“It’s better that it ended early.”
But her eyes betrayed her.
Because even now, two years later, it didn’t feel like an ending at all.
Emma’s eyes narrowed slightly at Sophia’s answer.
“You know I can tell when you’re lying, right?”
Sophia stiffened almost imperceptibly.
“When I told you about his accident… about his memory loss…” Emma’s voice lowered. “I still remember how your phone slipped from your hand. You didn’t say a single word. You just stood there like someone had ripped the ground from under you.”
Sophia swallowed.
“You disappeared for a whole month, Sophia,” Emma said, her voice rising with anger. “You didn’t call. You didn’t reply to my messages. Literally no response at all. I was terrified!”
Silence fell between them.
“So don’t try to tell me it didn’t matter,” Emma said quietly. “A relationship doesn’t become meaningless just because it was short.”
Sophia couldn’t deny it.
It was true.
At the airport, shehadsearched for him — scanning every tall figure, every dark coat, every familiar silhouette in the crowd. And when she’d heard about the accident three days afterlanding in London — when Emma had told her he was alive but had forgotten the last six months…
Including their marriage.
She remembered the way her world had collapsed in that instant.
It was cruel in a way she couldn’t explain.
Why was she the only one forced to carry their memories? Why did she have to remember every word, every touch, every argument — while he was granted the mercy of forgetting?
It had only been three months.
Three months built on a contract.
It shouldn’t have shattered her the way it did.
But it had.
It had broken her so deeply that she couldn’t even speak to Emma for weeks. She had shut herself away, refusing calls, refusing the world. It had taken her a long time to breathe without feeling like her chest was collapsing.
Eventually, she accepted it.
It was over.
There was no going back.
And if he had forgotten, it felt like the universe’s way of closing the door.
Sophia finally lifted her head and forced a smile. It didn’t reach her eyes.
“Stop talking about it,” she said quietly. “Why are we still discussing him?”
She waved her hand dismissively, though her shoulders were tense. “It’s good, isn’t it? Now we won’t have anything to do with each other in the future. He doesn’t remember me. Even if we meet again, we’ll just be strangers.”
