Expect the Unexpected

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!!!

It was early on a winter morning when the three boarded the flight. As Diya took the window seat, Kiara chose the middle one. Rishaan took a minute to stow the luggage in the overhead bin and then settled into the aisle seat.
As the flight taxied, his mind wandered 7 years back. He had married his college sweetheart right after they graduated with admirable jobs in the world of journalism.
Two years later, Rishaan chose to be a freelance journalist, while her adventurous nature made Diya a top class backpack journalist. And it took her to the storm-battered areas of West Bengal and Bihar to cover the story of the lakhs of people who were rendered homeless.
April 2010, Rishaan lost his wife to the storm or so he believed. He has not yet forgotten the fear that had gripped him when her office had called to tell him that they couldn't locate her nor the rush to Bengal and the frantic search in both hospitals and morgues alike. He couldn't find her. The grief was so strong that it became a nauseating pain which left him numb to the world around him.
Four years later Rishaan finally gave in to his parents' wish and agreed to get married again. He has not yet gotten over Diya, but he realized just how much both their parents had suffered after losing their daughter who carried their unborn grandchild. So he got married to Kiara and it's been a year now.
Yesterday, Diya was spotted by one of his Dad's friend in Railway colony but Rishaan couldn't believe it. But something deep stirred which had him rushing to the area like he had 5 years ago. He spent well over an hour to scan the area as best as he could, but she was nowhere to be found. He convinced himself that it must have been a mistake and turned to where his pulsar waited for him and then he saw her!
She had her back to him but he knew it was her. Her hair was longer than it used to be and she was slimmer than before. He remained rooted to the spot. This must be a dream is all he could think. But then she turned and it occurred to him that ghosts might be real after all or he was hallucinating.
She turned and saw the man watching her. Was it confusion or surprise on his face, she wasn't sure. But his stare was now becoming uncomfortable. She tried searching her memory for his face but could find none.
As he walked up to her, he sensed that something was wrong. She looked at him but there was no recognition. If she was alive, why hadn't she come back to him? Why was she looking at him as if she had never seen him before? Something wasn't right!
"Hi." she said, as he came closer
"Diya!" Her name was all he could manage. "Where have you been? How have you been?"
Confusion was evident on her face and his heart sank. He knew that it was a mistake, it couldn't be her.
"I am sorry, have we met before?" she asked.
"I think so, or else you look exactly the same as someone I lost 5 years ago."
The time ringed a warning bell in her mind. Wasn't it just 5 years ago that she had lost so much and gained so much?
"I know only the last 5years of my life!" she murmured.
He could see she was lost in her own thoughts. He gently asked, "What do you mean?"
"5 years back I had an accident when I was covering the story of the homeless in the storms that damaged West Bengal and Bihar." He was stuck between excitement and confusion.
"I lost my memory in the accident. The villagers who healed me told me that I was one of the many reporters who had come to cover the story." She finished.
"I lost my wife in an accident when she was covering the story of the same storm. And you look exactly the same like her." He replied. "I am Rishaan."
"There is too much of coincidence here; I think we should sit and talk this out. Would you mind going to my place? My parents would want to hear this too."
She had spent the better part of the last 5 years trying to find her past. This man claimed to be her family but she had no reason to trust him. No reason to hope that she might even be close to finding her past. But she obliged him by agreeing to go to his place. There was something sad in his eyes when he spoke about his wife, something honest in his voice. And she had nothing to lose.
He called his dad to let him that he was bringing her home. But his mind shifted to Kiara. She knew everything about his past. But how will she react when she finds out that Diya is alive?
"Have you told Kiara about this?" he asked his Dad.
"Yes, she said she doesn't mind."
As they stepped into the house, Diya's mother rushed to her daughter and hugged her. Diya returned the hug whole hearted because she understood a mother's heart. The lady has lost her daughter, what could be more painful. And also she doesn't remember the last time someone had hugged her with so much love in it.
As his mother went to the kitchen to get tea and snacks for everyone, Rishaan quietly pulled Kiara to the next room. He needed to know how she was feeling about the whole situation.
"I know you don't have much of a choice, I still worry as to how you are feeling about this?"
The fact that he cared enough to ask made her heart melt. She knew that she is not his first love. But that had not stopped her from falling in love with him in this first year of their marriage.
"I had a choice Rishaan. Ma and Baba asked me if I was ok with Diya here or they will arrange to meet somewhere else. I am okay with her coming here. After all she is a part of your life and when I married you, I had accepted your past, present and future. So quit worrying about me."
Her reply humbled him. His respect for her went up a couple of notches. He gave her a hug before they both joined the others.
"April 2010, I woke up to a splitting headache and unknown faces around me." Diya began.
"It took me sometime to believe that I wasn't kidnapped but saved by the villagers. They said that they found me somewhere in the outskirts of a small village in Hemtabad. I have been unconscious for two days."
Her mind took her 5 years back. She remembered the intense confusion and the struggle to recall her memory. And then tears of frustration.
"It is when they asked me my name and where I stay that I realized that I don't remember anything. I couldn't recall my name. I had lost my memory." This piece of information was followed by gasps of shock. Diya's mother was silently crying.
"I felt frustrated and helpless." she continued. "Life seems pointless if you lose your identity. But then the healers gave me a beautiful news, I was three months pregnant. I found new hope in me, hope for a life that would otherwise be hopeless."
