I smile at her feeling delightful but suddenly her features change and mould into a shock.

"Who are you?"

Chapter 41

Ajit

Blood drained out of my body as I hear the most inscrutable, unimaginable and shredding words fall out of her lips. I became hypnotic, captured by the disturbing revelation. Adaah lost her memory. The devastating epiphany tore me into a million pieces. Not only is her image, her total identity is now - a clean slate. All the beautiful moments that we shared once together are gone forever from her system. My feet stood rooted to the ground disabling me to move as I try to assimilate every bit of her medical disorder.

Her heart begins to beat frantically looking at me. I am now nothing but an alien for her. It was an understanding that shattered me to bits. The doctor who was examining her quickly noted the disturbance in her heart beat, looking at the beeping monitor. He gestured me to leave the room immediately. The nurse standing nearby instantaneously took hold of a syringe on the instruction of the doctor and administered the medicine on my wife. After a few seconds my little girl closes her eyes and her body calms down.

I peal myself out of the chair and run to the corridor with tears that brim my eyes as I wait for the doctor to finish treating her. Why is God punishing me so much?

After a few minutes....

Taking my seat, I notice the elderly doctor put on his spectacles and study my wife's medical file attentively. After a few minutes of reading the file the doctor puts down his glasses on the table and gives me a resolute look. "Mr Acharya I know, this news is not easy for you digest yet as Adaah's husband I am supposed to inform you every minute detail of her case."

He interlocks his fingers putting his hands on the table and looks at me with determined eyes. "This incidence happens among one in hundreds and unfortunately we couldn't take a note of it during your wife's surgery or through the course of her recovery days. I am sorry to inform you Mr Acharya, that some of the brain cells pertaining to your wife's memory have been damaged and this occurrence leads to a condition called 'partial amnesia'."

Taking a pen from the pen stand nearby, he jots down some sentences on Adaah's medical documents and again looks at me with his comforting eyes. "However with the constant efforts of near ones these patients have brought positive results in ninety percent of the cases. Nevertheless, we cannot guarantee, when her memory will be back." He informs me but further continues. "I wish to remind you that Adaah should never be exposed to any shock or breakdown which can prove hazardous for her health."

I take a note of each bit of information; Dr Saxena has provided and does the one thing which is most urgently required at this moment - someone to take care of 'my wife' as she doesn't recognise me anymore. I change her name to Kyara Juneja from Adaah Acharya who is dead officially in all the legal documents and decide to give her new identity a fresh start away from any complications.

Maria

I have been a house keeper of Mr Ajit Acharya since his childhood days. After he moved out of his house, his mom asked me to take care of him in her absence and I cared for him like a mother to a child. After a year of staying with him he brought a young orphaned girl to his house and looked after her like his own blood. I looked at the soft heart of my master and helped him in bringing up the innocent tot.

Present...

I run a hand on the loose strands of my child's long black hair. Though I have not given birth to madam Adaah, I have brought her up like my own child. She opens her grey eyes and looks at me questioningly. "Hello child, I am Maria your house keeper. I had been taking care of you since the death of your parents." I introduced myself. Just then Mr Acharya comes inside. "Madam, he is your boss, Mr Ajit Arihant Acharya who had admitted you in the hospital after you survived a head injury from a road accident."

Ajit

I extend my hand towards my recouping wife for a hand shake. The action felt foreign to me yet I had to withstand it for the sake of my wife and her well being. There is no other way I could keep a watch over her and still maintain a formal relationship. "Hello Ms Kyara, I am your boss Mr Ajit Acharya. You have joined my office a few days ago. I hope you have a speedy recovery." I tell her with a bright smile on my face while introducing myself.
Chapter 42

Adaah

After a few more days of stay in the hospital with the help of expert medical specialists who attended me with every touch and go and immense care and affection of my house keeper Maria, I was out of the hospital earlier than expected. My boss Mr Ajit Acharya visited me every day and spoke to the doctors about my medical condition. I wonder why he is showing so much attention towards me. After all I am one among the millions of employees who had obtained a living under his shelter.
Soon I started off my job as a personal assistant to Mr Acharya. Though it took time for me to understand the nature of work, my boss had been quite cooperative to me. Sanaya, his secretary has become a close friend of mine. We often hang out together and went on shopping at times.

In one of the crazy shopping sprees that we had I won a lottery of a free beauty treatment in one of the famous beauty saloon's of the city.