Please Forget Me - Chapter 191

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

“That’s a long story. I’ll tell you on the way. We don’t have time now.”

Thinking I’d stopped crying, he urged me to quickly change clothes and get going, but I grabbed hold of him near the trunk of the car.

“Then tell me this at least. Who am I?”

“Dana.”

He said only what I already knew, then fell silent. Just as I was about to get upset again, he spoke once more.

“…Loveridge. Dana Loveridge.”

Dana Loveridge. As I quietly repeated my name, the man watching me asked,

“Do you remember?”

I shook my head blankly. Though it was the name I had used my whole life, it felt completely unfamiliar to me, like hearing it for the first time. If this was truly my name…

“Then what’s your name?”

How could that be something to hesitate over? He stared at me again, hesitated briefly, and then answered.

“Killian Ackroyd.”

Hearing his name made me panic. Seeing my confusion, he asked with sad eyes.

“Don’t tell me… you remember that name?”

“No.”

“Then why do you tremble?”

Killian Ackroyd… The reason I was afraid now was because our last names didn’t match.

“You are really my husband, right?”

This time, his reply was slow. No, this time he didn’t answer at all.

‘….Was this a lie too?’

Perhaps we had only pretended to be married to infiltrate, but I didn’t know that and expected the real things only a married couple would do. He knew we weren’t actually husband and wife but never told me.

He deceived me.

The very arms that had once felt so comforting now seemed chilling.

“Oh… my God…”

Startled, I took a step back…

“Dana.”

The man, motionless like a statue, suddenly rushed forward and grabbed me. He snatched my wrist and pulled me in, swallowing me in that cold embrace.

“No! Let me go!”

Before, even if I tried to slip away, he would let me go immediately. Now, no matter how much I struggled, he wouldn’t release me. Like he’d never let me out of his arms, even if it crushed me.

He felt like a different person.

Terrified, I resisted fiercely, and he whispered to me.

“Dana, I am your husband.”

“Lies!”

“If it were a lie, how could I remember our wedding?”

“That’s a lie too!”

“We rushed to get married on Wednesday, July 11th, at 3 p.m., in the chapel of Castle Hill Village, where the unit was stationed, just before deployment. We didn’t have time to get you a new wedding dress, so you had to wear an old dress that belonged to someone else. It pained me so much…”

An old wedding dress.

“Tell me about our wedding, Johann. What kind of wedding dress did I wear?”

“An old wedding dress.”

It matched exactly what he had reluctantly told me last year after much coaxing.

“What hurt even more was this ring—you probably don’t know. It’s a family heirloom, passed down for generations, the wedding ring of a couple who tragically died in a war hundreds of years ago. What good is being a hero if you’re dead? That’s why I hated so much that you had to wear this ominous ring. I still remember it vividly and it pains me… Yeah, maybe you’re right, it’d be better if it were all a lie. If from the very start, all of this was just a lie…”

The wedding description wasn’t any different from what he told me last year. In fact, the new details were so vivid it was as if he had witnessed and lived through it himself. That meant…

“…Is it true? Are we really married?”

He buried his head in the nape of my neck where I’d stopped struggling and nodded.

“The woman I’ve loved my whole life is only you, and the man you’ve loved is only me. That’s never been a lie, so don’t ever doubt our love.”

“If you want me to stop doubting you, don’t ever lie to me again. I won’t forgive you if you do.”

When I said I wouldn’t forgive him next time, he seemed to take it as permission that I’ll forgive him this time. He tightened his arms around me and breathed heavily, but said nothing.

“Promise me quickly. Promise you’ll never lie to me again.”

“I promise I won’t ever lie to you again.”

“I believe you.”

Only then did I wrap my arms around his broad back and bury my face against his chest.

At least his love wasn’t a deception. This embrace felt cozy again. Even the unsettling rapid beating of his heart.

Our racing hearts must be because we’re truly being chased.

We got back into the car. As it sped through the darkness, I stared at the road ahead. It was uncertain, like our future. I held the hand of the man sitting beside me and silently prayed.

Johann and Rize Renner—leaving behind names that aren’t truly ours, we hoped that at the end of this perilous path, we might reclaim what is truly ours.