Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Blame Me If I Remember

Monica nodded. Between the two of them, one was definitely Cedric. As for the other, didn't matter much.

"So, what exactly did they say?" Monica shifted a bit, arms folded casually. "Come on, Sabrina, we don't keep secrets, do we? Like your first time with Cedric..."

"Pfft-!" Sabrina had just taken a sip of her drink when Monica's blunt words made her nearly choke. She quickly grabbed a tissue, dabbing at her mouth.

Their first time-hers and Cedric's.

Oh God. Just those three words and scenes from that day flashed through her head like a steamy, 3-million-word fic.

Monica looked totally innocent. "Why so dramatic? I meant your first time holding hands with him. Didn't you tell me about that? After class one day-you faked a dizzy spell and grabbed his hand, remember?"

Yep, Sabrina had totally overthought it. She cleared her throat and came clean. "They were talking about life... like, as in human life, I think. Their expressions were... weird. Monica, be real with me, am I in trouble? Did I do something I shouldn't have...?"

Her voice wavered by the end.

This was no joke. When it came to stuff like life and death, it hit different.

Even Monica felt her heart skip. Thinking back on what Lynne had said that night... yeah, this could be way more serious than she'd thought.

Otherwise, why would a mother who always wanted her daughter happy suddenly try to stop her from liking someone she liked so much?

But now wasn't the time to spiral into guesses.

"Sabrina." Monica sighed, slipping into lecture mode.

"Hmm?" Sabrina looked up, confused.

"You always doubt yourself. And me. It's kinda hard to stay close friends like this." Monica shook her head, playing the victim. "You asking me this stuff now makes me feel like you've never really trusted me at all."

"I didn't mean it like that." Sabrina immediately denied it.

She really didn't. It was just that Cedric and Margaret both mentioned it, and it felt off, so she needed to know.

"But if that were true, your first reaction should've been, 'I definitely didn't mess up,' right? Not running to me like I'm hiding something." Monica's wounded tone didn't let up.

She had that natural charming vibe, and with her history of dealing with men, she knew exactly how to pull off that "hurt and betrayed" look.

With guys, that move was lethal. For a softie like Sabrina, it was game over.

Sure enough, seeing Monica all bummed out because of her, Sabrina caved. Guilt surged, and she just apologized. "I'm sorry."

Monica had a point.

"Sabrina," Monica added while she had the open lane, "I know deep down you always think you're seriously sick, but come on-these days, being 100% fine is the real abnormal. Headaches, tummy issues, backache-they all count as something. So why freak out just 'cause your memory's a little worse than others?"

Sabrina lowered her head."I swear to you as a professional doctor, your memory is just a teeny bit worse than average. Like, the size of a third of your pinky nail. So seriously, don't beat yourself up. Besides, based on the evaluations I did for you, you've never forgotten anything major. I mean, you even remember your first time with Cedric perfectly. What could be more important than that, right?"

Monica raised an eyebrow, her tone turning a little cheeky.

Sabrina kept nodding along with what Monica said, but that last part? Nope, she wasn't owning up to that. "It was just holding hands, nothing big."

To her, just about anything else would be more significant.

"Come on, Sabrina," Monica corrected with a smirk, "I was talking about your first night with Cedric. You mentioned that spot on the inside of his thigh..."

"Okay, cut it out!"

Sabrina shouted, her face going bright red like a cooked crab.

Weird thing was, amidst all this ridiculous talk, her gloomy mood had quietly lifted.

Maybe she really needed to learn from Monica-learn how to stop doubting herself all the time. So what if she forgot stuff? It wasn't a personality flaw, just a small glitch in the hardware. And forgetting things didn't mean hurting others was her fault.

She got up and gave Monica a big hug, rubbing her cheek affectionately against her shoulder. "You're my favorite, Monica."

Monica curled her lips into a playful grin. "Ooh, hope Lynne didn't hear that."

*****

So that conversation was officially over. For the next few days, Sabrina stayed holed up at home and didn't step outside. Her mom, Lynne, still had no idea she'd gone off the rails the other day and visited Monica's clinic, which meant Monica had actually kept her word. Sabrina finally felt like she could breathe.

"How long are you planning to crash here?" Lynne asked one afternoon while lounging on the couch with a face mask on and munching cucumber slices.

"I'm not ready to go back yet," Sabrina replied.

