Fragments of Tomorrow

Fragments of Tomorrow

A Heart-Touching Romantic Story in English

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The beeping sound was steady, almost rhythmic, like a faint heartbeat trying to remind him he was still alive.

When Aarush opened his eyes, the world was blurred and painfully bright. His body felt like lead, every movement demanding more strength than he had. For a few seconds, he didn’t know where he was—or who.

Then a soft voice cut through the fog.

“Aarush… you’re awake.”

He turned his head slightly, and saw her. A girl with dark eyes and trembling lips. She looked relieved. But behind her smile, there was pain.

“Do I know you?” he whispered.

Her smile faltered.

“I’m Meera,” she said slowly. “Your fiancée.”

The word felt foreign. Fiancée? Him?

He blinked. His memories were blank pages. His past, a dark room.

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The accident had taken many things. Control of his legs. Weeks of his life in a coma. But the cruelest was his memory.

The doctors called it retrograde amnesia. They explained how his brain was protecting him, how recovery might take time, how some things might never return.

But they couldn’t explain the ache in his chest every time he looked at Meera and felt… nothing.

And yet, she never left.

She brought him books he used to love, though they read like strangers’ stories. She played songs he once danced to, but they stirred no recognition. She laughed at memories he no longer shared.

And sometimes, late at night, he heard her cry when she thought he was asleep.

He wanted to remember. Not just for himself—but for her. For whatever love they once had.

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Days turned into weeks.

Aarush went through therapy, physical and psychological. He had to relearn the simplest things. How to walk with support. How to use a spoon. How to smile, even when it hurt.

Meera was always there.

She showed him old photos—of vacations, birthdays, their engagement. She told him about their first meeting at a college seminar, how he had spilled coffee on her notes and then made up for it with a handwritten apology and a chocolate bar.

He tried to picture it. Her laughter, his awkwardness. But the scenes wouldn’t come.

He asked once, “Why are you still here? I don’t even remember loving you.”

Her answer came without hesitation. “Because I remember for both of us.”

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Some moments gave him hope.

One day, while watching the sunset from the hospital balcony, he felt something shift inside—a flicker. Meera had leaned on his shoulder, and for a second, it didn’t feel like a stranger’s touch. It felt… right.

He looked at her then, studying her profile. The gentle curve of her nose, the slight frown she made when deep in thought.

And he asked, “What did I used to say when I looked at you like this?”

She smiled, not meeting his eyes.

“You used to say I made the world quieter. That when you were with me, everything made sense.”

He nodded, even if the meaning escaped him.

“I wish I could say that now,” he whispered.

She looked up, tears in her eyes. “You just did.”

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One night, Aarush had a dream.

He was standing in a field. Meera was there, laughing, running, calling his name. He chased her, and for the first time in weeks, he felt light. Whole.

When he woke up, he couldn’t remember the dream. Only the feeling. A warmth in his chest. A pull toward her.

He looked at Meera, sleeping in the chair beside his bed, her fingers still laced with his.

Maybe love wasn’t just memory. Maybe it was presence.

Maybe it could be rewritten.

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By the third month, he was discharged.

They moved back into the apartment they once shared.

It was filled with signs of their life together—pictures, books, tiny post-its with old jokes and grocery reminders. Every corner whispered a memory he couldn’t hear.

But he didn’t let the silence win.

He started cooking with her again—burning the rotis, ruining the spices, but laughing through it all.

He took her on walks—slow ones, leaning on his cane, but steady.

He began to write in a journal—his own words, his own thoughts. His fragments of tomorrow.

Because the past was lost.

But the future was still theirs.

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Then one day, he found an old notebook under their bed.

His handwriting. Faded ink. And a list titled:

“Reasons I Love Meera.”

There were dozens.

“She makes tea exactly how I like it, even when I change my mind.”
“She knows the lyrics to every sad song and still chooses to be happy.”
“She forgave me when I forgot her birthday but remembered every moment after.”
“She makes me believe I can be more than I am.”

He sat on the floor and cried.

Not because he remembered.

But because the man who wrote those words was still in him.

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That night, he showed her the notebook.

She smiled, reading each line like a sacred prayer.

He held her hand, gently.

“I don’t remember writing it. But I know it’s true.”

She touched his cheek. “You’re remembering in your own way.”

He leaned in, resting his forehead against hers.

“I think I’m falling in love with you again.”

And she whispered, “I never stopped.”

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Months passed. They rebuilt—bit by bit.

Some memories returned. Small flashes. A dance under fairy lights. A fight over who left the lights on. A kiss in the rain.

But most didn’t.

And that was okay.

Because they made new ones.

A picnic at the lake where they fell into the water laughing. Late-night baking disasters that ended with ice cream. Learning to waltz in the living room.

Love came back—not as a memory, but as a choice. A commitment to each day, each breath, each other.

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On their anniversary, he surprised her.

He took her back to the same seminar hall where they first met.

He spilled coffee on her hand intentionally.

Then got down on one knee.

“Will you marry me again, Meera? For the version of me that loved you then… and for the man who loves you now?”

She couldn’t speak.

She just nodded, crying and laughing all at once.

And as he slipped the ring back onto her finger, the world felt whole again.

Not because he remembered the past.

But because he believed in their future.

Because even shattered lives can shine again—when rebuilt with love.

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The End