This chapter is dedicated to LuuuuvmyGrell, who requested it and my bestest friend Sarah who moved to Canada last year. Enjoy the fluffyness, guys.
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Bright light flooded your vision, stinging your sensitive corneas. A steady ringing droned in your ear and the smell of harsh cleaner invaded your nostrils. An aged man in a long white coat entered the room. "Where am I?" you asked him, your voice dry and scratchy.
"You're in the hospital, receiving treatment after serious injuries sustained during a car crash," the doctor explained as he checked and made notes over the monitors beside your bed.
"Oh," was all you could say. You didn't remember being in any car crash. You didn't even remember your own name. The doctor wouldn't have any reason to lie to you though, and the ugly bruises and scratches covering your arms confirmed his story, so you believed him. You watched him move about the room doing doctor stuff before daring to ask, "How long have I been here?"
The doctor looked steadily into your eyes at that moment, a grave look on his lined face. "You have been in a coma for a little over a month now. You had suffered severe head trauma and it was starting to look as if you weren't going to make it. Luckily for you, your boyfriend wouldn't let us pull the plug. His stubbornness saved your life," the doctor said.
Just then, the door opened and another man walked in. This gentleman was younger than the doctor -- late teens to early twenties -- and considerably better looking. He stopped to stare at you as if he were seeing a ghost before he broke into a wide grin. "______, you're awake. I'm so glad." His soft voice was filled with emotion and his indigo eyes swam behind his wire-framed glasses. He crossed the room and knelt beside your bed to plant a kiss on your temple. "How are you feeling, sweetie?" he said as he lovingly stroked your cheek.
"I'm fine. I'm sort of tired and my head and throat hurt a little but otherwise... who are you?" you said. This boy was a nice sight to wake up to and you found his touch to be comforting, but he was a total stranger as far as you were concerned.
The guy looked stricken. "W-What...? You... don't remember me..." he said, his voice even softer than before.
The doctor placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, son. It appears she's developed amnesia," he said in as gentle a tone as he could manage.
"Is there anything I can do to help her get her memory back?" the boy said, desperation in his eyes.
"The only thing I think you can do is try to stimulate her memory. Tell her about things you've done together. Take her to her favorite places. With luck, it'll all come back to her," the doctor said.
The boy turned and grasped your hand tightly in his. "I promise, ______. I'll bring you back to me, no matter what it takes," he said before hesitantly kissing your lips. It was a bold move considering that you felt as though you had just met him. "I have to get to work, babe. I'll see you tomorrow," he said as he got up to leave. Once at the door, he turned to you and said in a very serious tone, "I love you, ______. Please remember that," and left.
Later, you had snuck out of your room to take a walk around the hospital. You were stiff from laying in bed for a whole month. As you casually strolled down the halls of the hospital, you thought of the young man from earlier who had kissed you so tenderly. He seemed so in love with you and you were sure that, a month ago, you loved him, too. You wished you could remember what it was that made him love you so much, but right now, you counldn't even remember his name.
You let out a heavy sigh. Who knew how long it would take you to remember? Would you ever be the same as you were before? The possibility of never being the same again seemed so unfair to that guy from earlier.
By the end of the week, the doctor had deemed you healthy enough to leave the hospital. Matthew (that was the name of your apparent boyfriend) had come to pick you up.
He helped you into his beat up old pickup truck and even buckled you in. You thought that the gesture was extremely sweet. He slid into the driver's seat next to you and attempted to start the truck. The engine spluttered, shaking the entire truck with its efforts, but abruptly died. Matthew chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that. You know how much of a pain this old thing can be," he said, tapping the steering wheel. At the confused look on your face, he corrected himself. "Oh, I guess you don't. But don't worry, honey. It'll go eventually." He cranked the engine again and it gave a mighty roar, then died. "Third time's the charm," he muttered more to himself than to you. And it was. The truck came to life on the third try and now you were on your way home, wherever that was.
