Walking down the hallways towards his wife's private hospital room, the solemn man was as expressionless as ever, but if one looked closer they could see his jaws clenched a little in discomfort.
For the woman who was expected to die, once the caesarian was done, to suddenly wake up. He did not know what image he would see in front of his eyes when he would be face to face with her. Not to mention, the last time they met, just before her accident, things were left unpleasant, to say the least, for both of them.
So certainly he was not prepared for the view that greeted him, as soon as he opened the door.
The young woman, he only knew as a cold hearted perfect doll, was now sleeping on one side, cuddling her big belly protectively in her arms. The wrapped hands around her protruding abdomen, felt like she was protecting a precious treasure.
She looked nothing like the last time he saw her, when the doctor informed him of the pregnancy.
Unlike the previous appearance of a beautiful doll, but a lifeless one at that, at this moment, for some unknown reason, he could not take his eyes away from the petite beauty that exuded nothing but frailty and warmth.
" 'Your side of the family is the one who wants an heir. Honestly, I could care less to have a child, so if or when we have one, it will be your responsibility!' The woman said without remorse or care, it was as if she was talking about the ownership of a troublesome object that she could live without.
'Alright!' He replied impassible, for her to renounce any right on the child was even better. He doubted that the woman, who was known as his newly wedded wife, was capable of being a mother. And he also wanted to have a clear standing where the marriage was at.
'Then let's make a contract for the future.
As soon as you give birth, you will renounce your parenting rights in my favor. We could also divorce if you want, and you will receive all the assets you inherited from your grandfather, no penny less, plus a substantial alimony from me, as compensation for the divorce.'
'Perfect!' She said, a small emotionless smile that did not reach her eyes decorating her small face.
'But what happens if I don't get pregnant? We could both be healthy as the tests we took showed, but it is still not a clear guarantee we will conceive.' The woman asked, remembering this issue. She wanted to clear all doubts, which in fact were in accordance to his own wishes.
'Then we will also set a time limit. I will have my lawyer send a draft to yours, before we legalize and sign the contract!' He replied in an orderly professional matter.
'Yes. Please have it ready before the first night we spend together. I want to be certain of it first.' she said in a similar manner, satisfied with their transaction.
He nodded, already having his phone by his ear as it was connecting to the lawyer."
'Mister Black, can I have a word with you before you check on your wife?' The doctor, who arrived near him, whispered slowly, so as to not wake up the patient. The unexpected voice interrupted the man's remembrance of the past, of his wedding day.
'Yes!' He said, turning around to follow the doctor to his office.
As they both sat, the doctor started speaking without further ado.
'As I am sure, Mister Jacobs has been keeping you updated with the information we sent, regarding your wife's state. I believe it is quite a wonder for you as it was for us, the team of doctors who have taken care of the lady for this period of time, of her regaining consciousness I mean.
Frankly, it should be medically impossible, to the best of our abilities we do not know how the lady actually woke up. Even yesterday, when we had a regular check up done, her brain waves were nonexistent!' The doctor tried to justify himself. In a way he was actually terrified, what if the man accused him of misdiagnosing his wife which could have even killed her, if it wasn't for the pregnancy. The wrath of this man could end his career in a heartbeat.
He would have sworn that she was brain dead under any circumstances. Not to mention, he had asked countless opinions from other colleagues, before he even thought of contacting mister Jacobs back then, with the news of her vegetative state.
'Doctor, the lab reports you have sent each month, have been verified by 100 doctors from different countries as soon as my assistant received them. Get to the point of how she is right now.' He said simply. He understood where the doctor was coming from, though he did not necessarily want to relieve his worries, he just wanted to shorten the meeting.
'Ahh, yes. Well the truth is, as we have tried to keep her body as normal and as healthy as possible to ensure the twins' safety, she is healthy as she could be in her current state.
Physically, she will only have to have a nurse around her until she gains back a bit her mobility, but she will be able to go home in three days. We will have one of the nurses who have taken care of her here, accompany her to your house, if you want.
Mentally, because the brain was the one affected during the accident, it seems that unfortunately she has amnesia.'
'Amnesia?' Asked the man confused. Her appearance even if she was asleep when he saw her just now indeed had a totally different atmosphere, it was as if he was looking at another, but was this the reason for it?
' Yes. She has retained all the normal subconscious reflexes, like reading, writing, speaking and general knowledge one would be taught from infancy. She would even ride a bike or drive a car, if she previously learned them. But her conscious mind, her memories of anyone, including herself do not exist at all. The lady does not even remember her name.'
The doctor explained with a normal tone, unlike the one before that had sounded a bit desperate.
'Will her memory ever return?' The man asked. The situation they previously agreed on, that he would divorce her as soon as she gave birth to an heir, most likely she would not remember any of it now. No matter what, she was the children's mother, even if their marriage had been a political one, at least he wanted to part with her on friendly terms.
If her memories were only momentarily lost, then the situation would resolve itself when she remembered them, if not he needed to consider the next steps he would have to take.
'It's difficult to say, if they will ever return. Perhaps, living in her house, in her usual environment might help her. We do not know for certain.'
