Please don't fall unconscious!

Rehaan held both the sides of his head tightly as if they would split if he didn't hold them.

"Rehaan...," I so wanted to ask him what was going on, however it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to answer me in this situation.

I gently removed his hands from his head before starting to gently massage it.

I don't know what I am doing. I just hope I don't end up making it worse.

I was getting more and more scared as his groaning didn't stop. I hugged him, hoping to give him some support as he fought through the pain.

I continued massaging his head and after what felt like an hour, but was just a few minutes, his painful groans slowly died down.

Rehaan was still breathing heavily as his whole body shivered, in pain or fright, I didn't know. He held onto me tightly, like he was holding a branch for dear life while hanging on a cliff.

We stayed silent, the only sound of our breaths echoing in the room. Now that the worst was over, I realized the position we were in. His face had ended up on my stomach because of the hug, as I was standing and he was sitting. Worry was still there, however, the position and closeness were kinda making my heart flutter.

Snap out of it, Muskaan. Not the time and situation to think about that.

I shook my head physically to try and shake out my internal thoughts, before focusing entirely on Rehaan's health.

I still caressed his head, even though I knew the pain had subsided. I didn't say anything, giving him time to get a hold on himself before he explained what happened to him.

Rehaan finally broke the hug, and emptily stared at his laptop, still not uttering a word.

I looked over the laptop screen, to try and see if I could find out the reason behind what happened to him. But there was nothing there really. And how could it be? We had just managed to start the laptop, so it wasn't like any folder was opened. There was nothing but the wallpaper of his family photo.

Parents...

I looked over at him in alarm, finally understanding his reaction. Seeing that there were no photo frames in his house, this was the first time he saw his parent's photo after the accident.

He probably didn't remember them.

Or... A memory came back after seeing the photo.

He had remembered our fight after I uttered the same words to him with the same emotion. But that was it. That was the only memory Rehaan had recovered after waking up.

Still, his memories coming back is the first thought in my mind whenever something happens🤦🏻.

~Did his head hurt because he suddenly remembered them?

~Was it possible that seeing the photo brought back his memories?

~Or what happened now was the trauma of not being able to remember them?

~Was he forcing himself to remember them causing his head to split in pain?

I gently squeezed his shoulder to provide him some comfort. No matter what the answer was, it was hurting him and that was the most important.

"It's going to be okay," I assured him, before gently moving his face so he could stop staring at the photo and hurt himself even more.

"Sorry," he whispered in a hoarse voice, before abruptly standing up and leaving the study room.

I was about to follow him, but then decided against it to give him some space.

★★★★★

"The people on the screen, they are my parents, right?" Rehaan asked, as soon as he came back to the study room.

All signs of discomfort, pain, hurt had vanished and determination had replaced them.

He immediately sat back on his chair, typing away 'God knows what' in his laptop.

"You know that I won't complain if you take a day off, right?" I said, earning a raised eyebrow from him.

"I know, I know, criminals are on the loose and we are not safe at all. But your health is also not okay. Moreover, there might be many feelings fighting in your head after seeing your parents for the first time. So, it is okay to take some rest. We can do this all later," I assured him.

I for sure knew that he wouldn't take a break or feel too guilty if he did take one. But after what happened a few minutes ago, it was important for him to take everything slow. He needed to process his feelings too.

I couldn't even fathom the feeling of knowing that the picture in front of you is of your parents but still not being able to remember anything about them.

"I didn't have the time to feel anything about my parents," Rehaan said, bringing me out of the thoughts.

"What?"

"A memory hit me. So no time for feeling anything for anyone.

"Whatever happened to me a few minutes ago was because seeing their photo triggered a memory," he informed me in a detached tone, giving his full attention to whatever he was searching in his laptop.

What is more important than his memory coming back?

I wanted to jump around in joy that he remembered something. But how could I when this guy didn't even look slightly bothered by the fact?

