I’m worried about you, my Paradise.
Me
Please, Aoi. What happened? Did I do something wrong?
Me
I’ll do anything to fix this. Whatever it is you’re struggling with let me help you overcome it.
Me
I’m losing my mind over here. Please, just give me a sign that you’re alive.
Me
If you don’t want to see me again can you at least tell me why?
Me
I don’t understand what happened, but I’ll do anything for you. Anything.
Me
I love you.
Me
I miss you. Call me.
I sent out the last text this morning, but he still hasn’t replied. So, when the elevator rings, and I find him standing there in a blue sweater, I fear I’ll actually start crying from sheer relief.
“Aoi…you’re home.” I reach for his cheek, but he slaps my hand away.
I expect a comment or a faint smile, but his lips don’t even twitch as he steps past me into my living room.
49
Aoi
“Andrew, you should sit down.”
We have to talk once and for all. I can’t go on knowing he’s been lying to me since the beginning.
“Why? Did something happen?” he asks coyly, and flashes a worried smile.
“Sit. Down,” I order, taking a seat myself.
He sits down in the chair opposite mine at the table and crosses one leg over the other.
I suck in a breath before speaking, “The more time we spent together, the more I started wondering if I knew you. It was strange how familiar you seemed, but then I concluded it was due to the first night we spent together. I told you I had memory loss from the trauma I suffered eight years ago and that I don’t remember much from that time.” I pull up my sleeve, exposing my scarred forearm. “I told you about this scar and how I don’t remember how exactly it happened. My uncle and friends tiptoed around the subject, and no one ever dared to bring up the missing years of my life.”
Visha shifts in his seat and straightens his back. “To protect you, I’m guessing.”
“I stopped trying to remember because the pain didn’t seem worth it. But then you came into my life, and over the past weeks my mind has kept trying to access these memories.”
“Do you remember anything?” he asks reluctantly, his fingers twitching in his lap.
He deserves to feel as terrified as I feel betrayed, and I’m not about to cut him some slack.
