Lost Memory by Jacqueline Cortez

Chapter Twenty: Gwen

Spring of 2022

Even after a year of not seeing Alejandro...him unconscious on the floor back then...not even an hour of me gone...he was being careless and hurting himself. His grandma died, his family, sad, and he did that. Plus his grandpa helping me escape that place without Alejandro's dad finding out. I don't know why he did it but it must have been for a good reason. I finally came to the hospital to visit him...bringing the flowers that his mom loved...Sunflowers. I enter his room trying to not wake anyone up. I don't want anyone to know that I am here. Especially because I went out of my way to come here from Virginia. I place the sunflowers on a table next to Alejandro. As I looked at his closed eye, seeing him lying there unconscious, I forgot how much I missed him. I tip-toe out of the room. A hand grabs me. It's Alejandro's dad. I shake away from his grasp.

"Don't ever come here again...You know you did this to him...being around him and intoxicating him with your words"

"No...no I didn't," I respond respectfully.

"Stay out of my family's life...You are a problem and no one needs you here...remembering past incidents," He shakes his head. Past incidents? "Don't come back," His dad says going back inside and closing the door behind him. I know I am the problem making Alejandro's life difficult. But I thought if I erased myself from his life that it would be better for him.

I slowly walk out of the hospital, wondering if this is the last time I am going to see Alejandro. I see Yi-Kyung and his mom wave at me. The sadness leaves my face. I am glad someone like him came into my life again. Someone who brought a smile back to my face when it was taken away from me. The time when we went to the fair at Coney Island. It was him who told me I would find out about him later. It's crazy how different situations are put into place to be there when we need them. Coincidences have a strange way of appearing.

"Going back home?" Yi-Kyung's mom asks me. I've been staying at their place in Virginia this past week because Rosaline has been distancing herself a little and her company seems to be busy these days so I want to give her some space. Lately, I just feel as if she's been off. She would send me random texts and calls asking questions of when I was little which I can't because I am old and I can't recall memories from my childhood.

"Yeah, just wanted to come here for a little" I respond to her.

"To see that guy that you fell in love with. But now you have me," I roll my eyes and laugh. Yi-Kyung and all his jokes. We fly back to Virginia.

"We are home," Yi-Kyung says walking into the house door. A smell of food floods my nose. The Lees lived in a three-floor townhome. Yi-Kyung lived in the basement. I also slept in the basement except on the couch. The parents and his younger brother, Boon-Nam, lived on the top floor. I felt as if I already created a new home for me. I'm leaving soon again for New York but I don't want to. 

"Boon-Nam come help with the table" I hear his mom say.

"Go help," I tell Yi-Kyung.

"Hey, I am 26, give this old man a break. Let the one who is younger brother do the work"