HWGA Chapter 7: Lies

The purple bits are meant to be Hindi, I explained that in the last chapter.

Chapter 7: Lies

One sentence rang in both their heads and time seemed to stop for a moment.

What are you doing here?

Karan was the first to recover. “Why wouldn’t we be here Khushi?”

Khushi gave him a confused look. “Because you live in England.”

“And?”

“And I thought you were in England.” She said as if she were speaking to a child. “Who’s that?”

Amba’s world came crumbling down all around her and for the first time in her life she didn’t know what to do. All she could do was gap at her mother; the woman who gave birth to her, who raised her, who loved her. She could only stare at her mother with a broken expression on her face. She had been preparing herself in case her mother did change after the accident but she had never contemplated this. She slumped down on a chair and continued to stare at her mother. Karan could see exactly how those two words affected her but Khushi hadn’t noticed and decided to carry on.

“What happened Karan? Where are Amma, Babuji, Buaji and Jiji? Why am I here?”

Karan tore his eyes away from his daughter. “Khushi I’ll explain everything but first you need to tell me what you remember last.”

“The morning of Jiji’s wedding.”

“Which one?” And as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted it. Karan could clearly see the distressed look on Khushi’s face to find out that her sister might have been married multiple times. So he tried to rectify the situation. “I meant which guy is lucky enough to marry your sister? My Hindi isn’t what it used to be.”

Khushi gave him a disappointed look. “You were always a huge flirt. It was Abishek Khana. And just because you live in a foreign-”

“Khushi you can give me a lecture later. What is the exact last thing you remember?”

“I woke up and I was obviously excited beca-”

“Khushi!”

“Ok ok. I was looking for my earrings and that’s the last thing I remember. Why?”

 “I’ll answer your previous questions after I talk to the doctor, ok?”

“Ok.”

Karan dragged Amba, who still had a stunned expression on her face, out of the room. He went straight to the reception desk.

“Excuse me but who is treating Ms Khushi Kumari Gupta? I need to speak to them immediately.”

“If you wait outside her room, I’ll call the doctor and they’ll be with you as soon as they can.” She replied. She then began to type in her computer and then she made a call. After 15 minutes a doctor arrived in front of them.

“Mr Gupta?”

“No it’s Mr Malik, we never were married. But that’s not the point. My friend can’t remember a good part of the last 22-23 years. I was told there might be only minor damage, this is a major problem!”

“Mr Malik I don’t know what other doctors have told you but Ms Gupta has had a really bad brain injury. The fact that she’s alive is a miracle. We still don’t understand the brain properly and we did predict there may be a change but maybe not to this extent. Is there anything else wrong with her that you can tell?”

“No it’s just her memory.”

“The best thing you can do is not put any pressure on her to remember anything. If you do she may suffer from irreversible brain damage or worse she may fall into a irreversible coma.”

“But she had a daughter she can’t remember! What am I supposed to do? Do you have kids Mr…”

“Chopra, Kumar Chopra. And yes I do. And I know this is going to be hard for the kids especially but remember she may get brain damage or slip into a coma. Did she have any kids before the one she can’t remember?”

“No. But how am I supposed to fill in the last 23/24 years?”

“You need to link everything to things she’ll actually remember. And don’t stress her out.”

“Ok, thank you doctor.”

As the doctor walked away, Amba came out of her stupor and turned to her father who was pulling his hair and rubbing his face.

“Umm dad?”

“Am call the Lawsons and tell them everything. I’m going to go in there and lie my ass off to your mother.”

“Dad you are the worst liar on the planet.”

“Yeah well I’ll become the best for your mother. I’ll record everything so we don’t slip up if she questions us later, we really can’t afford slip ups. I also think that now’s an excellent time to inform her family about her situation.”

“I’m glad I’m handling the Lawsons and you are handling mum’s side of the family.”

“No chance. We are doing mum’s side together because they scare me and I’m not afraid to admit that.” After a pause he looked his daughter up and down. “Are you ok?”

“I’m going to make that call, you go in and talk to mum.”

“Am-” He called after her but it was no use she had already ran away. He sighed, took a deep breath in and stepped into Khushi’s room.

