The Wrong Woman

11. Dhruv

What in the hell was going on? I thought. Why did she ask me who I was? Or who she was, for that matter. It made no sense. She hadn't been happy with me being near her before but now she was making it obvious that she despised it.

I should be a little happy about the fact that she was being more open with her feelings, but the tightening of my stomach told me it was something else. When I'd called the doctor he suggested it might be some form of temporary amnesia.

Had she hit her head, though? When? How? "Argh!" I fluffed my hair up vigorously in irritation. None of it made any sense. And now, after her little trip, Rani had gone and locked herself in the bedroom doing God knows what. I hesitated at the door, not wanting to add on to her pain, but the constant thought of fear and pain swirling in those dark eyes of hers was haunting me.

"Rani? Are you okay in there? Talk to me. Please. I'm worried about you."

Maybe not so comforting coming from the husband you weren't exactly happy with. What else was I supposed to do?

There was a long stretch of silence. Best to leave it alone, I told myself. If she wanted to talk, she would reach out herself. Maybe when we've both calmed down a little and had some time to relax, things will settle.

I went to leave when her voice, so uncharacteristically meek, said, "I want to take a nap."

"All right. Let me know when you're up and I'll make you a cup of coffee." I blew out a deep breath, inflating my cheeks as I took my time in descending the stairs. This day was not going off to a great start. Should I call Anish and Sandra? If anyone were to know what happened, it would be them.

He picked up on the second ring. "Hey, what's up, Dhruv?"

"Was Rani with you last night?"

"No." He repeated it, the sound muffled. "Sandra says no, as well. Why, what's wrong? Is she missing again?"

I'd have laughed if this were any other situation. "No, uh, Rani's been acting weird."

"Don't tell me she's acting all nice now!"

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the next thing to happen."

"Ooookay, what's going on?"

"She's been acting like a completely different person. She woke up screaming, asking me who I was, who she was and where she was. I think she may have fallen down somewhere last night and hit her head?"

"Jesus Christ, and this all happened today?"

"I don't know. She doesn't remember anything."

"...I think this might be a good thing."

I rubbed the space between where both my eyebrows met. "You realise this is serious? The GP thinks she may have amnesia."

"Amnesia or no amnesia, this is your chance to convince her you love her. A clean slate if you will."

"God, Anish," I said, trying not to snap at him too loudly in case Rani woke up. I glanced up at the balcony but there was no sound. "I'm not taking advantage of this situation. If it means she doesn't like me, she doesn't like me. I just want to make sure nothing's wrong."

"Okay, okay! Geez, Mister Nice Guy, would it kill you to at least think about it? I'm not suggesting you take advantage of her in every sense of the term. Just...you know, maybe your efforts won't be so lost when she's different."

"You're an idiot for even bringing that up. You know that, right?" Even as I hung up on him and slunk into the couch, I couldn't help but think why this was happening. Not that things were going so great for us, but whether or not this was an opportunity for us to start over.

I shook my head as soon as that thought flit through my mind. "Don't be stupid," I muttered, getting up to make black coffee. The only thing that I was going to do was make sure Rani was back to the way she was, and quick.

And if everything ended in divorce, well, so be it.