You stared out the window curiously, hoping to find some familiarity in the scenery. Nothing seemed to ring a bell. It was a while before Matthew spoke again. "We used to go riding around like this all the time," he said in a conversational tone.
You looked at him for a long time before answering. "I wish I could remember," you said wistfully.
Matthew glanced over at you then pulled the truck over on the side of the road. He scooted closer to you and pulled you into his arms. "I do too," he said against your hair.
For some reason you started to cry. It wasn't just a few tears, but a torrent of sobs that left your face ruddy and your eyes red and puffy.
For some reason you started to cry. It wasn't just a few tears, but a torrent of sobs that left your face ruddy and your eyes red and puffy. All those years you had lived before the accident, the memories, the achievements, the hardships; they were all gone and you were left with nothing. Nothing but Matthew, and you knew little to nothing about him. You clung to him desperately as you cried, terrified of losing the only tie you had to your old life.
"Better?" he asked as he tenderly caressed your cheek. He looked deep into your eyes so you couldn't look away.
You didn't know what to make of his affection. You liked the way he kissed you and caressed you, but it didn't seem right. You felt like you were living in another person's body and you just happened to be with their boyfriend.You didn't know how to explain this to Matthew, so you just answered his question with a demure nod.
"Good," he said before kissing your lips slowly and sweetly.
The kiss was... amazing. His lips were so soft and warm and they made you feel safe and secure, something you haven't felt since you woke up from your coma. But the feeling that something was wrong was nagging at you more than ever. Unable to take it any longer, you gently pushed Matthew away and scooted out of his reach.
"What's wrong?" Matthew said, looking a little hurt over the abrupt end to the kiss.
You looked down at your lap, ashamed of pulling his heart string like that. "Matthew... the girl before the crash... she's dead..." you said, hating the words even as they came out of your mouth.
Matthew looked shocked at your words. "W-What do you mean?" he said, though you could tell by the look on his face that he already had a pretty good idea of where this was going.
It broke your heart to have to say this to him, but you continued anyway. "The crash changed me, Matthew. I'm not the girl you fell in love with," you said, unable to even look at him.
"Maple, ______! That's not true! You're in there somewhere, you just have to remember," he said, grasping onto you hands.
"Then I'll love you anyway. I've loved you practically my whole life and I'm never going to stop no matter what. If you don't get your memories back, we'll make new ones," Matthew said, brushing his thumbs across the backs of your hands.
Your heart swelled when you heard this. "Really?" you said, just to make sure this wasn't some sort of trick.
"Really. I mean't every word. I love you, ______. With all my heart," he said. At that moment, his eyes were so clear and warm that it left no doubt in your mind that he was totally sincere.
You wanted to love him like he loved you. It would be a shame to let such unrequited devotion go to waste. You took your hand out of his to brush his cheek, making him lean into your touch like an affectionate kitten. "I believe you, Matthew, and I trust you," you said softly.
"I love it when you look at me like that," Matthew said in a dreamy whisper.
You blinked a few times and tilted your head questioningly. "Like what?" you said, completely unaware that you were doing anything unusual.
"Like you want to kiss me, but you're too afraid to make the first move. The first time you looked at me like that, we just kind of sat there staring at each other, too shy to act on the urge to kiss. Finally, though, I plucked up the courage and leaned towards your lips with my eyes closed, of course. It seemed like it was taking forever for our lips to meet so I opened my eyes to realize that I had missed so badly, I had ended up kissing the air beside you!" As Matthew finished the story, he laughed at the memory with a far away look in his eyes.
"Then what happened?" you asked, desperate for any more information concerning your past.
"You laughed at me, of course. I was mortified. But just when I thought you were about to dump me, you kissed me right on the mouth! When you pulled away, you gave me that sweet, shy look and you've been doing that when you wanted a kiss ever since," Matthew said, before kissing you again.
This time, you didn't pull away, but instead, kissed him back, trying to recall the scene of your first kiss as you did so. You could picture everything Matthew had told you, though the movie in your mind was incredibly blurry, but you couldn't seem to recall what happened after.
