Chapter 5 5

Manuel and Lupe were settled on the sofa in the living room, listening keenly to Easton Blaine as he spoke about the situation with Adelina. Jonathan on the other hand, had his palms to his cheek the entire time, paying an equal amount of attention to Blaine spill his prognosis on his fiancee.

"I think it is only temporal," he was saying. "I have a prognosis but in light of the scan conducted, Adelina does not have amnesia."

Jonathan huffed sitting back in the sofa as he crossed his legs. If this was the case: she is without amnesia, how does she not recall a single thing about him? To him, it would be almost impossible to forget what they had. It was special. Never had he felt that way towards any other woman. Just a few months to a couple of years together, he had not, even for one second thought about a life without her. Which led him to propose.

When he thought back to a few minutes ago, his heart churned. That look of cluelessness and emptiness in Adelina's face when she saw him earlier, he could not bear it. He winced quietly. The thought of Adelina forgetting him was starting to give him a migraine.

"Some events may be difficult to recall as Tony had said but in time, everything may come back," Blaine continued.

"So you are saying this is the case with Adelina?" Manuel chirped. "She is just having difficulties recalling certain events?"

"Well," he looked at McCurby. "With what I have heard about him so far..."

Jonathan narrowed his eyes, waiting for the next thing that would come out of this doctor's mouth.

"I do not see how she should not remember."

They were all silent for a while debilitating what he had said. Adelina remembers Simone, her brother, her younger sister. As well as some of her extended relatives whom she never really gets to see except once in what would certainly be a long while. But how she could not recall absolutely nothing about Jonathan McCurby seemed like a puzzle to them, especially to the man in question.

Lupe looked worried. Maybe she does have amnesia. What else had she forgotten? Who else could she not remember?

"You said you have a prognosis?" Lupe queried. "Let's hear it."

He shifted in his seat, leaning forward to narrate a situation with the last patient he had treated.

"I have had encounters with patients who could not recollect certain occurrences because well, they were traumatizing. Hurtful."

Jonathan leaned forward as well, his eyes still squinted. He thought Blaine meant he had hurt Adelina and that is precisely the reason why she could not remember him.

As opposed to that thought, it was not far from the truth.

"I am not concluding that this is the case with Adelina. Although it should seem most likely. Some parts of her memory may be blocked. Unconsciously that is. Because she does not want to deal with it. At least not now."

"Like the night of the accident. The day, that day. She does not seem to recall anything that happened leading up to the accident. I reckon this is because they might have been mortifying. There may also be other reasons for this. Reasons some patients may or may not be able to deduce on their own."

Lupe sighed. Her face was wrinkled in worry. Manuel rubbed her back soothingly drawing her into his chest.

"I suggest that she comes by the hospital tomorrow for another MRI scan and Tony's medical diagnosis as well. He should have something to offer on the situation as well." Blaine concluded.

Jonathan fell back into the sofa. He would feel even better if those scans came out positive and Adelina does have amnesia. Than to imagine that she could just forget all about him. How? Why?

Blaine took a glance at his watch when it beeped. He had set a timer for every hour Adelina's drugs was supposed to be administered to her, just to ensure effectiveness and it was just about time for her medication. So, he excused himself to go find her.

There was a long silence in the room when Blaine left. All three of them were reminiscing on what he had said until Jonathan decided it was time to take his leave.

"I will be on my way now," he revealed, getting up from the sofa. His gloomy expression could not have been more evident.

"I'm truly sorry about this Jonathan," Lupe sympathized with him. "Hopefully it will all come back in time."

He sniffled and muttered indistinctly. "Hopefully."

He forced a smile. "I'll go now. Have a nice day," and bade the both of them before leaving the house.

Adelina stared at herself in the mirror. Was she wrong to have started this lie? Yes, she felt it. But she also thought it was the best way to forget him for good. Jonathan was always going to be the same arrogant, womanizer she had met a couple of years back and she felt stupid to have thought for a second, that he could change because of her. For her.

He eyes fluttered close as she sucked in a breath.

Blaine rasped his knuckles on her door, pulling her out of her train of thoughts. She stared at the door for a second before going to get it.

"Are you okay? Your parents are pretty worried about you," he handed her the glass of water, placing a couple of tablets in her palms which Adelina swallowed almost immediately.

Then, he set the glass down on the drawer.

"I don't know," she responded, groaning out. "My head is aching real bad."

She climbed into her bed and pulled up the duvet halfway.

"It's normal. You are trying to conjure up memories you know is somewhere up there." He motioned to her head as he went to stand beside the bed, his hands tucked into the pockets of his blue scrub.

Adelina heaved. That would actually make more sense if she was indeed trying to do that. But she wasn't. She knew exactly what those memories were and she was just choosing to ignore them.

"Get some sleep. You should feel better when you wake."

She turned to lay on her side, closing her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again.

"Easton?" she called out to him.

He was already at the door by now.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think I have inquired more worry," her voice trailed. "By waking?"

"Why do you say that?" he asked going back towards the bed.

"My parents, in the lst three years, I know all they've been doing is worry about me. Especially my mother. She is pretty good at that."

Blaine chuckled. "I have noticed."

She breathed, tilting her head to the side to look at him.

"Shouldn't it come as a relief that I am here now? You know...sometimes, I feel like a burden to them," Adelina continued. "I hate that they think about me every second of the day."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"No," she reiterated curtly. "Mamá stepped out for an hour and she called the house three times just to check up on me. At some point, I began to feel like I am holding them back from their lives."

Blaine took out his hands from his pocket, taking a seat on the bed, beside her.

"Well, that is for your parents to decide," he said. He pursed his lips, allowing his eyes wander to the plain white wall. "When I was young, about eight years old or so. Can't really put a pin on the age. I got a bad case of pneumonia. What made it even worse? It was just about the same time my father got laid off from work. Things weren't going great at all. They had to spend every thing they got on my treatment. My mum was supposed to start up a trade with the little capital she had saved up that year but ended up using it all for me."

His gaze shifted to the head board. "I know how much starting that trade meant to her. She would always talk about it during dinners and breakfast. It didn't happen. Never happened. But did she regret it?"

He looked at her and smiled.

"Guess what she told me when I apologized for getting sick at a really bad time?"

"Big boys don't get sick?" Adelina smiled.

He chortled. "No. She tickled me till I cried out in laughter and then carried me in her arms and placed me on her laps. 'Don't you ever apologize for being my son. I should have covered you with an extra blanket that night.' That was it. That was what she said to me," he smiled as he recalled his mother's words.

"You know what I think? Good parents don't get to feel that way. No matter the gravity of whatever happens to us," his eyes met hers. "Our well being and happiness is what gives them life. And the only thing they need in return is our love and unconditional support. Believe me, that makes them even happier than any damn certificate or award."

He took her hands in his. "So Adelina, do not think you are holding your parents back. You don't know how much joy you are giving them by being here right now."

Her face beamed. She couldn't have asked for any one better to help her through all of this. He always knew the right words to say to her. And for this, she was very grateful.

"Now get some sleep. It would help with the head ache," he said, pulling the duvet up to her bust.

Adelina closed her eyes. "Thank you Easton," she whispered softly.

He bobbed his head up and down in response and stared at her drift to sleep..