Chapter# 7

Shaurya walked Hina to the door, mindful that Mehek was going back to the bedroom to nurse the baby who, now back in her mother's arms, had become fretful with her hunger. Somehow, he resisted the pull his daughter's soft mewling cries had on his heart and followed through with the needless task of seeing his PA out. Doing so gave him the opportunity to gather his thoughts, still muddled, in light of the back-to-back revelations that had been disclosed so casually in conversation minutes before.

The biggest shock had been learning that she had been in contact with her family this entire time; if not all of them, then at least, with her great-grandmother. PD, the crafty woman: of course, she would devise a way to maintain contact with her beloved granddaughter, Shaurya thought. And this too, in spite of outwardly supporting him when their families had pushed back on how he was handling the issue of Mehek's memory loss. No, the fact that the senior had managed to do what she had expressly warned her kin against, was hardly surprising now that he thought it through. She was a force to be reckon with under normal circumstances, and quite attached to her grandchild. Given the opportunity to reestablish contact with her Laddoo, she would have absolutely taken matters into her own hands. As he shut the door behind his employee, Shaurya couldn't help but smile in appreciation of his in-law's ingenuity. However, what gripped him more was the mode of communication that the pair had utilized, and more so what this could mean...or not. The irony that Facebook had been the means of connecting the pair, was not lost on Shaurya. He was now desperate to understand how such an integral piece of them could not have prompted anything in his wife. He had to know how she could be as lost as not to remember their own online connection: MS and KK. He stood still for a moment after collecting the box of sweets and the flower arrangement before heading towards the bedroom.

"You are doing fine, beta. She's none the worse for a little delay.  Listen: you can tell she is getting  exactly what she needs. Now, take a few deep breaths to relax and enjoy the closeness with your little one."

Mehek nodded to the nurse, and followed her direction, exhaling loudly. Her eyes still stung from the prickling tears that had filled her eyes over her perceived inadequacy that she believed had hindered her daughter's feeding.  But everything was alright now... almost.  As she focused on the suckling that confirmed her child's hunger was being sated, she studied her daughter. Her tremulous lips finally gave way to a smile. The infant girl was feeling much better now, but as for her mother, well, she still needed just one more thing to feel whole.

 

She had covered up as much as she could without obstructing her or the baby's sight of one another, but enough to lessen Shaurya's discomfort should he decide to come in. It was strange that even after being present when she had given birth, that the man since had become overly-cautious when he thought he risked intruding on her modesty. On the other hand, she had no clue why propriety made no difference to her. All she knew was that she would never turn him away...that and that she wanted him with her now; no, actually she felt that he should be with her, sharing this amazing experience with her. How long would he make her wait, she wondered?

A tap reached her ears, and she raised her head, expectantly.

The smile that greeted him when he opened the door, after softly knocking on it, sent a thrill through him until he noticed the sheen of moisture in her eyes. He placed the flowers down and rushed straight to her side. "Jaan, is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nahi, I'm so happy you are here. I thought you would try to avoid me," Mehek answered him shakily. She lowered her head, feeling a mixture of relief and acute embarrassment over her uncontainable emotions. She sniffed and then turn her head towards her nursing daughter. "She is beautiful, isn't she Shaurya?"

"Almost as beautiful as her mother."

She laughed heartily, displacing the tears that had gathered in her eyes. The same action also disrupted the baby's latch and started the dark-haired beauty to fussing again. More deftly than she thought she was capable of, Mehek got her resettled onto her breast.

Fat tears rolling down her face, Mehek answered. "I'm hardly beautiful, Shaurya...I'm a mess both inside and out, but thank you," she answered while she stared adoringly at her daughter. She noticed then that he still carried the box of sweets that had arrived for her. "Oh, Sister, the laddoos: here they are," she announced, indicating to Shaurya to show her the box.

The nurse nodded approvingly after checking the goods. "Oh yes, these are just the thing. They will most definitely aid you: both with your nutritional needs for recovery as well as in helping you to produce enough milk for the baby. I would advise you to incorporate them into your diet straight away."

"Straight away, Sister?"

"As soon as possible," the nurse answered. "For the baby's sake."

A cheeky expression now, meant that his wife had run the gamut of human emotions in less than ten minutes, but Shaurya would take the impish smirk on Mehek's face over her insecurity and tears any day.

He knew the exact reason for it too. 

Opening the box, he removed one of the sweets and brought it over to her. Cupping one hand below her chin to prevent any crumbs falling on their daughter, Shaurya silently offered it to her with his other. To Mehek's credit she did not gloat, but her groan of appreciation did contain a tinge of triumph in it. After their continued disagreements of the past months, she had finally emerged the victor.  All his efforts to dissuade her penchant for sweets, often with comical results since it had been her greatest craving, had ultimately ended exactly how she wanted...with her sweet tooth placated.  And he could do nothing about it. His eyes narrowed on her. Fine, she had won, he thought, but did she have to be so gloriously appealing as she enjoyed the morsel though? She had to know the effect her enjoyment was having on him; she would be stupid not to see how she mesmerized him. He saw that she had finished the treat and he reached for another, surprising her with the action.