St Claire’s Car Park

By the time Amba reached the car park she had tears streaming down her face that she was wiping furiously with one hand as the other was busy looking for her car keys. As soon as she found them she got in her car, locked the doors and spent 5 minutes composing herself before she made the call. She had never felt so powerless in her entire life but she knew she had to be strong for her mother and father because they were all in this together now. She dialled the number and at the first ring someone picked up.

“Logan Lawson Senior.”

“Logan there’s a slight change of plans.”

“Why what’s happened?” Amba could hear the panic in his voice.

“You can’t come down to see her.”

“Why not?”

“I’m going to tell you everything but don’t interrupt me.” And she proceeded to tell him everything she had just found out and he listened patiently. “And that’s why you can’t come down to the hospital.” She finished with a sigh. She could feel her tears threatening to come back but she held on. After a pregnant pause Logan finally spoke.

“Are you ok?”

Amba brushed the question aside with a simple I’m fine and continued. “Do me a favour and tell Logan for me.”

“Amba you know he doesn’t listen to me.”

“He doesn’t listen to you as a father but as a boss he has to listen to you. So just call him up to your office and tell him.”

“Where would I be without you?” Amba could practically see him smiling at her.

“The company would fall!” She replied dramatically and for the first time since she found out about her mother’s condition, she laughed.

Logan got serious again. “I am giving you a paid holiday.”

“What?! You can’t do that! I already took one for Nik’s wedding and two weeks when dad was away.”

“I’m giving you a sick leave then. Don’t question me, I’m your boss. You can take as much time off until your mother recovers.”

“What if she never does?” She whispered.

“Then look on the bright side, you’ll never have to work again.” He joked.

Amba smiled a little. “Bye Logan.”

“Amba you take good care of her and yourself. And remember it’s ok to cry.”

“I wasn’t crying.”

“Don’t lie to me Amba, I know you too well. Give my best to everyone.”

“I will.”

After that conversation Amba just sat in the car staring out into space.

St Claire’s Hospital Neurology Ward

Meanwhile Karan was given the incredibly difficult task of lying to Khushi about the past 24 years.

“Karan! Finally! Help me find a Hindi channel, all this English is hurting my head. You think because we’re in India, there might actually be some Hindi speaking people but you’d be wrong. What is the country coming to?”

“Um Khushi, I’m going to tell you something and I need your full attention.” But Khushi being Khushi wasn’t paying the slightest bit attention to him and was wrestling with the channels again. Karan grabbed the remote out of her hand s and turned off the tv. Before Khushi could protest Karan gave her a look that shut her up. “This is really important Khushi, please listen and don’t interrupt!”

“Alright, go.”

“Khushi don’t freak out but you’re not in India.” Seeing Khushi’s eyes widen and her heart rate go up he quickly add, “You came to see me in England on holiday.” Her face softened and her heartbeat gradually went down.

“Oh thank Devi Maya. But where’s Babuji, Amma, Buaji and Jiji?”

Karan looked around hoping and praying that the answer would come to him. “Umm Payal’s married so she has a family to take care of.”

Khushi seemed happy with that answer. “What about Amma, Babuji and Buaji?”

“They uh they um, they said you work too hard to take care of everyone so you deserved a holiday. By yourself. Without any of them. Umm yeah.”

“Oh ok. But Karan, why am I in hospital?”

“That is a very good question. And the answer to that question is…”

“Is?”

“You were hit by a car.”

“What!?”

“Yeah and you lost a lot of memory.”

“How much memory?”

“22, 23, 24 years.” He mumbled hoping she’d drop the question.

“I didn’t catch that.”

“About 24 years.” He said a little louder.

By this time Khushi was thoroughly aggravated. “Karan I really can’t hear a word you’re saying!”

“About 24 years!” He yelled and immediately regretted it. Khushi’s face fell and her eyes looked empty. She started hyperventilating. He could see her heart moniter and her heart rate and blood pressure was increasing. He suddenly wished he wasn’t the one doing this to her.

“Khushi, it’s ok. Calm down. Please. Oh God what have I done? Khushi please calm down for your health.” Seeing how none of what he was saying was affecting her he decided to give it one last shot. “If you don’t calm down you’ll die!” He yelled and saw Khushi’s eyes widen again but he could see she was trying harder to calm down so he continued. “And what would happen to Amma, Babuji and Buaji if you died? Who will look after them?”

I was another full and long 5 minutes until Khushi calmed right down. “So what have I missed in these last 24 years?”