The Clingy Fiancee

Chapter Eight

“But how…how did you know?” I asked her, blushing slightly. I wanted to be the one to tell her the truth first. I thought it was only fair for her to know the truth because she had taken good care of him for such a long time.

She smiled at me the know-it-all-smile, slowly shaking her head, “Even a man with low emotional intelligence could tell that honey, and I know what love looks like.” Her green eyes twinkled with sheer happiness, and in that moment I realised that she, too, was grateful that I was here.

“Sweetheart, your brain and mind can forget, but your heart and soul always, always remembers the one you love so deeply.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners and she had a faraway look in her eyes. “I still remember the first time I had seen him when my son had brought him here; he looked so lost, like every other patient with post-traumatic amnesia. Every day since the past entire month I have seen him struggle to come to terms with his condition. He has done as much as he can to remember who he is, but he just worsened his condition more. For the first time today, I have seen him look so relaxed; and stopped thinking about who he was and what he was going to become. Whenever he’s with you, he stops his search for home because deep inside, he can feel that his heart feels at home with you.”

My heart skipped a beat at her words. Whatever she said, it implied that Neil was still in love with me, and at this moment, it was something I couldn’t really agree with. It was something that had become slightly difficult to believe since he had broken off our engagement a few months ago.

I had always thought, and still did believe, that he had fallen out of love with me a long time ago.

Now of course, you would ask how I could completely forget the years that he had spent loving me so much, and how could I so easily believe that he had fallen out of love with me just in a week. But that’s how I was, and I strongly believed that if he had really loved me, then he would’ve had never thought of leaving me like that in the first place.

“I see doubt on your face.” Misha gazed at me, firmly, her brows furrowing, “Don’t you believe what I said to you? You don’t believe he loves you?”

I shook my head, and then nodded, “It’s just that –”

The door to the room opened without any preamble and Neil entered the room with a smile on his face. Like I had said before – with his memories, he had lost his manners, too.

I could only hope that he didn’t hear what Misha and I were just talking about.

“I’m sorry,” he said with a smile on his face, “Did I interrupt something?”

“No, boy, you didn’t interrupt anything. But do remember to knock before entering a room.” Misha reprimanded.

Neil flushed a deep red and looked at me apologetically, looking so adorable that I wanted to giggle.

“I’m so sorry, I knew you were already inside, Misha, so I thought you wouldn’t mind…”He trailed off, scratching the back of his head. “I’ll remember to knock the next time.”

“Good.” Misha stood up and patted his shoulder, “Now tell me, do you need something?”

“No.” He frowned at her question.

“Then why are you here?”

I almost burst out laughing at the blush that covered his face when he really couldn’t answer her question. “I just came in to check if she is settled in comfortably and…uh…is she needed any kind of help.”

“No, she does not need any kind of help, my boy, but I do need your help in the kitchen. Come with me.” She said to him and walked out of the room, clearly expecting him to trail behind her.

He didn’t.

He kept staring at me for a moment or too, and I felt slightly awkward. His gaze was trying to peel me slowly layer by layer, but neither him nor I knew what it was that he actually wanted. With the way he was watching me, I was afraid I would begin to hope and actually believe what Misha had said to me.

“I should come with you to help Misha in the kitchen,” I said, breaking the awkward silence.

A loud and firm ‘no’ came from right outside the door, and Misha’s voice echoed in my room, “You look like you haven’t slept in days, Myra. Go get some rest. And M, I am still waiting for you!”

“Coming right away, Misha!” We both chuckled and he left the room giving me one last glance.

The moment he closed the door behind him, I fell back on the bed and switched off the table lamp. When I closed my eyes, and the comfort of my bed finally cocooned me, I realized Misha was right – I welcomed the much needed sleep.

And damn, after almost six months, I slept like a baby.

“So, when are you returning back to India?” Misha asked me with a knowing look in her gaze. She was indirectly asking me how long was I ready to wait here till I could convince Neil to come along with me.

A football game was playing in the background on the television while we were eating our dinner – I had never thought I would ever like the food that was made anywhere outside India – and I was preoccupied with chatting with Misha about things that really didn’t matter – to avoid the topics that would actually start a conversation.

“I think I’ll be staying here for a couple more days and then I’ll leave.”I told her, hoping that it wouldn’t take too much time to make him come with me back home.

Neil was looking at both of us intently during the conversation. If anything, I believed that our conversation was the only thing he was focusing on instead of the Football match that was playing on the television.

Trust me; that was a huge deal in itself. The Neil I knew would never take his eyes and ears off the TV if a football match - or any other match - was going on.

Misha’s voice softened with worry, “Sweetie, are you going to travel alone all the way back to India?”

I nodded and gave her a small smile.

“I think it will be wonderful if you have someone to accompany you, don’t you think so?” Misha said, a small smirk playing with her features. What this woman was playing at, I had no idea. “I have never been to India but I have heard a lot about it. It’s a diverse country with a rich heritage isn’t it?”

I nodded with a flicker of pride on my face. It was not every day you heard people saying good things about your country.

“Which city do you live in?” She asked curiously, but she kept sneaking glances at the man who was focusing keenly on our conversation.

“Chandigarh.” I told her, internally hoping to bring some kind of reaction out of him.

It was as if just hearing the name of the city had electrocuted him. Anyone with eyes could see that he sat up straight the moment he heard the word and his mind went into overdrive. I was slightly afraid if the word had triggered something, but he eventually came up with nothing and frowned deeply.

I hated seeing him this hopeless and vulnerable, and I didn’t know what I could do to help him. There was so much tension and frustration in his gaze, all of it just because he couldn’t find any memory he could hold on to, to find his way back home.

“Is there something wrong, M? You look tense? Did someone miss the goal?” Misha asked him, caressing his head slightly while he kept his eyes closed.

I badly wished it was me caressing his hair instead – not that I was jealous of her. It had been so long since I had done that, caress his hair and massage his scalp slowly when he was extremely stressed. It had always worked before – now I was just too afraid to get too close to him.

“I’m…I’m alright.” He sighed, “I just don’t know – everything is so confusing, so familiar, I don’t know what to do.”

He took in another deep breath, and I kept looking at him while his thoughts ran wild in his mind. I knew that look very well – he always looked like that when he was going to come to an important decision.

He slowly looked up, straight at me, and stared directly into my eyes.

“Myra? Will you mind if I...accompany you back to...uh...give you some company. Don’t worry, I won’t stay for long.”

I nodded eagerly; Misha had no idea how much I owed her for this little gesture she had done for me. I didn’t understand earlier, how I was going to make Neil come back to India with me without revealing too much. Here she did it all with one question.

She clapped her hands with excitement, “Now that it’s all set, all that is now left is for my son to return. Once M gets the thumbs up he needs to travel abroad, you both will set back to India. You don’t mind waiting, Myra, will you?”

I shook my head. I was afraid to speak out a word in fear that my voice would come out hoarse and Neil would realised that I was about to cry.

“You said Chandigarh, right?” he asked me again, “That’s where you live?”

I nodded, my chest tightening at the frown on his face. Once again, it hurt me to see him like this – so lost and confused, like he had no way out of what he had been trapped in. He had always been the kind of person who knew what he was doing and knew what he wanted – even a little uncertainty annoyed him.

Him being so out of his element made me worry about his mental well-being, and that was one reason why I wanted to take him back to India as soon as I could.

Once he was back in homeland, I was sure he would feel much better and less lost.

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