What did your husband say?
Letta sat silently as Arabella looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“It seems like the outcome wasn’t good,” Arabella said, drawing Letta’s attention, who was now gazing in her direction.
“Why does your demeanor not match what you were hoping for in the introduction?” Arabella asked again, making sure, causing Letta to shake her head.
“No, everything went smoothly,” Letta replied, making Arabella look at her with a puzzled expression.
“Then what’s with that expression?” Arabella asked again. Since Abian’s departure, Letta had been silent. She seemed to be contemplating something complex that was currently on her mind. Although Arabella knew it wasn’t easy to accept someone’s past story without remembering it at all, and surely Letta was currently thinking about it.
“Turns out, everything is complicated,” Letta said again, making Arabella nod.
“Yes, I suspected as much, it’s not easy to remember your past just like that,” Arabella replied, making Letta nod.
“So, what’s the answer? What story did he tell you?” Arabella asked again, making Letta bow her head, gazing at her fingers, which still felt cold.
“It turns out, that Abian was my ex-lover,” Letta said, making Arabella also unable to escape her surprise. Because Arabella thought Abian was just a friend in the vicinity of her living area. But it turned out their relationship was much more complicated than that.
“You trust him, it’s possible that he’s not the one lying to you,” Arabella said again, making Letta shake her head.
“Everything became clear from the photo album he still had on his phone. I saw it, how we were back then and how our relationship was,” Letta said again, making Arabella go silent. It meant that when Letta married Marco, she had a lover, and that was Abian. Arabella also didn’t know what reasons Letta and Marco used to decide on that man, because right now Arabella didn’t know how to comment on it.
“I want to know actually, how my story and Marco’s first began, and how your relationship ended up like mine with Abian. Could it be that Marco and I betrayed you?” Letta asked, now looking at Arabella with a questioning gaze. Of course, they didn’t betray her, on the contrary, in the beginning, Letta was the one who was supposed to be the victim. But of course, Arabella couldn’t possibly tell all their plans that hadn’t even been realized in the slightest because Marco already loved Letta, even though they had lost the fetus Letta was carrying at the time. The question for Arabella was whether Abian knew Letta was pregnant with his child when their relationship ended.
“What did your husband say? Why has he never mentioned how you first met and fell in love?” Arabella asked, choosing a safe path, because Arabella knew for sure Letta was also asking about their story, and Arabella didn’t know what story Marco had told Letta.
“What I heard was just like a typical love story. We met at a party, and we fell in love. Isn’t that a cliche love story? But then I heard that you were his former lover. And what makes me even more curious is that I was Marco’s subordinate. I worked in the airline company that Marco owned. And Marco never mentioned it at all,” Letta said again, making Arabella seem trapped in her own kindness.
“Right now, you have a lot of questions in your mind. Of course, I had suspected that, because there must be things that Marco didn’t tell you, like what Abian told you. I don’t know the reason, but what you should believe is that I didn’t tell you everything to protect you, to worry about your condition. You’re thinking the same as I am, aren’t you?” Arabella said, making Letta go silent, not even able to decide whether Marco had lied to her or not.
“I don’t know, that’s why I said it’s too complicated for me to grasp everything,” Letta said again.
“That’s the risk we have to take. Didn’t you force yourself to find out from Abian’s story, and how is it? Can you imagine how the pieces of your memory start to come back? Because I’m sure it won’t be as easy as it is in movies. Not by recounting all the memories you’ve been through. That won’t make your memories come back immediately. It will surely be gradual, and it will require hard work from yourself. So it’s better, instead of speculating now, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you start trying to remember slowly, without forcing yourself? After that, you can ask Marco, and tell him about your meeting with Abian, because you can’t keep hiding all this forever, can you?” Arabella said again, making Letta go silent. Of course, Arabella’s question had some truth to it, causing Letta to let out a long sigh.
“Okay then, it seems like I really have to fully accept my memory. I also can’t blame Marco, just by listening to your stories, and also assuming that Abian lied, just because you didn’t tell me. Nothing will be clear until my memory fully returns perfectly,” Letta said, making Arabella nod her head.
“Yes, that’s what I meant. I can’t speculate what’s wrong and what’s not, while your memory hasn’t fully recovered. Not by meeting Abian. Maybe that was one of the ways to remember everything. At least you’ve met one person from your past,” Arabella said, making Letta shake her head, then fall silent. Of course, Abian wasn’t the only one from her past that she had met at the moment.
“Two people,” Letta said again, making Arabella furrow her brow.
“So, there’s someone else who knows you from the past. Have you met her?” Arabella asked, making Letta nod her head.
“Yes, although I can’t be sure, because our meeting was different from when I met Abian,” Letta said again. What came to her mind was, of course, the middle-aged woman wearing patient clothes at the hospital where she was treated before. Although Marco said that the woman was crazy, Letta was sure the woman wouldn’t accuse her randomly like that, because the nurse also said that she wasn’t crazy. She was just in a healing process, and under the control of the medication she consumed.
“Are you serious, who is she?” Arabella asked again.
“An middle-aged woman, I have to meet her,” Letta said, making Arabella rub her face roughly.
“Come on, let’s end all this detective game, and this time I don’t want to help you, because I don’t want to get entangled in something even more complicated just by helping you. Meeting Abian alone made my head throb. Let alone having to help you meet that woman. Forget it, let’s just wait for your memory to come back. Haven’t you already met Abian? At least you have a clear point from which you can think about all your lost memories, right?” Arabella said again, making Letta shake her head.
“But, for some reason, I feel something different when I met that woman, and you surely wouldn’t expect how I met her either,” Letta said, making Arabella look at her with a questioning gaze.
“She choked me,” Letta said, making Arabella widen her eyes.
“Does that mean she wanted to hurt you?” Arabella asked again, making Letta shake her head.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
“Not only did she want to hurt me, but she wanted to kill me. She wanted to erase me from this world,” Letta replied, making Arabella even more puzzled.
“So, what you mean is, she wanted to kill you?” Arabella asked, making Letta nod her head.
“Yes, that’s the right answer. And I have to ask why she hates me, and also why she accused me of killing her son,” Letta said again, making Arabella truly unable to comment at all on what was being told by the wife of her childhood friend.