Raastein

6. Forgotten

The next day everyone woke up from a rather rough sleep. The seas were getting rough every night and the sound of the crashing waves filled all the rooms.

Since the families had gotten close, they decided to organise the room situation for the young adults. There were only three rooms for two and one room for four. After some hesitation it was decided that the two sisters would be in one room. Shayla and Dharam in another, and Mahira and Kyra would be in the other rooms two rooms. The other boys would be in the room for four.

A few people were a bit aggravated with the fact that Shayla and Dharam were sharing a room. Some Indian stereotypical belief that a girl and a boy couldn't share a room together. However, this arrangement seemed like a good opportunity for Shayla. On meeting Dharam for the first time, Shayla felt as if there was some kind of connection between the two. Shayla had a gut feeling that the two had somehow, someway met before. It felt like they had known each other quite well.

It was when Dharam looked into Shayla's eyes that she knew why he looked so familiar. It was about six years ago when Shayla had just graduated and going into college. Shayla was at one of the Istanbul bars. She was seated by herself having a drink until Dharam, being the dare devil he was back then, bought Shayla a drink and sat down next to her. The two of them conversed all night and in no time the two found themselves in a four year, long term relationship.

Things were becoming pretty serious. Dharam and Shayla had already taken the next step, but they wanted to be with each other forever. The only thing left to do was to talk to their parents about marriage. That same day they decided to see their parents because the situation had changed. Dharam's parents had decided to get him engaged. So, they thought that it was about time to talk them.

Dharam had just dropped Shayla off at the library in the afternoon on his scooter. He waved to Shayla whilst riding the scooter towards the road, and then there was a bang. Shayla turned around and saw him. Dharam was on the floor surrounded by a crowd of locals. He had crashed into a bus and fallen off his scooter. There was blood dripping from his head. Paramedics began to arrive and immediately took him to the hospital. Shayla went to go see him, but the doctors said that it was serious and that only family could visit. The doctors said that Dharam had suffered from a head injury—a concussion. The injury led Dharam to short term memory loss due to brain haemorrhage.

Dharam had lost all memory of the accident and the four years he spent with Shayla. He had completely forgotten about Shayla, having no idea who she was and what she meant to him.

After the accident, Shayla never saw Dharam again. But when she saw Dharam on the ship she realised that he wasn't wearing a wedding ring. Maybe they cancelled the engagement after the accident, or maybe he just didn't like wearing the ring? Either way, Shayla wanted to know everything.

✿✿✿

Firdaus Khan sat in one of the dancers rooms' waiting for her instructors to come in and sign her up for the registration.

Firdaus had run away from home to escape the war. She had left her two sisters behind and now she was on the ship all by herself. She followed Imran here so that she could get some answers.

Firdaus and Imran were engaged for two years. Even the wedding was well panned out. But when Jai's relationship with Anezka was over because of Imran, everything came tumbling down. Jai called Firdaus and told her the truth about Imran. He told her about how he was a criminal psychopath and how he had conned several women before her. Firdaus thought that there was no doubt Imran was going to runaway with her family's money and leave her forever. With that thought in her mind, Firdaus left Imran.

Firdaus was now on the ship as a dancer—an entertainment for the families. She was assigned as the lead dancer and singer for her group and was made sure that she was to maintain a healthy, professional relationship with all the passengers on board.

One of the passengers onboard was a doppelgänger of Firdaus. There were a few differences here and there like their skin tone; Firdaus was of darker complexion whereas Shayla was lighter. Firdaus knew inside her mind that she would use Shayla to her advantage.

It was convenient that she had already seen Imran on board. She also knew that Imran was a nuisance to his own family, she had to do something for them as well. Her plan was to find Imran, frame him and put him back in jail—exactly where he belongs. But jail wouldn't be enough, thought Firdaus. Imran deserved something worse than jail.

He deserved death.