Naira stared at her reflection feeling an inexplicable pain in her heart. It was bad enough that she was staying amongst what felt like strangers but what hurt the most was that she didn't even recognize the person in the mirror. All these years she was someone, clearly all the strangers who call themselves her family want that person back. Where was she to find that person they called  "Naira"  when she didn't even know who it was? What was she like? How did she become like this? What was it that everybody seemed to be hiding? They were hiding something that she had gathered from their unfinished sentences and hushed discussions. Maybe it held the secrets to unlocking her mind? Her mind that had completely shut itself out. She tried to remember something? Anything! All she could feel was her heart racing, nausea and dizziness
overpowering her. She was falling but she didn't actually fall. Someone steadied her, made her lie down on her bed, a voice kept asking her to wake up and if she were ok. The voice disappeared, there was a loud crash and  sound of footsteps.

Family members arrived one by one shocked to find her in a state of semi consciousness. They all fussed over her. She had felt a presence earlier, somehow the only one that felt oddly familiar. Familiar? Now that's something she hadn't felt in a while now. Her family had surrounded her but she felt something missing. A piece of her heart maybe? She drifted off to sleep.

Kartik watched hidden from behind her window sill. How could they just leave her alone, he fumed. She was nowhere near safe enough to be left alone. But if they didn't, he couldn't be near her either. It was a catch 22 situation but he was ready to give up being near her if it meant she remained safe & unhurt, however who could take care of her the way he would? He watched as she twisted and turned all night trying to put her mind to rest and catch some sleep. She didn't manage to. Neither did he.

Kartik pondered about the truth in Naksh's words. Had he brought his Naira  to this state? As if he didn't blame himself enough, this accusation had struck him hard.  His dad's words came floating to his mind. It was not his choice to make whether he deserved her love or not. He loved her. That was his truth.
He loved her in any which way he knew to. Whether he was whole or broken, whether she loved him back or not. Whether she hated him or didn't even carry a memory of him, he would take it all. Because he loved her and it's the only way he knew to be. He loved her when he met her, he loved her when he bickered with her, he loved her when she rejected him, he loved her when she accepted him, he loved her when he married her, he loved her when he hated her too.

He would bring her back. He didn't know how but he would. He had noticed his pictures missing from all the frames around Naira. He felt a familiar pang of pain in his heart. She had removed him from her memories, her family had removed him from around her. Was it better for her? Would she be happier not remembering him and what he had done? But his Naira. She had to remember herself. Even it means she would hate him when she remembers. He was willing to accept that. At least she can live her life to the fullest. Maybe she'll accept his apology too? He held that small ray of hope close to his heart.

Naira had dozed off only momentarily but images of a familiar face had again appeared in her dreams. She woke up with a start. She saw herself alongside a man as if in a fog. There was this one man who was there in all her dreams. She couldn't see his face but she had now become familiar with him. She knew it was someone seared so deep in her soul that even a completely wiped slate of her mind hadn't removed him from it. She wanted to know who he was. She sat up trying to identify him again from the pictures and failing. Maybe he held the key to her locked mind, she thought. There was something about him, even the thought of him evoked new emotions in her mind. She was tired of living in a constant state of confusion, it frustrated her no end. 

Kartik watched from his hiding place desperate to reach out to her. He noticed that she was frantically searching for something before giving up and succumbing to tears. Was she looking for me?, he wondered then squashed the thought chalking it up to his overtly hopeful mind. Seeing her in tears,it took his all to not just envelope her in a hug, tell her he's there for her, that they'll together make it all okay. He didn't want to appear suddenly in her bedroom in the dead of the night and trigger any sort of panicked reaction from her. However, he couldn't help missing her. Every fiber of his being missed her. Right now, she was sobbing at an arm's distance & he still had to stay put. It sucked. It was the story of his life without her. Nothing made sense. Nothing meant anything. He may have started to feel unworthy of her but she didn't deserve to suffer like this. He would do anything in his power to bring her memories back. Even if it meant heartbreak for him in the end, he would still do it. For her. For his Naira.