BETRAYAL

16

Katherine and Michael stood there hugging and crying for so long that they lost track of time. Winnie and Martin were also quietly sobbing beside them.

Finally Katherine pulled away, "You've lost a little bit of weight" she told him as she stroked his hairs, her eyes still wet.

"That's because I missed your cooking so much," he laughed, tears still in his eyes. With that comment he became sure he wasn't dreaming, that was his mother.

"Don't worry, I promise to cook for you everyday. No, every hour. As much as you want," another tear fell from her eye.

"And I promise to finish everything," Michael smiled at her.

Martin brought a handkerchief and handed to Katherine, Katherine took it and blew her nose. Winnie put some water in a glass and passed it to her. Michael helped her to sit down, after she sat down she took a sip and placed the glass back on the table.

And only then the situation dwelled on her, "What are you doing in Martin's house?" She asked him, confused. "How do you two know each other? Why did he call you son? What is Winnie doing here? Winnnie did you know Michael is alive?"

"No, of course not. I only found out yesterday night. I met Michael just yesterday," Winnie quickly told her.

"Let's all sit down in the living room and we will all explain everything," Martin suggested. Katherine nodded.

They all moved to the small living room that was attached to the dining room and sat down. Katherine sat with Michael, both their hands tangled together. They both didn't want to let go of each other yet.

Martin cleared his throat before starting to speak, "Five years ago when I went to Getha to inspect my main mining site I saw a person lying on the rocks which was beside the river, that place was restricted so I was surprised. My employee and I ran to the person and we immediately thought it was a dead body; maybe someone killed him and threw him in the water and the body floated there. The person looked so wounded and didn't look at all alive but still we had to check for his pulse to make sure. Surprisingly he was still breathing, although it was so faint someone could have missed it. My chopper was not far so I quickly called for it and we put him in there and rushed him to the local hospital. The local hospital told us they didn't have the required equipments and so there was nothing much they can do as he was in a very bad state. So I had to put him back to the chopper with one nurse assisting us and rushed him here to the capital. We took him to St John hospital since it is the one which is most equipped and has best doctors and they immediately placed him in icu. He was announced to be in coma shortly after. I came back home, took an hour long shower. When I came out I was met with ten missed calls from my son Henry. Him and my wife were supposed to be back that day from abroad where he was studying. It was his final year and my wife flew there for his graduation, but I told him I was too busy and I would throw him a grand party when he returns, not knowing they won't be-" Martin stopped and closed his eyes to stop the tears that was threatening to fall.

He continued, "I called back the number and after three attempts a female picked up. She told me she is a nurse from St John and that my wife and son were in a car accident on their way here from the airport. My wife died on spot and my son was in a critical condition. I lost it from there and I don't know how the following days and months passed by, in between grieving with my wife's death and searching for the most famous doctors all around the world to save my son who was also in a comma in icu, searching for the family of the person I rescued was the last thing on my mind. I was a mess, and in no time the company became a mess too."

"Two months later one night Henry's health worsened and he died," a tear fell from his eyes "Although I was even more of a mess then, I knew that announcing his death would take the company on the edge. I couldn't do that to the thousands of the families that depended on our company. So I temporarily hid the death of Henry from the media. I replaced the guy I rescued in Henry's room and secretly held a funeral with very few close people who I knew would never disclose the information. I never initially planned to have him play Henry, I just put him there temporarily until when he wakes up. I wanted a little more time to plan how to overcome that crisis. And just like that almost a year passed."

"And then one day suddenly I got a call that he woke up from the comatose state. So I ran to the hospital and told him that I'll explain everything, that he must've been very confused when the nurses called him Henry but he told me he remembers nothing of his past. I was taken a back. Before I could say anything else the batch of doctors came to look at his condition and told me he could be transferred to normal ward then. Outside some directors from the company and reporters who I didn't know how they found out they were already there. It was chaotic. I told my employees to stop any articles of his face and I would sue any company if they don't respect our privacy."

"We spent a week there talking about nothing, different visitors from employees to ministers came everyday. And before we knew it he was released and I took him home. I told him everything and asked him if he wanted to be my son Henry. For me all these felt like a sign, he came to me the day my son got into an accident, he had no memory of his past and almost the whole world already thought he was Henry. So when he said yes I didn't think of anything else. And that's how he became Henry Martin and brought joy to my life which I thought I would never have after the year I spent in sorrow and grieve."

He added, "And he had his memory back only two days ago, I found out yesterday night too." Winnie and Katherine were sobbing quietly. Katherine's hold on Michael's hands tightened, as if to reassure him it was ok, everything would be okay.

"The truth is I never lost my memory," Micheal suddenly said. They all looked at him in shock.