"What are you searching for?" I leaned over to see what he was doing, making him jump in the process.

"Sorry," I apologized immediately and took a step back as soon as I realized our faces had come too close.

Too close that a slight moment on the other side would have ended up in a...

'Focus Muskaan,' I slapped myself internally.

Rehaan averted his eyes to look anywhere other than me. He took some deep breaths, before he looked back at me.

He replied to my earlier question casually, as if the embarrassing moment that happened didn't exist at all.

"The memory doesn't make sense to me. That was why I was searching up for some clues."

"What was the memory? Maybe, I can help."

"I saw them taking money from a lady. It seemed like she was giving them a salary of sorts."

"So what?" I asked, rolling my eyes at him. What was the problem here?

"Just because they were rich, they can't be working under someone else?" I tutted at his thinking, before sighing and giving my point of view in a normal tone.

"I don't know what they actually did for a living. But they can be salaried employees too. They must have been at some high level post or something. Or must be rich by inheritance like you, but their job would be something else."

"Do you really think I would be so dense as to not think about all these possibilities?" It was now his turn to roll his eyes.

He turned his chair towards my side, before gesturing to me to take another chair and sit down in front of him.

"I saw them taking the salary in the old house. The one I remember burning. Who will come to give you a salary in your own home? No matter small or big, which enterprise does that?"

I slowly nodded, as his words made sense.

"And the fact that the lady giving them those hefty envelopes was wearing a simple cotton saree.  It is confusing me."

"Perhaps, someone sent their assistant or help to deliver the salary." I guessed.

Rehaan shook his head. "It didn't seem like it. Her clothing definitely seemed like what you suggested but her demeanor didn't. She looked too powerful. The aura wasn't of someone who just came to deliver something asked by their boss."

"How the fuck do you understand auras from a memory?" I scoffed, not at him but at the absurdity of the situation.

He looked at me with unsure eyes, contemplating something. His look changed, letting me know that he came to a certain decision.

"I am not exactly sure, but this memory...," he started hesitantly. He gulped, before continuing again, "this memory seems like something that had shocked the hell out of me. Like it had turned my world upside down. These were the feelings that came to me while remembering the scene. As if, as if I saw something I wasn't supposed to know."

He bit his lips, looking scared as he waited for my reaction.

I held his hands, blinking at him reassuringly, silently letting him know that I trusted and believed in him.

"Will you feel bad if I say that I think that your parents were onto something? And that lady might be...just a speculation...but she might be the reason why we are on the run," I said after thinking over the scenario he mentioned.

My eyes widened in fright as it immediately hit that my words could take another meaning, so I hurriedly clarified, "I am not saying that your parents were bad people or anything. Who knows, they might be some heroes who got info on bad people? So they came after everyone your parents cherished.

"No, that's too much fiction. They were probably at a wrong place at a wrong time and witnessed something. You know how people go after witnesses. That's probably the case.

"Or—"

"It's fine." Rehaan cut me off, removing his hands from my hold to squeeze my shoulders, until I stopped my verbal diarrhea.

"I know you aren't thinking badly of them. So chill," he said, smiling at me to show it was really okay. "And even if you were, it's fine too. Neither one of us knows what happened, nor do we know what kind of people they were. So it's fine to make any type of speculation right now."

"Seriously?" I asked, looking at him with shock, before scoffing, "You surely are great. I wouldn't hear a single word against my Mom."

"You have your memories intact. And memories don't include only pictures and words, but also the feelings attached to them." He said, shaking his head at me.

"True." I agreed with a shrug.

"About feelings...I don't know but I also felt betrayal when I remembered the scene," Rehaan said, looking down at his hands that were now on his lap.

"By your parents?"

"No. By that unknown lady."

His answer shocked me. It wasn't possible to feel betrayed by a stranger. So Rehaan somewhat knew the simple looking scary lady.

Just who the hell was this lady?

If only it was possible to download a photo from your memory.