He remembered the time he had proposed to her. She had blushed. He had hugged her. Their love story had been perfect. Their marriage blissful. There were no complaints. She had asked him to love her unconditionally. He had promised. She had said," Promise me you will always love me. When I am angry, when I am happy, when I am sad, when I am upset...Even when I grow old and stoop and wrinkle, you will always love me." And he had promised. He had asked her to promise something too...'Never leave me". She had said 'Yes!'
It was five years ago. An accident had changed things now. A severe head injury had made her lose her memory. She did not remember anything now. Her name, his name, their love, their promises.
He reminded her everyday. He told her stories about their past. He declared his love to her an umpteen number of times, a declaration that only evoked a response of confusion.
One day, after he had told her that he loved her, she asked, "Why?"
"I had promised to love you. You are my life."
He told her about the promise they had made to each other five years ago.
"I am not old, but I am not yours either. I don't remember anything. I have broken my promise. Even then you love me?" A look of bewilderment passed on her face.
"Yes, I still love you. You have not broken your promise. You survived the accident, even though the doctors had given up. There was something that stopped you from going. I want to think that it was our love."
Tears trickled on her cheeks like rain drops. He wiped them off.
"You don't mind when I look away? You don't feel heart-broken when I shrug off your touch? Is it still okay?"
He held her hands with a warmth that she felt, perhaps for the first time, in so many months.
"Yes, it's still okay."
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Her palpitations had increased. Her speech was incoherent. She had hardly slept. She could not sit. Her eyes seemed to be popping out of her head. Medicines were not helping. Friends reached out to her to tell her to try relaxation techniques. Stop the pill, they told her. She could not hear them. She had faith, faith in her husband that he would cure her.
He had faith too - faith in the medicine.
He sat there. He was working on his computer. He had promised to be with her.
The chest pain suffocated her. She gasped for fresh air.
She had not slept for days. She had lost count.
The phone rang. She did not pick. She could hardly talk. He answered.
"Yes, she is fine......She has the pain, still......No, no the medicine will help her.......No....she did not sleep......"
".....the palpitations are there.....No, she could not sleep.....Don't worry.....It's still okay...."
Written for IndiSpire Edition 96