'Alright. How are the twins?' The man asked. He had rushed here when Ryan informed about her waking up, so he was still confused for the moment on what other things he wanted to know, regarding her health. But he never forgot the most important thing, the children's health.
'They are both alright, they showed no abnormality during the ultrasound we did today. The OBGYN doctor has informed me that they are even more active than before their mother woke up.
You see because, normally, they would hear their mother's voice and feel her affection while developing, their mental state would also develop step by step. Trying to compensate for the absence of her voice and care, we have used all kind of different methods until today, to ensure their mental state would grow.
But even though, we had nurses talk to them, sing songs for them, not one of the twins ever reacted strongly to them, they barely even kicked.' The doctor informed the expressionless man.
'So after consulting with the OBGYN department, we feel that for the twins mental health, especially now when they can interact with their mother, it would be better to postpone the caesarian. And also by postponing it, it would give them more time to develop physically.
We were forced before to take the babies out at seven months, as she could not properly nourish them, but now that is not an issue anymore.'
Pondering on the doctor's advices even as he had returned in front of the room, he slowly opened the door. To know what he had to do, first he had to see her.
The beautiful woman was still sleeping, as he stepped inside.
It was strange now that he came closer to her bedside, even without a speck of makeup on her face, she still looked beautiful, breathtakingly so, but in a tender way. Was it the comatose state she had been in for the past few months? Was it the pregnancy that made her more approachable, homely? Perhaps, that was the reason.
But no matter what, even if she lost her memories, when she woke up, she would still retain her cold personality, of this he was certain. A human's personality has long been thought of to be hereditary. She was born this way, losing her memories would not have changed her too much in regards to this, would it?
'Mhhh ...' The woman murmured a bit in pain, as she was trying to shift her position in her sleep, but could not manage to do so because of her belly.
In this whole time, the man, who kept looking down at her, had not tried to lend a hand or move away. He just silently watched her, like one would look at a stranger. Maybe, he had just wanted to see what she would do, or perhaps he did not care at all of her struggles. That was how their relationship was anyway.
They maintained separate lives throughout their marriage, neither friends, neither lovers, neither family, perhaps they could only be referred to as distant acquaintances, a bit more than complete strangers. The only things that bonded them were the few nights they had tried to have a child, but even then they never woke up beside one another in the morning.
Attempting to move a bit more, she tried to shift her belly, but perhaps giving up, she slowly opened her eyes, waking up.
The previous elegant but arrogant beauty was nowhere to be found in those sparkling green eyes with a tinge of hazel hue that were revealed under the curled eyelashes. And the no makeup face that she had never shown in front of him before, made her look like a different woman altogether. Well not that he studied her that much in the past, so it was likely he just never looked at her intently.
'Hello!' Greeted the woman a bit frightened, seeing the handsome man hovering above near her bedside who had not said a word since she opened her eyes. Was it someone she was supposed to know? She thought. But nonetheless, by now even if he was someone familiar with her, the doctor should have informed him she had no memory of anyone.
'Hello!' Greeted back the man, with a hoarse indifferent voice, making her think that in fact he was someone that had not known her before. Was he a stranger, and he just entered the wrong room?
'I am your husband, my name is Zane Black!' Replied the man, with the same indifferent voice, to the question she had thought of, but did not put into words, seeing her frowned eyebrows.
'I am Aria ... !' She said as if they were actually exchanging greetings, but swallowed her last name before it came out of her lips. With her cheeks getting redder by the second, as she realized she had the same last name, she did not dare open her mouth anymore. It would be unusual to introduce yourself to your own husband. Why did she do that?
Was it because she had never seen such a handsome man before, and so it had distracted her, and her words slipped?
The black ebony hair that was neatly combed and styled in a slicked back, the thick eyebrows that showed no emotions, indifferent blue deep eyes, tall nose, thin lips and sharp square jaw ... she did not know a man could be this perfect.
'I know.' Said Zane simply, as a few seconds passed and she did not say anything more.
Seeing the petite woman's red cheeks, looking up to him, with a gaze he did not knew she was able of ever showing, shocked Zane. Was she really the Aria he had been married to for three years, was she really the heiress of the Langdon's fortune? No matter where you looked, there was not even a shadow of the arrogant woman from before in her.
'O-of course you do. I am sorr ... Ahhh' Snapping out of her thoughts, Aria had tried to apologize, hearing his words, but her words were cut when a sharp pain hit her belly from within, making her frown her eyebrows in discomfort, as she placed her hand on the part of the belly that hurt.
'What's wrong?' Zane asked, getting a little bit closer to the bedside to check on her, but still did not look overly concerned.
'The babies ... they kicked!' Quickly spoke Aria raising her eyes at him, forgetting instantly the pain, as she realized what had caused it.
Seeing her happy face at the mention of the twins shocked even more Zane, more so than her current atmosphere. At this moment she really felt like a loving expectant mother would feel like. The her without the memories was truly happy of the fact that she was pregnant.
He had thought that coming to talk to her would help him decide what to do next, but in fact it confused him even more.
The view, of a glowing mother to be, that she now showed, the her that did not know of the contract, and of the fact that it mentioned she would not take part in those children's life, how would she react to finding out about such things if she still did not regain her memories?
How would she, the one without memories, react to him taking the children away?