They both knew that the past few years, when Darren was gone, it had been the hardest for me.
I had once boldly declared in front of them that if Darren didn’t die, I would drag him to the fighting room and beat him half to death.
When the moment finally arrived, I was overjoyed, wanting nothing more than to rush up and hug him tightly.
But by his side, there was someone else.
We stood in the corner for a long time, until Darren and Vivie walked out hand in hand and only then did we make a move.
Juan stubbed out his cigarette and threw it into the trash can, pulling me toward the consultation room.
“Let’s go, let’s figure out what’s going on.”
The doctor said that Darren had amnesia.
His memory stopped at the time before his college graduation, when Vivie was everything to him and I was the rival he disliked the most.
I grew up with him, as our families have been close for generations. But somehow, it felt like we had always been at odds.
I was competitive and he couldn’t tolerate anyone opposing him even a little. During our younger years, we were both full of youthful pride. We argued over everything, from academics to life and every time we met, we almost always ended up in a heated argument.
But Vivie was different.
She was gentle, intellectual, sweet and cute.
If it hadn’t been for her leaving him to go abroad for a better life, he wouldn’t have ended up drunk and in that state, spent a night with me, also intoxicated.
After that, we slowly stopped seeing each other as enemies and began to discover each other’s good qualities.
Despite our relationship breaking the ice, on the day he proposed to me, Darren became entangled in a business dispute. He offended the wrong person and was deliberately set up for revenge, his life hanging in the balance.
Now he’s back, but all the mutual probing and shared understanding over the past years have turned to nothing.
“Is there really no chance for Darren to recover his memory?” Juan asked, frowning.
The doctor shook his head and replied, “The chances are slim.”
We exchanged glances, but none of us spoke.
From our earlier conversation with the doctor, we learned that Darren’s treatment had been ongoing for several months.
During this period, he slowly began to remember many things and it wasn’t until recently that his memory finally returned to the level of when he was in university.