She was lost in her thoughts and the people around her did not exist anymore. She was back to the narrow bed in the village surrounded by the local ladies. She could still feel the joy and amazement. She was oblivious to the shock and incredulity that was clear on the faces of the family that now surrounded her.
Rishaan's voice brought her back to the present, "You have a child?"
"Yes, a daughter, she just turned 5 this October. Riya was the new start in life. She gave me a reason to live." When she looked around she could see shock.
"What is the matter? Is it that difficult to belief that I have a daughter?"
"No!" Rishaan's dad shook his head; our daughter-in-law was also three months pregnant when she had left.
Now she could feel butterflies in her stomach. Rishaan was right, too much of coincidences. She was now fidgeting. There is something that might change her life again and she needed to protect her child.
Kiara watched the other woman carefully. Diya was supposed to be Rishaan's first love that he had lost. But the woman had actually lost herself and then built herself a new identity. She acknowledged the courage it took to build a life alone with a child.
"Where is your daughter now?" It is the first time that Diya's Dad has spoken.
"She is with a friend in Goa." She answered.
"I am working as a freelance writer for a magazine in Goa. I got an assignment here in Mumbai. I couldn't bring her with me." An uncomfortable silence followed. Everyone had the same thought and finally Rishaan's Mom voiced it, "This means there is a possibility that Riya is Rishaan's daughter."
Diya could feel the claw of fear when she saw that they were serious about Riya being their granddaughter. Will they claim custody of Riya? Will they use her memory loss to their advantage? They had no evidence that she, Diya was their daughter-in-law.
She quietly turned to Rishaan, "I believed you when you said you had lost your wife and I looked like her. I agreed to come here with you because you thought I might remember something. But I will not agree to your family laying claim on my daughter; the daughter who is my life support, the daughter I raised on my own. I am leaving."
Panic gripped Rishaan. He didn't know what to do to stop her. She had a point, why will she agree with what they had say in the first place? That is when Kiara stepped in.
"Diya I know what you said is right. You have to protect your daughter. But I would like you to give a thought to the possibility that you might actually have a family with two pairs of loving parents and a husband who has loved you all these years. You will never have to leave Riya with friends while you are at work."
Rishaan gaped at Kiara with awe. This was the lady who should be feeling insecure.
Diya knew she was right but the uncertainty was too much. Kiara could see her debating with herself. "Diya, we are all unsure. What would you think if we did a paternity test to confirm Riya's father? This will also give you piece to add to your own puzzle."
Diya pondered over this for some time and realized this was the most logic next step. This would clear a lot of things, for good or for worse she didn't know!
It was decided that the trio would be going to Goa to meet Riya and have the paternity test done!
In the middle of the flight, Kiara woke up to go to the washroom. When she returned, she was too lazy to push her way into the middle seat. And with Rishaan readily offering to shift seats, the seating arrangement changed. With 20 minutes still remaining for the flight to land, a sleep starved Kiara took another power nap, this time holding Rishaan's right hand more firmly. Rishaan's other hand, though, nervously moved to touch Diya's. Her heart skipped a beat. Diya pulled her hand away. But a defiant Rishaan held her wrist again, this time firmly and more reassuringly. The changing behavioral dynamics between the three perhaps gave out a foreboding of what was to come in Goa.
When the flight landed at the Dabolim Airport, Rishaan felt uncanny...his excitement seemed replaced by an unknown fear that he found very difficult to decipher. The incredible fact that he might have a daughter has so far outshone everything else. But as reality seeped in, he pondered over the possibility that this might be a mistake!
Five days later, Rishaan settled into a couch with a cup of tea and a newspaper, but his mind was far from settled. They had met Riya in Goa. His heart had skipped a couple of beats at the sight of her running towards them. In his heart he knew she was his even before the test was done. Waiting for the results now seemed like a challenging test of patience.
His mind took him back to his conversation with Kiara on their flight back from Goa.
"What happens if the paternity test proves that I am her father, and that Diya is my wife?" Rishaan had brought up the topic because it troubled his mind.
"This isn't something we both can or should decide. We have to talk with Diya too. This isn't just us."
"I know that, but it is your thoughts that I want to know. You surely have given this a thought?" Rishaan voice was patient but couldn't hide the anxiety.
"Yes I have, and I think you could accept both wives and tolerate that we might both gang up on you and go shopping together." She smiled.
It amazed him that she could joke about this when she should be feeling insecure or even a bit piqued.
"How can you be so casual about it?" he asked, the surprise evident in his voice.
"I have said this before Rishaan; when I married you I had accepted everything about you. Nothing is going to change that!"
The ring of the phone had him springing up bringing him back to the present.
"Diya?"
"You are Riya's father! The test proves it. Rishaan I have a family, and I didn't know all these years!"
He had known it all along but now that it has been proved, he was finding it difficult to believe. He had thought her dead for over half the decade and she is now alive with a daughter!

Two Months Later.....
Kiara helped Riya get dressed to go to the park with her grandfather, while Diya got ready. The two ladies will be going for shopping for the day.
Rishaan watched his mother and thought how happy she looked. He wasn't sure how his parents will react to having two daughters-in-law but then they seem very happy about it.
"Grandpa! Let's go!" called an excited Riya
He kissed both his wife good bye before they turned to leave.
"Have fun ladies! And try not to bankrupt me in a day!" he added. He heard them giggle as the door closed behind them. The world was right again!!!