"what did the doctor say?"

"nothing serious for now, but given that you have certain memory lapse, it will take time for you to heal because your brain was severely injured internally."

Role's voice is serious and confirmed with facts. There is no sign of falsified truth. Right now he is taking me out on a park--with me on a wheel chair and the IV being placed beside me. It has been three days since I woke up and every day I ask Role the same question and he replies me same. He doesn't seem to get tired of it but his voice was at time low and the other time it was pretty dead and serious.

There is no doubt that a lot is going on his mind which he pretends to be fumadiddle.

"can you tell me something about myself?"

"what do you want to know?"

Though his words are innocent but I feel a pang in my chest because I have no choice of asnwering that question. I wish I knew what I would like to know about myself at first.

"I met you in college when you were arguing with the canteen's incharge for using stale products and being the reason for increasing sickness amongst the students."

"wow, was I fuzzy?"

He chuckles and stops the wheel chair at the nearest pavement over the small river that flows around the hospital premises. We both gaze at the beauty of the nature in peace before he answers the question.

"No, you were righteous and a true leader. It attracted me to you. I initially tried cooling you down seeing that you were causing a raucous in the cafeteria but your genuine points had my attention and curiosity as a rightful citizen of the country. It made me feel stupid and embicile not to take stand for the betterment of the students like you did."

"what was the conclusion then? Did I win over him and you?"

"the incharge was forced to either give in his resignation or give free and organic food to the students for the whole month."

My hands gallop my mouth as I begin laughing like it's my first time ever enjoying anything. Even though it isn't something I remember but hearing the justification laid out by me from his mouth is a proof that whoever I have had been, I was quite entertaining and energizing.

"so what did he do?"

Role crouches besides me and raises a quirky dark brow of his as if for me to assume to the obvious answer but I am not able to formulate a reply and when he gauges that the surprise is making me eager by second, he gives me throaty laugh like a gentleman he says he is and then gives up while he stands up again and starts pushing my wheel chair around and about.

"he obsviously had to feed us all with proper food for a month. He loved his job and he had a house of 5 kids and a wife to feed. Our college compensated him with certain benefits like a home and free food facilities apart from the salary."

"oh shit! Now I don't know if I should be enraged or sympathetic toward him."

"haha, I am sure that was the day he learnt his lesson for life. At least till the time we were there."

"you didn't tell me did I win over you too?"

"that-"

"Mr. Baxton! What a surprise to see you here, I must say."

A gauntlet of firey and coy voice interrupts our conversation and when my eyes land on the source, there's a tall man with almost bald head and grey mustache with an unlit cigar dangling from the corner of his wrinkled and rough lips.

"Mr. Benito, hello to you too."

Both the man shake hands in a tight grip and the air becomes stuffy for me to breathe.

Mr. Benito's eyes land on me with a silvery glint of astonishment and amusement.

He removes his cigar in an non fashion manner and throws it in a nearby bin before greating me with a sweet handshake and a kiss on the top of it.

"Mrs. Baxton, what happened to you? Are things going well for you?"

I shrug because I have no idea how to reply to his question when he is clearly able to see and judge my condition. Role clears his throat and saves me a great deal of embarrassment.

"She had a minor accident. Thank you for asking, Juniper, she's recovering now, though."

With Role's curt reply, Mr. Juniper Benito gives me a calcuating gaze as if strategizing a wicked plan inside his head. His eyes turn smoky for a reason in a second to clear as a daylight in another. His presence somehow makes me shudder and uncomfortable. What if he knows something about the accident or about my past? At this moment I cannot trust anyone except my instincts which right now are tuning against the strange man in front of me to stay at an arm's length with.

"That's good to hear that you're recovering. Do keep in touch Role, it has been a while."

His glance turns bossy towards my alleged husband but Role doesn't feel affected. He simply gives him a nod which signals that he is least interested in being touch with him.

"Okay then, see you soon, Mr. and Mrs. Baxton."

He holds Role's hand once again after fetching another branded cigar from the side pocket of his coat and this time he lits it and smokes around us. It looks like a formidable sign to be wary of that guy as he leaves repugnant smell in his wake mixed of his strong sandlewood cologne.

When we are finally at my bed, I ask Role about the stranger we met outside.

"he was the CFO of my company 7 years ago. It had been almost 3 years when we were married."

"but you two had a friction."

"We do. He tried to rob me off. I fired him after a fare share of warnings. He didn't listen and rectify and I wasn't bound to owe a cheater anything. After that no other reputed company hired him. He's a defaulter for the last decade, but he holds certain number of shares of my company which he still refuses to give up. "

"oh."

I have nothing to say on that information. Role smiles and suggests me to forget the incident and gives me a promise to block his entry from our lives as much as possible.

When the night comes, I eat yet another healthy and totally blanched food with Role as my companion. He has promised the nurse as well as the doctors that he would eat the same shit that I am supposed to eat till I recover fully and am ready to go home.

Yet when the sleep welcomes in, anxiety, confusion and fear are common entities that land first in the realm of my unconscious mind.

"I don't know whom to trust anymore.
They are keeping an eye on me. I have paid my debt. But I am still being hunted. What am I going to do? Where am I supposed to run?"

"You shouldn't have gambled."

"I know, but it was a dire need."

"and yet it was of no use to anyone. He died eventually. Death is imminent, cara"

"stop scaring me. I know everything now, I guess I have no way but to expose their mechanisations."

"you're in a great peril. It isn't a child's play."

"you just said death is imminent, Syl."