Three ailing weeks died in Ryan's absence. His calls abated after the first week. Shailene would call him, but her calls were always left unanswered. Anxious would be an understatement for what she felt.

One night she received a text by midnight. Every other night that ensued the one, her phone would ping with the same message-I'm so tired! I didn't thought the procedure will be THIS long. I'll call you in the morning. Gonna crash now. A heart emoji would linger in the end that would scare her at nights with gloomy, tense thoughts.

The first night when her phone pinged with this text, her tension flew away and dissipated. Her heart felt light and she ate properly and even slept with a hope that she would hear his voice.

But the call never came, neither came the apology in the text thereafter. And she deciphered that something was wrong, but her heart would ache with the wound that the question-What is it?-had given her.

She had decided but then dropped the idea of going there herself. Several times. One part of her was nudging her heart to visit her hometown while the other was telling her to stay; that it would be unwise.

What if he's not lying? What if he's actually busy with procedures? These thoughts pushed her towards her laptop and she surfed the internet. The heavy, intelligent terms glowed with an intensity that made her mind sway like a pendulum. Squeamishness undermined her when the rope of those wise terms squeezed her stomach and the spy died.

Her instincts were telling her a different story that her brain could not grasp. She was never an impulsive one, but now she was trying really hard to deter herself. A crippled-that was what she felt like.

It was getting troublesome for her to centralize on the tasks at hand. She decided to call her mother to ask her to check on Ryan.

"Hello. How are you doing? You never called at this hour, everything alright?" Her mom asked.

And the dam broke.

"What's the matter, dear? Why are you crying? Please answer me." Panic assailed Crystal's voice when she heard the sniffing and whimpering of her daughter.

"Mo-m." Sobs became the speed breaker for the words that travelled up on the highway of her throat.

"Yes, I'm listening."

"Mom, Ryan-

"What happened honey? Don't make me wait. Just tell me. I can't bear all this crying."

"He went to his home three weeks back for his last TB procedure. He called me for a few weeks but th- Sniffed. "-then his calls stopped and whenever he texts he always says that he was tired and that he would call tomorrow, but the call never came. I'm worried about him mom. Please check if he's alright." Her heart folded when the words sailed on her tongue.

"Oh, I- Okay, I will let you know."

"Thanks, mom. Please notify me soon."

"I will." Crystal ended the call before telling her daughter to not stress and eat properly.

Two days of anticipation and anxiety weighed her heart down, so she called her mother herself.

"Hey, hon," Crystal answered.

"Mom, you forgot to call me."

"About wha-oh, sorry. I am having a lot on my plate these days."

"So, you didn't check on him?" Her heart was kicking inside her throat.

"I did. I just forgot to tell you."

A surge of relief flowed in Shailene's body when she spoke, "Is he alright?"

"Yes, honey. He is-fine. He's honest to you-about-tests. He is right. He is a bit tired these days, so don't bother him with calls... I'll call you back later." These were the last words she heard before the call disconnected.

He will call me when he will get free. After all, there's no reason that he would lie to me.

She lied flat on the bed and stared at the ceiling before sleep reprieved her.
Since the talk with her mother she was doing well. Her frenzied schedule kept her busy the whole day, but the nightly darkness brought the fear, the tension with it.

Appetite became a materialistic thing that she forgot where she had kept. At nights her mind flickered to the states of consciousness and unconsciousness. Trails of sweat became her nightly companion that hugged her with their sticky, wet hands.

One day she was preparing for a forthcoming test when she was impeded by a call. Her phone's screen glowed with Ryan's number. Her feet lifted off the ground as her mind lofted in the air.

"Finally, you called!" She answered gleefully. "Are you alright and when you will be coming back? And are you done with the proce-

"Stop." The familiar voice of a lady from the other line interrupted her.

"June?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Oh, hi. I'm sorry. Where is Ryan?"

"Listen to me, Shailene. Ryan wasn't well lately. Since he came here he was alright a few days but then he-

"What are you saying? Mom informed me a few days back that he is safe and sound but a bit weary."

"She lied."

The gears in her mind stopped and her heart sank to her knees which couldn't carry its weight. She sat down on the bed. Her voice croaked as she spoke, "Why?"

"I told her to. Now listen. Do you know why he came here?"

"For the last procedures." The words felt like a lie after everything that had happened.

"No, he came here for something else. Have you caught sight of him forgetting things lately?"

"Yes, he was forgetting a lot."

"Alright. Now listen to me. His memory of the last few months has collapsed, so he does not remember any moments he spend with you. He doesn't remember you."

The threads that collected her till now loosened. The things that composed her detached. Tears were trapped inside her eyes.

"It's a side effect of the medications he was taking. Dr. Longman mentioned it to us, but he said it was quite rare. At first, he was forgetting minor things and when Dr. Longman got to know about this, he asked him to come back promptly. He was being wary. Then his memory declined at a much faster rate."

"And he forgot significant things, events, people. He forgot me," she blurted out.

"Indeed. And Dr. Longman has strictly warned us to not push him. If we will try to push him to recall these past events, his memory would decline further. And I wanted to notify you to not to call and text him. Don't try to communicate with him by any means possible. I hope you und-

By then she had disconnected the call. She clutched the pillow and cried like a lost child.