I had no choice but to take a leave of absence. Luckily, I had accumulated fourteen days of leave credits, a small blessing in the middle of this storm. I filed the paperwork quickly, packed a few essentials, and made up a reason for my parents.
I told them my editor had urgent matters for me to settle in City X, deadlines, revisions, the usual chaos of publishing. It was believable, something they wouldn't question too deeply. What I didn't tell them was the truth.
I didn't tell them I suddenly had a husband.
I didn't tell them he had been in an accident.
I thought the lie would be enough to keep everything contained.
But then my phone rang.
"Mom?" I answered, a little too quickly, still on edge from my own thoughts.
"You will go to City X, right?" she asked, her voice calm but firm, as though she already knew the answer.
"Yes, Mom," I replied cautiously.
There was a pause. Then her next words hit me like a knife.
"Can you check on Rj?"
My breath caught. "Rj?"
"Richard," she clarified, her tone softening when she said his full name.
And just like that, I felt as if cold water had been poured over me. My body went rigid, my fingers gripping the phone so tightly I thought it might shatter.
Richard.
The name alone unlocked flashes of the picture I had seen. The tags. The comments. The truth that had been circling me but which I still couldn't grasp.
He wasn't just anyone. He was my mother's student. Her favorite student, my father's too.
My lips trembled as I forced out, "Richard was in a car accident?"
"Yes. Can you check up on him?" she asked, her voice edged with worry. "I think you can access the hospital where he was admitted."
I closed my eyes, my throat tightening.
"Okay." The word came out flat, automatic, as though my mind and heart couldn't agree on how to react.
Then she added, her tone lower now, weighted with something unspoken, "What stays in the past will stay there. Ahce, you're his friend too, not just his ex. I don't know what happened between the two of you, but you are important to him, too. Take care of him for me. Lower your pride for once."
I stood frozen in the middle of my apartment, the silence ringing louder than her words after the call ended.
My parents didn't know about my memory loss. I had kept it a secret, a shame I locked away, fearing their disappointment or worry.
But now… my mother's words confirmed what I had feared all along.
Something had happened between Richard and me.
Something big enough that even she, who never pried into my private life, acknowledged it.
Something that could no longer be denied.
I was Richard's ex?
When?
I racked my brain until it hurt. I could still remember my breakup with Patrick in May 2024. Every bitter word, every tear, every numb hour afterward. But after that?
My memories grew hazy, like smoke drifting through my mind. I might have enjoyed my time with friends. I might have met new people. I might have laughed, danced, tried to bury the loneliness of that breakup beneath noise and company.
But everything after that was blurred. Faces faded into shadows, voices became echoes, and even the events I supposedly attended slipped through my grasp.
Something must have happened between Richard and me. But what?
Why had my parents, strict and careful about everything, agreed to us being together? Why would my mother, of all people, call him her favorite student and still support us?
What was so special about him that they could overlook the eight years that separated us?
The following day, I sat by his bedside, taking care of him as best as I could. I checked his IV, made sure the sheets were neat, and dabbed at the sweat on his forehead. But he didn't wake. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, his lashes still against his pale skin. The silence of the hospital room pressed heavily on me.
Then the door creaked open.
I turned, and my heart skipped.
A familiar face peeked inside, and the boy, no, the young man grinned.
"Big sis! Why are you here?"
I blinked, confused. "Do you… know me?"
He frowned, as if I had just told the worst joke in the world. "Are you joking with me? Big sis, don't prank me like this! We haven't seen each other for years, how can you forget your cute brother?"
Brother?
The word clanged in my head like an alarm bell.
When? How?
I only had one sworn brother, Nazaree. That was it. My circle was small. But who was this? Why did he look at me with such warmth, such certainty?
"I don't remember," I said honestly, my voice trembling.
His smile faltered, his eyes narrowing in disbelief. "Big sis… are you telling me you had amnesia? Impossible!"
I looked away, ashamed, but forced myself to steady my breathing. "Can you tell me about the past? Let's talk somewhere else."
The man's face softened with concern, as if he was torn between teasing me again and believing the unthinkable. Finally, he nodded.
"Alright, Big sis," he said. "I'll tell you everything you forgot."
But his tone carried a weight I couldn't ignore.
As though the story he was about to share would unravel not just the past, but the reason my memories had been locked away in the first place.
We sat quietly on the bench outside the hospital. The air smelled faintly of disinfectant and blooming acacia trees from the courtyard. He returned from the vending machine, balancing a plastic cup of coffee and a small box containing a slice of cake.
"Here," he said, handing them to me with an easy smile, like we'd done this countless times before.
I took the coffee, my fingers brushing his for the briefest second. I sipped slowly, trying to calm the unease in my chest.
"When did I meet you?" I finally asked.
He tilted his head, studying me, as if waiting for the punchline of a joke. But my serious expression made his smile falter.
"Summer of 2024," he said at last, his voice quieter now. "Big sis, you really can't remember?"
I shook my head, staring at the rising steam from my coffee. "I remember nothing."
His brows knitted. "Did Aunt know?"
"Aunt?" I frowned, then realized he meant my mother. "No. I never told them anything."