Is It Really You ??

7. Promise

Richa was looking at Rudras pale face devoid of any kind of emotion, laying in a hospital bed from last 8 months. Richa hold his hand between her both, and tried to gain some strength from him, from the love that filled her heart when she was on the verge of breaking inside.

Today she was so disturbed, more than since last 8 months.
Today someone remind her of Rudra so much and in very different way, its wasn't like, he was similar in looks to Rudra, he was so different in that prospect but his way of talking, his smile, the intensity in his eyes was so much like Rudra. And the incident of that almost accident, the way he behaved and spoke after that was so similar that she was unable to shake it off.
His handwriting was like a zerox copy of Rudra's. She tried to ignore it, believing it's a coincidence, it happens sometimes, right..... Right.
But no something about that man 'Rishi' was bothering her.

She tried to talk to Rudra to distract herself.

"Rudra,   how much more you want to sleep?? "

"You know it's been 8 months "

"You were never this lazy to stay in bed for so long "

"please wake up "

"Rudra, I miss you, miss you so much, please come back "

"I am so lonely without you, and I hate to be alone, you know that na, please don't leave me alone.  Please "

Tears were flowing down from her eyes dropping on their clasped hands.

Someone was watching this, through the glass on the door, tears were flowing down from his eyes too. A look of guilt, love and longing was evident in those teary eyes.
Abruptly, that man turned and walked out from there.

Next day

Richa was waiting for a cab to go to the library.  She has her own car but after Rudra's accident she didn't feel confident enough to drive herself.

Suddenly a car stops infront of her and the window rolled down,
There was Rishi inside the car, he smiled at Richa and....

"Good morning mam,   going to the library,  can I have the honor to offer you a ride to there "

Richa looked at him distressed

"No,  thank you Sir, I will manage "

It's ok mam, I am heading there too "

"You got a book yesterday, have you already finished it!!?? "

"Yes...... it was so interesting I couldn't stop myself from reading it, I finished it off late at night "

'Rudra said the same thing when he gifted that novel to me'

Richa thought but didn't said anything about it.

" Please come inside the car mam, if you were late, who will help me to find a new book today. I am just helping myself by giving you a ride"

Richa didn't wanted to go with him but she was getting late and there was no cab in the sight so she didn't have much choice but to accept the ride.

"Thank you "

"No,   Thanks to you mam for accepting my request "

"You seems to like reading a lot "

"Oh... I love books, my mom always called me a book worm when I was a kid"

Richa whipped her head towards him surprised but stayed quite
Rishi was oblivious of her surprised emotions and continued to talk

"How about you, do you love books and reading "

"hmmm...... quite a lot "

"Wow, then you must be enjoying your job so much,   I would be so happy to be surrounded by books most of the time, and if I get paid for that too, then it will be a treat for me "

Richa smiled forcefully at him

"Am I making you uncomfortable, by talking nonsense, if so......... then I am sorry but I can't help it, I m a very talkative person and you have to endure it "

Rishi said with a mischievous grin

"You are from Singapore "

Richa asked suddenly, lost in her thoughts

"No,  I am completely Indian mam, I just went there because of a job offer"

"You are here for holidays than"

"No I m back for good, I m not going anywhere now"

"Missed your family here"

"I m all alone, I have no one waiting for me at home "

Rishi's voice was a bit sad

Richa's heart skipped a beat, listening that

"Don't you have friends here "

" No, not really "

"Why "

"I lost touch with them"

"Maybe you should meet your friends again, you won't feel much lonely after that "

"I don't remember any of them"

"How can you forget everyone like that "

"I lost my memory in a car accident "

"Accident......?? "

"Yes, I had an accident on 4th November last year "

"4th November......?? "

"Yes, I was in Coma for 6 months, when I woke up I couldn't remember anything........anything that was told to me about myself, about my identity, my life and my family "

Richa was stunned

Rishi looked at Richa and said

"I don't remember anything about my past but I always felt that I didn't belong there in Singapore, so I returned to my country "

"Did you remember anything after getting back here "

Richa asked but she was confused, why she asked that to him

"Not much just a feeling that, someone is waiting for me........ that, someone is alone without me....... and somehow I knew that, that person hates to be alone, that someone is suffering because of me......... and my heart is aching to console that person"

Richa was looking into his eyes and she felt so much pain and suffering in them and the strange thing was, that she felt so deeply connected with it.

"I know it doesn't make sense but I feel that I have promised something... to someone... and I came back to fulfill that promise "

Rishi's said staring straight into her eyes
Richa blinked her eyes and looked away, she felt her heartbeat raising and in her mind, was ringing Rudra's voice
' I promise you Richa, I will never ever leave you alone, no matter what. I will come back to you even after death, to fulfill my promise, just remember my words and recognize me soon'

Rudra's words were echoing in her mind

'No, I can't think like that, Rudra is in Coma and laying on the hospital bed right now, he will wake up soon'

'My Rudra is in hospital, this person is not him, it can't be him,  he is just similar in personality with Rudra, that's it, nothing else'

The car stopped and Richa looked around, they reached at the library.
She looked at Rishi, who was looking at her with hopeful eyes
Richa said 'Thank you' for the ride and got out of the car.

Rishi remain seated in the car and staring into the direction in which Richa was walking towards the library.