When the kiss ended, Matthew caught one look at the dismayed look on your face and gathered you in his arms. "You'll remember it some day. I promise," he said encouragingly in your ear while giving you a reassuring squeeze.
You put your arms around his waste and laid your head on his shoulder, finding comfort in his embrace. Though the hug lingered, it ended too soon. "We need to get you home," he said as tender as ever.
Several months had passed since then, and still, you remembered nothing. Matthew had taken you to every place you had ever been on a date, taken you to see family and friends, even taken you to places like where you used to work. He had told you millions of stories, some of which you had told him yourself, but nothing had helped. You were falling even more in love with Matthew as time went on, but it was new love as far as you were concerned.
You weren't on any sort of special memory retrieval mission now, just taking a walk in the park. Matthew seemed lost. Though he held your hand and walked beside you, it was like he wasn't there. It worried you, seeing him like this.
You stopped walking and gently called his name. He looked down at you, slowly blinking the mist from his eyes. "Matthew, what's the matter? You're awfully quiet," you said, being sure to lock gazes with him. You were afraid he would drift off again if you didn't.
Matthew gave you a melancholy smile, the sweet sadness of his inner thoughts apparent in his violet eyes. "Nothing's wrong, I was just thinking," he said, kissing your forehead to help absolve your fears.
You wouldn't let it go that easily, though. "What were you thinking about?" you pressed.
"I was thinking about the day of the accident," Matthew said softly.
"Oh," was all you could say. You felt awful for bringing it up. You couldn't imagine how painful that must have been for him.
Matthew lead you to a nearby bench and the two of you sat facing each other so your knees touched.
"The day it happened... I thought I'd lost you forever..." Matthew's voice broke and his eyes filled with tears. Without even thinking, you reached out to pat his knee, hoping to comfort him. Matthew took a deep breath and laid a hand on yours. "You lived, but barely. The following month was... torture. I felt so lifeless without seeing your beautiful smile. You were the only one that ever smiled at me like that. You were the only one that ever noticed me, most of the time. And then God just took you away from me. Then He gave me a miracle. You woke up and now here you are, walking and talking and laughing with me again," he said with a watery smile.
"And I'll be with you until the very end," you swore from the bottom of your heart.
Matthew let out a light chuckle. "It's funny you say that. On the day of the crash, I had proposed to you. Actually, you were on your way home from my house when it happened. I didn't have the ring, but you said yes anyway," Matthew said, looking at you with a mixture of sadness and meek hopefulness.
You looked back at him, not sure what to say. Was he asking you to marry him again? You watched, astonished, as he reached into his coat pocket. "The ring arrived the morning you came out of your coma. At first, I thought God was playing some sick joke, then I went to the hospital and saw that He was sending me a sign. He was telling me that He approves."
By now, Matthew was on one knee in front of you, presenting to you a small black velvet box. Finally, he asked the question: "______, will you marry me?"
As he said it, he revealed the ring, glittery and beautiful and perfect.
Then, it happened.
Your body went numb and the happy scene went away to be replaced with a barrage of images. Memories of yourself, of Matthew, and of people you've had to be re-introduced to but never recognized until this point flooded your brain.
You had no idea how long this experience had lasted, but when it ended, Matthew was holding you in his arms, frantically calling your name.
"I... remember..." you said in awe.
Matthew suddenly stopped. He was looking at you as if he didn't hear you, though you knew he did. "What did you say?" he asked.
"I remember," you said. This time a wave of giddiness pushed a bubble of laughter to the surface. Matthew still seemed a little puzzled, so you shouted it at him and threw your arms around him. "I remember everything! You and me, my family, my friends. Everything!"
Finally, it sunk in. Matthew began to laugh with you, then began to cry. When the two of you regained your senses, Matthew looked you in your eyes. "Is it a yes then?" he said with just a hint of mischief in his smile.
You nodded, then Matthew sealed the deal with the perfect kiss.