"Shaurya," she questioned.

"They aren't that big," he responded huskily. "Plus, it's for your and the baby's sake." He paused. "I will make sure that we have more on hand," he continued as he watched her chew the confection.

"That would be nice; they are very good. I should thank PD," Mehek said after she finished. "I can ask her where she purchased these."

"Or for a recipe, so we can ensure their freshness. Not that these weren't," he added, as not to have her thinking that he was showing disdain for the older woman's gift.

"Could you get my phone, Shaurya. Perhaps we can catch her online...you won't mind acting as my secretary, will you?" 

*********

Around mid-day, reaching for the light switch just inside her boss's office, Hina was startled to find the man sitting in the dimness, at his desk. "Sir, I didn't realize you were here. I thought it was your intention to stay with Mehek today...this week. Is there something wrong, or something you needed assistance with?"

Turning the mobile he held end over end on the table, Shaurya thought about the question she had asked. Since he was sitting here having 'borrowed' his wife's phone, one could say that something was wrong. Having learned a few things today, including Mehek's password, he was now in the position to possibly discover some things that may provide more clues to what had led her to be in the condition that she was in. The choice to do so, however, was his biggest predicament. He couldn't help but wonder, if now, with his family intact, if it would not be better to simply put the past to bed, and pickup their lives from here: at the moment where he and Mehek were as close as ever. Although she had not said the words, he was certain that Mehek loved him, making him the luckiest man in the world...again. If he was sensible, he would just take the gift he had been granted and move forward with life with the woman he loved, and the child they had been blessed with. Especially since the alternative would mean a betrayal of the trust she had in him.

"Shaurya Sir?"

"The baby is resting, and it seemed unfair to occupy her time when she had the opportunity to do so as well. Plus, she expected that I may have some work that I needed to attend to."

Hina placed the file she was bringing into the office on the table. "Well, I was about to bring the monthly reports and financials that the analysts' have submitted on the corporation's subsidiaries. An electronic copy has already been sent to you, but I thought a hard-copy would be easier to go through at your leisure. Unsurprisingly, White Chilli's is still proving to be our top performing restaurant."

"Of course, it is," Shaurya surmised confidently of his pet project. "However, we will need to re-focus on it so that it remains so. At the very least, it will soon be time for the menu there to be tweaked."

Hina immediately understood the meaning behind her boss' words, considering that it was Mehek who had taken the lead in creating the restaurant's current offerings. "Are you certain, Sir?"

Contemplating, one last time the device in his hands, Shaurya nodded, and then placed the phone into his tracksuit pocket.  "Ji Hina. I think it's time. At least time to prepare," he corrected. "But yes, we will be heading back to Delhi... back home. Not straight away, but soon, Hina."

The young woman made every effort not to betray her excitement at the thought of returning home. It had been so long, and although an extremely loyal employee who focused on and enjoyed her post as Shaurya's PA, she had missed her family and friends, these past months as well.

"I hope you are happy with this news, Hina," Shaurya stated with a smile. "I couldn't have managed at all without you. I probably haven't said it enough but thank you for everything. You have gone far beyond merely doing your duty."

 "It's been no problem, Sir. If there is anything-else that you need..."

"Actually, there are a couple of things I need taken care of. First, I need you to start planning an extended vacation for yourself, Hina: a dream destination, nothing less will do."

"I can handle that," the PA stated, knowing it would make no sense arguing with the man. "And the second?"

Shaurya stood. "I suspect that will be determined by what spills out of my mouth when I next talk to Mehek."

"I don't understand."

"You will, Hina. One way or another you will."

********

Back in the suite, Shaura returned Mehek's phone to the nightstand closest to the sleeping woman. The temptation was still there to utilize the time while she slept to explore her Facebook account, which he was still shocked having discovered, was her original one: Meera Sharma, the woman he had inadvertently befriended, who had become his MS and thereafter his everything. In the back of his mind he had speculated that the page, in her mother's name, had everything to do with her literal self-identification as Meera. He could see this making sense post the trauma of the accident. Still, his need to understand how she could maintain the same profile, and yet completely forget their association, ate at him. Even in thinking herself as Meera, his presence there in her list of contacts should have pulled at her, shouldn't it? He couldn't fathom how it could not. And then, belatedly, Shaurya realized how stupid he was being. He had no proof that she had truly forgotten her KK, just the assumption that she had, and the fact of the matter was that he should at least test the theory of whether she had or not, before concluding that she had.

However, before he could follow through on his plan, her soft voice reached him, taking his attention from reaching out for the first time in months to his online friend in lieu of responding to the in-the-flesh woman.

