Chapter 289
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
After fighting my uncooperative body for an entire day, I finally managed to get up on crutches alone, without anyone’s help.
From the bed to the door. From my room to the staircase.
Moving at a pace so slow that crawling might have been faster was unbearably frustrating. But that wasn’t even the real obstacle.
‘I can’t exactly roll myself down the stairs….’
I stood there, staring down at them in despair, trying to figure out how to get down.
“Really? That’s amazing.”
I heard your voice.
It wasn’t a hallucination. The sound drifted in through the open corridor window.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I dragged my body toward the window with desperate determination, not caring if my bones shattered all over again.
Broken bones could heal someday. Pain would pass. But if I missed you now, I felt like I’d lose you forever.
The moment I finally reached the window and saw you, relief that I wasn’t too late was instantly swallowed by rage.
“Is the Doctor upset with me for not asking permission first?”
You weren’t alone.
You were walking through the garden arm in arm with Rupert. The mouth that spoke to you so politely now was the same mouth that had mocked and ridiculed you mercilessly just days ago.
“Of course not. Father was delighted.”
You didn’t know any of it. You smiled at him, bright and clear, like sunlight.
I had watched you for two months. That was the first time I had ever seen you smile so purely. In that instant, I felt a fury fiercer than fire, and a pain that twisted my heart apart.
‘No. You’re supposed to smile at me. Don’t smile at that thief. You’re being deceived. Run away from him. Come to me.’
I wanted to jump straight out the window and tear my love away from that despicable thief. I flung the window wide open. Perhaps you heard the sound, your gaze turned toward me.
‘Now’s my chance.’
I snapped back to myself and lifted the necklace you’d given me, hanging around my neck.
But it was too late.
The moment your eyes met mine, you gave me nothing more than a polite nod and then turned back to Rupert.
You walked past me, just like that.
I tried to shout after you.
“……”
No, I only tried to.
If my voice hadn’t betrayed me yet again, I would have screamed. The scream trapped inside me echoed sharply, tearing my heart to pieces.
‘Dana, my love. Please don’t forget me.’
I couldn’t make a sound, but tears flowed freely. They dripped one by one onto the silver necklace engraved with the forget-me-not, the flower that begs not to be forgotten.
You once asked why only the mirror inside that locket had tarnished.
Those were tear stains that had seeped in over ten long years. What had leaked behind the mirror could never be wiped away.
Dana.
Back then, I prayed desperately for you to regain your lost memories. Again and again, I wished for it.
So why, why is it now, when I want you to forget everything, that your memories have returned?
No. That’s not your fault. Why would I blame you? You’ve done nothing wrong.
No, wait. It’s not too late yet, is it? Right?
Dana, please believe me. The man who exchanged letters with you—the man you loved—wasn’t Rupert. It was me. That necklace around your neck is proof. Why do you think I had it, and not Rupert? Because you gave it to me.
Because I’m the real one.
Dana, my love, please believe me. I didn’t steal you. You were mine from the beginning. The one who deceived you and stole you away wasn’t me. It was Rupert.
…Yes. I know. I’m a fraud too, in a way. I wasn’t your husband, yet I still deceived you.
I didn’t pretend to be your husband from the start with this in mind. And now, it’s time I tell you why I had no choice.
But before that, I need to tell you how I lived afterward.
I’ll keep it short. Those ten years were no different from being dead to me. There’s not much worth telling anyway.
After you were taken from me by Rupert, I struggled desperately in my own way not to collapse.
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