra, but in vain... my physical injuries got almost healed till then and I had started to regain my memory back. I went to my home address, and asked them about you. All they said was, they didn't want to talk to me because I was dead for them. Guard chaccha told me that Aniruddha had told some dirty story about me to them, so they hate me . They hated me so much that they didn't even care if I was alive. I went to university to get a copy of my degree back, cause I had to start doing something. The procedure took about 6 months.. this was the time I was broken so badly that I started thinking of ending my life everyday. One day I decided to end all this, after all what to live for. I had no family. You were not there, nothing to do... that's the day I found Aditya... A 5-6 months baby, wrapped in a rag, someone left him on road. It seemed like god was giving me a reason to survive. I tried finding his parents, but it seemed, they didn't need him. The day I got my degree , I adopted him and we moved back to Delhi in a hope to start afresh."