"Hey, I'm not asking you to fly back right now. Just think ahead a little, okay? Or did you forget you still have that lab team? You finished 'Twinkle' ages ago and haven't done much since. You're still holding onto the rights, right? You may be fine financially, but those researchers? They've got bills to pay too," Lynne reminded her.

Honestly, her real purpose was to subtly nudge her daughter to pack up and leave. She'd had this vague sense of unease for days now, like something bad might happen, and she didn't like it.

But since Sabrina immediately said she didn't feel like going back, she didn't want to push it.

"Yeah, I know," Sabrina said, eyes downcast.

Cedric clearly wasn't interested in partnering up. She sighed-time was flying, and with winter creeping in, if Cedric didn't come around soon, there'd be no way to get the new product out by spring.

More than that, her patents couldn't just sit there. If Cedric didn't buy them, she'd have no choice but to sell to Pama. It wasn't just about her-everyone in the lab needed to eat.

That's how R&D worked. When you hit something big, you got a payout. The bigger the result, the bigger the check. "Twinkle" was a breakthrough, something you couldn't just replicate. It had taken five months of work-sure, she'd produced a few minor outputs here and there, but those didn't bring in much cash. So sure, maybe she had all these shiny patents, but that didn't mean she was swimming in money.

At least paying her team's salaries was still a real stress point.

But if Cedric passed, could she really go to Pama or someone else? That felt like teaming up with her competitor to crush someone from her own side. Just the thought of it made her feel gross.

Granny Strickland was such a sweetheart-how could she possibly...

Wait a sec, maybe she could go talk to her!

Gracewell belonged to Granny Strickland, right? Since Cedric took her goodwill as an attack, seeing him clearly wasn't gonna help-then why not just go straight to Granny herself?

That thought instantly perked Sabrina up.

Man, how did she not think of this before? She really could be so dense sometimes.

"Mom, have you heard from Granny Strickland lately? Is she still staying at the Strickland estate?" Sabrina turned around and asked Lynne, who was reclining on the sofa.

Lynne, who was mid-bite on a cucumber, got so startled by the question that she bit her tongue. Wincing, she ripped off her face mask and tossed it on the table.

"Mom? You okay? Seriously, you always rush stuff." Sabrina walked over, a little annoyed, watching her mom scrunch her face in pain.

Lynne's heart was racing, enough to ache a bit, but she forced herself to keep it together. "Why are you suddenly asking about Granny Strickland?"

"Just curious," Sabrina replied honestly.

"Look, Sabrina," Lynne said carefully, "From what I heard, Granny Strickland's not doing great. She's in a nursing home resting, so... maybe let's not bother her." Lynne knew her daughter too well-Sabrina wouldn't bring something up out of the blue unless she had plans. And this? This was what she dreaded.

"Where'd you hear that? Mom, do you still have ties with the Stricklands?" Sabrina asked, surprised.

"A housekeeper from their place told me. We still chat here and there. But what matters is-listen to me-don't even think about bothering Granny Strickland. Don't bring it up, okay? It's a touchy subject."

Sabrina could tell her mom's reaction was off. Usually when an elder's sick, isn't it normal for the younger ones to check in on them? But here, she was being told not even to mention it?

"Every family's got its own ways," Lynne added, voice low. "I already reached out before, and let's just say... the vibe from the Stricklands wasn't great. So let's not push things. Got it?" Each word made Lynne's heart thump harder. Lying to her daughter-her pride and joy-was eating her up inside.

Sabrina nodded. "Okay. I won't bring it up."

So that explained Cedric's bad mood lately. It had to be his grandma's health. And she? She just kept showing up in front of him.

With that realization, Sabrina felt like she had a connection now-like Cedric's cold attitude made a bit more sense. People get short-tempered when family's unwell. She could get behind that.

Maybe she should try just one more time.

Twinkle meant so much-to her, to the team. Every drop of effort and every late night spent in the lab, all for this. Only by handing it over to Gracewell would she truly feel at peace.

As she was mentally figuring out how to bring it up with Cedric again, her phone buzzed. Unknown number, but the message itself was pretty detailed-it was from a senior exec at the Pama Conglomerate.

It was an apology.

For what happened-when that guy from one of their subsidiaries kidnapped her.

The message hit all the notes: harsh reprimands for the guy involved, some over-the-top wording begging for her forgiveness, and finally, an invitation to a formal apology dinner. They really hoped she'd come.