He looked at her, expecting to find her awake, but Mehek's sleeping form proved him wrong.  And then she whispered his name once again: with a tenderness that would make a man fall for the woman who dared to beckon  him in such a way. He couldn't help himself and set his phone aside before crouching down beside the bed, and gently cupped her cheek. "Haan Jaan, I'm here."

Her lips curved up in response and she smiled, as she unconsciously nestled against the warm hand that caressed her face. Her eyes fluttered a little when he pressed his lips to her forehead.

"I love you Shaurya."

He drew his head back from her. "Do you, Mehek?"

She nodded, and he sat astonished, pondering what her actual level consciousness was; was she, much closer to being awake than he originally supposed? And did she have any idea what she was saying?

"Mehek?"

She took a deep breath, inhaling the all too familiar scent of his cologne and that which was uniquely him. His presence seemed more tangible than it had seconds ago, and there it was again: his voice calling her. Mehek. In her dreams that was what he called her and everything about it felt oh so right. Mostly...except for this last time when, by his tone he seemed to be questioning her affection for him. She frowned slightly, in objection to his doubts. "How can you not believe me, Shaurya? You know that I..."

Her eyes fluttered open then, and the discovery of his closeness took her breath as well as the remainder of her sentence away. Not the bedecked groom who had stood beside her a short while ago, but the man himself. Her gaze immediately focused on his mouth, aware that he was uttering something, but more mesmerized by how very near it was to hers: so close that it would only take the slightest effort to bring them together.

"Mehek?

"I...I'm sorry. I was dreaming," she blurted, and then in the pause that followed tried to collect herself.  Her gaze fell away from him, as she prayed for her blushing cheeks to cool. "You were saying something, Shaurya?"

Shaurya smiled. He had pressed his luck in calling her by her name, and the fact that she hadn't even questioned it was encouraging to say the least. "Was it a good dream, Jaan?" 

How could just the tone of his voice feel like a balmy caress, she wondered.

"Mehek?"

"It was merely a dream," she stressed, almost as if she was the one who needed convincing.

"Really? Well, often dreams have some basis of reality to them. Perhaps this one did as well, something that your subconscious recognizes to be true, Jaan." He let her think on that for a minute.

"Or that you wish to be true," he suggested.

Out of sight, her face flamed a deeper shade of red. 

Pushing her hair back from her face where it had fallen when she had lowered her head, he then raised her chin, before continuing. "You know, I am quite capable of making any dream you may have come true, Mehek ...if you just allow me."

She shook her head slightly. "How can I do that, when I don't even know the real you, Shaurya , let alone..."

"Let alone what, Jaan, he asked his flustered spouse when she hesitated. "Tell me."

"Do you realize how infrequently you address me by my name, Shaurya? Ms. Sharma... Jaan... Dost sometimes, but hardly ever Meera. And now I listen as you call me by another name, and it feels as if it's the most natural thing in the world. Almost as if..." 

She shut her eyes against it all; the impossibility of being Mehek, of his insistence that there could be fact behind the dream that had come to her twice now; more and more like a memory than some imagining her mind had conjured up.

At the same time, Shaurya watched as her brow furrowed, and wondered if, in his impulsiveness, he had pushed her too far: too soon. Deliberately he addressed her as she thought of herself.

"Meera..."

Her eyes popped opened and instantly darted over to the nearby bassinet. In it, her daughter still slept. And then she understood that rather than referring to the baby that Shaurya had been calling her. She shook her head and her frown deepened... "Nahi, Shaurya, don't call me..." Oh God, I don't even know what I am asking now, she finished in her head. She raised a hand to her temple and closed her eyes once more as she rubbed the pressure point in hopes of alleviating the damnable confusion that now had her rejecting the name that clearly bore significance in her life, but she was now certain was never hers to claim. Or was it all just the incredible wishful thinking that had her yearning to be with man beside her.

"Forget knowing you, it's as if I suddenly don't even know myself."

Nahi, Mehek, deep down you know exactly who you are. Who I am... and most importantly who you are to me... You need only search a bit deeper for the answer.

His heart pounding, Shaurya barely held his thoughts at bay. Instead he stole the hand away from her head and brought it to his lips.

"Calm down, Jaan. Let's take this one step at a time. I will order some lunch for us to enjoy before our princess needs you again. We will use the time to talk...to work everything out."

"You must think I'm crazy. Maybe I am."

"Not at all Jaan. This is just a situation that will be better handled together, rather than having you stressed over it alone." He countered her skeptical look by collecting the file he had brought back with him to review later. "This here will basically tell you all you need to of the Shaurya Khanna the world knows, but this," he said taking her hand to rest over his heart, "this will hopefully bring an end to all of your confusion, Mehek." 

Chapter8 

[NOCOPY]

crtkelly2018-04-23 03:18:42